Read Online 100 Days of Cake by Shari Goldhagen - Free Book Online Page A

going to be pissed.
    â€œI can’t go,” I say when I finally answer.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œI don’t feel well.” This isn’t really a lie. My head hurts, and my digestive system seems to be digesting itself. Plus, I still can’t breathe that great.
    â€œAre you kidding?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œCome on, Molly. Alex will be crushed,” she says, and I can hear just how disappointed she is too. “We promised— you promised—him we’d be there.”
    â€œYou can still go; you should go.”
    â€œAlone?” she scoffs. “Besides, he’s your friend. You’re the one he’s totally in love with.”
    Tears of frustration. That grapefruit bunched in my throat. I channel Dr. B.
    â€œThat’s his issue, not mine,” I croak. “Can we just drop it?”
    After a second she sighs. “Fine.”
    â€œWill you just tell Alex I’m sick or something?”
    â€œSure.” Her tone is softer.
    An hour later, when I’m still in the towel in the closet, Elle comes in.
    â€œYou didn’t go to the show?” I sit up and make sure I’m mostly covered, even though Elle has seen me naked amillion times in the locker room after swim practice.
    â€œI guess it’s not really our summer to party.” She shrugs. “Your mom said we should come down and try the cake.”
    I put on the dirty cutoffs and tank top, splash cold water on my face so I look less puffy, and we do.
    The cake part is very rich and weirdly sticky, but the fudge in the middle is pretty solid. Elle eats a good half of the cake herself, and Mom is practically glowing because I don’t hate it—even if I can’t seem to get it off my fingers.
    â€œCrazy good!” Elle is saying, reaching for another piece from the kitchen island.
    â€œI’m glad you like it.” Mom smiles. “Maybe it would be better in winter when you want something warm.”
    â€œYeah.” Elle shrugs. “Right now I kinda want to chop off all my hair.”
    She points to this cool braid that my mom has snaking around her head. “I wish I could do something like that.”
    â€œWe can definitely do that.” Mom touches Elle’s curls. “That would be really pretty, I think.”
    With fingers as quick as sewing machine needles (I’m guessing), Mom twists up Elle’s hair. She doesn’t even need rubber bands or spray or anything to keep it in place; she’s that good. She leaves a few spiral tendrils out around Elle’s face, which looks sweet and feminine. Elle practically squeals when she sees it in the mirror.
    â€œCan I do yours too?” Mom asks me.
    She used to do this for V and me all the time—try out new conditioning rinses or give us fun cuts from pictures we picked out of the magazines in her reception area, but it’s been forever. If it helps with the heat, I’m willing to try. So I shrug, and she goes to work on my head.
    As Mom finishes, Elle sucks in her breath. “Wow, Molly, you look amazing.”
    I blush, and when I go into the powder room to check it out in the mirror, I can see that it is nice. But it makes me look really different. Without the mouse-poop frizz all crazy, you can see a little more resemblance between me and Mom and V.
    Gingerly dotting the braid with my fingertips, I wonder if this is who I am.

DAY 21

Angel Food Cake with Cherry Sauce Topping
    A lex looks kind of like Joseph Gordon-Levitt. But he so doesn’t have JGL’s acting ability. It’s sparklingly clear that he’s really hurt that I didn’t make it to his show, but instead of just saying something about it like a normal person, he’s doing a comically bad job of trying to act as though nothing is wrong.
    â€œByrne in da house,” he calls out when I pull open the FishTopia door, even though no one has ever called me by my last name and he never uses hip-hop-y