Read Confectionately Yours #2: Taking the Cake! for Free Online Page A

ohmigoshshemayberight!
    “It’s obvious,” Meghan replies. “Nobody’s that into cupcakes.”
    I look up the street, where Artie and Devon are peering into a store window. He taps her on the shoulder and she smiles up at him. Did that mean anything? I wonder. Artie thinks he likes her … but maybe he doesn’t.
    My heart throbs like a bruise.
    “So, what? I should try to steal my ex–best friend’s boyfriend?”
    “He isn’t her boyfriend,” Meghan replies. “That’s obvious. You can’t steal something that doesn’t exist.”
    I press my lips together. This is making me feel weird. I’m not the kind of girl that guys crush out over. And I’m also not the kind of girl who stabs a friend in the back.
    But what about an Ex-Best?
    I feel awful for even thinking it. But how could I not think it?
    Too late, anyway: It’s already been thought.
    I take another swig of my cider, but it tastes horrible to me now.

A rtie and I have been friends since we were toddlers. Her backyard bordered on mine, and we used to play together all the time. We always got along. Not like me and Marco. When he and I were little, we fought like crazy.
    People used to say that Artie and I were like sisters. But I have a sister, and it’s nothing like being friends with Artie was. Sisters fight. Artie and I never fought. We were more like … cousins. Just happy to be together.
    But … eventually … there was a fight.
    In third grade. I barely remember what the fight was about. But I do remember how it felt to walk into class and see Artie sitting by someone else. It felt scary . It felt like I was in the middle of the ocean, with nothing to hold on to.
    Everyone else had their friends. They had things to do after school. They had people to sit with at lunch. I’d neverneeded them before, but now that I did, I could see that they didn’t even realize that I was desperately treading water. They didn’t notice that I was alone.
    At home, the phone didn’t ring. And Marco was out of school that week, which made everything worse.
    But Artie — well, it didn’t seem like Artie was having the same problems I was. She just sat right down next to Tricia Guererro and struck up a friendship in about five seconds. The next thing I knew, Artie, Tricia, and Jade Jackson were spending all of their time together.
    Tread, tread, tread.
    I couldn’t keep it up. So I called up Artie and apologized.
    I expected her to say that she was sorry, too. That she’d missed me. But she didn’t. Still, the next day, she showed up at my house after breakfast so that we could walk to school together.
    We sat beside each other in class.
    I ate lunch with Artie, Tricia, and Jade.
    Things returned to normal, more or less.
    But, like I said, we were never like sisters. Sisters are for life.
    This time, I think the ship is really gone.

“H e’s reading it!” Meghan says as she comes up for a sit-up. I glance over at the bleachers, and she pops up again. “Don’t look over there!” Back down.
    We’re in the gym, taking the state-mandated fitness test. Well, Meghan is taking it. I’m holding her legs. She does another sit-up. Another fifty seconds of this, and we’ll change places. The boys have already finished their sit-ups and are sitting on the bleachers, watching.
    “Ten,” she says as she comes up again.
    “That was eight,” I correct her.
    “He’s still reading it!” She pops up again. “Twelve. Ugh! I despise sit-ups! Can you tell if he’s smiling?”
    I nonchalantly look over at the bleachers, where Ben Habib is reading a note. “I can’t believe you actually gavehim that letter,” I tell Meghan. “And I can’t believe he’s reading it here .”
    Meghan’s bangs aren’t green anymore. She dyed them bright pink, and right now they are plastered across her sweaty face. “It’s so romantic!” she coos, then grunts. “Urgh.”
    Right. Romantic. We are wearing the required gym uniform — blue-and-white-striped shirts and navy