Chapter 1
"Huckleberry," Maya says, handing her best friend a periwinkled-colored cupcake, smirking precisely as Riley took it leisurely.
"Is…it…good?" asked the enervated girl, cautious of it poisonous-type appearance but she knew that Maya wouldn't, in a million years; try to intoxicate her.
"Totally," Maya shook her head, placing her hand on Riley's lap. "Don't be fooled, it's better than it looks." With that, the brunette's mouth and the cupcake was in striking distance; but she still lunged it away, a weird odor resided in the depth of the pastry.
"Er," Riley starts, giving it back to the sixteen-year-old blonde girl, who scoffed at her act. "It smells weird. Like…" She whined, unable to articulate the whiff.
"Are you questioning my baking skills? I ate like 10 of them bad-boys this morning," Maya defends, placing the comcuption inches away from Riley's eyes, that had a showdown with it. "EAT IT!" Maya demanded.
"No," Riley groused, eyebrows furrowed.
But her best friend wouldn't take no for an answer. She forcefully tries to shove it down her mouth, pinning her arms down on her bed using her one good arm; smacking it in Riley's mouth with the other. Crumbs dwindling down her throat, and Riley couldn't complain, tasteful flavors embedded in her empty stomach. Maya seemed satisfied once the once-rejecting girl starts gobbling down her creation like a seven-year old on a candy-binge on Halloween.
"Maya," says Riley, wiggling her fingers indicating that she wanted more, which made the situation, for Maya; a sense for making more. "Do you have more?"
She tapped lightly on her leopard backpack that sat atop her lap, nodding disenchantedly. "No, Riles."
It was the answer she didn't want to hear, not after what was a perfect cupcake. When did Maya learned to bake? She thought, sighing. It was like the Cupcake Gods blessed her best friend with god-like powers overnight, and crafted the most seamless cupcake she have ever eaten. Even better than the 24/7 always-open Cup-a-Cake, which was notorious for being, "THE BEST CUPCAKES IN NEW YORK, EATEN BY THE KNICKS ON THE DAILY."
"Can you make more?" asked Riley politely, although in the inside, the demon residing in her soul was begging; desperate for maybe another, batch or two. Maya shook her head, tunefully, and unzips her bag. Riley watches, hoping that her best friend was playing a trick and there was a state-of-the-art cupcake generator resting in the fabric of the bag; but instead was a small silver journal with a golden-plated lock that was held firmly in Maya's hands.
"It's in here," said Maya.
Riley snatches the girls' journal, trying to open the book itself, but didn't somehow notice the lock, or maybe; thought that her sixteen-year-old brunette charm was enough to open a mere book.
"Key, Riles," the girl takes a key from the pocket of her short burgundy jeans, unlocking the journal, the content finally available.
For about an hour, Riley, starts to read over Maya's journal, on the very first page, the only page written on; the recipe written in thin black ink.
Maya's Huckleberry Cupcakes
Cooking spray
10 ounce cake flour (about 2 1/2 cups)
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups nonfat buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons purple food coloring (about 1 ounce)
Frosting:
5 tablespoons butter, softened $
4 teaspoons nonfat buttermilk
1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar (about 1 pound)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
(10 huckleberries) for 1 batch
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare the cupcakes, place 30 paper muffin cup liners in muffin cups; coat with cooking spray.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon cake flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine cake flour, unsweetened cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk. Place granulated sugar and unsalted butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 3 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and 1 1/4 cups nonfat buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Add white vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, and food coloring; beat well. Add huckleberries.
4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire racks.
5. To prepare frosting, beat 5 tablespoons butter, 4 teaspoons nonfat buttermilk, and cream cheese with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar; beat until smooth. Add 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla; beat well. Spread frosting evenly over cupcakes.
XO - Maya Hart
It was Riley's hundredth time reading over it, mumbling each word softly, until finally; she remembers…EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. "Maya?" says Riley, but the room remained silent; taking her eyes off the journal, she was nowhere to be found. But there was a text message on her smartphone, at 6:33 PM, which was an hour ago. From Maya.
Maya: I had to go home. You were still reading the recipe so I left, I'll make you another batch tonight. I'll be at your place in the afternoon, with like 2 batches. Maybe?. :)
"Dinner," a muffled voice hollered, bounding off the walls of the brownstone apartment building.
"Coming," Riley says, putting the book away alongside with the key, that Maya also left behind, on her desk.
She ate steaks with her two parents including her younger brother who stole the show at the table with his magical-flying corn and green beans down Daddy's pants which was surprisingly down his pants, leaving him amazed but prickly in his jeans. She didn't want to be part of the trick, or any tricks, leaving the victims to be her two loving parents. She loved them… but didn't want to be the gopher of his steak-sauce-in-hair trick. After taking a brief but soothing shower, she confided back into her space and lay in bed, texting her boyfriend, Lucas Friar; whom she been dating for three weeks.
It was a tug-of-war between the two lovebirds: an exchange of no, you're cuter; we're better than Ross-Rachel; I love you more; emoji battles; and cheesy lines from Ryan Gosling movies and every other heartthrob that been any romantic blockbuster.
They have been texting for nearly 4 hours, and she didn't want it to stop. Not now, but he was tired, presumably.
Riley: Goodnight Luke Skywalker.
She smiled. Smiled at the thought of Lucas holding a light saber.
Instantly.
Lucas: Goodnight YELIR.
It took the brunette minutes before she realized it was R-I-L-E-Y backwards, she felt her heart beating violently in her chest. And wishing that he was here with her cuddling and talking about what subject comes to mind, whether it was about a shirtless Farkle or a homeless camping out at the Subway; rationing a bag of teriyaki beef jerky. She wouldn't care, anything was better when Lucas was around.
Stuffing her face into the baby-blue pillow, she attempts to sleep but couldn't. Watching TV wasn't an option, Riley got up sluggishly from her castle, sitting at her furnished black desk—Maya's book the first thing that came to mind.
Through the aligned pages, all 208 pages, Riley was surprised Maya didn't write in it more, it was a fancy journal; detailed, silver/gold, texture of the pages were amazing. Made in Italy was written in gold on the back, cursive font. With 207 pages empty, it was a shame that nothing else was written in here— except a recipe for Maya's Huckleberry Cupcakes. Riley placed her hands gently on her cheeks, going over the journal to make sure there weren't any other pages filed, but there wasn't.
Rubbing her fingers on the second page to feel the delicate fancy Italian paper, she felt something damp. How come she couldn't feel it before? It was in the inner part of the page, where the lines were, as if the writing was in… INVISIBLE INK. But to confirm that, she flipped to the back page and touched the sheet, dry. Riley galled each page; at the end; page 2 to 5 felt damp, which meant Maya is writing something private. But what was so private that she had to write in invisible ink.
Riley searched on the NYC Search Engine titled Yorkers' Knowledge on her desktop for the answer to reveal invisible ink to make it visible.
Apply Heat. She didn't want to take that risk and caused suspicion when Maya takes back her book, questioning why it's hot or pages seem crumpled.
Chemicals? Riley's house was chemical-free, well, the real chemicals like explosives and different varieties of colors that bubbled up.
Finally.
Ultraviolet Light.
She did have that kind of light. She had a red titanium keychain from BatteryUnited that contained ultraviolet light with a press of a embroidered button. It was on the Franklins' lamp that leveled on her dresser, gently gripping the light source, the snooping sixteen year old girl ventured into her best friends' journal, well diary.
Red beams shined on the crisp Page 2, a Dear Diary started off the entry.
Dear Diary,
I found $50 at the Subway
She stopped there.
Riley grinned, remembering that this took place on a Tuesday, 3 days ago. This was then Tuesdays' events, Riley finalized then continued.
and it became my savior for the day. Riles and I made trips to Burger Sam and Pizza Palazzo, and ate like queens. I hate to brag, but I didn't burp once and it felt exhilarating. Usually, I do. But this time, I ate a frickin' ton of food and didn't, stomach acids didn't phase me. Riley threw up badly, Thank God for the mints. School was a drag, except Mr. Matthews class. Life Lessons. We learned about returning things that wasn't yours, surprisingly, I had a $50 that didn't belong to me. But HEY, I was only 16. If I did ask New Yorkers there if it was their money, they would say YES, every single person. Even box-house Steve, who was friendly, and protected us from a gang of preppies last week. I learned that the HOMELESS do know Kung-Fu, varying on which ones come to mind. Highlight of my day however wasn't eating with Riley, runner-up. It was when I met up with Lucas at Svorski's Bakery.
Riley stopped again. Lucas. Why were they meeting up? She thought, nervous to read another line; but she did, tears streaming down her face as she finished the final closing sentences on Page 2.
It was our third date. I felt quilty, knowing that if Riley found out, our friendship would be sabotaged. But, Lucas made me felt like I was special. After, we watched the movie Crossroads at Skynight Theater. It was one of those feel-good Texas movie with a A-List cast to make the movie better, which was great execution. Despite the 2 HOURS and 39 MINUTES of Texas on Texas action, Lucas surprised me… with a kiss outside right through a parkway which made up for nearly 3 hours of my life wasted on his choice of movie. Thankfully, I get to choose the movie on Thursday. :)
Love, Maya
LUCAS AND MAYA ARE A THING?! Riley thought, breathing labored, placing her hands on her head, crying softly. Her emotions were mixed now, a bit of sadness with anger engulfed, but she try to contain it, ANGER. The desire to break her friends' diary into two situated into her mind. But that wouldn't solve anything, except the Maya-writing-into-her-diary-with-invisible-ink problem.
But she did, desperately, wanted to know more. What now? The brunette thought, slowly becoming calm; although the thought of her boyfriend and best friend kissing made her uneasy, tearing up.
She wasn't going to BREAK UP with Lucas, not now atleast. Not until she knew more about this surreptitious relationship. It was going to be painful, maybe too much to bare, but she would allow it too continue.
Taking deep breaths, she flipped to Page 3.
...
PLEASE REVIEW! I will continue if this story gaining interest from you guys. Plus, I'm very open-minded to ideas that you would like to see, and diary entries. Diary entries ideas?
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