Cupcake

Turned out I didn’t have to call Toni—she was at my house when I parked in the driveway. With everything that went down, I’d completely forgotten about inviting her to come over and see my dress, which was supposed to be delivered today.

“So he surprised you at your locker and kissed the heck out of you?” she said after I told her what happened. At my nod, she smiled. “Was it any good?”

“Oh my gosh, Toni,” I said. “How can you even ask that? It’s been at least twenty minutes, and I can still feel his lips on mine.”

She shook her head. “I can’t believe it.”

“Well, it’s true. You asked before, and now I can tell you without a doubt: Rhys is a phenomenal kisser, possibly number one in the universe.”

“That’s not what I mean,” she said, ignoring my gushing. “I just can’t believe you rejected him.”

“I didn’t,” I said, “I just asked for more time. That’s not a no, and I really did want to say yes.”

“Then why the hesitation?” Toni said. “You’re into him, and he’s obviously into you. I’m all for playing hard to get, Ariel—it makes the asker have to work a little, and I’m one hundred percent for that. But if you want Rhys, why put him off like this?”

My face fell. “I don’t know.”

“Well, what made you doubt his intentions in the first place?”

Her question brought me up short, and instead of feeling elated like I had a moment ago, I suddenly felt down. The worst part was that I didn’t know why. I couldn’t tell Toni my reasoning because I didn’t completely understand it myself.

“Let’s table this discussion for now,” Toni said and threw an arm around my shoulders. “I’m here to see your dress, not talk about your make-out session with the hot quarterback. But I want to hear all about it, every little detail, whenever you’re ready to talk.”

I wrapped an arm around her as well. “Sounds good,” I said.

“Plus, your mom is probably in there waiting for us.”

Mom was indeed sitting on the couch with a package in her lap. At first glance, the box looked harmless enough. It seemed a little compact for the dress I had ordered, but what did I know about these things?

“Hey baby,” she said, frowning as she took in my face. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” I said. “It’s all good.”

“Did something happen at school?”

Just my first kiss.

“Not really,” I said—then figured what the heck? Mom and I told each other everything, and Toni already knew. “Actually, Rhys kissed me today,” I added.

“He did?” Mom’s eyes went wide. “And?”

“Oh Mom, it was…” I sighed. “It was amazing, better than the best dessert and movie combined.”

“Those are strong words,” she said and then tilted her head. “But why do you look sad?”

Toni jumped in as I shot her a pleading look. “Yes, the kiss was awesome, the best ever, blah, blah, blah. He asked her out, she said she wanted to think about it, and she’s having deep thoughts. It’s a whole thing,” she explained. “But right now, she’s going to model this dress for us. Right, A?”

I gave her a nod of thanks then turned back to Mom. She was gazing at me with a question in her eyes. But thankfully, she didn’t ask.

“If you don’t feel like doing this, it’s okay,” she said, gesturing to the box in her hands.

I shrugged. “Let me just get a cake started. I’m making one to practice for the bake-off. It shouldn’t take long, and then I’ll move on to the dress.”

It only took me seven minutes to get all the ingredients mixed and set up in the oven. That was pretty good. Timing was a big component of competitive baking, so I liked to stay fresh.

When I went back to take the dress from Mom, she gave me an encouraging smile.

“This will probably help get my mind off things anyway,” I said, trying to convince myself it was true, “and I guess I have to try it on sooner or later.”

“Sooner’s always better,” Toni put in.

“Especially when you’re dealing with online stuff,” Mom added.

“Well, there you go,” I said. “I’ll just take this into my room, put it on, and give the dress a test run.”

Mom nodded and held out her phone. “I’m ready for pictures when you are.”

Ugh.

Five minutes later, I had opened the box, and as it turned out, I was wrong. It wasn’t just the box that was too small. It was the dress itself.

“Mom, Toni,” I called, “can you guys come in here?”

Their footsteps sounded seconds before my door opened, and they walked into the room, stopping on either side of me.

“Do you need help with the zipper?” Mom asked, but her words trailed off as she stared at what lay on my bed. “What’s that supposed to be?”

“My dress for Homecoming,” I said.

Mom and Toni leaned in to have a closer look. Sure, it was black, and it vaguely resembled some form of clothing, maybe a petite shirt. But those were the only similarities to the dress I’d ordered and the scrap of whatever-it-was that was delivered.

After a beat, Toni said, “It looks like it’s child-size.”

“That’s what I thought, too.”

But Mom shook her head. “No…but it does look pretty small.”

“Yeah,” Toni agreed. “Who do they expect to wear that? An Oompa Loompa?”

“Not me.” I bent down and held up the dress to my side. “I couldn’t even get one arm in there, let alone my entire body.”

We took another minute to frown at the so-called “dress.”

“You checked the size before you ordered, right?” Mom said.

“Of course I did.” I pulled up the receipt on my phone and showed it to Mom. “It said made in China, but I figured a lot of our cups and other things are made there, too. Plus, it was on sale and such a good deal.”

“Oh baby. Lesson one of online shopping: Asian sizes are totally different from the ones in America. They’re even smaller than in the UK.”

“Apparently,” I muttered.

Mom shrugged as she took the dress from my hands. “Well, the material seems stretchy. Maybe with some Spanx? Do you want to just try it and see?”

“Mom. If by some miracle I was able to squeeze this”—I gestured to my body—“into that dress, I’d burst out of it in two seconds like an overstuffed piñata. Only what popped out wouldn’t be candy and would most likely get me suspended.”

Toni tried to hold back her laugh, but she couldn’t.

“I’m sorry,” she giggled. “But the visual of cupcakes going everywhere just got to me.”

I scoffed. “It’s not funny, Toni.”

“I know, I know,” she said, biting her lip. “Sorry.”

“That is fifty dollars I’ll never get back,” I pointed out.

“Maybe with Spanx,” Mom muttered again.

I shook my head. “Give it up, Mom. It’s a lost cause.”

“I guess you’ll have to go to Homecoming naked then,” Toni commented and did the same weird wink/shimmy/kiss combo from earlier. “I’m sure Rhys would enjoy that.”

“Toni, please,” I said as my face flooded with heat.

Mom sniffed. “Well, this won’t do. We’ll just have to go shopping for another dress. My baby isn’t showing her cupcakes to anyone, not if I have anything to say about it.”

After her declaration, it was silent—but a beat later, the three of us burst out laughing. The tension in my shoulders eased. The laughter didn’t stop for at least a few minutes, and it felt so good that I sighed.

“Don’t worry.” I gave Mom’s shoulder a pat. “I’ll keep my cupcakes to myself.”

“You better,” she said.

My smile dimmed a bit. “Ms. Weaver is supposed to take us to the mall this week anyway. In the itinerary, she calls it a shopping day with the girls. Most of them already have their outfits, so it’s just for ‘fun.’ I was going to fake being sick, but I guess I’ll go, see if I can find anything.”

Mom clasped her hands together. “Oh, that sounds wonderful. I’m sure you’ll find a dress. Send tons of pics, so I can pretend I’m there, too. Any other Homecoming activities on the horizon?”

“Well, tomorrow we have the parade,” I said with a shrug.

“What’s that?”

Toni smiled. “It’s where the royal court walks the hallowed halls of HHS, and all of us plebeians stand there, gazing at them and cheering as they pass by. Usually, it’s pretty boring, but I have a feeling it’s going to be awesome this year.”

“Or embarrassing,” I said.

“I’m going to cheer so loud, A.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

“You better prepare yourself.”

Mom and Toni kept talking about the parade while I went to the kitchen. My upcoming vlog features would include some of the around-the-world movies and desserts I’d been planning, and that made me think of Rhys. He’d been there when I got most of these ingredients. Our conversation and kiss from today ran through my thoughts over and over. Part of me was nervous about seeing Rhys again. But the other part was so excited I nearly burned the cake I was baking.

I tried not to see that as a sign.

…

It was bound to happen.

I was actually surprised it took this long for me to hear something.

Right when they announced that I’d been nominated to court, I knew someone would have a problem with it. I just hadn’t realized how much their words would affect me.

Standing next to my locker, trying to get my mind right about the parade and being stared at by everyone in school—something I’d had nightmares about if I were being honest—I was just about to go meet the others when voices floated to me from a nearby classroom.

“I can’t understand how Cupcake was nominated,” a feminine voice said. “I mean, she acts nice and all, but this has to be a prank. Right?”

Taking a few steps closer, I peered around the corner. The classroom door was wide open. Two girls and two guys were inside, standing in a little square, and one of them was Lana. She hadn’t been the one who spoke, though—that was the girl standing next to her. I realized this as Kendall added, “The sad part is she thinks it’s real. How pathetic.”

Kendall and Lana were besties like Toni and me. The main difference: Kendall was catty and not in a harmless way. We’d gone to school together for years, and everyone knew Kendall always went for the jugular.

“You can’t say that, Ken,” Lana replied. “She’s on the Court. People voted for her. It was legit.”

Kendall studied her nails. “Who in their right mind would look at that girl and think Homecoming Queen?” She laughed. “Absolutely no one. She stole that spot from someone who deserves it.”

Desmond Cox lifted one of his brows. “Like who, you?”

“Obviously,” she said. “Or even your girlfriend, Des—though I think her big butt might’ve gotten in the way.”

“Shut it, skank. My girl’s assets are on point.”

“But if Cupcake was nominated, I guess she could’ve been, too.”

“She would be pretty,” Carter Rollins, the other guy in the room, said, “if she exercised and lost some weight.”

Like I hadn’t heard that one before.

I rolled my eyes, though none of them could see. It would probably shock them to know I walked on the treadmill four days a week and ate healthy despite all the baking. Some people were just bigger-boned and had lower metabolisms. It didn’t make them unhealthy.

Lana sighed. “My only gripe is she gets to partner with Rhys—”

“Poor guy,” Kendall put in.

“—and everyone knows he’s the front-runner for king,” Lana finished.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Desmond said. “Just because the prince wins doesn’t mean his princess does. People don’t vote for the couple.”

“I know.” Lana nodded. “But I’m still nervous.”

“Why?” Kendall said. “You’re running against two girls who aren’t as pretty as you and a pig. Again, poor Rhys. No one’s going to choose that over you.”

I winced at her words.

“You’re awful, Ken,” Lana said and shook her head.

“Thanks, it takes effort. Can we go now?”

As the four of them moved to leave, I had only moments to decide what to do. Part of me wanted to confront them. In my head, I could see it so clearly. I’d step out, block their path, and say:

Hey, I didn’t choose this. I didn’t even want to be on Court. But life threw me a curveball, so you know what? There’s going to be a curvy, plus-size princess. Get over it. And I don’t need to lose weight. You haters need to expand your definition of beauty and stop being so petty. Thank you, next.

That was how things should’ve gone.

Instead, I scrambled to the side, standing with my back to the wall, partially obscured by the lockers. Their footsteps echoed as they walked down the hall. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, frustrated by my own reaction. This wasn’t me, I thought. I didn’t hide. I wasn’t a coward.

Unable to stand it, I took a deep breath and pushed away from the wall.

“Hey,” I called. The four of them stopped, turning to look back at me. “I heard what you said.”

Kendall lifted a brow in challenge. “And?”

I gulped. “Well…there’s no need to be nasty. I’m a person with feelings just like you. And size isn’t everything, you know. Anyone can be a princess.”

Okay, so I’d been better, more fierce in my head. What else was new? But I still didn’t expect Kendall to scoff and roll her eyes.

Her tone was unrepentant as she said, “It’s sad that you think I actually care about your feelings. Almost as sad as you calling yourself a princess.”

I had no response.

“Get real, Cupcake.”

After they’d gone, I waited several minutes before forcing my feet to follow. That…wasn’t as satisfying as I’d thought it would be. I was no stranger to insults—they’d been flung at me since I was young, and I’d definitely heard worse. But no one should have to sit and listen to people bad-mouth them.

I shook my head.

Kendall hadn’t felt any remorse, and I hadn’t really expected her to.

But that was what I got for trying.

Note to self: stay away from jerks.