I do way more behind-the-scenes work than anyone else in this club, and I don’t think they have any idea how much time and effort it takes. I knew I sounded really huffy, but I didn’t care. “I’m not reading this stuff for my own health, you know,” I said. I know she was trying to be supportive of me, but “get through this”? As if they just had to listen to me before they got to the fun stuff? That was kind of insulting! Apparently, a coffee klatch is something gossipy old ladies do: drink coffee and chatter mindlessly. “Are we conducting business here or having a coffee klatch?” That’s what our favorite science teacher, Ms. “Oh good, what is it?” asked Katie, as if she was thrilled for the interruption. The local newspaper sends reporters, and there are usually pictures of it on the first page of the paper the very next day. One year some kids decided to dress up in costumes for the parade, and now everybody dresses up. The high school in our town holds a huge parade and pep rally right before school starts. “Ooh! I forgot to tell you I had an idea for your costume for the pep rally parade, Katie!” said Mia enthusiastically, as if I wasn’t in the middle of reading out columns of numbers for the past two jobs we’ve had. I had out the leather-bound accounts ledger that Mia’s mom gave me, and I was going through all our costs and all the money that’s owed to us, when Mia interrupted. Together we make a great team.īut today, when we were having our weekly meeting at Mia’s house, they would not let me do my job. Mia Vélaz-Cruz is our fashion-forward, stylish person, who is great at presentation and coming up with really good ideas, and Katie Brown and Emma Taylor are real bakers, so they have lots of ideas on ingredients and how things should taste. So when we actually go to make the cupcakes and sell them, we’re all set. This means I kind of take care of everything-pricing, scheduling, and ingredient inventory-the nuts and bolts of it all.

My name is Alexis Becker, and I am the business planner of the group. When my best friends and I get together to discuss our cupcake company, the Cupcake Club, I am all about business.

Alexis Cool as a Cupcake by Coco Simon