“Pupcakes? Seriously?” Lexi read the order Jenna had just taken over the phone for a special rush delivery Sunday morning. They had just twenty-four hours to make them.

“This lady is crazy about dogs—she has six of them, all different breeds,” explained Jenna. “She wants us to do four dozen cupcakes for a party with different dogs on top, and she’ll pay us extra if we can do it on such short notice.”

Lexi sighed and whipped out her sketchbook. “We could do a chocolate lab on a devil’s food, a pink poodle on a strawberry, a white bichon frise on a vanilla, and maybe a Dalmatian on a chocolate chip?”

Kylie looked over her drawings. “Sounds good. Let’s do little chocolate candies for the eyes and nose. I think we have some left in our kitchen cupboard.” She was digging past the containers of sprinkles and colored sugar when she saw something that gave her a great idea.

“Lexi, I think I got it!” Kylie exclaimed, placing a small container of red cinnamon candy hearts on the counter.

Lexi looked at it. “You want me to make the dogs’ eyes out of red hearts?”

“No! Jeremy!”

“You want her to make Jeremy out of red hearts?” teased Jenna.

“No!” cried Kylie. “This is the way to get Jeremy to like you. Let’s bake him cupcakes and you can give it to him with a note: Love, Your Secret Admirer, L.P.”

“So it’s true? You do like Jeremy?” Sadie asked.

Lexi rolled her eyes. Why did Kylie have to bring that up again?

“Come on, amiga, your secret is safe with us!” Jenna insisted. “What’s the plan for making Jeremy fall head over heels for you?”

Lexi mulled the idea over. If there was anyone she could trust, it was her PLC girls. “Okay, but it doesn’t leave this room.” She flipped through her sketchbook to the page titled, “Bake Me, I’m Yours.” On it, she’d drawn a rich, gooey, dark chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting and a marshmallow heart on top. “I’ve always wanted to try this one.”

“Wow. That is a really sweet cupcake,” whistled Jenna. “I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love you if you baked that for them.”

“Jeremy’s chess club meets in the library on Mondays, the same time I have my reading tutor,” said Sadie. “Maybe I could leave the cupcake on top of his backpack when he’s not looking.”

“That’s brilliant!” said Kylie. “What do you say, Lex?”

Lexi was afraid of what Jeremy would think. What if he told everyone on the chess team? What if he didn’t like her and laughed in her face? What if he thought her braces were ugly—or that she was stupid because she almost never raised her hand? “I don’t know, guys…”

Kylie put her arm around Lexi’s shoulders. “You know how my dad got my mom to marry him, right?”

“He proposed?”

“Yeah, but he did it with Milk Duds.”

“Huh?” asked Lexi. She knew Kylie’s dad had a silly sense of humor, but Milk Duds?

“They ate them on their first date when they went to see Titanic at the Jupiter Cinema. My dad remembered and spelled out Marry Me, Jackie in Milk Duds on my mom’s front porch two years later.”

“Well, it could have been worse,” chuckled Jenna. “He could have proposed on a sinking ship.”

Sadie wrinkled her nose. “I’d rather a guy ask me to marry him at a Knicks game, on the JumboTron!”

Lexi thought it over. “Did your mom say yes?”

“Well, eventually…” Kylie hesitated. “She kind of wanted a diamond ring first. But the point is, it was a sweet gesture, and it totally won her heart.”

Lexi chewed the eraser on her pencil. “I’ll think about it—after we get these four dozen pupcakes done by tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah, this is one ruff order to fill,” giggled Jenna. “You gotta admit it: even after the summer, I still got it!”

• • •

Monday morning, Kylie caught up to Lexi in the auditorium.

“Call me Cupid!” she beamed, handing her a bag of pink, heart-shaped marshmallows. “I found them at the baking supply store in Greenwich. Perfect for Jeremy’s cupcake, right?”

Lexi pulled her aside and whispered, “I never said I was baking him a cupcake! And please, be quiet. I don’t want anyone to hear!”

“Lex, you have to do something! Jeremy’s never going to know you like him unless you make the first move.” She handed her the marshmallows. “All the girls are free next Sunday afternoon. And I found a great recipe for gooey brownie cupcakes…”

“I’ll think about it,” Lexi said. What she really meant was “I won’t think about it.” Because thinking about Jeremy made her palms get all sweaty and a lump form in her throat.

“You promise?” pleaded Kylie. “You sugar-sweet swear?”

Lexi nodded but crossed her fingers behind her back. It wasn’t lying if she did that, right? “I sugar sweet swear with sprinkles on top.” That should convince Kylie!

Now all she had to do was convince herself to bake Jeremy a delectable cupcake that would speak louder than words.