“The cake!” Mum groaned. “He’s eaten the whole of one corner. I don’t think there’s any way of saving it, I’m sorry, Ellie.”
Ellie sat down on the stairs. How could she have a party with no birthday cake? Everyone would be here in a minute, too. She knew it wouldn’t really help, and she didn’t want to make Mum feel even worse, but she could feel her eyes filling with tears.
“I didn’t know he’d got into the kitchen…” she whispered sadly, as Mum came and sat down next to her.
“It’s not your fault, Ellie. I got it out and put it on the table, and then your Auntie Gemma phoned to say happy birthday to you… I should have been more careful.”
Dad was eyeing Rascal worriedly. “How much of it did he eat? Chocolate isn’t good for dogs. Do we need to take him to the vet?”
Ellie gasped in horror. She remembered reading in one of her dog books that dogs could get really ill from eating chocolate. She looked over at Rascal, who was licking thoughtfully at his chocolatey moustache.
“Don’t panic.” Mum hugged her. “It’s only chocolate cake, not pure chocolate. He might end up with a bit of a funny tummy, but I’m sure that’s all. We’ll just have to keep a close eye on him. But right now, I’m more worried about the cake than Rascal. What are we going to do?”
“What about birthday cupcakes?” Lila suggested. “Emily’s big sister got married last weekend, she was a bridesmaid and she was showing the photos off at school. They had cupcakes instead of a big wedding cake, and they looked fab. Me and Dad could go and get all the ingredients. The supermarket has lovely icing flowers and things.”
“What do you think, Ellie? You girls could all make them together.” Mum stroked her cheek, and Ellie nodded. “That would be nice,” she murmured. It would be fun to have a do-it-yourself birthday cake.
“We’ll get lots of Smarties to go on top too,” Dad promised. “So you’ll still have your chocolatey cake.”
“But we’ll be keeping them away from Rascal,” Mum added grimly.
“Someone’s here!” Lila said, as the doorbell rang. “Come on, Dad! Emergency cake mission!”
“I’m not ready yet!” Ellie wailed. “Who is it?”
“It’s me!” Christy poked her head round the front door as Lila opened it. “Sorry, am I early? Happy birthday!” From behind her back she whipped out a beautiful present in spotty paper and gave it to Ellie. “Er … is that what you’re wearing?” she asked, eyeing Ellie’s grubby old jeans.
Ellie sniffed. “No. I’ve got a dress for the party, but I didn’t have time to change. Oh, Christy, Rascal’s eaten my cake!”
“He didn’t!” Christy gasped in horror.
“We’re going to make cupcakes instead, but I still think my party’s going to be a disaster,” Ellie said sadly.
Christy shook her head. “No, it won’t. I love cupcakes. Look, I’ll put Rascal in the garden to keep him away from Lucy. You go and get changed, quick!”
“They smell so good!” Christy closed her eyes blissfully. “Can we ice them yet?”
Ellie held her hand over the wire rack of cupcakes and shook her head. “Nope. Still too hot. The icing would just run off again. Be patient.” She giggled – she sounded like her mum.
The girls were gathered in the kitchen, admiring the decorations that Lila and Dad had bought. There was even a pretty cardboard stand to put the cupcakes on when they were finished, so they’d look really professional.
“You could make up the icing, though,” Mum suggested. “By the time you’ve done that, they might have cooled down.”
“I’m going to cover mine in pink and green Smarties,” Lydia decided, as she took her turn stirring the bowl of icing. “This is such a cool idea, Ellie. I’m going to have cupcakes at my birthday too.”
Ellie felt Lila nudge her foot under the table. Her big sister grinned as she dolloped the icing into small bowls, so they could make up lots of different colours, and Mum handed out the cakes.
“Can I do one?” Max asked, and Ellie glared at him suspiciously. But she could hardly say no. She passed along a bowl of icing.
Ellie covered her cakes in primrose yellow icing with sugar flowers on top.
“They’re brilliant,” Lucy said admiringly. “Oh, look!”
A little brown and white face was peering sadly in at the kitchen window.
“Rascal!” Ellie gasped. “He must have climbed on to the bench.”
“I’ll pop out and have a game of fetch with him,” Dad said, smiling.
Ellie watched through the window as Dad gently lifted Rascal down. She was having a lovely time, of course she was, but she wished Rascal could be there with her. She could hear Dad calling to Rascal as she put her cakes on the stand. Everyone’s cakes were different. Christy and Jessie had gone mad with sprinkles, and Lucy’s had delicate spirals of silver balls.
“Ugh, Max…!” Lila sighed, and everyone looked over at his cake.
“I didn’t even know we had black food colouring.” Mum shook her head.
“That’s going at the back of the cake stand,” Ellie told him, glaring at his black cake, decorated with a purple spider’s web.
“Leave them all to set, girls. Why don’t you go and try the dance game?” Mum suggested.
“Great!” Max groaned. He headed upstairs, and Ellie and her friends raced into the living room to set up the PlayStation with Lucy’s dance game.
“I’m a terrible dancer,” Jessie giggled, as Lucy tried out some warm-up moves.
“I bet you’re not, and anyway it doesn’t matter,” Lucy promised. “It’s just fun. You get to do all these cool moves. Come on, it’s starting!
