He's With Me by Tamara Summers

water volleyball, you know, for the tournament.”
    Sally choked on her soda and got up quickly. Lexie could see her shoulders
    shaking with laughter as she hurried off to the bathroom.
    “They have books about pool volleyball?” Jake said skeptically.
    “They do,” Bree said, “and Lexie is going to borrow mine.”
    “Okaaaay,” Jake said. “Anything to give us a competitive edge. We’re going
    to win this thing, right, Lexie?”
    “Absolutely,” she said, and he stole a carrot stick from her, grinning.
    Lexie glanced across the table at Bree, but the blond girl was delicately
    crunching a piece of celery and didn’t look like she was going anywhere. And
    really, the whole point of Lexie’s present for Jake was to prove her girlfriend
    status to Bree, so she might as well give it to him in front of her, no matter how
    awkward it made her feel.
    “Here,” she said, pulling a wrapped gift out of her shoulder bad and
    handing it to Jake. “Happy birthday!”
    Jake looked surprised. “But –”
    “I know we haven’t been dating long,” Lexie said, trying to communicate,
    Shut up and open it , with her eyes.”But hopefully you’ll like it.”
    They’d already had a mini-birthday breakfast that morning, at Lexie’s
    house. Her mom had made banana pancakes for her and Jake and Colin and
    they’d stuck a candle in one and all sung “Happy Birthday” completely off-key.
    Jake had probably thought that was the extent of his birthday celebrations. Boy,
    was he going to be surprised.
    “Wow, thanks,” he said, pulling off the ribbon. “You didn’t have to do this.”
    “Of course she did,” Bree interjected. “She’s you girlfriend , Jakey.”
    “Yeah,” Lexie said. “Exactly.”
    “Oh,” he said. “Ah.” Then, as he ripped off the wrapping paper: “Wait, is
    this...Tupperware?”
    “Cool, right?” Lexie said. “You can put food inside it, and it’ll stay fresh. Isn’t
    that a great idea? And look, the container is purple.”
    Jake gave her a puzzled look and she shook her head at him, laughing. “No,
    I didn’t give you Tupperware for your birthday. Open the container, doofus.”
    He peeled back the plastic lid, and his face it up exactly the way Lexie had
    been hoping it would.
    Inside, nestled in rows across the bottom, were eighteen small chocolate
    cupcakes. On the top of each one, Lexie had written a letter in white chocolate
    frosting, so they spelled out HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!
    “Oh my God,” he said. “Lexie, this is amazing. It’s much too cool to eat.”
    “I hope not, because I’m planning to help you eat them.” Lexie said.
    “What?” Bree said impatiently. “Let me see.”
    Jake tilted the container toward her so she could see the cupcake message.
    He had a cute triumphant-looking smile on his face. Lexie guessed that she had
    played her part perfectly.
    “Cupcakes?” Bree said. “How... sweet. What a clever way to save money,
    Lexie. I’m sure Jake appreciates your... thriftiness.”
    “It’s the best present I’ve ever gotten,” Jake said, seeing Lexie start to
    deflate. He took the first mini cupcake out, peeled away the cup, and bit off half
    of it. Then he held out the other half to Lexie.
    “Thanks,” she said, turning pink. He batted her hand away and made her
    open her mouth so he could pop it in.
    Colin and Sally had helped her bake them with her mom supervising. Lexie
    suspected more chocolate had gone into Colin and Sally than into the cupcakes,
    but at least they’d ended up with eighteen good enough to give to Jake.
    “So what else did you get him?” Bree asked. “Anything... lasting?” Her
    expression seemed to be saying, Or is your relationship going to be as short-lived as there cupcakes ?
    “I hope you didn’t get me anything else,” Jake said. “This is perfect enough
    for me.”
    The truth was Lexie did have another present for him in her pocket. But she
    was less sure about that one. She’d bought it a while before because it