Willow's Boy-Crazy Birthday by Maria Franco

Author:Maria Franco
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 9781434297570, 9781623701956, 9781434297655, fiction, Stone Arch Books, Sleepover Girls, social issues/friendship, social issues/emotions & feelings, cooking & food, holidays & celebrations/birthdays
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2014-05-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

For all of the worrying I’d done about throwing a big party, I’d barely had any time to feel shy about it. By the time Friday afternoon finally arrived, we had no choice but to go full steam ahead. The Sleepover Girls had come over to help me get all of the last-minute stuff done and set up shop in the kitchen to make some tasty treats.

With just a few hours before Sophie and the Prickly Pair arrived for the campout, we were determined to make the most of them!

But there was one of us who wasn’t so keen on the whole cooking thing. “Can I just give moral support?” pleaded Maren. “I take after my mom. I’m about as useful in the kitchen as a bent spoon.”

We all giggled. “Sure, chica,” I told her. “So what if you’re domestically disabled? Your presence alone is delish.” And it was — without Maren’s witty remarks, we’d probably all go batty (Halloween pun intended) trying to get it all done.

The deal I’d made with my parents was that the four of us would make finger foods and desserts, and they’d do the “heavy lifting” in the kitchen (including a signature party drink and some other yummy treats). Sounded pretty reasonable to me, until we actually got started. I usually left the cooking to my parents, so I was a little clueless about what to do. Luckily, Ashley is from a huge Italian family who love to cook and eat. She is a pro when it comes to whipping up kitchen masterpieces.

She’d come prepared, too. “Just call me Martha Stewart,” she said, pulling on a frilly yellow apron that read “Top Chef-in-Training” in bright red letters. Leave it to Ash to look adorable, even when it was just us girls.

Our first order of business? Pumpkin cupcakes and fried mac-and-cheese balls. (Hey, the health factor goes out the window a little when you’re throwing a Halloween shindig.) We quickly got a good system going. Delaney and Ash were the cupcake queens, while I started to assemble the cheese balls. Once I had all the ingredients together in the pot, I even got Maren to help me stir it while I focused on other stuff.

Just as we were making some good progress, Winston burst into the kitchen, peeked his head over Maren’s shoulder, and tried to dip his finger into the cheese mixture.

“Gross!” Maren yelled with a big smile on her face. “Get out of here.”

But even as she said it, I could tell she didn’t really mean it. It was just too weird to see the two of them flirt all the time!

“I’m going. I’m going. In fact, I’m on my way out to play catch,” he said. “Wanna play?”

Maren looked at all of us, not sure what to say. I could tell she wanted to go, but didn’t want to ditch out on kitchen duty. Even though I was a bit weirded out by her and my brother suddenly being so friendly, I didn’t want to hold her back.

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