Read The Cupcake Diaries Collection: Katie and the Cupcake Cure; Mia in the Mix; Emma on Thin Icing; Alexis and the Perfect Recipe for Free Online Page A

Isn’t that amazing?”
    Wow, he can put two words together, I thought. But out loud I said, “Yeah, amazing.”
    Callie’s cell phone made a sound like fairy bells. The photo faded and a text message popped up on the screen.
    “No way!” she cried. “ Teen Style magazine has posted the best and worst fashion from the music awards last night. You have got to check this out!”
    It was easy to guess who the text message was from—Sydney. It had to be.
    Callie grabbed her laptop and started typing away. A page popped up on the screen.
    “That’s hilarious,” she said. “They divided the page into ‘Killer Looks’ and ‘Looks That Should Be Killed.’ Ha!”
    I briefly wondered what kind of weapon would be used to kill an ugly dress. Maybe some roboscissors?
    “Oh my gosh, that is awful !” Callie squealed. She grabbed her cell phone and started texting.
    Any fuzzy feelings I’d had before were evaporating. Callie was supposed to be hanging out withme today. It was like I wasn’t even in the room.
    “Hey, Callie,” I said.
    “Yeah?” She looked up from her phone.
    “I know we’re still friends,” I said. “But the other day you said we were still best friends. I’m just wondering about that. I mean . . . best friends sit together at lunch. They talk to each other during school.”
    “I know,” Callie said. “But it’s complicated. I still wish we could be best friends, but . . .” She sighed and looked away.
    That’s the moment I knew there was no going back. Callie had changed over the summer.
    “But what?” I asked.
    “You’re still my friend, Katie. You’ll always be my friend.”
    “Just not best friends,” I said quietly.
    Callie didn’t answer, but she didn’t have to.
    “I don’t under—”
    Then I heard my mom’s voice in the doorway. “Girls, it’s cupcake time.”
    Mom had a kind of sad look on her face. I wondered how long she’d been standing there.
    I figured Mom would be full of questions on the ride home. But for once, she wasn’t. I stared out the window, thinking.
    Tomorrow I’d start my first full week of school. There would be no more barbecues. No more swimming. Just day after day of middle school.
    Maybe Mom was right. It wasn’t September twenty-third yet, but summer was officially over.



CHAPTER 8
Just Call Me “Silly Arms”
    T uesday wasn’t just the start of my
     first real week of school. It was also the first day of gym.
    I knew gym was going to be different from how it was in elementary school.
     For one thing, we have to wear a gym uniform: blue shorts and a blue T-shirt that
     says PARK STREET MIDDLE SCHOOL in yellow writing on it. I
     wasn’t too worried about the changing-into-the-uniform thing. I just put my
     favorite unicorn underwear in a different drawer so I won’t accidentally wear it
     during the week. Nobody needs to know about my unicorn underwear.
    I also knew that the gym would be bigger, and the teachers would be
     different. But what I didn’t count on was that the kids in gym would be differenttoo. I’m not just talking about the kids from other
     schools. Kids I’ve known all my life had completely changed. Like Eddie Rossi, for
     example. Somehow he grew a mustache over the summer. An actual mustache! And Ken
     Watanabe—he must have grown a whole foot taller.
    The boys were all rowdier, too. Before class started they were running
     around, wrestling, and slamming into one another like they were Ultimate Fighting Champs
     or something. I moved closer to Emma for safety.
    “They’re gonna hurt somebody,” I said, worried.
    Emma shrugged. I guess having three brothers, she’s used to it.
    Our gym teacher’s name is Kelly Chen. She looks like someone
     you’d see in a commercial for a sports drink. Her shiny black hair is always in a
     perfect ponytail, and she wears a neat blue sweat suit with yellow stripes down the
     sides.
    She blew a whistle to start the class.
    “Line up in rows for me, people!” she