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it’s all over, you can come clean to Isabel. I mean, what are the chances that the first audition you get called for is their cupcake shop’s biggest competitor? It’sso crazy it’s almost funny. I bet you guys will laugh about it.”
    She’s made me feel so much better. I’m not an evil person. I’m not! No Darth Vader costume for me after all. “Thanks, Lily.” I open the door, and the little bell above it rings. “Come on, let’s go eat.”
    We step in, and the first thing I notice is how empty the place is. We’re the only ones here.
    Isabel’s mom, Caroline, walks up to the counter. “Sophie! What a wonderful surprise!”
    â€œHi! How are you?”
    She waves her hand around. “I’d be better if I had a few more customers. But we’re fine. Happy about Isabel’s win, of course.”
    I nod and catch Lily out of the corner of my eye, scanning the case of cupcakes. “Oh, this is my friend Lily. We went to theater camp together.”
    Caroline smiles at Lily. “Nice to meet you. Is this your first time at our shop?”
    â€œYes. And they all look so good. It’s going to be hard to decide.”
    She lists the flavors, pointing to each one in the case as she does, but I don’t hear anything past thefirst one: Rocky Road. I know instantly, as soon as she says it, that’s the one I want.
    While Lily tries to decide which flavor she wants, Caroline looks back at me. “Would you like me to call Isabel? See if she wants to come down and sit with you girls?”
    For some reason, the thought of seeing Isabel in this empty cupcake shop makes me squirm a little bit. “Um, I think we’re actually going to get the cupcakes to go. Right, Lily?”
    She gives me a strange look, because that wasn’t really the plan. “Oh yeah, right.”
    â€œWe have stuff to do at home,” I explain. “But tell her I said hi, okay?”
    She smiles. “Sure will.” She turns to Lily. “Okay, what’d you decide?”
    â€œI’m going to try the Raspberry Dazzle. It sounds delicious.”
    Caroline grabs a pair of black tongs and a little box and reaches into the case to get one of the raspberry cupcakes. I wonder what they do with the ones they don’t sell. Do they throw all of them away? It makes my chest ache just thinking aboutall of those beautiful cupcakes going to waste.
    â€œWe’ll need a bigger box,” I tell Caroline as I reach into my coat to get my wallet. “I want to take home one of each kind.”
    There goes all of my allowance, which I was going to use for Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Hopefully I can convince my mom to pay me back. I mean, I couldn’t go home with only two cupcakes, could I? That’d be totally rude. And how am I supposed to know what flavor they might like?
    One of each is the only solution.
    And I sure am good at talking myself into things.

Chapter 14
old-fashioned chocolate cream pie
NOTHING BEATS IT
    T he week of Thanksgiving all the kids are ready for a break from school, while the teachers make it their mission to cram five days of learning into three. By Wednesday, I’m ready to eat turkey and mashed potatoes until I can’t move, lie around, and do nothing all weekend.
    First period, I’m counting the hours until the final bell rings.
    â€œOkay, class,” Mr. Leonard says as the bell rings, “I’m going to pass your gum experiment papers back to you now. Please pair up with your partner, so you can see my comments and discuss what you might do differently next time. I’d also like everyone to write a paragraph or two about what you liked and didn’t like about this particular experiment. It’s due at the end of class, please.”
    Dennis comes over and sits down.
    â€œThink we got an A?” he asks.
    â€œI hope so. Otherwise, you’re in trouble.”
    He