Truth Game by Anna Staniszewski Page A

tell Briana to watch the store for a minute. Then I peek my head into the kitchen, ready to retreat if need be.
    Chef Ryan is hunched over a four-tiered cake, a bag of icing shaking in his hands. I take a step forward and almost wipe out on a glob of frosting on the floor. That’s when I notice the frosting clinging to the walls and dripping from the countertops. What the Shrek?
    â€œIs everything all right?” I ask.
    Chef Ryan’s eyes shoot up at me. “Fine.” Then he scrunches his face up in concentration and goes back to shakily holding the icing bag over the top of the cake. “Who ever heard of a bee-themed wedding?” he grumbles.
    â€œBees?” I say with a shudder. As I inch closer, I see that Chef Ryan is covering the cake with tiny little flowers. Except they’re lopsided. And they have wings. “Wait, they’re having you draw bees on their cake?”
    Chef Ryan sighs in frustration and takes a step back. “Hundreds of them. I’ve been working on them for hours, but my hands are so cramped up that I can’t do any more. And the cake needs to be done tonight.”
    â€œMaybe I could help,” I say softly.
    He gives me a long look, and I expect him to shoot me down. So I almost die of shock when he nods in defeat and says, “Fine.” He wipes his free hand on his apron. “But I’ll be watching the whole time. Got it?”
    I nod. This is it. My big chance to show him what I can do!
    He ceremonially hands over the icing bag like it’s a crown. I carefully get in position and realize my hands are shaking with nerves. If I do this right, hundreds of people will see this cake. They’ll probably even take pictures of it and post them online! And if I mess it up… Well, it’s better not to think about that.
    I gulp in a breath and get to work. Slowly, I make one tiny bee, as similar to the ones on the bottom tier as I can. It looks like an ant.
    Chef Ryan sighs. “Maybe I should—”
    â€œNo, let me try to fix it!” I say. Then I carefully fill in the wings and round out the body. When I’m finished, I’m relieved to see that it looks more bee than ant. I glance at Chef Ryan, and he only nods. That’s all the encouragement I’m going to get, but it’s enough.
    I make another bee. And another. After the third one, I realize I’m barely breathing. No wonder my entire chest hurts.
    Finally, I get into a rhythm where I’m icing and breathing at the same time. And I have to say, the bees look pretty good! The wings aren’t quite as perfect as Chef Ryan’s, but they look like little insects. When I get to the last one, I even manage to give it a little smile.
    I step back, realizing that for a minute I actually forgot Chef Ryan was looming over me. When I glance at him, he’s looking back at me with an expression that’s totally unreadable. I guess this is what people mean when they say someone has a poker face.
    â€œWell?” I say. “Is it okay?”
    He gives it one more look, like he’s searching for flaws, and then he nods. “It’s okay,” he says. “Now get back out front.”
    â€œW-wait,” I say. “I was wondering about your plan for Angela Bareli’s cake, the little kid birthday one?”
    He sighs. “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”
    â€œBut maybe I could—”
    â€œRachel,” he says, his voice softening a little. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you have to crawl—”
    â€œBefore you can walk,” I finish. “I know, I know.”
    â€œNow get back to work,” he says, and the conversation is over.

Chapter 14
    Whenever I go over to Evan’s house, I dread Briana opening the door. This time when I ring the bell after dinner, it’s even worse. His mom is the one whose unsmiling face greets me in the doorway.
    â€œOh hello, Rachel,” she says.