Cupcake Catastrophe

Lucy's life is filled with drama. She is so desperate to have a talent that she messes up big time with her friends. Will Lucy find a way to make things right?

By Mahi Kumar on 12 April 2023

Chapter 1] As soon as her alarm rang Lucy jumped out of bed and got dressed into a cute pair of white jeans and a black turtle-neck top. She stared out through the window, gazing at the snowflakes drifting down. Next, Lucy pulled her long, black hair in a neat ponytail. Lucy put on her gold bracelet with a pearl and crystal pendant, admiring the light shining through. “Lucy” called Lucy’s mother."School bus is here”. Lucy sighed and replied, “Coming!”. Lucy slid down the stair bannister and raced to the kitchen where she plopped on a chair and tugged on some socks and grabbed a piece of toast. At the front door she tossed on some white heeled boots. She quickly pulled on her fur coat, and shrugged on her new designer backpack. On the bus, Lucy fumbled in her bag for her travel card and she stuck it in the scanner. Lucy made her way to the back of the bus where her BFFs aka Time to Cupcake was sitting. “That bag totally rocks!” Katie exclaimed “Yeah,” Ethel agreed “Totally” Betty chimed in.

Chapter 2] When they got to middle school, Principal McCally was standing by the gates, when he spotted them he hurried towards them “Ah” he said “Just the people I want to talk to".Betty, Katie and Lucy shot nervous glances at each other while Ethel strode boldly into his office with Lucy, Betty and Katie trailing behind. “So girls” he boomed “time to get by that cupcake business” Principal McCally chuckled as Betty, Katie and Lucy sighed in relief. The four girls had started a cupcake business called ‘Time to Cupcake!’. It had become very popular and was their talent and hobby. Katie was the reason they were still open. She was a gymnast and could crack a dozen eggs at once while sifting flour at the same time. Ethel was the icing genius. Ethel could whisk up the most complicated icing recipe in her sleep. Betty was a whiz at making candy cupcake toppers. Lucy always felt a bit left out. She would always end up creating a disaster when she tried something out of her comfort zone. Her mother called her multi-talented, but Lucy knew what everyone thought of her. A klutz.

Chapter 3] Lucy was given the job of mixing the batter. Everyone at Canterbury High appreciated their cupcakes but three spoiled girls. Belle, Sylvie and the dreaded Lauren. The only girls that the ‘Time to Cupcake’ girls considered friends other than themselves were Kylie Herrington, Mia Anderson and Sadie McTavish. Once in a while they helped with the baking and got free cupcakes. After Lucy pushed the thoughts away she heard Principal McCally tell them that he wanted 12 dozen cupcakes. “Expertly piped and decorated please,oh, and I would like them by next week” he said. The girls looked at each other. No one had the talent to pipe and decorate the cupcakes. “Sure!” Ethel answered in a squeaky voice.When the girls reached the cupcake HQ, Katie immediately demanded to know why Ethel had agreed. “W-well I thought that since Lucy doesn’t have a full talent maybe this could be her new talent?"" Ethel confessed. “Let’s try it out,” Katie offered. Everyone looked at each other then nodded. “Yahoo!” Katie cheered. “We’ll try out this warm caramel cupcake recipe, it will warm you up from the snow!” Minutes later, Lucy mixing flour, eggs, milk and sugar, Ethel was making a creamy vanilla buttercream frosting. Katie was lining the baking tin with cupcake wrappers while stirring brown sugar on the stove and Betty was pouring melted chocolate into home-made moulds.

Chapter 4] “Hey, guys?” Betty said doubtingly as everyone was doing their jobs. “You know that D.I.Y camp I went to last summer”. “Mmm-hmm” Ethel murmured, her focus still on the frosting. “ I met this girl there. Her name is Amy. She’s crazy good at baking and she is super kind. I had the best time with her at Camp Willow Creek too” Betty said. Lately, for the 2 week school holidays, Betty had been going to a lot of camps, and Camp Willow Creek was one of them. They had artistic activities and swimming competitions. Betty was literally addicted to swimming, and she’s glued to art. So it was a place with all of Betty’s favourite things in one area. “Ok” said Ethel, while carefully plopping in some drops of vanilla extract, “So?”. “I was wondering, maybe Amy could join the business and could help from time to time, but she’s all the way from Manhattan, so she won’t be able to help super often. Ethel’s eyes lit up at the mention of help. “Of course,” Ethel immediately agreed, her focus finally turning away from the frosting. “After all, 10 hands are better than 8”. Lucy really wanted to say no because this could’ve been Lucy’s last chance to find out her full talent, but instead, Lucy didn’t. She thought that her friends would think she was a great big meany-pants.

Chapter 5] The next day was Friday, lazy day, as Lucy and her mother called it. Once, every month, for dinner, they’d order The Cheese and Veggie Combo from their favorite pizza place, Slice of Heaven, they’d shove in a DVD, and munch on pizza while watching a movie. But on this lazy day, there was an unexpected guest. In the evening, the doorbell rang.”I’ll get it!” Lucy shouted. She opened the door, and there stood Lucy’s dad. He was holding 2 pizza boxes, and Lucy could tell from the logo that they were from Slice of Heaven.”Hey Lu!” her dad exclaimed as he gave Lucy a hug.”Umm, hey dad” Lucy replied awkwardly. Lucy’s parents had divorced a couple of years ago, and Lucy hadn’t seen her dad in ages. Her dad lived in New York, while Lucy and her mother lived in Connecticut. Suddenly, Lucy remembered that she hadn't even let her dad into the house."Sorry Dad. Come in", Lucy said awkwardly. Lucy raced up the stairs. It felt rude to just leave her dad in the sitting room like that, but it was important."Mum!" Lucy hissed."Yes?" her mum replied as she rubbed her temples."Did you invite Dad home?!" Lucy exclaimed. Her mum suddenly sat up."He's here?" Lucy's mum asked, flabbergasted. Her mum sighed and started to clear up papers on her table. She then went down the stairs and into the sitting room."Hello Maya" Lucy's dad greeted her mother."Hello Edward" her mother replied stiffly."Lucy, take this pizza upstairs with and watch a movie" her mother said. Lucy was stunned. She always had lazy day with her mum."Ok" Lucy replied. She took the pizza upstairs and placed it on the coffee table. She grabbed the DVD, Murder Mystery 2 and stuck it into the DVD player.