Frosting and Friendship (15 page)

“So, can we come in?” Katie asks with a nervous giggle.

“Oh, sorry. Yes, please.”

Once they're inside, I take the bowl from Isabel and introduce them to Bryan. I explain that he came over early to set up the band equipment and then stayed to help me with the cake pops.

“Can we see them?” Isabel asks. She looks at Bryan as she says, “I bet they're perfect!”

He doesn't say anything, just raises his eyebrows and looks at me to answer.

My brain is scrambling, trying to figure out how I can get out of this awful situation. But there's no way out. The Baking Bookworms are here and the kitchen looks like a tornado has hit, and I know I have to tell them the truth.

“Follow me,” I say.

When we get into the kitchen, I set the bowl down on the counter and watch the three girls as they take in the sight of abandoned cake balls and empty sticks all over the countertops.

Isabel's mouth drops to the floor. “What happened?”

“Something went wrong,” I tell them. “I'm not sure what I did. All I know is the cake pops didn't turn out. I should have practiced making them first. I'm so sorry, you guys. I wasn't honest with you. I'm a terrible baker. I try and I try, and every time, something like this happens.”

They look horrified. It's like I've told them there are zombies trying to break down the front door. “So, we have no food?” Isabel asks.

“There's still time,” Bryan says. “We can run to the bakery.” He looks at me. “Can't we? Is your mom or dad here?”

“My dad's out of town and my mom's upstairs, sick with the flu.”

Now Isabel is the one who looks sick. “Lily, you have to do something. I've worked so hard to get people here, get a band, and all you had to do was
make a dessert. Sophie's party is ruined unless you think of something fast.”

The way she says it, like I had the easy part, makes me upset. “You asked me to cohost this party. To have it here, at my house. You've barely let me have a say in
anything
. I would have bought a nice cake and some other treats at the bakery, but you didn't think that was special enough. And then there's the band. Did you ever think about what it would be like for me to have to listen to another band play at my house? My friends are mad at me because you just had to have the New Pirates play at this party.” I take a deep breath. “I've worked so hard to make this party the best it could be. And you're saying it's going to be a failure because one thing didn't go right? Well, it's not going to be a failure. Sophie is going to have a great birthday party. Just wait and see.”

It's quiet for a few awkward seconds before Bryan claps his hands together and says, “Okay, you know what I want to do? I want to hang some streamers. It's, like, my favorite thing in the world. Come on, Isabel. You must have brought some streamers,
right? Let's go. Everything's going to be fine. Streamers will help. You'll see.”

I turn around and go to work cleaning the kitchen. Bryan's chatting up a storm with the other girls, trying to lighten the mood, as they go through the decorations Isabel brought along. We become robots, doing what we need to do to get the place ready. As I clean, I try to think if there's anything I can make quickly with the ingredients on hand. I check the flour and sugar containers and remember I used the last of our supply when I baked the cookies last night. And we don't have any cake mixes in the pantry, so whipping up a cake isn't a possibility.

As I pull out the containers of chocolate-chip cookies, I spy the pan of brownies Dad made last night. I have four dozen cookies and probably a dozen brownies. There's got to be something I can do with them to turn them into some kind of fun dessert. I think and I think, and then an idea comes to me. The question is, can I make it work?

I run upstairs to Mom's office and get a huge cardboard box she folded up and put in the closet. Before I go downstairs, I peek in and check on
her. She's awake and so I take a minute to tell her what happened, along with my latest and greatest idea.

“I'm proud of you, Lily,” she says. “I think it sounds fabulous.”

I run downstairs and cut one of the sides off of the box. Then I cover the large piece of cardboard with aluminum foil and set it in the middle of the dining room table. I line up the brownies from top to bottom to make a gigantic number one. Next to it, I put the cookies in the shape of a number three.

“Wow,” Isabel says behind me. “A sweet thirteen. It looks amazing, Lily.”

“Yeah. I made the chocolate-chip cookies last night, since they're Sophie's favorite dessert. It's kind of a fun creation, right?”

She softly says, “They're Sophie's favorite? Really? I don't think I knew that.”

I shrug. “One of them, yeah.” I continue. “We have lots of vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce. After Sophie blows out her candles, everyone can make a brownie or cookie sundae. Does that sound okay?”

She nods, and I see tears forming in her eyes. “I'm
really sorry. About everything. I wanted to show Sophie how much she means to me, you know?” She looks down and picks at her thumbnail. “I was afraid I was losing her to you. That's why I got the New Pirates to play and not your band.”

I stand there, my mouth gaping open. I can't believe she was worried about losing her best friend to me. I'm the one who's the outsider. The one who wants so badly to fit in with the Baking Bookworms.

“And I'm sorry I didn't say anything about my horrible baking skills,” I say. “I didn't want you guys to kick me out of the book club. I really want to be a part of it.”

“So, can we start over?” Isabel asks. “Put the stupid jealousy behind us and just be friends?”

I point to the number thirteen made out of brownies and cookies. “That's one thing I'm really good at,” I say, smiling. “Starting over.”

P
urple streamers twist and turn through the air, to the center of the dining room, where they gather at the sparkly chandelier. A dozen silver balloons, filled with helium, bob across the ceiling, with long, curly ribbons in a variety of colors streaming down from each one. We also hung strips of streamers in the doorways and other spaces throughout the bottom floor of the house, like curtains. It looks really cool.

The garage is decorated with streamers and balloons as well. And we moved an area rug from the basement to the garage, to make it feel more comfortable—less like a garage and more like a bonus room.

Mom came downstairs in her pink bathrobe to refill her water cup just as I was getting ready to go and change out of my grubby clothes and into my purple and black striped dress. The look on her face as she scanned the decorations and treats told me we had done a fantastic job.

Now Isabel and I are greeting kids as they arrive, taking their gifts and putting them on the coffee table in the family room. I totally forgot to get Sophie a gift. When I ran upstairs to ask Mom, who'd gone back to bed, if we had anything fun tucked away for emergencies like this, she told me the party is the best gift I could give her.

Bryan ran home to get ready and then returned with the rest of his band a little before seven. They're hanging out in the garage until we're ready to move the party out there. Zola hasn't shown up, so I figure Abigail must have called her and now I'm in double trouble. There's no time to worry about
it, though. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to figure out how to fix that mess.

As Sophie's friends arrive, Isabel is great about introducing me as she greets each person. One of her friends, Dennis, comes in carrying the biggest gift bag I think I've ever seen.

After she introduces us, Isabel asks him, “What'd you get her? A new television?”

He laughs. “No.” He looks around, then leans in and whispers, “It's this really awesome picture I took of her dog, Daisy. I blew it up and made it into a poster. Wait until you see it. It's the best gift ever, if I do say so myself.”

“Can I see it now?” she asks him.

“No, you cannot. The birthday girl has to be the first one to see it. She's particular about those kinds of things, you know.”

“She is?” Isabel asks.

“No,” Dennis says. “I just like saying that word. Particular. Don't I sound really mature when I say it?”

She points Dennis to the family room so he can put his gift with the others, and after he's gone, she whispers, “That's Sophie's almost-boyfriend.”

“Almost-boyfriend? As in, she likes him but he doesn't like her?”

“No, they both like each other, and they hang out all the time and talk on the phone and stuff.”

“So . . . they're basically friends?”

“Yeah. But the way she talks, sometimes I think she wants to be more, you know? So, he's her almost-boyfriend in my mind.”

I nod like I understand, but I'm not sure I really do.

Five minutes before seven thirty, I go through the house and shut off the lights. Then we all gather in the entryway.

“After Sophie rings the bell, Lily will go to the door,” Isabel explains to everyone. “She's going to open the door really wide, and when she does, I'm going to flip on the light. As soon as the light goes on, you all yell, ‘Surprise!' Until then, we have to be super quiet, so she doesn't suspect anything.”

“I don't think most of the girls here know what super quiet means,” I hear Dennis say.

A few people hush him.

We stand there quietly, waiting. My heart is pounding. Will she be surprised? Happy? Excited
to see all of her friends in one place? Thrilled to see all the colorful packages and the delicious food?

I hope so, I hope so, I hope so.

When the doorbell finally rings, I'm shaking so bad, I can hardly make myself move. It's even worse than when I got called up to be Chef Smiley's assistant. I don't know why I'm so nervous. As I reach for the doorknob, I take a deep breath. And then I swing the door open quickly, and as I do, the lights come on and everyone yells, “Surprise!”

Sophie squeals. Isabel and I jump out and we both say, “Happy birthday,” like we'd planned it, even though we hadn't. It makes us laugh and then Sophie is inside, hugging us and bouncing up and down because she's so excited.

I peek outside and see her mom wave. I wave back before I shut the door.

“I can't believe you guys did this,” Sophie says, her eyes taking in the curtains of streamers and all the smiling faces.

“So, you're surprised?” Isabel asks.

Sophie laughs. “More like shocked!”

We take her into the dining room and show her
my special brownie and cookie creation. “That's so clever,” she says. “How did you come up with that?”

I smile. “It's kind of a long story. I think I'll wait and tell you about it another time.”

“Well, I love it.”

Next we take her into the family room to show her all the gifts. Isabel says, “Lily and I have been working on this party for weeks. I was so worried you'd find out.”

Sophie is beaming. She hugs us again. “Thank you guys so much. You're the best friends a girl could have.” Isabel and I look at each other and smile.

“We're going to have brownie and cookie sundaes in a little while,” I say. “But first, we have another surprise. A really big one that Isabel arranged. Think you can handle one more?”

She claps her hands together. “I can't wait!”

I wish I could borrow a little bit of her excitement. I'm afraid seeing the New Pirates perform might make me even sadder than seeing all of the cake pops fall apart.

E
veryone follows Isabel and me out to the garage. When we go in, the band stops their warm-up. Sophie squeals, “Oh my gosh! You got me a
band
?”