Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for being their always awesome selves. You're the best, ladies!

Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated.

Hope you enjoy!


Cupcake Crew (A McRoll in the REAL World Story by Mari, Sammy, and Ilna)

Chapter 1

"This is going to be so much fun!" Angie said, skipping down the hallway toward the industrial teaching kitchen in their local rec center.

"Yeah!" DJ agreed. "We get to make cupcakes, decorate them, and eat them." He stopped suddenly and looked up at their parents. "We do get to eat them, right?"

"I certainly hope so," Catherine said with a smile.

Steve grinned. "Unless our decorations are so incredible that we don't want to eat them," he teased.

"Not much chance of that in your case," a familiar voice said, and they turned to see Danny, Gabby, Grace, and Kendra.

"Uncle Danno!" the kids cried, then quickly ran to greet all four.

"I can't believe you actually came," Steve said, shaking his head.

"I said I'd pay money to see you decorate cupcakes, I didn't say I'd pay it to you."

"What if our cupcakes are too good?" Angie asked, returning to Steve's comment with concern. She sighed in relief as a thought occurred to her. "Mommy can take a picture of them so we remember what they look like, then we can eat them and it's okay."

"Great problem-solving, Angie," Kendra said, offering a fist for the little girl to bump.

They walked into the kitchen where two other familiar families were already at their stations. Ashae and her parents, Justin and Raina, stood around one counter, while Michael, his sisters, Zoe and Emma, and his parents Rebecca and Nick.

As the kids all greeted each other, Nick explained, "The instructor ran out to grab a couple of things from one of the storage closets."

"You guys are at those two benches," Rebecca continued, motioning. "We grabbed a step stool for Angie already."

"Thank you!" Angie said, hopping up on it and giggling when Ashae did the same at her own counter.

"Oh good, everyone's here," a man in his mid-thirties said, coming into the room with a roll of sticker nametags and a couple of Sharpies. "Welcome! I'm Neil, and I'll be your instructor this evening." He dropped off blank nametags and a marker at each counter as he spoke. "We're going to have lots of fun. I've got a feeling this group is going to make some fantastic and unique cupcakes."

"Oh, you have no idea, my friend," Danny said with a chuckle as he wrote his name. "No idea."


Each family had cooling cupcakes and decorating supplies on the stainless steel countertops in front of them. The smell of the freshly baked cupcakes was in the air and the kids were off the charts with enthusiasm.

"Look, Angie, they have rainbow sprinkles, your favorite." DJ pointed to them among the assortment of decorations.

"Can I use all the decorations I want?" Angie clarified, looking up at her mother.

Catherine smiled. "Of course, sweetheart. It's going to be your cupcake, you can use whatever you want."

From across the counter where she stood with Danny, Grace and Kendra, Gabby asked, "So, Angie, do you have your cupcake idea already?"

Angie's face lit up, her curly ponytail bouncing as she nodded. "I want a goat on top, and it's gonna have camo frosting!"

Danny chuckled. "Of course it is. That's so perfectly you."

Angie beamed. "I'm going to take a picture for Felix when it's done."

"I'm sure he'd be very disappointed if you didn't," Gabby said with a smile, and Angie nodded seriously.

"Mr. Neil, did you bake all these cupcakes?" Zoe asked.

"I did," he said and motioned behind him. "Using these great big ovens here." He held up a box with a smile. "But I did use box mix, just to speed up the process a bit since I had so many to make. I was actually thinking next time I might just purchase undecorated cupcakes from a local shop."

"You could go to Esther and Kamekona's," DJ suggested. "They have the best cupcakes."

"They're our family!" Angie told him.

"Oh wow," Neil said. "I've been there lots of times, they do have amazing cupcakes."

"Our cousin Kaitlyn made a lot of the recipes," Angie continued.

"I see baking is definitely in your family," he said. "Now, while our cupcakes are cooling, I'll show you some of the decorating techniques you can use. If you all want to gather around the front here, we'll get started."

They formed semi-circles around the front counter with the kids in front and the adults behind. Neil began demonstrating different techniques, including piping skills, bagging roses, and using food colors in combination.

"Look at that." Catherine nudged DJ gently, pointing to the demonstrator's examples. "Isn't the color swirl amazing?"

He nodded as Grace said, "That's really impressive, I'm going to try that swirl thing, but I bet you'd totally do a great job at all of them, DJ."

"I agree, you're such a good artist," Rebecca told him with a smile, "you'll do a wonderful job with any design you pick."

DJ ducked his head in a very Steve-like gesture as he thanked his cousin and best friend's mom. "Thanks, I was thinking of the swirl in blue and red…"

The decorator paused mid-demonstration. "Wait, you all know each other?"

"Yes!" Ashae said with a huge smile. "Angie is my best friend in the whole wide world and Michael and DJ are besties, and Grace is Angie and DJ's cousin, and Kendra is Grace's friend…"

"And DJ's Uncle Danny and his dad are our coaches…" Michael added.

"Well, that makes our class even more fun," Neil said with a laugh. "I thought it was a little strange that the class filled up as quickly as it did."

"Ashae's mom found it online and told us," DJ said. "And we told Michael and Uncle Danny."

"That's so cool you all wanted to come do it together." He smiled. "It'll make the cupcakes taste even better."

"We're like a whole cupcake crew!" Angie clapped her hands and beamed when Ashae said, "Yes! The most fun cupcake crew on the whole island!"


Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for the finale on Friday!

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