Before we even reach the kitchen, Riley has me by the arms, and she bounces up and down, her eyes sparkling. I haven’t seen her this enthusiastic since she gave up cheerleading. “You have to enter, Harper. Please say you’ll enter!”
It slowly dawns on me that no one is dead, bleeding, or has disappeared into an alternate dimension.
“Enter what?”
“The HBN Christmas Cookie Bake-off. They’re having auditions at the Harbinger!”
Lauren and Sadie wander in behind Riley. Lauren’s smirking; Sadie looks cautiously amused.
I grab Riley by her shoulders to make her stop hopping. “Since when do you care about cookie contests or the Home Baking Network?”
“Mason Knight,” Lauren answers for Riley.
Baffled, I shake my head. “The facts don’t compute.”
Riley’s still too starry-eyed to explain, so Lauren steps forward. “The radio just announced that Mason Knight is going to be one of the celebrity judges in the annual Bake-off, and they’re holding the last set of auditions at the Harbinger this Saturday.”
“What does that have to do with me?” I ask.
“You have to audition,” Riley says, coming back to her senses. “Oh, please, Harper.Mason Knight.”
“How old are you again?” I ask her. “Thirteen?”
She smacks my arm, grinning.
“You know the chance of making it onto the show is slim to none, right?” I tell her.
“Not for you.” Riley shakes her head so hard, her blond braid smacks her face. “You’reamazing.”
I watch the Cookie Bake-off every year, and Riley’s forgetting something important. “Teams compete, not individuals. I’d have to have a partner to even audition.”
Immediately, Riley swirls to Lauren. “You can do it!”
“No can do, Riley Roo. I’m up to my neck with the Christmas countdown on my blog, and Carla has me on eight Christmas parties.”
Riley’s shoulders sag. She doesn’t even volunteer to help—the point is winning, after all.
“I could do it,” says a tiny, female voice.
The room goes completely silent, and every one of us turns to Sadie. Her cheeks blush pink, and she looks scared to death. “I mean, if you want.”
My eyes flicker to Brandon. He’s watching me, clearly uncomfortable, and that question he almost asked in the hall lurks in his eyes.
Sadie continues, slightly more confident, “My grandmother and I used to watch the competition every year. We even talked about entering…but she passed away last November.”
Of course.
“I would love to audition with you, Harper,” she finishes, looking all wide-eyed and hopeful.
“Great,” I finally say because I am not a troll, despite what Brandon might think. “Yes.”
“It will be fun, right?” Sadie asks, desperate to integrate herself into Brandon’s world.
“So fun.”
“That’s a yes?!?” Riley screeches, grabbing me again. “I have to tell Linus!”
And with that, my sister races into the other room to phone her boyfriend and announce that I’m going to try to win her a chance to meet her schoolgirl crush. All I can do is shake my head.
