Cupcake Wars! (7 page)
Authors: Alan MacDonald
Angela Nicely might look like she’s made of sugar and spice and all things nice, but nothing could be further from the truth!
Whether she’s matchmaking her teachers, flogging home-made lemonade, or dealing with the Ugly Sisters, she’s determined to get her own way!
“ANGELA NICELY!” cried Miss Darling. “Are you talking?”
“No, only whispering,” said Angela.
“That’s the same thing,” said Miss Darling. “When I say work quietly I mean QUIETLY!”
Angela jumped. Miss Darling was certainly in a crabby mood today. She’d already shouted at Maisie and snapped at Kevin for drawing on his face. Her eyes were red and she kept reaching for her hanky. Maybe she’d stayed up past her bedtime last night.
Angela noticed a magazine poking out of her teacher’s bag. She squinted,
trying to read the headline in red letters.
Angela sat up. That was it! That explained Miss Darling’s bad mood. She’d been dumped by her boyfriend! Wait till she told Maisie and Laura. Angela was an expert on boyfriend trouble. She had split up with Bertie hundreds of times, although according to him they were never going out.
At break time Angela called an emergency meeting of the GOBS club (Girls Only, Boys Smell).
“Is everyone here?” she said.
“You can see we’re here,” sighed Maisie.
“Good, because we’ve got to do something about Miss Darling,” said
Angela. “She’s been dumped by her boyfriend.”
Laura gasped. “How do you know?”
“It’s so obvious!” said Angela. “She’s all moody, and you can tell she’s been crying.”
“So? I don’t see what we can do,” said Maisie.
Angela gave her a look. “Well, DUH!” she said. “We can find her a new boyfriend!”
The other two stared. It was a brilliant idea. After all, Miss Darling
deserved
a nice boyfriend.
“Okay, but who?” said Maisie.
Angela frowned. The fact was, boyfriends weren’t exactly growing on trees. There was Bertie, of course, but he was Angela’s boyfriend and anyway
he picked his nose. Besides, it needed to be someone nearer Miss Darling’s age – about twenty-one or forty.
‘There’s Mr Grouch,” she said.
‘The caretaker? He’s ancient!” cried Maisie.
“And bald
and
grumpy,” added Laura.
Angela had to admit Mr Grouch wasn’t a dream come true – he was more of a nightmare. But that only left one person.
‘Then it’ll have to be Mr Weakly,” she said.
“MR WEAKLY?” squawked Laura. “Who’d want to go out with
him
?”
Mr Weakly was the only male teacher at the school. He was pale, nervous and hid behind a pair of thick glasses. Still, he was their only
hope.
“He’s just a bit shy,” said Angela.
“
Shy?
” said Maisie. “He goes bright red if you ask a question! Can you imagine him asking Miss Darling out?”
Angela sighed. It was easier to imagine Mr Weakly becoming a lion tamer.
“Okay then, we’ll just have to give him some tips!” she said.
Miss Darling was going to get a boyfriend even if it took all year. Angela was sure she’d be grateful. One day she might even need a bridesmaid…
Read
Queen Bee
to find out what
happens next.
Angela Nicely might look like she’s made of sugar and spice and all things nice, but nothing could be further from the truth!
Whether she’s learning a new skill for the school talent contest, getting lost on a nature walk, or squaring up to the boys on the football pitch, she’s determined to stand out from the crowd!
Angela’s class gathered on the carpet for News Time. This morning Miss Darling had some exciting news.
“As you know, it’s nearly the holidays,” she said. “So to celebrate we have decided to hold a talent contest.”
Angela’s eyes almost jumped out of her head. A talent contest? Yahoo!
“Anyone can enter,” said Miss Darling. “Mr Weakly and Miss Boot have agreed to be our judges, and of course there’ll be a prize for the winner. Who’d like to take part?”
Every hand shot in the air. Angela’s was the first to go up. This was a
contest that was made for her.
“Can we do any talent we like?” asked Tiffany Charmers.
“Of course, Tiffany,” said Miss Darling.
“Then I’m going to do the dance I did for my ballet exam,” said Tiffany. “I got a gold merit.”
Angela rolled her eyes. Tiffany had told them a million times about her gold merit. From the way she went on anyone would have thought it was an Olympic gold medal.
At break time, everyone was talking about the talent contest. They only had a week to rehearse.
“I don’t think I’ve got a talent,” sighed Laura.
“You can go cross-eyed,” said Angela. “Mmm, I don’t know if that would win,” said Laura.
“I know,” said Maisie. “We could do a pop mime! You know, with dance steps and miming the words.”
Angela wasn’t so sure. She’d already heard others in the class discussing a pop mime. “Don’t we need something a bit different?” she asked.
“A pop mime
is
different,” argued Maisie.
“Not if everyone else is doing one,” said Angela. “I might do something on my own.”
Just then Tiffany twirled past, bumping into them. “Do you mind, I’m trying to rehearse here,” she sniffed. “So, ANG-ER-LA, what’s your talent then?”
Angela shrugged. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“I know, you could be a clown,” giggled Tiffany. “You wouldn’t even need make-up!”
Angela ignored her.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter,” said Tiffany. “It’s obvious who’s going to win.”
“Who?” asked Laura.
“Me of course, cos I’m the only one with any talent!” smiled Tiffany. She shook her curly hair and danced away, pointing her toes.
“She’s such a show-off,” said Angela.
“Take no notice,” said Maisie. “She can’t win everything.”
Angela sighed. That was the annoying thing about Tiffany, she
did
win everything. She was class monitor, came top in every test and had been
Star Pupil of the Week
a dozen times. It would take something special to stop her winning the talent contest. The question was – what, exactly?
Read
Superstar
to find out what
happens next.
Angela Nicely might look like she’s made of sugar and spice and all things nice, but nothing could be further from the truth!
Whether she’s using her powers of persuasion to get a dog, helping Miss Darling win Teacher of the Year, or competing for the tidiest tent at Brownie camp, she’s determined to come out on top!
Angela sploshed milk on to her cereal and looked up.
“I saw a puppy yesterday,” she announced.
“Mmm?” said Mrs Nicely, closing the dishwasher.
“A little brown and white puppy. It was sitting outside the chip shop,” Angela went on.
“Really,” said Mrs Nicely.
“I think it was lost,” Angela said hopefully.
Mrs Nicely gave Angela one of her looks. She knew where this conversation was going. “It wasn’t lost,
Angela,” she sighed. “The owner was probably in the shop and they’d left the dog outside.”
“But what if it’s still there?” asked Angela. “What if it’s all alone with no one to look after it?”
Mrs Nicely rolled her eyes. “Angela, how many times? We are not getting a dog!” she said.
Angela tilted her head to one side. “Just a teeny-weeny puppy?” she pleaded.
“NO!” groaned her mum. “Dogs are smelly and dirty and way too much trouble.”
“Not if you train them,” argued Angela.
“And what about the mess?” demanded Mrs Nicely. “Who’s going to clear up when it does its … business … on my lawn?”
“Me!” said Angela. “And I would take it to the park for a walk every day. Please, Mum, you’d LOVE a puppy once you got used to it.”
“You know I hate dogs,” said Mrs Nicely. “And besides, we’ve just got a new sofa. I don’t want it covered in dog hair, thank you very much.”
Angela pulled a face. Who cared about a sofa? She’d been begging her meanie parents to buy her a puppy for months, but the answer was always the same. N-O spells NO. Maybe she could give her dad another try?
Angela went out into the garden to find him. “Da-ad, wouldn’t you like a puppy?” she asked.
Her dad laughed. “What did your mum say?” he asked.
Angela pulled a face.
“She said ‘no’.”
“Then there’s no point talking about it,” said Dad. “In any case, we’ve got a cat.”
“It’s not the same,” grumbled Angela. “You can’t teach Pusskins tricks or take him for a walk.”
“Well, we can’t have both,” said Dad. “Dogs and cats don’t mix.”
“Some do,” argued Angela. “And my puppy would be so sweet.”
“Hmm, try telling your mother that,” said Mr Nicely. “She doesn’t want a dog and nothing’s ever going to change that.”
Angela hung her head. It wasn’t fair. Bertie next door had a dog called Whiffer and Dora in her class had the
cutest puppy in the world. Why was she the only one who wasn’t allowed a dog? Angela thought she’d be good with dogs. She would take the puppy for walks, and teach it to sit up and roll over – though probably not on the new sofa.
There had to be some way to convince her mum! Angela had asked for a puppy for Christmas. She’d left pictures of sad-eyed puppies around the house. She’d even written PUPPY in big letters on her mum’s shopping list. But nothing had had any effect. All the same, Angela wasn’t giving up yet. She went back inside.
“Mu-um,” she said. “What if the puppy—”
“NO, ANGELA!” shouted Mrs
Nicely. “And if you ask me again I will scream!”
Read
Puppy Love
to find out what
happens next.