Emma: Lights! Camera! Cupcakes! Read Free Page A

door and ducked inside, already blushing. And then I heard, “Emma!”
    â€œThere she is!”
    â€œHey, Emma!”
    And Romaine crossed the room to give me a big hug. I couldn’t believe it!
    â€œI—I wasn’t sure you’d remember me. Th-thanks!” I stammered awkwardly.
    â€œRemember you? How could we forget? Between the wonderful cupcakes for my shower and your great job at the camp talent show and all your cute friends!” Romaine was beaming at me and suddenly I felt like I was the star and she was the fan. It was amazing! I laughed.
    â€œOh, you look just as pretty as ever, dear!” said Mrs. Ford from across the room. Mona had given me a bridesmaid’s dress to wear. I usually wore different dresses when I was at the store, so the brides could see how they looked on an actual person. The one I was wearing today had a really pretty pink satin bow.
    â€œThanks,” I said, playing with the bow. Then Istopped. Mona always told me not to fuss with the dresses—especially when I’m wearing them.
    Mona was smiling proudly at me, and I smiled back. Then she said, “Now, we have lots of Emma’s cupcakes for this morning, so, Emma, why don’t you run and get us some of those, please, and then we’ll see if we need you to stand in again as a fit model for Romaine’s niece. Meanwhile, Patricia and I will go get the dresses, and the bridal party can try them on.”
    I scurried out to get the cupcakes, and when I returned I passed them out on small linen napkins, the way Mona had shown me. Everyone took one, and it was pretty quiet for a minute as they all savored the treats.
    â€œOh! These are so delicious!” said Samantha, nibbling on a vanilla cupcake. “I could eat a hundred of them, but then my dress won’t fit!” She laughed.
    I smiled at her, glad to have a chance to make eye contact. I was so used to seeing her on YouTube music videos, playing the piano and singing: her long arms toned in a sleeveless gown, gracefully outstretched while she sang and played the piano without even looking down at the keys. She even played at this past year’s Super Bowl halftime show,watched by a billion people! It was too weird to see her here, sitting in front of me in jeans and a T-shirt.
    â€œThey could let it out for you,” said Romaine’s sister Florence with a wink.
    â€œMy manager would kill me!” said Samantha.
    â€œOh, these managers are so ruthless! Mine tells me every pound shaves a hundred thousand dollars off my paycheck,” Romaine said, groaning.
    A hundred thousand dollars!
    â€œGirls,” scolded Mrs. Ford.
    â€œSorry,” said Romaine. “Tacky to talk about money in public!”
    Mrs. Ford nodded approvingly, and Romaine rolled her eyes like a teenager. “Mom’s the boss,” she said with a shrug.
    â€œSorry, Mrs. F.,” said Samantha.
    â€œYou girls are talented enough to not have to talk like that,” said Mrs. Ford with a sniff.
    Wow, I thought. Mrs. Ford had power. Imagine scolding a three-time Grammy Award winner, and an Oscar winner, at the same time! Then I thought about it. After all, Mrs. Ford was still just Romaine’s mom, even if Romaine was a big star. My mom would probably still correct me if I had bad manners about something too, even if I was a movie star.
    â€œLet’s have another, then!” Samantha giggled,and I circled back to her with the platter.
    She popped a cinnamon one into her mouth this time. “Mmmm! That one is just as delicious as the other! Romaine, maybe you should have a cinnamon -flavored wedding cake! That would solve all your troubles!”
    I looked at Romaine and saw her sigh.
    â€œI love Liam so much, but the one thing we can’t agree on is a wedding cake. He thinks that big fancy white wedding cakes are old-fashioned, and I kind of agree, but I’m not going to reinvent the wheel, you know?”
    I passed