Cupcake Wars! Read online

  For the other Angela (Lucey) – with thanks for everything ~ A M

  For cupcake lovers everywhere ~ D R

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 Cupcake Wars!

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  2 Pony Party!

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  3 Neighbourhood Watch!

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  4 Extracts!

  Copyright

  Angela’s class sat cross-legged on the carpet. This morning Miss Darling had something important she wanted to talk about.

  “Can anyone tell me what’s happening on Saturday March 21st?” she asked. “Yes, Tiffany?”

  Tiffany Charmers’ hand was up. “The Spring Fair!” she cried.

  “Well done, Tiffany,” said Miss Darling. “It’s the Spring Fair and we need lots of exciting stalls. We’ve already got a lucky dip, face painting and a toy stall, but what else could we have?”

  “A dinosaur stall,” cried the twins.

  “A Spiderman stall!” shouted Spike.

  “They’re both lovely ideas, but they might be difficult,” said Miss Darling. “Try to think of things we can bring into school or make ourselves. Jewellery or badges, for instance.”

  Angela had come up with a brilliant idea, something that was a certain winner. She turned to Laura and whispered it. But Tiffany overheard and raised her hand.

  “Yes, Tiffany?” said Miss Darling.

  “A CAKE STALL!” cried Tiffany, smirking at Angela.

  “That’s a marvellous idea!” said Miss Darling. “I’m sure we can make some lovely cakes with the help of your parents.”

  Angela looked daggers at Tiffany. A cake stall was HER idea. Trust Tiffany to steal it! She must have been earwigging as usual. She couldn’t stand anyone else winning praise, especially if it happened to be Angela. Tiffany always had to be top at everything.

  “Well, keep thinking,” said Miss Darling as the bell went. “And we’ll need lots of helpers to run the stalls, so I’ll be looking for vounteers.”

  Angela stomped outside to the playground. She was still hopping mad with Tiffany.

  “It’s so unfair!” she stormed. “The cake stall was my idea. Tiffany stole it!”

  “We’ll just have to think of something else,” said Maisie.

  Laura sighed. “Tiffany always gets her own way.”

  “Well, not this time,” said Angela. “We should run our own cake stall.”

  “But we don’t have any cakes,” Maisie pointed out.

  “So? We could make them,” said Angela. “My mum makes amazing cakes – ginger, lemon, chocolate fudge…”

  “Cupcakes!” cried Laura suddenly.

  They both looked at her.

  “Everyone likes cupcakes! And you could make loads of them,” she explained.

  Angela’s eyes shone. It wasn’t such a bad idea. They could make all different cupcakes – chocolatey, lemony, strawberry, banana-ey, even heart-shaped ones.

  Later on, Miss Darling drew up a list of stalls and took the names of the children who wanted to help. Some of the class had stalls in mind, while others were happy to help with anything.

  “What about you, Angela?” asked Miss Darling.

  “I’m running a cake stall with Maisie and Laura,” said Angela firmly.

  Tiffany stared. “YOU CAN’T!” she squawked. “I’m doing a cake stall. It was my idea!”

  “I thought of it first,” said Angela.

  “You did NOT!” cried Tiffany.

  “I did, you stole my idea!” said Angela.

  Tiffany pulled a face. “LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE!” she sang.

  “Girls, girls!” sighed Miss Darling, holding up her hands. “It really doesn’t matter who thought of it first. If you both want to run a cake stall, why don’t you do it together?”

  Tiffany stuck her nose in the air. No way was she working with that big-mouth Angela. Angela folded her arms. No way was she working with that snooty show-off Tiffany.

  “Very well,” groaned Miss Darling, giving up. “We’ll have two cake stalls at the fair. I’m sure they’ll both be a great success.”

  Tiffany smiled to herself. She knew whose cake stall would be the best.

  Angela narrowed her eyes. You wait, she thought. OUR cake stall’s going to be the star of the fair.

  When Angela got home she found her mum in the kitchen on her laptop.

  “Mum,” she said. “You know cupcakes – are they easy to make?”

  Mrs Nicely looked up. “Cupcakes? They’re not difficult. Why?”

  “Because I’m probably going to need a hundred,” replied Angela.

  “A HUNDRED?” cried Mrs Nicely. “What on earth for?”

  “The Spring Fair,” explained Angela. “Me, Laura and Maisie are running a cake stall – and it’s got to be better than Tiffany’s.”

  Mrs Nicely rolled her eyes. She might have known that Tiffany Charmers would be involved. Hardly a week went by without Mrs Charmers boasting about her daughter’s latest brilliant achievement. Well, this time Tiffany wouldn’t have it her own way.

  “And who’ll be making all these cupcakes?” Mrs Nicely asked.

  “We will – me and my friends,” answered Angela. “But we might need a teeny bit of help.”

  She threw her arms round her mum.

  “Go on then,” laughed Mrs Nicely. “As long as you help clear up and don’t leave a mess.”

  “I promise!” cried Angela.

  The following week, Angela’s friends came round for a baking session.

  “Right,” said Mrs Nicely. “I’ll help you bake the cakes and you can decorate them yourselves.”

  She showed them how to measure out the flour, butter and sugar, tipping the ingredients into a mixing bowl. Next Maisie and Laura cracked the eggs. Most of them went in the bowl. Then came the part Angela liked best – mixing with the electric whisk.

  “Be careful,” warned her mum. “Keep it on a low speed and don’t spill any.”

  “I won’t,” Angela promised. This was as easy as one, two, three! She turned on the whisk, but somehow the dial was on “high speed”. The whisk sprang into life…

  DRRRRRRR!

  “Not so fast!” cried Mrs Nicely, as Angela plunged the whisk into the mix.

  Suddenly thick goo was flying everywhere, splatting the work top and the walls.

  “TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!” screamed Mrs Nicely.

  Angela switched off the whisk and looked up. Laura and Maisie were dripping with yellow goo. Angela’s mum had a big blob of cake mix on her nose. She folded her arms.

  “Ooops!” said Angela.

  Mrs Nicely decided it would be safer to finish the mixing herself. Maisie and Laura spooned the mixture into paper cases, then the cupcakes went in the oven to bake. When they were ready, Mrs Nicely took them out and left them to cool down.

  “Right, I’m going to get changed,” she said. “You can start on the icing. I’ve left everything out on the table.”

  Angela inspected the cupcakes. Some seemed to have sunk in the middle or drooped to one side.

  “They don’t look very exciting,” she grumbled.

  “We haven’t decorated them yet,” Laura reminded her.

  “I think they’ll look great,” said Maisie. “I’m using pink icing.”

  “I’m using yellow,” said Laura.

  But Angela still wasn’t happy. She wanted cakes that would make Tiffany squirm with envy. But how to make them super-special? She eyed the bottles of food c
olouring and smiled.

  “RAINBOW CUPCAKES!” she cried.

  “Rainbow?” said Laura.

  “Yes, they’ll look fantastic!” said Angela.

  They began decorating their cakes. Angela blobbed on some red icing, then added a line of yellow, orange and purple. Arghhh! All the colours were running together in a big blobby mess! Maybe it would be less fiddly to mix up the rainbow icing in a bowl?

  Twenty minutes later, the cupcakes were finished. Maisie’s cupcakes were pretty pink, Laura’s were pale yellow while Angela’s were … hard to describe.

  “EWW! They look disgusting!” cried Maisie.

  “What have you done, Angela?” moaned Laura.

  “It’s not my fault!” wailed Angela. “They’re meant to be rainbow cupcakes!”

  It turned out that if you mixed lots of colours together in a bowl the result was a muddy messy brown.

  “What are we going to do?” sighed Maisie. “We’ve used up all the icing.”

  “At least ours look nice,” said Laura. “And I’m sure Angela’s taste better than they look.”

  Angela stared miserably at her blobby cupcakes. She could just imagine what Tiffany would say: “Oh, ANG-ER-LA, you are hopeless! What do you call those? Mud pies?”

  On the day of the fair, Angela and her friends arrived early to set up. Miss Darling showed them to one of the tables.

  “We certainly won’t be short of cakes!” she laughed. “You should see how many Tiffany’s made.”

  Angela set down her tins and marched over to inspect her rival’s work. Tiffany and Alice had arranged their cakes in four neat rows – pink, lavender, lemon and strawberry. Angela stared in disbelief.

  “CUPCAKES?” she howled.

  “Aren’t they just perfect?” smiled Tiffany.

  “But we’re selling cupcakes!” cried Angela.

  “No you’re not,” said Tiffany. “Cupcakes were my idea.”

  “They were not! You copied us again!” howled Angela.

  Miss Darling heard the argument and hurried over.

  “How are we getting on, girls?” she asked.

  Tiffany folded her arms. “Miss, tell Angela she can’t sell cupcakes,” she said.

  “And tell Tiffany we thought of it first,” replied Angela.

  Miss Darling was losing patience. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she said. “Everyone likes cupcakes and they can choose whichever they want.”

  “Obviously they’ll all want mine!” said Tiffany smugly.

  “We’ll see about that,” said Angela.

  “Anyway, people will be here soon,” said Miss Darling. “Let’s just get ready, shall we?”

  Angela stomped back to her friends. Tiffany was unbelievable! She must have heard their idea and copied them on purpose. It was obvious she hadn’t baked or decorated the cakes herself, either. They were so neat and perfect they could only be Mrs Charmers’ work.

  Slowly the school hall filled up with visitors. Maisie had set out their cakes in three rows – candy pink, buttercup yellow and sludgy brown. People stopped to look but moved on quickly when they saw Angela’s cakes. Lots of them went to Tiffany’s stall instead. After half an hour, Angela had sold one cake to her dad, and Maisie and Laura had sold just three between them. Meanwhile, Tiffany’s stall had an enormous queue that never went down.

  “It’s not fair!” grumbled Maisie. “Tiffany’s stealing all our customers!”

  Tiffany looked over and waved a five-pound note. Right, you asked for it, this is war! thought Angela. She picked up their price tag and crossed out “30”.

  “What are you doing?” asked Laura.

  “Beating Tiffany,” said Angela. “Just watch.”

  She climbed on to a chair and raised her voice above the noise.

  “Special offer! Buy your cupcakes here: ONLY 20p!”

  A girl stopped at their stall.

  “Twenty?” she said. “Tiffany’s charging thirty.”

  “I know – ours taste better, too,” said Angela. “How many do you want?”

  The girl bought two of Maisie’s pink cupcakes. Soon their stall was doing a brisk trade. Tiffany ground her teeth. But two could play at that game. She sent Alice to find her a chair to stand on.

  “Get your name on a cupcake!” she cried. “Only at Tiffany’s cake stall!”

  Angela frowned. “What’s she doing now?”

  “Writing people’s names in icing,” replied Laura.

  “Huh, big deal! Who wants their name on a cupcake?” scoffed Angela.

  “Looks like lots of people do,” replied Maisie.

  Tiffany’s named cupcakes proved a winning idea. Meanwhile Angela’s stall had sold all their pink and yellow cupcakes, but that still left dozens of muddy brown cakes that no one wanted.

  Laura sat down. “Face it,” she sighed. “Tiffany’s won.”

  “Laura’s right,” agreed Maisie. “No one’s going to buy these. They look like blobby monsters!”

  Angela stared at the rows of mud-coloured cakes. Actually they did look a bit like monsters. Her eyes lit up – maybe that was the answer!

  “Wait here, I’ll be back in a minute!” she said.

  Laura and Maisie looked at each other. What was Angela up to now?

  Soon she was back with a bag of Gummy Shapes from the sweet stall. Angela pushed a pair of pink teeth into one of the brown cupcakes. She added a gummy nose and two goggly eyes, then held it up.

  “Wow! That looks scary!” said Laura.

  “We’re not beaten yet,” said Angela, climbing back on to her chair.

  “Monster cupcakes! Make a monster cake!” she yelled, holding up the one she’d made. People turned their heads and laughed. The cupcake looked exactly like a goggle-eyed monster.

  Angela’s neighbour, Bertie, hurried over with his friends, Darren and Eugene.

  “I’ll have one!” he said. “Can we make our own?”

  “Help yourself,” said Angela.

  “Great,” said Darren. “My monster’s having three eyes.”

  “Mine’s got fangs!” said Eugene.

  The monster faces attracted crowds of eager children.

  “That’s the last one,” said Laura, serving a little girl.

  Maisie grinned at Angela. “Your mud pies were a big hit after all!” she said.

  When the fair drew to an end, they counted their money.

  “Almost twenty pounds!” said Laura.

  Looking up, they saw Tiffany marching towards them. She had red cheeks and a furious scowl.

  “Oh, hello Tiffany,” smiled Angela. “I’m afraid you’re a bit too late.”

  “Yes, did you want a monster face?” asked Laura.

  Angela giggled. “It’s okay,” she said. “I think Tiffany’s got her own!”

  It was Monday morning and Angela’s class had gathered together for News Time.

  “Now,” said Miss Darling when they were quiet, “who has some news they’d like to share?”

  “Ooh, Miss, Miss!” A dozen hands shot into the air. Angela waved her arm madly. In front of her, Tiffany Charmers was sitting up nicely and not calling out.

  “Yes, Tiffany, what’s your news?” said Miss Darling.

  Angela slumped forward. Tiffany, always Tiffany!

  “It’s my birthday!” said Tiffany proudly.

  “Oh, happy birthday!” said Miss Darling. “Is it today?”

  Tiffany shook her head. “No, it’s on Saturday. And guess what, I’m having a pony party at the stables.”

  Angela rolled her eyes. Everyone else had a party at their house or maybe at the swimming pool, but that wasn’t good enough for Tiffany. Angela bet that any minute she’d start talking about her pony.

  “I’ll be riding my pony – her name’s Princess,” boasted Tiffany.

  “Yes, I think you may have mentioned her before,” smiled Miss Darling. “Well, I hope you have a lovely party, Tiffany.”

  “I will,” said Tiffany. “All my friends are comin
g. I’ve got lots of friends.”

  Angela caught Maisie’s eye and raised her eyebrows. There was no way she’d be getting an invitation. Tiffany and Angela were not best friends – Angela often said they were best enemies.

  At break time, Angela sat on a bench with Maisie and Laura.

  “I see Tiffany’s handing out her invitations,” sniffed Maisie. “Sophie got one.”

  Angela pulled a face. “I don’t want one of her smelly invitations,” she said.

  “Nor me,” agreed Laura.

  “Me neither,” said Maisie. “I wouldn’t go to her party if you paid me a million, billion pounds.”

  “I wouldn’t go if Tiffany got down on her knees and begged me,” vowed Angela. “Who wants to go to a dopey pony party anyway?”

  To tell the truth, Angela had never been to a pony party so she wasn’t exactly sure what it involved. Did the ponies eat birthday cake, play games and wear party hats? In any case, Angela told herself, she didn’t care that she wasn’t invited – not one tiny little bit. Although come to think of it, it would be fun to ride a pony.

  Just then the birthday girl appeared, twirling towards them on tippy-toes.

  “Hello Ang-er-la!” cooed Tiffany. “What are you doing this Saturday?”

  Angela shrugged. “Seeing Laura and Maisie, I expect,” she said.

  “Oh, that’s a pity,” said Tiffany, “because I wanted to give you this.”

  She handed over a sparkly card decorated with stars and balloons.

  Angela opened it and almost fell off the bench in shock.

  Angela read the invitation again. Was this a joke?

  “You’re inviting ME?” she gasped.

  “Well, duh! That’s your name on the invitation,” said Tiffany. “But wait, you’ve never been riding, have you?”