Alexis Gets Frosted by Coco Simon

“She’s in my science class. Some kid told the teacher.”
    â€œI wonder if she was sick . . .,” I said.
    â€œOr just scared!” cackled Mia.
    â€œDon’t even joke. I don’t want to be a mean girl. You know that. After all, I’d be doing to her just what she’s been doing to me, and look how bad it made me feel.”
    We were all quiet for a minute.
    â€œWell, let’s see if she has the sniffles tomorrow,” said Katie, quietly cutting dough on the counter.
    For whatever reason that got us giggling, and any discussion of Olivia was finally put aside. I did feel guilty, though, and I had been all day. I’d actually been looking for her at lunch, planning to apologize and just get the whole thing over with, but, as usual, when I want to see her, she’s nowhere to be found.
    The time passed slowly, and batches of dough went in and came out. Katie trimmed them carefully after they came out, to get rid of the puffiness they get from baking, then she laid them out on racks to cool. I was amazed by how she knew to do all this stuff and finally had to ask.
    â€œWell, my grandmother likes to bake, and we bake a lot together. Every Christmas we make a simple gingerbread house. And my mom is really good with her hands, you know, because she’s a dentist. Obviously, I kind of inherited that. Thegood with the hands part, not the dentist part. And then I went to that cooking camp and learned some stuff. And, you know, I watch cooking shows and go online to read about baking all the time. It’s just . . . a lot of the skills transfer from project to project pretty easily.”
    â€œCool,” I said, thinking it was the same with my business skills.
    Just then the doorbell rang, and it was the UPS guy. He handed me a package addressed to me, and I signed for it, wondering what it could be. Then I looked at the return address.
    â€œIt’s from my grandma! She found the pear dress!” I said, shaking the box and hearing something soft shift around inside. “I’ve got to run upstairs and hide this,” I said. And it was lucky I had, because when I came back down, my mom had arrived home from work and was chatting with my friends in the kitchen.
    â€œGirls, I’ve got some bad news,” she said, but she was smiling. “I’ve got to make dinner, so we’re going to need to close the bake shop for the night.”
    â€œBut, Mom!” I protested. “We’re right in the middle of it!”
    â€œI’m sorry, but I’m sure I speak for all moms everywhere when I say, it’s time for dinner, and it’stime for people to be doing their own homework at their own desks. Though I very much appreciate your friends helping you,” she said with a smile. “I’m going to run up and change while you clear this up.”
    â€œAargh!” I made an annoyed noise. “We’re almost done!” I said, but she didn’t even turn around.
    â€œHere, let me just trim this one, and you take that one . . .,” Katie said, switching the trays around, and then— crash! Just as I was taking it from her hands, a tray fell to the floor, and the large slab of gingerbread split into three pieces. It was totally my fault, although Katie began yelling “I’m so sorry!” at the top of her lungs.
    â€œNo!” I cried. “We don’t have time for error!” I dropped to my knees and lifted the tray back up. Biting my lip, I surveyed the damage. The others gathered around. “It’s totally not your fault, Katie,” I said.
    â€œYou can just make another one tomorrow, can’t you?” asked Emma.
    â€œNo! I need to be building tomorrow. Because Thursday is decorating, and it’s due Friday.”
    â€œI bet we can glue it back together with frosting,” said Katie. She looked at her watch. “You know what, I do have to get home because I