Mia a Matter of Taste by Coco Simon Page B

could just be myself and everything would be okay—with four eyes, a mouth full of braces, or even with plain vanilla.

W ant another sweet cupcake?
    Here’s a sneak peek of the fifteenth book in the

    series:
    Emma
    sugar and spice
    and everything nice

Poor Jake
    P lease, Emmy! Just one more lick!”
    My younger brother, Jake, was whining at me, which always drives me crazy. I sighed in exasperation.
    â€œCome on, Em, don’t be such a tough guy,” said my best friend Alexis. Though Jake’s the only person I’ve allowed to call me “Emmy,” lately everyone’s been calling me “Em,” though my full first name is Emma.
    â€œGreat, now you’re on his side?” I complained.
    â€œI’m always on his side,” said Alexis, winking at my little brother.
    The Cupcake Club—my best friends, Alexis, Mia, and Katie, plus me—was having a baking session in my kitchen. Whenever we bake atmy house, my little brother, Jake, always comes scrounging around for tastes and licks of the batter and frosting, and he’s so high maintenance that it drives me crazy.
    Jake smiled up at me now with his most winning grin. Alexis put her arm across his shoulders.
    â€œCome on, Em,” she said.
    â€œFine, but he’s eating up our profits, you know,” I said, trying to appeal to Alexis’s astute business sensibility. “Here, at least use a clean spoon. You’ve had a sore throat.”
    â€œI always have a sore throat!” cried Jake, gleefully scooping a big lump of buttercream frosting out of the mixing bowl.
    â€œStrep again?” asked Mia, her brow wrinkling in concern.
    I sighed. “Probably.”
    Jake was right; he does always have a sore throat. And usually an ear infection to go with it. The doctor says Jake’s just prone to infections, because of the way his throat and ear canals are built.
    I can’t think about things like ear canals too much because I get really queasy with body stuff, especially if it comes down to words like “pus,” or needles, or most especially, blood (even the word, never mind the sight of it!). Lately, I’veeven started to faint at the doctor’s office and twice, almost, at the dentist’s. Most people don’t know this about me, because I’m pretty embarrassed about it. It just seems weak and a little babyish, especially at my age. Alexis was at the doctor’s office with me once when I had to get a shot and a blood test, so she knows all about it, but no one else really does.
    Anyway, I do feel bad for Jake, with all the ear and throat problems, but I am a tiny bit jealous sometimes that he gets to stay home from school so much. Mom makes him soup and pudding, and he watches cartoons in his cozy clothes all day. It looks like heaven, and a sore throat seems like a small price to pay.
    Just then my older brother Matt walked in, calling out a hello as he dumped his backpack in his locker in the mudroom. (Yes, we have lockers at home. Kind of pathetic, but my mom says it’s the only way to contain the chaos with four busy and athletic kids in the house.) Matt’s only a grade ahead of me, so we see each other a lot at school as well as at home, obviously, but Jake doesn’t see him that much, so he gets bowled over with excitement when Matt shows up.
    â€œMatty! Come see my drawing I did of theMiami Heat!” says Jake, dropping his spoon with a clatter into the sink and taking off without even a backward glance.
    â€œHey! What about us?” asked Mia, who is Jake’s special buddy.
    But he didn’t even hear her.
    â€œThe second you arrive, we’re dead to him,” joked Alexis, who has a crush on Matt. The same can be said about you, my friend, I thought, suppressing a giggle.
    Matt smiled and shrugged, palms up in the air. “Hey, I can’t help it if the kid worships me. Either you’ve got it or you don’t got it, you