“Why do you care? You want to crush me, remember?” She shoved the tray across the counter. “Now, you have.”

“We just need to figure out what went wrong.”

“Dude, you won,” April said. “Let it go.”

“C’mon, before you-know-who has a fit,” Marco whisper-yelled. He was standing behind April, his arms crossed, hands squeezing his bulging biceps.

“April, Marco, you’re in the frame. Back up,” said the camera guy shooting from the far end of the counter.

“Were they just yellow cupcakes?” I reached into the cabinet and pulled out some clean mixing bowls.

“What are you doing?” Keya said.

I couldn’t explain even if I wanted to so I just started scooping flour into one of the bowls.

“I’m not fooling around,” Marco warned. “Get back to your station now.”

“It’s over,” Keya said.

It wasn’t over. It couldn’t be over, not until Keya had some cupcakes for Chef JJ to taste so she could declare Keya the winner. “Okay, what’s next?” I looked around the counter. “Baking powder! There’s no baking powder. That’s what you forgot.”

Right then, someone jerked my shoulders from behind. I stumbled back, trying to catch myself, but couldn’t get my feet under me.

The next thing I knew, I was on the floor, looking up at Marco, who looked as surprised as I felt.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to…” He reached out to help me up, but before I could take his hand, someone was swatting it away.

“What’s wrong with you?” It was my mother, right there on the set, standing over me, glaring at Marco like she was going to rip his head off.

“Mom?” I felt my face go hot. “You’re not… What are you—”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I got up off the floor.

Mom looked me up and down. “You’re sure? Because sometimes it takes a while when—”

“I’m sure.”

Mom put her hand on her heart and took a deep breath, then spun around to face Marco, her eyes flashing from worried-mom back to monster-mom. “Don’t you ever—”

“What is going on here?” came an icy voice. “And dear God, what are those?” Chef JJ pointed to Keya’s cupcakes.

My mother, Marco, and April all started talking at once.

“Enough!” Chef JJ snapped. “Randy!”

“Right here.” Randy was standing behind the camera chewing a pen cap to shreds.

“Get the leech back to her seat.”

“Who?” Randy said.

“I meant…” Chef JJ had a look on her face I’d never seen, and before I could even say what it was, it was gone. “Get Kira, Tristan’s mother, back to her seat.”

“I’m sorry, did you just call me a leech?” Mom said to Chef JJ.

“Kira, do you know how much it costs if we don’t finish filming on schedule? Are you going to pay for that?”

“She did call you a leech,” I said. I wasn’t going to cover for Chef JJ. “That’s what she calls you and Walter.”

“Why?” Mom looked more confused than upset.