Confectionately Yours #2: Taking the Cake! by Lisa Papademetriou

the firm. She was a paralegal back then, too.
    I remember coming home to find Dad and a beautiful young woman sitting at the dining table. Both were drinking from mugs and laughing over something one of them had said. I walked in, and the moment I saw Annie, mystomach dropped. I didn’t know why. I’d never had that reaction to a stranger before.
    Dad introduced me to Annie. She tried to be friendly, but I made an excuse and left. I guess they were working on a case. I never asked.
    Over a year later, Dad introduced me to his new girlfriend, Annie.
    I never mentioned that we had already met.
    Maybe Dad has forgotten that Annie came over. Maybe Annie forgot, too. But I think that they’re just hoping that I’ve forgotten. After all, it was just for a couple of minutes more than a year ago.
    I don’t even know if Mom would remember Annie. I guess I just never wanted to take that chance. I don’t know what she would think of it.
    I don’t know what I think of it.
    But I do know one thing: Mom saw me at a table with Dad, Chloe, and Annie, and Mom didn’t say hello. She left.
    I’m not sure what to make of that, either.

“C hlo,” I whisper into the darkness. “I’m sorry I snapped at you today.”
    “When?”
    “In the dressing room.” Sheesh, has she already forgotten? That’s so Chloe.
    “It’s okay,” my little sister says. The room is quiet for a few moments. Chloe and I share a bedroom. We usually lie in our beds and chat for a while before we fall asleep. Suddenly, Chloe asks, “How come you don’t like Annie?”
    The question lingers between us for a few moments while I try to come up with an answer. Right now, I can’t see her face. I wonder what she thinks I’ll say. Obviously, I’m not about to tell her that I think Annie may be part of the reasonour parents broke up. Or that I think she’s Dad’s prettier replacement for Mom.
    “Why don’t you like her?” Chloe repeats.
    “I’m asleep,” I say at last.
    “Come on, Hayley. She’s really nice.”
    “Do I have to like her just because she’s nice?”
    “Rupert says that you don’t like her because you don’t want to share our time with Dad.”
    “Is Rupert my therapist now?” Seriously, I’m starting to think that Chloe’s best friend is a little too smart for his own good. Did someone ask his opinion? He’s in third grade! What does he know?
    “But don’t you think that Dad is more fun with Annie around?”
    “Not really.”
    “So Rupert has a point?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Chloe sighs, and I stare at the shadowy curtains that turn the red neon from the tattoo place across the street into a rosy pink.
    “I like Annie,” Chloe whispers.
    I breathe in. I breathe out.
    The truth is, I like Annie, too. I mean, she isn’t someoneI would ever choose as my new best friend. But she is nice. And she means well. And she smells good.
    But I still don’t want her around all the time.
    Now I’m mad at Rupert.
    Why does he have to be right?

T he last bell of the day has rung and I’m on my way to watch Devon. I mean watch rehearsal . Of the school musical. Which Devon happens to be in.
    Totally different.
    Anyway, as I walk down the hall, I notice that people are smiling and chatting — there’s a weird energy in the hallway. I can practically feel the place buzzing, like a giant beehive.
    “Silver paper,” I overhear Ayesha Miller say.
    Alexis Toomey nods and grins. “But who —?”
    A certain pink-haired friend of mine is standing beside the double doors to the auditorium. She’s grinning and rubbing her hands together, like an evil genius whose plan is starting to fall into place.
    “Stop grinning,” I tell her.
    “I can’t!”
    “What did you do?”
    She grabs my arm and whispers, “I covered Ben’s locker in silver foil!” She giggles and adds, “And stuck red hearts all over it.”
    “Subtle,” I say.
    “He nearly fainted when he saw it,” Meghan says.
    “I’ll bet. Does he know it was