Bakers on Board by Sheryl Berk Page B

less than pretty.
    â€œYou won’t believe Jenna’s amazing news,” Kylie began. But this time, Jenna put her hand over her friend’s mouth.
    â€œYes, it’s my news,” she reminded Kylie. “So let me tell Lexi.”
    â€œShe’s going on a cruise ship!” Sadie blurted out. “And it has like a dozen restaurants and a kids’ club and a giant waterslide and three pools… Oh, and a magic show at night!”
    Jenna threw her hands in the air. “I give up!”
    â€œSorry, Jenna,” Sadie apologized. “It just slipped out. But you can tell Delaney and Herbie at the PLC meeting after school.” Since Delaney attended another school and their advisor taught robotics all day, the club met once a week at 3:30 p.m. in the Blakely teachers’ lounge.
    â€œOh, I kinda emailed them both just now,” Lexi said, holding up her phone. “Sorry. I couldn’t wait.”
    Jenna shook her head. “I am surrounded by bocas grandes , big mouths! Remind me never to ask any of you to keep a secret.”
    â€œAnd you’re such a great secret keeper?” Lexi teased her. “How about the time I told you I had a crush on Jeremy Saperstone and you blabbed it all over the place.”
    Jenna blushed. “Okay, fine. I might have told a few people.”
    â€œMe!” Kylie said.
    â€œAnd me,” Sadie added.
    â€œAnd the entire fifth grade,” Lexi pointed out. “I’m just sayin’.”
    â€¢ • •
    Delaney and Herbie were equally excited by Jenna’s announcement—even if it came through Lexi’s email.
    â€œCan you take me with you, please!” Delaney pleaded as she burst into the Blakely teachers’ lounge. “Maybe smuggle me on board in one of your suitcases?”
    â€œA cruise ship that size has a very complicated computerized system,” Herbie added thoughtfully. “Maybe you should bring me along too—in case of any glitches.”
    Jenna shook her head. “Sorry, guys. Leo only has eight tickets—enough for him, my mom, my sisters and brothers, and our stepsister, Maggie.”
    â€œNo problem,” Kylie reminded the club. “We’re going to be very busy over break. Remember? We said we’re going to work on a new PLC website to show off our cupcake creations and drum up more business.”
    Delaney scowled. “Well, Jenna’s break sounds like a lot more fun.”
    Kylie opened her official cupcake club binder to an order labeled “Mount Vernon Library” and showed it to her friends. “Any ideas for this one?”
    Lexi read the client’s request carefully: “Twelve dozen cupcakes commemorating our forefather’s influence on our great country.”
    Delaney’s eyes lit up. “Hey, maybe we could make a life-size replica of the Lincoln Memorial out of cupcakes.”
    â€œOh no,” Lexi exclaimed. “Not happening. I went to DC with my family a few years ago, and that Lincoln is almost a hundred feet tall!”
    â€œThat’s taller than Sadie,” Jenna teased.
    â€œNice idea, wrong president,” Kylie interrupted. “Mount Vernon was George Washington’s home, and this is the library’s annual fund-raiser cocktail party.”
    Lexi heaved a sigh of relief. “In that case, I think we should bake something elegant—but with presidential flair.”
    â€œWhat do you think of when you think of George Washington?” Herbie asked them. “I’ll admit American history was never my best subject.”
    â€œMine neither,” Sadie said. “But I do know he got in trouble as a kid for chopping down his father’s cherry tree. When his dad asked him if he did it, he said, ‘I cannot tell a lie!’”
    Delaney made a face. “Ooh, busted! I bet he was grounded for a week.”
    â€œHow did you ground a kid in the seventeen hundreds?” Kylie