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be one of the reasons It’s Raining Cupcakes isn’t doing very well.
    Before I can say anything to Mom, Isabel appears. “Hey, Sophie, what’d your
agent
have to say? Don’t you just love saying that? Your
agent?
Wait, let me guess. They want to give you your own TV show, right? A series?”
    I force a laugh. “Yeah, right. She’s working on a big deal for me. Huge! I can’t even tell you guys, that’s how big it is. She wants me to keep it to myself for now. Besides, I might jinx myself, you know?” I get up and pull on Isabel’s arm. “Come on. Let’s go study.”
    â€œBut that’s so silly,” Isabel jokes. “You’re going to be famous! You don’t really need an education, do you?”
    Oh, I need an education, all right. I need an education on how to choose between the opportunity of a lifetime and ruining my best friend’s life.

Chapter 9
chocolate mole sauce
TRY A HINT OF CHOCOLATE ON YOUR NEXT ENCHILADA
    M om makes my favorite meal for dinner to celebrate the audition. The
Wicked
music plays softly in the background, “for ambiance,” Mom says. She’s trying to make it really special. All the music seems to be doing though is reminding me how much Iwant to be an actress, when I really want to forget that right now.
    I haven’t told her yet which company the audition is with. I said I’d wait and tell everyone at dinner. So now as we sit at the table in chicken enchilada heaven, I decide to break the horrible news. I can only hope my parents will forbid me from doing something that terrible to my best friend. Then all I have to do is call Candace back, cancel the audition, and sit back and wait for something else to come along. Please, oh please, let something else come along.
    â€œDelicious, as always,” my dad says, pausing after intense shoveling from plate to mouth to take a drink of water.
    â€œYeah, Mom,” I say. “It’s really good.”
    â€œSoph, tell Dad and Hayden your good news.”
    My dad turns and gives me the pirate look. I know, that sounds strange, but it’s, like, this grin with one eye practically shut and he just looks like a pirate to me. Or he did when I was five, and the idea stuck. He’s got the wavy brown hair, the beard, and the tanned, rugged face. My dad is an electrician, so he’s nothing like some of my friends’ dads who wear asuit to work everyday. Maybe if he was, I wouldn’t be able to spot the hidden pirate in him.
    I swallow the bite in my mouth, then take a sip of milk. “Well, I got a call today for a commercial audition.”
    Hayden does a fist pump. “You
are
going to be famous. I knew it!”
    â€œSophie, that’s amazing,” Dad says. He takes his napkin and wipes all around his beard and mustache. “So, what’s the commercial for? An interesting product, I hope.”
    â€œYeah, not bran cereal or something yucky like that,” Hayden says.
    â€œOh, it’s interesting all right,” I say. I take a deep breath. “It’s Beatrice’s Brownies.”
    For a second, everyone’s quiet. Then Mom blinks a couple of times and says, “Sophie, that’s wonderful. That’s right up your alley—you love desserts.”
    I set my fork down. “Mom, it’s not wonderful. It’s terrible.”
    â€œWhy?” Dad asks. “I think it sounds fantastic.”
    Who are these people and what have they done with my family?
    â€œWon’t that make Isabel mad?” Hayden asks.
    â€œYes,” I say, nodding. “Yes, Hayden, thank you. It’s going to make Isabel very mad. Which is exactly why I can’t do it.”
    Dad scoots his chair away from the table and leans back. “Sophie, this is about you and your dreams, not Isabel. She’s a good friend. I think she’ll understand.”
    I look back and forth between Mom and Dad. Mom. Then Dad.