Cici turned back to the stage. "Yes, indeed. Come and check it out."

"No, thank you, we're really pressed for time," Mel said.

"No, we're not," Angie said. "Tate and Marty have everything under control."

Cici turned and walked around the front of the stage to the side. She stepped over a pile of cables and a toolbox, leaving Mel and Angie no choice but to follow.

They stood in the center of the stage, with the catwalk that Miss Sweet Tiara would walk looming in front of them like a fashion show runway.

"Picture this room full of people with their eyes on you, and you have an idea what our contestants are facing," Cici said. "They need to comport themselves with the utmost poise, grace, and decorum."

"And a big pair of ta-tas wouldn't hurt, either," Mel whispered to Angie.

To Mel's surprise, Angie didn't laugh. Instead, she gave Mel an annoyed look and said, "Shh."

"Oh, no, you are not buying into this," Mel said. "Angie, this is ridiculous. It's a beauty pageant."

Cici strode over to a black velvet box on the table. Beside it was a deep pink satin sash. She popped the latch and pulled out a sparkling tiara. She said nothing but moved to stand behind Angie and put the tiara on her head.

She started humming some sappy tune and gave Angie a gentle push toward the catwalk. "Don't forget to wave," she sang.

To Mel's shock, Angie straightened her back and walked down the catwalk, waving at the imaginary audience. Everyone in the room paused in what they were doing and began to clap and cheer. Angie spun around at the end of the catwalk and began to stride back to the stage. She looked radiant, with a beaming smile parting her lips and a sparkle in her eyes.

"Mel, seriously, you have got to try this," Angie said.

"No."

"Come on," Angie said, jumping up and down. "For me."

Mel felt her usually dormant stubborn streak kick in. She wasn't sure why she was being so difficult about it, but she didn't like the knowing gleam in Cici's eyes and she definitely didn't want the hotel staff and stage builders watching as she sashayed down the catwalk. She'd probably trip and make a complete ass of herself.

"I don't-" she began to protest but it was too late.

Cici put the tiara on her head and gave her a much less gentle shove toward the catwalk.

"This is stupid!" she hissed at Angie as she walked by her.

But Angie wasn't listening. She had moved to stand beside Cici and the two of them were humming some ridiculous theme.

"I'm not doing this," Mel said. She could feel the fine combs of the tiara biting into her scalp. "I feel ridiculous."

One of the set builders came over with an armful of plastic tulips and held them out to her with a bow, giving Mel no choice but to accept them or look churlish.

Getting into the spirit of things, a woman who'd been fussing with the draping on the platform came over and dropped a cloth swag around Mel's shoulders as if it were a long gown.

"This will give you the swish effect," the woman said. She gave Mel a hard nudge while Angie and Cici kept humming through their noses.

"Fine," Mel said. She began to stomp down the catwalk that divided the room, hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible.

About halfway down the platform, she noticed that some of the hotel staff people were waving at her. With a sigh she shifted her flowers and waved back. They broke into enthusiastic applause, and Mel couldn't stop the smile that parted her lips. At the end she turned around and the stage crew clapped and cheered her return. She cradled the plastic flowers in one arm while giving a dainty wave with her right hand.

Okay, Mel had to admit there was something pretty sweet about having a tiara planted on your head while you strolled down a catwalk to raucous cries and enthusiastic applause.

When she reached Cici and Angie, she grinned and said, "Okay, there's something about sparkly headgear that makes your brain turn to goo, isn't there?"

"Now you're getting it," Cici said with a wink. "I think we can talk particulars now."

"What is this?" a woman stepped out onto the stage, looking irritated. "Why isn't this stage set done yet? We are on a tight schedule, people."

Mel felt the drapery get yanked off of her shoulders and the man who had handed her the faux tulips snatched them back and hurried away.

A woman with long dark hair strode across the floor toward them. She wore a satin lavender tank top over a black pencil skirt and spiky heels. There was a sheen of sweat on her skin and she looked supremely cranky.

She fanned her face and asked, "Do they not have air conditioning in here?"

"No one else is hot," Cici said. "Just you." In a stage whisper she added, "The change will do that to a gal."

The woman with the dark hair gave her an unpleasant look and then said, "Oh, that's right, you went through it ages ago, didn't you, Cici?"

Angie gave Mel a look that said "Ouch!" and Mel raised her eyebrows.

"Mariel Mars, may I introduce Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura," Cici said. She turned to Mel and Angie and said, "Mariel is our head judge and a former winner of the Sweet Tiara Beauty Pageant."

"Who are you and why are you here?" Mariel asked. She looked them up and down, obviously finding their casual attire wanting.

"Cupcake bakers," Angie said. "We'll be baking what the contestants invent and we'll be providing a cupcake tower for each day's events."

"Oh." Mariel looked unimpressed. She glanced at Mel and her look turned mean. "I didn't realize that being cupcake bakers was a crown-worthy occupation. Obviously I'm in the wrong profession."

Mel felt her face get hot with mortification and she reached up and lifted the tiara off of her and handed it to Cici.

"I was just giving the girls a demonstration of the pageant winner's perspective," Cici said to Mariel with a frown. "There is certainly no need for you to be nasty."

"There is every need," Mariel said. "You know how much I have riding on this pageant, and I am not going to let you or some ridiculous cupcake bakers muck it up."

With that, she spun on her spiky heel and stormed toward the stage. She had a few choice words for the man working on the set and then she stomped away, fanning herself with one hand as she went.

"Sorry about that. She always was a bit high-strung," Cici said. "She thought she would walk into an instant career in showbiz after the pageant, but she failed as a model and a singer and an actress and she squandered her scholarship, dropping out before graduation. She was not one of our better picks."

"But she's judging now," Angie said. "She must be happy about that."

"Did that look happy to you?" Cici asked as she put the tiara back into its box. "She's trying to launch her own nail polish line, but honestly, the competition is fierce and she never really had the star power one needs to launch a brand of one's own."

"So, she's counting on the pageant to give her business a boost?" Mel asked. The irony that she was here doing the same thing was not lost on her.

"Exactly," Cici said. "In her favor, she's hired some real talent. Ji Lily, who is the beauty consultant for the pageant, is designing the nail polish. Ji is an amazingly talented young woman. She is just getting her own cosmetics company off the ground and is hoping that the pageant and working with Mariel will give her business some buzz. I worry that Mariel will be too much of a diva for her to handle."

Given that Mariel had just performed a hostile diva showcase all her own, Mel had a feeling Cici was right to be worried. She made a mental note to avoid all contact with Mariel Mars if at all possible.

Angie and Mel spent the next half hour talking about Cici's expectation of their participation in the pageant. It was a three-day event that would culminate in a splashy pageant finale. Mel tried to picture Lupe of the green bangs competing against girls who had probably been racking up pageant trophies since they were toddlers. She did not feel good about it.

When they arrived back at the bakery, Tate had the jukebox cranking AC/DC as the after-school crowd drifted in, ordered their cupcakes, and then headed back out into the sunny day while Marty swept the floor up after them.

"How did it go?" Tate asked. He glanced between them as if trying to get a read on the situation.

"It was amazing," Angie gushed. "Cici let us try on the tiara. It was totally cool."

Tate raised his eyebrows and glanced at Mel. "You wore the tiara?"

She refused to answer, which didn't stop Angie from oversharing. "And we walked the catwalk."

"You didn't!" Marty said in a feigned girly voice.

"Did, too," Angie said, and she struck a pose and began to walk across the bakery while humming the Miss America theme.

"'I haven't seen a walk like that since Jurassic Park,'" Marty teased.

"Miss Congeniality," Mel said, and she slapped Marty on the back.

Angie stuck her tongue out at them. Then she grinned and said, "I don't care what you say, Melanie Cooper, it was fun and you can't deny it."

"I will admit that I can see the appeal," Mel conceded. "But that's it."

Marty made clucking sounds and Tate grinned as if he knew what Mel wasn't saying. That it was way more fun than she had anticipated and she wasn't about to admit it.

The front door swung open and Oz came hurrying in, looking panicked.

"Is she here yet?" he asked.

Five.

"Who?" Marty asked. "Miss America? Yeah, we're full up." Then he wheezed at his own joke.

Mel and Angie both gave him sour looks, which only made him laugh more, and Tate looked hard-pressed to hide his smile as well.

"No, I'm looking for Lupe," Oz said. "She texted me from the salon and said she was on her way over here. She sounded freaked out."

"How does a text sound freaked out?" Tate asked.

"It was all in caps," Oz said.

"But that could be good, right?" Angie asked.

"I suppose, if Lupe were the type to gush about stuff, but she's not," he said.

"Yeah, I really can't see her doing the girly-girl 'squeee,'" Angie said. "She's too cool for that."

Just then the door burst open and in strode Joyce and Ginny. They were both looking newly coifed, waxed, and buffed, so Mel figured they'd taken some time at the salon for themselves as well.

"Drumroll, please," Joyce announced.

They all stood and stared until Joyce stamped her foot, and Marty and Tate began to lightly drum their fingers on the top of the glass display counter.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Joyce addressed the room. "I am pleased to present the darling-"

"The delightful-" Ginny added.

"The debutante-" Joyce said.

"Guadalupe Guzman," Joyce and Ginny said together. They held out their hands and a beautiful young woman walked through the open door of the bakery.

Mel gaped at her. Gone were the green bangs, the voluminous black T-shirts, and baggie black jeans. In their place was a head of shiny black hair that hung like silk, framing a delicate face with just a hint of makeup on it. The young woman stood uncertainly on stylish black pumps, wearing a knee-length pewter chemise with a narrow black belt.

"Lupe?" Oz asked. He came around the counter and stood staring openmouthed at his former skateboard buddy. "What happened to you?"

Lupe smiled at him and asked, "'Why? Claire did it . . . What's wrong?'"

"What?" Joyce asked. "What is she talking about? Who is Claire? We did this to her, not some Claire. Well, I suppose Christine did help."

Tate moved to stand between Angie and Mel, and he draped an arm around each of them. They all watched Oz.

"'Nothing's wrong . . . it's just so different, you know? I can see your face.'" Oz said.

Oz and Lupe stared at each other for a heartbeat and then Lupe punched him in the shoulder-hard.

"The Breakfast Club," she said. She pointed both index fingers at Oz and they laughed.

Tate made a sniffing noise and then pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. "I'm so proud of our second string."

Mel laughed. It was good to see Oz and Lupe teasing each other with movie quotes. It reminded her of her, Tate, and Angie when they were the same age.

"What the hell are they talking about?" Ginny asked. She took a swig off of her water bottle and stared at everyone as if they were lunatics who'd escaped their rubber rooms in the asylum.

"Movie quotes," Joyce said. "We're going to have to deprogram her before the pageant."

"Good grief, yes," Ginny agreed. "It starts in a couple of days. Should we take her to my doctor for some electroshock therapy?"

"Not necessary," Oz said. Looking alarmed, he stepped between Lupe and Ginny. "She only jokes like that with me. I promise."

Lupe gave him a surprised glance and Mel wondered if it was the first time Oz had made such a chivalrous gesture for her. She glanced between the two teens. She doubted Oz had ever seen Lupe looking so feminine. This could get really interesting.