Heidi Heckelbeck Takes the Cake Read online

  When they were done, Heidi slipped the invitations into the front pocket of her backpack so she wouldn’t forget to take them to school. There was an invitation for everyone in their class.

  “This party is going to be SO much fun!” Heidi said. “We’re going to have juice from my dad’s company. Aunt Trudy’s making her yummy peppy pizza bagels, which Bruce loves. And I’m going to bake him a special cake in the shape of a ROBOT!”

  Lucy clapped her hands. “He’s going to LOVE it, Heidi! I can’t think of a better way to say you’re sorry.”

  Heidi took a deep breath and said, “I just want things to be back to normal.”

  “Me too!” Lucy agreed. “Because it’s no fun when friends fight!”

  * * *

  The next day at school Heidi and Lucy handed out the invitations to the entire class.

  They had to be super sneaky so Bruce wouldn’t find out. That wasn’t too hard because Bruce was still avoiding Heidi.

  “I’ll come to the party!” said Natalie.

  “Me too!” added Bryce.

  Heidi looked over her shoulder.

  “SHHH! Keep it DOWN, you guys!” she whispered. “Remember, the party is TOP SECRET. If Bruce finds out, it will spoil the fun!”

  The girls promised to keep it quiet.

  Then Melanie tapped Heidi on the shoulder.

  “You can count ME in!” Melanie said. “And Stanley, too!”

  Heidi faked a smile. “Oh yay! I was so worried that you wouldn’t be able to make it.”

  What Heidi was actually worried about was Melanie saying or doing something to ruin the party. That would be THE WORST.

  “I promise not to let Bruce know,” Melanie said, and she pretended to zip her mouth closed. But Heidi was pretty sure that pretend zipper wouldn’t work.

  By the end of the day Heidi and Lucy had heard from everybody.

  “Whoa, I think the WHOLE class is coming!” Lucy said.

  Heidi frowned. “But how can we get BRUCE to come over?”

  Lucy had a gleam in her eye. “Leave that to me. You focus on the cake!”

  Then Heidi and Lucy grabbed each other by the arms and quietly jumped up and down. Their plan was working!

  ROBO CAKE

  On Friday night Heidi and her family crowded into the kitchen to help make a robot cake.

  First Heidi shook a box of Devil’s Food cake mix into a bowl. Then she added a box of chocolate pudding, sour cream, and vegetable oil.

  Henry poured in the water and the eggs, which Mom had already cracked.

  Heidi stirred the ingredients.

  “Wow, this is just like mixing a SPELL!” she said, stopping to add the vanilla.

  Mom laughed. “Only cooking is MUCH safer.”

  Dad plugged in an electric hand mixer and gave it to Heidi. “This will blend the batter better.”

  Heidi switched on the mixer.

  Batter spattered everywhere.

  “Oopsies!” she exclaimed.

  Henry laughed and licked the chocolate specks off the counter.

  Next Heidi scooped the batter into rectangular cake pans, which Mom put in the oven after setting the timer.

  With the cakes in the oven, Heidi mixed the frosting. The kitchen smelled amazing!

  When the cakes had baked and cooled down, Dad cut them into parts for the head, body, and base. Then Heidi put the frosting on.

  “Time to decorate!” Henry cried. He emptied a bag of chocolate candies into a bowl.

  Heidi found two chocolate sandwich cookies, twisted them each apart, and placed the halves with the cream on the robot’s head, cream sides up. “These are the robot’s eyes!”

  Henry stuck a tiny candy in each of the robot’s eyes. “And here are its pupils!”

  Finally, Heidi pulled out a lollipop and planted the stick in the side of the robot’s head. “And THIS is the robot’s antenna!”

  Then they used white candies to give the robot a smiley face. After that they decorated the robot with rainbow candles.

  Heidi stood back and admired their creation. It looked kind of sloppy. Hopefully nobody will notice, she thought. But Henry noticed right away.

  “Bleep! Bleep! I am a ve-ry ug-ly ro-bot!” he said in a robotic voice.

  Heidi sighed. “Oh you’re right,” she said. “My robot is a malfunction mess. Let’s throw it away.”

  Mom put her arm around Heidi. “Oh, my little chef, remember, it’s the thought that counts. Bruce is going to love it.”

  MAD! SAD! GLAD!

  Heidi peeked out the window on the day of the party. Then she announced to the crowd, “Bruce is going to be here any minute. Find a hiding place, and I’ll keep a lookout!”

  Lucy had invited Bruce on a bike ride to lure him over to Heidi’s house.

  Everyone looked for places to hide except Melanie. She was arranging the gifts on the coffee table. She placed her gift on top.

  Heidi knelt down and stared through the front window. Soon the guests got tired of waiting. They came out of their hiding places. Of course, that’s when Heidi squealed.

  “I SEE them!” she cried. “Everyone, back in your hiding spots!”

  The guests scrambled back into position as Heidi whispered a play-by-play.

  “Okay, they’ve stopped in front of my house. Now Lucy’s trying to get Bruce to come inside. They are talking. And talking. Blah, blah, blah. And—oh no!—Bruce is shaking his head! I don’t think he wants to come in! Now he’s getting BACK on his BIKE! Lucy grabbed him by the arm! But Bruce pulled away. Uh-oh! NOW BRUCE IS LEAVING!”

  Heidi jumped off the couch and ran out the front door. She raced down the path and cut Bruce off on the sidewalk.

  “WAIT!” she cried breathlessly. She leaned on Bruce’s handlebars.

  Bruce wiggled the bars to get free.

  “Please don’t go!” Heidi begged. “You and Lucy are my best friends in the world. And I’m so sorry for missing your birthday. It was the worst mistake of my life. I know you’re mad at me, but will you please forgive me?”

  Bruce looked up at Heidi. “I’m not mad at you.”

  Heidi blinked. “You’re NOT?”

  Bruce shook his head. “To be honest, I was mad at first. Then I was sad,” he said. “I thought you missed my party on purpose, and I was afraid if I talked to you, you might want to stop being my friend altogether.”

  Heidi smacked the palm of her hand against her head.

  “Are you kidding?” she cried. “I could NEVER stop being your friend. We are friends for LIFE!”

  A smile stretched over Bruce’s face, and Heidi gave him a huge hug.

  “Now I’m glad!” said Bruce. “But could you not hug so hard?”

  Heidi eased up. “Only if you promise to come inside!”

  “Okay, okay.” Bruce chuckled. “Anything for a best friend.”

  PARTY TIME!

  “SURPRISE!” the guests shouted as Bruce walked in the door.

  Bruce’s jaw dropped, and his eyes opened wide. He turned around and looked at Heidi. “Is this for ME?”

  Heidi beamed. “For YOU!” she said. “Happy birthday, round two!”

  Bruce shook his head. “Wow,” he said. “This is the best surprise EVER.”

  Heidi smiled wide and climbed on top of a footstool. “Okay, everybody, come with me!”

  All of the guests followed Heidi into the backyard, where there was a bouncy house, balloons, juice boxes, and more! It was a birthday party wonderland!

  “You got a me bouncy house?” Bruce cried.

  Heidi nodded.

  Bruce ran straight over, kicked off his shoes, and crawled inside. His classmates followed. They jumped, squealed, and double-bounced one another.

  Then they played Pass the Parcel and Musical Statues. Dad also organized an egg-and-spoon race.

  “Time for lunch!” Mom called.

  Bruce sat at a large table in between Heidi and Lucy. Mom passed out pizza bagels while Dad served corn dogs and fruit salad.
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  Everyone talked, laughed, and munched. Then Heidi noticed something.

  “Uh-oh. Where’s Melanie?” she asked.

  Melanie was nowhere to be found, and that probably meant she was up to no good.

  “There she is,” Bruce cried, “with a cake!”

  Melanie was carrying Heidi’s robot cake and singing “Happy Birthday.” The guests joined in. When the song was done, she placed the cake in front of Bruce.

  “Well, thank you, Melanie,” said Heidi’s mom. “I’ll go get a knife and more plates for the cake.”

  As Heidi’s parents went back to the kitchen, Melanie cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Nice cake, Heidi. Did a TWO-YEAR-OLD make it?” she asked in a snooty voice. “Because it sure looks like it was made by a BABY!”

  Heidi felt her face heat up. Oh no! I just KNEW Melanie would ruin my party! She waited for the other kids to laugh at her cake. But they didn’t.

  Instead, Bruce stood up.

  “I think it’s an awesome cake!” he said. “And even though it’s little bit wonky and maybe a tiny bit droopy, and possibly a smidge melty—it’s the cake my best friend made for me. And that makes it AWESOME!”

  Then all the guests clapped and whistled—even Smell-a-nie.

  “Well?” Lucy said. “What are we waiting for? Let’s TRY it!”

  Heidi’s parents cut pieces of the cake for everyone.

  Bruce got the first piece and took a great big bite of his slice.

  “Wow!” he exclaimed. “This cake tastes BETTER than the one I had at my FIRST party!”

  Heidi laughed. Then she picked up her party horn and blew on it. The coiled paper unrolled and squawked. Then all the guests began to blow their party horns.

  Tooo-o-o-t!

  Tooo-o-o-t!

  Squa-a-a-a-wk!

  Then Bruce put his arm around Heidi. “You wanna know what? I’m sure glad to have my bestie back!”

  Heidi hung her arm on top of Bruce’s. “Me too!” she said. Then they clinked forks and each took another bite of the yummiest ugly cake ever.

  More from this Series

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  Keep reading for a preview of

  Heidi Heckelbeck Pool Party!

  by

  Wanda Coven

  Heidi had a hairy problem.

  No sooner had she tucked one side of her hair into her swim cap than several strands on the other side fell out. She stuffed them back in. Then a few more strands spilled over her eyes.

  “Oh, merg!” she growled, and pushed those stray hairs back in too. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t make her hair stay inside that floppy old cap. “It’s all stretched out,” Heidi complained.

  Mia Marshall, who was in line with Heidi, turned around.

  “My cap’s baggy too!” Mia said. She put her finger inside her cap, pulled, and let go. It didn’t snap back like a new cap. It sagged.

  Both girls laughed. Then Mia faced the pool. It was her turn to swim. She pulled on her goggles.

  Snap! The strap broke.

  “Oh no!” Mia exclaimed. “Now I have to get another pair of goggles!” She ran to the locker room.

  Heidi stepped to the edge of the pool and carefully pulled on her own goggles. Then she dove in. Ahhhhhh, she thought as she glided through the water. I love to swim.

  After a few strokes, Heidi’s vision became blurry and her eyes began to sting. My goggles are leaking! She stopped and shook the water from her goggles. Then she strapped them on and went back to swimming.

  Continue Reading…

  Heidi Heckelbeck Pool Party!

  Wanda Coven

  About the Author and Illustrator

  WANDA COVEN has always loved magic. When she was little, she used to make secret potions from smooshed shells and acorns. Then she would pretend to transport herself and her friends to enchanted places. Now she’s able to visit other worlds through writing. Wanda lives in San Jose, California, with her husband and son. They have three cats: Hilda, Agnes, and Claw-dia.

  PRISCILLA BURRIS has illustrated numerous books and materials for children, parents, and teachers. She enjoys painting cakes and creating art for products, which include murals, greeting cards, and rubber stamps! Priscilla lives with her family in Southern California.

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Wanda-Coven

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Priscilla-Burris

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  HeidiHeckelbeckBooks.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

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  First Little Simon paperback edition January 2020

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  Designed by Ciara Gay

  Jacket design by Ciara Gay

  Jacket illustrations by Priscilla Burris

  Jacket illustrations copyright © 2020 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  This book has been cataloged with the Library of Congress.

  ISBN 978-1-5344-6114-7 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-5344-6113-0 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-5344-6115-4 (eBook)