Katie Starting from Scratch by Coco Simon Page B

she does it?”
    â€œThat’s not what I mean.” Mom sounded frustrated. “I thought you and Emily were getting along so well. And then all of a sudden your attitude changed. You’re not talkative, you hide out in yourroom, and you’re not being especially friendly.”
    This was one of those conversations where deep down I knew Mom was right, but I didn’t want to admit it.
    Shouldn’t she know why my attitude has changed? I thought. Do I really have to explain it to her?
    So I shrugged. “I guess. I don’t know.”
    Mom hates when I do that. “Katie, can’t we talk about this? Or are you going to say ‘I don’t know’ every time I ask you something?”
    â€œI don’t know,” I said. Honestly, the words just slipped out.
    Mom put down her fork. I could see she was getting a little teary-eyed. “I just really want things to work out,” she said. “I like Jeff so much, and I was so happy to see you and Emily getting along so well. . . .” Her voice trailed off.
    Then I felt kind of bad. “Listen, I gave her a snack. I did what you said. What’s the big deal?”
    â€œJust promise me you can try to be nice, Katie,” Mom said. “You don’t have to like Emily. Just be nice, okay?”
    â€œI am being nice!” I protested, my voice getting louder. “Name one mean thing I’ve done to Emily. One mean thing.”
    Mom shook her head. “Never mind.” Momdidn’t say anything more, but in my head I came up with my own list. Leaving her alone when she was a guest in my house was kind of mean. Saying the Cupcake Club should take a vote on whether she got to help out qualified as mean in my book too. But I didn’t say a word.
    We didn’t talk anymore during dinner, which was awful. That almost never happened to us—at least, not before Mom started dating Jeff. So this whole thing was Jeff’s fault, I decided.
    But believing that didn’t make me feel any better. Not really.

    Normally, I would be talking to Mia about stuff like this. But for some reason I hadn’t. It was like I had closed off that part of myself. So I was kind of relieved when, the next day at lunch, we had Cupcake business to discuss instead of talking about personal stuff.
    â€œWell, the Channel Eight reporter is all set up for an interview the night of the talent show,” Alexis told us. “Her name is Mary Chang. She’s going to arrive at six, when you guys are setting up.”
    â€œWill we have time to do an interview when we’re setting up?” Mia asked.
    â€œSure,” Alexis said confidently. “Also, I checked,and there have been one hundred tickets sold for the talent show already. So we should probably make ten dozen cupcakes.”
    I was starting to feel nervous. “Alexis, it’s going to be crazy that night. Are you sure you can’t be there?”
    She nodded. “You know, that business club thing.”
    â€œThat’s weird,” Emma said. She had a twinkle in her eyes, like she knew something was up. “Ron DeMillo is in band with me, and he’s in business club too, and he said he’s going to be in the talent show. So I asked him how he was getting out of the business club thing, but he didn’t know anything about it.”
    â€œYeah, that is weird,” Alexis said, keeping a straight face.
    â€œWait, Alexis, are you lying ?” Mia asked—not in an angry way, but in a curious way. “Because you’ve been acting really strange about this whole talent show thing.”
    Alexis turned bright red. “I’m not lying. It is a business club thing—like, a special project I’m doing. You guys will be fine without me.”
    â€œYou know,” Emma said. “I was thinking that we could ask Emily to help us sell that night.”
    â€œThat’s a great idea,” Mia agreed. “We