Vote for Cupcakes! (5 page)

The girls all hugged Delaney and congratulated Herbie for pulling off a successful presentation.

“You actually did it, Herbie,” Jenna said, patting him on the back. “Without blowing a fuse or creating
una emergencia
.”

Herbie blushed. “Yes, well, it was just a question of calibrating the trigger mechanism.”

Sadie chuckled. “I don't know what you're talking about, but that confetti cannon rocked. Can't wait to see what you came up with for Winter Fest.”

Kylie suddenly looked at her watch. “OMG, it's three thirty! We told Principal Fontina we'd be back to hand out cupcakes at three!”

She grabbed Delaney by the arm and pulled her off the stage. “Let's go, gang. Enough politics, we've got some snow business to attend to!”

When they arrived in the gymnasium at Blakely, Principal Fontina was tapping her foot impatiently. Everyone was busy doing crafts, playing carnival games, and snacking on snow cones. They didn't seem to mind at all—but a promise was a promise and PLC was late.

“Finally!” she snapped at Kylie. “I have a huge display here covered with a drape and hundreds of hungry students waiting for cupcakes.”

Herbie raced over to check the wiring one last time. “It looks good, so fingers crossed.”

Kylie took a deep breath and pulled the drape off to reveal a giant snow globe filled with candy cane cupcakes. Principal Fontina handed her a microphone.

“Blakely students, if I can have your attention, please,” Kylie said. All eyes turned to the center of the gym and PLC's enormous display. “In honor of the Blakely Winter Fest, Peace, Love, and Cupcakes gives you a winter wonderland!”

Herbie flipped a switch on the side of the globe, and the entire dome suddenly filled with swirling powdered sugar that settled delicately on the tops of the cupcakes. The students—and Principal Fontina—oohed and aahed.

“Herbie, you're a genius,” Kylie whispered to him. “The powdered sugar is brilliant! Now our cupcakes won't be soggy!”

“I have my moments,” Herbie said with a wink.

“Thank goodness you ditched the whole idea of it snowing indoors,” Lexi said. “That had disaster written all over it.”

“About that,” Herbie added. “I didn't ditch it entirely…”

He took the mic and faced the audience. “Ladies and gentlemen, if you will all turn your attention overhead…”

“Oh no, he didn't…” Lexi said, squeezing Kylie's hand. “I can't watch!”

Herbie hit a switch on his remote control, but nothing happened. “That's funny,” he said. “It must be jammed.”

“
Gracias a Dios
,” Jenna said. “It doesn't work!”

“Yeah, what she said,” Sadie added. “Please give it up, Herbie. We don't need another flood!”

But Herbie didn't want to give up. He kept flicking the switch on his remote while the students grew restless.

“The pressurizer must have gotten clogged,” he said. “This shouldn't be happening. I tried it out, and it worked flawlessly.”

Delaney saw how disappointed he was and took Kylie aside. “This means a lot to him. Can't we help?”

Kylie looked over and saw how upset their adviser was. “Guys, let's give Herbie a chance to figure it out. He didn't let us down, and we shouldn't let him down.”

“I have an idea,” Delaney chimed in. “We need a distraction.”

She grabbed the mic out of Herbie's hand. “Hi, everyone! While we wait for our amazing, one-of-a-kind, awesome display to work, my friends from Peace, Love, and Cupcakes and I would like to entertain you with a song.”

“We would?” Kylie gasped. “Laney, we don't have a song! And I don't sing!”

Delaney grabbed Lexi, who she knew had a great voice. “You're on harmony,” she whispered. “Kylie, Jenna, Sadie, you guys are our backup dancers.”

“What do I do?” Sadie asked in a panic.

“Sway, shimmy, bop,” Delaney suggested. “I dunno. Look like you're having fun and not panicking!”

It felt good, Delaney thought, to take charge—practically presidential. She began to sing: “There's
no
business like
snow
business like
no
business I know!”

Lexi improvised the next verse: “Everything about it is so chilly…icy, slushy, slidey, and such fun!”

Then Delaney continued: “That's when I stay warm inside my kitchen, start baking cupcakes by the ton…”

Suddenly, something overhead sputtered and crackled. The lights in the gym went off, and everyone was left standing in the dark.

“Mr. Dubois!” Principal Fontina shouted. “Fix this immediately!”

“On it!” Herbie said, shining his flashlight and climbing a ladder to check the snow machine he'd mounted on the ceiling. “Gimme a sec.”

There was a loud
bang
, then a
plop
, then the lights came back on. A pile of snow was now sitting on top of Principal Fontina's head and melting down her face.

“Oopsie,” Herbie said apologetically. “That wasn't supposed to happen.”

But before their principal could yell, small white snowflakes began delicately dancing through the air. It was beautiful…and magical. The gym was suddenly transformed into a wonderful winter wonderland.

“I said it got clogged up,” Herbie called down to Kylie. “I fixed it.”

“Sorry, Principal Fontina,” Kylie said, handing her a napkin to wipe her face. “Herbie meant well.”

“And he
di
d
well,” Principal Fontina replied, dabbing at her nose and cheeks. “This is truly a spectacle. I've never seen anything like it.”

Herbie climbed down the ladder and breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Does this mean I still have a job at Blakely?” he asked her hopefully.

The principal took a cupcake from Kylie and dug in. “Try to keep the lights on,” she said with a wink and walked off to join the rest of Blakely in the fest activities.

“That was a close one!” Lexi said. “I don't wanna know what would have happened if you hadn't gotten the snow working.”

Herbie shrugged. “I never doubted it for a second. Well, maybe just one second.”

Monday couldn't come soon enough for Delaney. She'd worried all weekend that no one would vote for her, even though her friends assured her she had done an amazing job at the debate.

When she got to school, there were big ballot boxes in the hallway with slips of paper next to them. Her name and Olivia's were listed on the slip, each name with a box next to it to check off. Delaney was going to put a check next to her own name, but then she hesitated. Olivia had been so nice that it was the least she could do. She voted for her and cast her ballot.

Mr. G had promised they would have the results tallied by last period and would make an announcement over the loudspeaker. Delaney anxiously stared at the clock. It was nearly three, and school was almost over for the day.

Suddenly, the speaker sprang to life. “Students, faculty, this is Mr. Gatlin. May I please have your attention for a very important announcement.”

Delaney glanced nervously at Sophie, who was seated a row behind her in math class, nibbling her nails.

Mr. G rattled off the names of the third- and fourth-grade class presidents before saying, “And this was a very interesting race for fifth grade.”

What does he mean by “interesting
”
?
Delaney thought to herself. She wished she could just hit Fast-Forward and be far, far away from this moment. It was too nerve-racking to bear!

Mr. G continued: “I would like to congratulate…”

Why was he pausing? Why couldn't he just spit it out? Didn't he know
everything
depended on his next words?

“Our new fifth-grade co–class presidents, Olivia and Delaney!”

Delaney was shocked. Co–class presidents? What did that even mean? Mr. G must have read her mind. “We had a tie between our candidates. They each had the exact same number of votes. So for the first time in Weber Day history, we are having two class presidents who will work together.”

Delaney remembered how she had cast her vote for Olivia. What if she had checked off her own name instead? Would that have made the difference and broken the tie?

“Congrats!” Sophie squealed, hugging her. “That's amazing!”

Delaney didn't know what to say. It didn't feel all that amazing. It felt like she hadn't really won—not if someone else hadn't lost.

When the end-of-day bell rang, she went to her locker to grab her jacket and bag. Everyone was patting her on the back and congratulating her. Olivia was having the same reaction at her own locker, but she snuck away to give Delaney a hug.

“I can't believe it! We
both
won,” she said.

“Yeah,” Delaney replied. “Cool.”

Olivia looked puzzled. “You don't seem very thrilled about it. I thought you really wanted to be fifth-grade president.”

“I did—and I do. But copresidents? There's no such thing. The president of the United States doesn't have a copresident.”

“Oh,” Olivia said. “I see. You don't wanna share the job.”

Delaney realized she might have hurt Olivia's feelings. “It's not that…”

“It is,” Olivia continued. “But it's a really big job, Delaney, and I'm glad I have someone like you to share it with me.”

Now it was Delaney's turn to be confused. “You are?”

“Of course! You care so much about the arts, and I care so much about sports. We're the perfect team. We'll make sure it's fair for everyone.”

She did have a point. What did Delaney really know about the soccer team needing uniforms or nets? And what did Olivia know about what art or drama supplies were lacking?

Mr. G found them both in the hall talking. “It's nice to see our two presidents already conferring,” he said. “I hate to break this up, but Delaney has her play rehearsal after school.”

With all the stress over the election, Delaney had almost forgotten she was playing Julius Caesar—and the show was less than two weeks away.

“I hope you know all your lines,” Mr. G said. “I'm no Shakespeare, but I worked really hard on the script.”

Delaney remembered what had made her want to run for president in the first place. “Hey, do you think we could have our first presidential meeting with the school administration tomorrow?” she asked her teacher.

“I don't see why not,” Mr. G replied. “I'm sure the vice principal and the dean would be delighted to meet the new student officers.”

She waited till Mr. G was down the hall to tell Olivia her plan. “I need your help,” she said quietly. “We need paint and costumes for our play, and Mr. G says there's no money left in the school budget. Help me convince the administration to pay for it.”

Olivia smiled. “I'd be happy to try. But what if they say no?”

Delaney raised an eyebrow. “Then I have a great backup plan.”

• • •

Vice Principal Ovietto and Dean Retter listened carefully the next morning as Delaney pleaded her case. “Our play looks ridiculous without the right scenery and costumes,” she insisted. “Can't we just find the money somewhere?”

Dean Retter sighed. “If it were only that simple,” he said. “We can't just pull funds out of thin air. They need to come from donations, allocations, fund-raising…”

“I thought you might say that,” Delaney piped up. “So I have a suggestion. We want to hold a bake sale tomorrow to pay for what we need for the play.”

“We're calling it ‘Sweets for Caesar,'” Olivia chimed in. “All donations will go to Mr. G's history-class play.”

Vice Principal Ovietto looked concerned. “It's very short notice.”

“Short notice is my specialty,” Delaney insisted. “I've made three hundred cupcakes in just one night. Trust me, this is nothing out of the ordinary.”

“All right,” she said. “If you want to try to raise money for your play, I'm okay with it. Just save me a cupcake.”

Olivia and Delaney left the vice principal's office and high-fived each other.

“Yes! We are so getting new togas,” Delaney said. “Pretty white ones!”

“How are you going to make enough cupcakes to sell?” Olivia asked. “You were just making that up about three hundred cupcakes in one night, right?”

Delaney put an arm around her co–class president. “Liv, I think you need to join my PLC team after school today. We may not have uniforms, but we have aprons.”

• • •

This time, Delaney made sure to write a list of ingredients and check it twice when her mom took her shopping at the supermarket. The club agreed they would donate the cost of making the cupcakes to Delaney's fund-raiser, and Jenna had come up with the two perfect flavors: Roman Ricotta Cheese Cupcakes and Brutus's Killer Carrot Cupcakes.

“I see you remembered the cheese this time,” Kylie teased her as she unpacked the groceries.

“Ricotta
and
cream cheese, check-check!” Delaney said.

As the girls began dividing the ingredients into piles, preheating the oven, and firing up the mixers, Olivia looked overwhelmed.

“You guys are so professional,” she said. “I can't even boil water.”

“But can you crack an egg?” Sadie asked.

“I don't know,” Olivia answered. “I've never tried.” Sadie handed her one, and with one quick motion, Olivia cracked it open over the bowl.

“Whoa, you're a natural!” Sadie said. “And you're not bad at beating the batter either.”

Olivia was having a blast, but her favorite part, by far, was delicately packing the cupcakes into the boxes so they didn't budge an inch. She made sure each box was sealed tight and tied with a pretty pink ribbon.

“I love your attention to detail,” Lexi complimented her. “Usually Jenna just slaps on a bow or puts the cupcakes in backward…”

“Do not,” Jenna bristled.

“Do so!” Lexi said, laughing. “I'm lucky if they're not upside down.”

“The only time I put them in upside down was when they were pineapple upside-down cupcakes,” Jenna replied, defending herself. “It made perfect sense.”

“To you maybe,” Delaney teased her. “To the rest of us they were upside down.”

To further illustrate her point, Delaney did a cartwheel in the kitchen. “Look at me! I'm an upside-down cupcake!” she joked.

Olivia laughed. “Are you guys always this much fun?”

Kylie shook her head. “Nope. We're usually very serious. Delaney never puts a chocolate mustache on her face. And Jenna never accidentally dumps flour on my head.”

“Wait? Is that a dare?” Jenna asked, waving a sifter in the air.

Kylie pretended to duck. “Kidding! I was kidding! No flour fights—my mom will kill us!”

After just a few hours, they had twenty dozen cupcakes baked, cooled, decorated, and packed for delivery to Weber Day. It was Lexi's idea to top them each with a laurel-leaf crown made of green fondant.

“That's so Caesar,” Delaney said approvingly.

She had done a few quick calculations. They needed about $500 to purchase fabric and paints. If they sold cupcakes for $2.50 each, that meant they had to sell two hundred to meet their goal.

“I made you an extra forty—just in case,” Lexi said, putting the finishing touches on the last box.

“Your club is really amazing,” Olivia said. “You're so lucky to have each other.”

Delaney noticed that Olivia sounded a little sad—or maybe the word was
lonely
.

“You must have tons of friends, Liv,” she said. “I mean, you're so smart and involved in school stuff.”

“I try to be busy,” Olivia replied. “But I don't really have a lot of friends. At least not best friends like you guys are for each other. It's why I wanted to be fifth-grade president—so people would want to be my friend.”

Delaney was shocked. Olivia was not at all the person she'd thought she was when they first met. She felt bad for desperately wanting to beat her. Instead, Liv was kind, considerate, and a good sport.

Delaney took Kylie aside and whispered something. Kylie nodded.

“So, Olivia, what are you doing this weekend?” Delaney asked her.

“Homework, I guess,” she answered. “Why?”

“Well, we have this huge order for a sixteenth birthday party with a Hollywood theme, and the birthday girl wants a giant Hollywood sign made out of mini…”

“We could use your help,” Kylie jumped in. “An extra pair of hands to help us bake and decorate and get everything packed up.”

Olivia blushed. “You mean that? You're not just saying it? You want
me
to help you guys?”

Delaney remembered how great it had felt when the girls all finally accepted her as a PLC member—like she was part of a team. “We mean it,” she said. “I have a lot of lines to learn for the play this weekend, so maybe you can help me with that too.”

Olivia smiled. “I'd love to. Besides, what are copresidents for?”