As if all that isn’t bad enough, Nigel and the other androids—including Sam and Simone’s—are now in a rusted pile in the middle of the room. The wave that thankfully stopped the fire transformed Nigel and the others into a corroded heap of metal.
While Christy and the crew make sure everyone’s okay, I search through the pile of robots for Nigel. When I finally find him, Bev hands me some butter to oil him so he can talk. I feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz trying to save the Tin Man.
“I’m sorry!” I tell Nigel. “I was so focused on stopping the fire that I didn’t think about how the wave might affect you!”
The gumballs in his head are floating inside the glass and Nigel can barely move his mouth. “I told you stickers could be dangerous,” he whispers.
Craig paddles by in a muffin tin, using coffee stirrers for oars. “Nice going, Sticker Girl! For a minute there, I thought we were toast—which is a real downgrade for a cupcake.”
There must be drains in the floor of the soundstage because the water quickly subsides. For the first time, Christy doesn’t look like she’s stepped out of a magazine; with her running mascara and eye shadow she looks like a confused mannequin who just lost a fight with a fire hose. Sam and Simone climb out from their blockade of burgers to assess the damage.
My backpack starts to rumble, which can only mean one thing.
NO! NO! NO!
I open it to find the sheet of stickers is no longer empty. The ant farm, ice cream cone, lipstick, wave, baseball bat, kittens, calculator, and bracelet, as well as Nigel, are back in their assigned slots.
Every sticker except for Craig.
Who Shall Win?
“All the stickers are going back,” I tell Craig. “Are you leaving too?”
He tries to put on a happy face but I can see today took a lot out of him. “I have to,” he says. “I’ll see you again soon, Martina—I promise.”
I lift Craig out of the cup and nuzzle him against my cheek. “Even when things go wrong, it’s always great having you here.” Before I get to say another word, he’s gone—returned to the sheet of stickers.
I wipe the remaining bit of Craig’s buttercream frosting from my cheek. All the stickers are now back on the sheet, safe and sound.
Bev pulls me aside and asks if I’m okay.
I nod yes, but my insides tell me no.
It’s only Christy clapping her hands to get our attention that brings my focus back to the room.
“The sprinkler system finally went off!” Bev says. “Everything got soaked!” She gestures to the sprinklers lined up across the ceiling.
Sam and Simone give up trying to rebuild their In-N-Out display and turn their attention to their robot.
Christy takes a deep breath and motions for Toni to start filming.
“You want me to call makeup first?” Toni asks.
“No,” Christy replies. “We’re keeping it real today.”
When Toni’s ready, Christy begins. “It seems today’s challenge turned into a fight between a fire and our sprinkler system. The question is, how do we choose today’s winner amid all this mess?”
Winning is the last thing on my mind; I just lost my stickers! But Mike and Scott begin chanting, “BOTH TEAMS WIN! BOTH TEAMS WIN!” Soon the entire room joins in.
Christy holds up her hand to quiet the troops. “I suppose it’s POSSIBLE that both teams earn a prize—although that’s never happened on this show before. But this round of Cupcake Challenge seems to be full of firsts.”
She looks at one of the producers, who nods and points to the curtain at the back of the room. Has the show’s prize been behind there all along?
When Christy pulls back the curtain, we’re all shocked to see a cupcake ATM!
Several kids rush to the machine and start ordering cupcakes using the touchscreen.
“That’s right,” she says. “A Christy’s Bakery ATM for your school, your community center, or even your living room if that’s where you want it. Stocked weekly with twelve different flavors of Christy’s cupcakes.”
Mike and Scott are going bonkers, pressing buttons and planning where in our school the ATM will go. But Bev looks at me and shakes her head. It’s nice having someone else besides Craig know what I’m thinking. Stickers may have gotten me into lots of trouble this year, but they’re also one of the reasons Bev and I are BFFs.
“You KNOW where our ATM is going,” Bev says.
After all this worrying, I might be able to help Dad’s business after all.
With Sprinkles on Top
It turns out Dad’s meeting that kept him from coming to the finale went well and his loan was extended so he’s as thrilled as we are. Bev and I count the days until the cupcake ATM gets delivered.
When it finally is, we’re shocked when the person sent to train us on the new machine is Debbie. She’s happy to see us, and it’s funny to watch Eric stammer and sweat as she shows us how to use the cupcake ATM. But since he volunteered to help me when I needed it most, I decide not to tease him.
Dad is thrilled to see Debbie, glad about the loan, and excited by the ATM; the only thing holding him back from one hundred percent happiness is how much he misses Nigel. “He didn’t even say goodbye,” Dad complains. “This place feels empty without him.” I tell him the robotics lab was shipped to another school but my explanation barely makes a dent in Dad’s sadness. Thankfully the diner is swamped with new customers ordering Christy’s famous cupcakes—not in Beverly Hills but right here in the San Fernando Valley. The line at the diner isn’t as long as the one at her bakery, but in time, who knows?
While people wait to use the cupcake machine, they also order Dad’s dishes and Eric’s fancy coffees. He even perfected a foam cupcake he can steam into your latte if you ask him.
Bev heard that Sam and Simone asked their school if they could install their vending machine on-site so their ATM is outside their cafeteria. Sam covered the entire machine in blue origami paper and Simone rigged up a vapor system so the hallway always smells like fresh-baked cupcakes.
Even after sharing these stories, Bev doesn’t complain once that our ATM prize is at the diner, not school. One thing you can say about Bev—she is a VERY good friend.
The Cupcake Challenge webisodes finally get posted and I’m both nervous and excited. The comments on the site are mostly positive—thankfully!—noting how hardworking and creative the four of us are. If I had to guess, I’d say Sam and Simone might be the viewers’ favorites, so maybe it’s a good thing the finale was a tie after all. Seeing all those cupcakes stacked with Craig’s buttercream face on our side of the TV kitchen makes me miss him even more.
Ms. Graham gives us less and less homework as we head toward summer, which is good because Mom, Eric, and I spend every extra minute helping Dad. He keeps saying it’s not HIS diner, it’s the family business, and it sure is starting to feel that way. Last night Mom was behind the grill with Dad—like when they first met—while Eric and I took turns watching James in between waiting tables. The night was fun-busy, not stressful-busy. Or maybe I’m just getting better at juggling the different parts of my life.
On Saturday, I sit on the back steps and watch James play in his sandbox. His castle is nowhere near as good as the kittens’ but he’s having a great time, which is kind of the point. When he brings out a bat and softball later, I tell him I don’t want to play. Without the magic bat, I doubt I’ll be able to hit the ball once. But James’s enthusiasm is contagious so I pick up the bat and get ready for his pitch.
THWACK!
Even with James’s weak throw, I hit the ball straight on, sending it over the fence, just like I did when I used the bat from my sticker sheet.
Who knows? Maybe
has some magic powers of her own.
Other books by
Janet Tashjian
The Marty Frye, Private Eye Series:
The Case of the Missing Action
Figure
The Case of the Stolen Poodle
The Case of the Busted Video Games
The Einstein the Class Hamster Series:
Einstein the Class Hamster
Einstein the Class Hamster and the Very Real Game Show
Einstein the Class Hamster Saves the Library
The Sticker Girl Series:
Sticker Girl
Sticker Girl Rules the School
The My Life Series:
My Life as a Book
My Life as a Stuntboy
My Life as a Cartoonist
My Life as a Joke
My Life as a Gamer
My Life as a Ninja
My Life as a Youtuber
Multiple Choice
Tru Confessions
About the Author
Janet Tashjian is the author of Sticker Girl and Sticker Girl Rules the School as well as the popular My Life series—including My Life as a Book, My Life as a Stuntboy, My Life as a Cartoonist, My Life as a Joke, My Life as a Gamer, My Life as a Ninja, and My Life as a Youtuber—and the Einstein the Class Hamster series, both illustrated by her son, Jake Tashjian. Janet lives in Los Angeles, California.
Visit her online at janettashjian.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Here We Go Again!
A New Plan for Our Class
An Odd Bracelet
Student Council
Meow
Come out, Come out, Wherever You Are
A Cupcake Diva
All Systems Go
I Get to Bake!
The Bake Sale
Getting Camera Ready
The Other Contestants
The Secret Ingredient
Dad’s New BFF
An Old Family Recipe
Helping Hands
Money Problems
Batter Up!
Too Hot to Handle
Who Shall Win?
With Sprinkles on Top
Other books by Janet Tashjian
About the Author
Copyright
Text copyright © 2018 by Janet Tashjian
Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Inga Wilmink
Henry Holt and Company, Publishers since 1866
Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 • mackids.com
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Control Number 2018936459
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eISBN 9781250196484
First hardcover edition 2018
eBook edition October 2018