Katie Sprinkles and Surprises Read Free Page A

loud.
    â€œHow about . . . green cheese, for the moon?” I exclaimed.
    â€œEw!” all my friends said at once.
    â€œBut we use cream cheese in cupcakes all the time,” I pointed out.
    Before we could discuss green cheese cupcakes any more, Mia suddenly pointed. “Oh my gosh! Look at Olivia. She’s trailing after Mr. Green like a lost puppy.”
    Mr. Green, the new math teacher everyone was talking about, was monitoring the lunchroom that day, because all the teachers take turns. I guess it wasn’t his first time doing it because he seemed really comfortable. He was walking among the tables, making sure everyone was eating and cleaning up after themselves and not throwing food andbeing jerks. Some teachers walk around with a mean face on, but Mr. Green was smiling and chatting with people.
    Mia was right about Olivia; she was two steps behind him, and it looked like she was trying to offer him an apple from her lunch.
    â€œOh my gosh, that is hilarious!” Alexis said. “She is making a fool of herself!”
    That may sound mean, but I guess we have some issues with Olivia. When she was new in school, Mia had become friends with her. But Olivia totally used Mia and then dumped her so she could be a part of the BFC, the Best Friends Club. She also did a bunch of other stuff to Mia that wasn’t very nice. So if Alexis was going to point out that Olivia was making a fool of herself, I wasn’t going to stop her.
    Emma sort of defended her. “Lots of girls have crushes on Mr. Green,” she said (and the way she said it, I wondered if she did too). “You have to admit, he’s really gorgeous.”
    â€œI guess,” I said. Mr. Green has wavy brown hair and nice green eyes. (Mr. Green with green eyes! No wonder.) “But he’s a teacher! Ew!”
    â€œEw!” Mia agreed. “I mean, he seems really awesome, but I could never think of a teacher as gorgeous. That’s just weird.”
    Then Alexis quickly nudged her. Mr. Green was walking up to our table.
    â€œHello, girls,” he said. Then his eyes landed on the see-through cupcake carrier on the table. “Hey, I’ve heard about the Cupcake Club. Your cupcakes are legendary.”
    â€œThanks,” Emma said, and I saw she was blushing a little. “Would you like one?”
    Mr. Green held up his hands. “No, but thank you. I see there are just enough for the four of you. Guess I’ll have to hire you for something if I’m going to get to taste one.”
    Alexis whipped out a business card faster than a cowboy drawing his gun in a shoot-out.
    â€œWe do custom orders,” she said, handing him the card. “No order is too big or too small.”
    Mr. Green laughed. “Good to know. Thanks.” And then he headed to the next table.
    Mia leaned in. “I bet Olivia is so jealous right now! What do you want to bet she’ll bring him a cupcake on Monday?”
    â€œShe can bring in all the cupcakes she wants, but they won’t be as good as ours,” Alexis said confidently.
    â€œWell, anyway, I guess I can see why everyone likes him,” I said. “He seems nice. And, hey, it’s pretty cool he’s heard about the Cupcake Club already. I mean, he’s only been here, like, a week, right? We must be famous.”
    â€œNot famous enough, if you ask me,” Alexis said. She looked through her notebook. “Well, I think that’s all the new business for now. We should all think of ideas for the space exhibit, though.”
    I nodded. “No problem. I’ll probably want to live in outer space after I meet Jeff tomorrow.”
    â€œDon’t worry, Katie,” Mia said. “I have a feeling it will go just fine.”
    â€œI hope so,” I said, but the more I thought about it, the more the meeting with Jeff felt like a big deal.

CHAPTER 4
I Wasn’t Expecting That!
    T he day of the big “meet and