Read Online Katie and the Cupcake War by Coco Simon - Free Book Online Page B

stuff: my sleeping bag; a big duffel bag full of my clothes; my school backpack; four cupcake pans; four cooling racks; a box of stuff for the booth; and a Crock-Pot filled with veggie chili and a basket of corn bread, because Mom felt bad that Mia’s mom and stepdad had to feed us dinner again.
    â€œYou didn’t have to do this, Sharon,” Mrs. Valdes said as she and Mia helped us unload the car. “I know you’ve got so much to do these days.”
    â€œI don’t mind,” Mom said. “I wish I could help out more. Thanks so much for hosting the girls tonight and for letting Katie sleep over. Did you get the phone numbers I sent you?”
    Mia’s mom nodded. “We’ll take good care of Katie, we promise. I hope everything works out all right with your mother.”
    Mom smiled. “Me too,” she said with a sigh. “Thanks.”
    After we got everything into Mia’s house, I walked with Mom back to the car.
    â€œNow, don’t forget. Mrs. Wilson is going to bring you home after the fund-raiser tomorrow,” Mom reminded me.
    â€œI know,” I said glumly.
    Mom hugged me. “I love you,” she said. “Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.”
    I knew Mom was talking about Grandma, and that made me feel good. But Mom still didn’t really understand, or didn’t really care, how I felt about staying with Callie. That definitely did not feel okay.
    I went back inside, and Alexis and Emmashowed up a few minutes later. We all gathered in Mia’s kitchen. It’s nice and big, with an island in the middle, so it’s a good space to make a ton of cupcakes.
    â€œOkay, troops, it’s time for battle!” Alexis announced. “We’ve got a lot to do if we’re going to beat the BFC.”
    I saluted. “What’s the plan, General?”
    â€œFirst, we bake,” Alexis said. “While the cupcakes bake, we’ll make the icing. When the cupcakes cool, I was thinking you and Mia could ice them while Emma and I work on the aprons.”
    Emma held up a plain white apron. “I brought some fabric pens, so we can draw peace signs and stuff on them.”
    â€œAwesome,” I said. “I’ll start loading the cupcake tins.”
    Between the four of us, we had eight cupcake tins. I lined them up on Mia’s kitchen table. Mia came over with a paper bag.
    â€œLook what I found at that fancy bake shop,” she said. She pulled out two packs of cupcake liners with a tie-dyed pattern.
    â€œOh my gosh, they’re perfect!” I cried. “But wait a second. This is a fund-raiser, right? How are we paying for all this?”
    â€œWell, my mom and dad donated the baking supplies,” Emma said.
    â€œAnd my dad’s getting the milk,” Alexis reminded them. “We’ll have to pay for the aprons and cupcake liners out of our general fund. But I like to think of it as advertising. We could get a bunch of customers out of this.” Then she frowned. “Rats! I made a flyer for us to hand out, but I forgot to print it. Let me text my mom.”
    Pretty soon we were in our usual cupcake-making groove. We made a batch of batter in Mia’s stand mixer. We filled the tins. Then we made a new batch. We kept baking until we had two hundred and four cupcakes cooling on the table—that’s seventeen dozen!
    That’s when Mia’s mom came in. “I think it’s time you girls had a break,” she said. “Dinner’s ready in the dining room.”
    We washed up and then headed into the dining room, where the table was set for seven: the Cupcake Club; Mrs. Valdes; Eddie; and Mia’s stepbrother, Dan. Besides Mom’s chili and corn bread, there was a big salad on the table.
    â€œYou girls are busy bees in there,” Eddie said, and he started scooping the chili into bowls.
    â€œWe have sooo much left to do,” I lamented.
    â€œI think you girls