Basket of Cupcakes

By AA Latchanna

When Kiki is suddenly visited by her mothers ghost, her ordinary life is quickly transformed as she embarks on a quest to find out what really happened to her. An unfortunate turn of events forces Kiki to journey together with her nemesis, Claire the Wicked. In a mesmerizing and thrilling tale of valour, learning to work together will define their success but things are never as they seem. A terrifying turn of events throws Kiki off her mission. Will she succeed?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AA Latchanna
• Release date: Jun 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201262945

Book preview

1 Claire the Wicked

On a hot and sunny afternoon, a little girl named Kiki had been busy working on her art project at school.  Being a tiny suburb hidden within century old woodlands, Oakburn held a community that knew each other on a first name basis.  Miss May, Kiki's grade five art teacher, reminded her much of her mum, who, according to her dad Ben, had decided to visit God but ended up staying much longer to clean up their new home. Well, it's been a year and Kiki had begun to think God had her mum cleaning up all of heaven.  Imagine!  Needless to say, Kiki and God were at war with one another at this current moment.

KIKI DID NOT CARE MUCH for school either, for she had acquired the unwanted attention of Claire-the-wicked, Grade five's own tyrant and her rapscallion gang.  At the moment, whenever Kiki reached for a crayon, Claire pulled it away, seemingly because she needed to use it, but once Claire got a hold of it, she passed the colour along to her friends making sure Kiki never saw it again.  This continued throughout the lesson giving Kiki the excuse to sit out the rest of the lesson blissfully doing nothing, enjoying the annoyance Claire felt for this lack of attention.

By the time the school bell rang for the lesson to be over, all Kiki had on her page was a pencil drawing of a unicorn with a bit of yellow on the tail and a long red crayon mark where Claire yanked the crayon out of her hand. Miss May was not happy at all. Why have you not completed your task in time Kiki?  You were given extra time as well. This is the third time this week your work remains incomplete, please collect a red note from my desk on the way out and make sure your dad signs.

Now Kiki didn't particularly care much for abhorrent behavior.  She had a wonderfully simple life with good friends and never wasted an ounce of her energy entertaining useless twaddle.  Not to say the baloney Claire spat out every so often didn't pest her from time to time, but she remembered her mum refer to the things Claire said as 'gobbledygook' and it made her chuckle.  When Claire spat insults, Kiki would often stare wide eyed, suppressing her laughter as she imagined Claire’s voice being turned into a blabbering turkey gone mad. All Kiki chose to hear were rapid gurgling sounds in place of words. 

After a brief lecture from Miss May, she set off home. 

Claire and her group of brainless buffoon's could be heard chuckling on their way out. Kiki took extra time to pack her bag. This was the last lesson of the day and as they would all be walking past her home she didn't want to hear any more of Claire's babbling or her high-pitched voice which seared through her brain every time Claire called out to her.

If spoilt were a person, it would be Claire. Her parents provided her with every whim and fancy, no matter how big or small, pricey or ridiculous it may have been. Her hair, as yellow as puke, highlighted her slime-green eyes and she almost certainly owned a gazillion pairs of shoes which is possibly the reason why they lived in such a mammoth sized home.  Claire honestly looked the picture of perfection, but her tyrannical ways made it impossible to notice.

Kiki, on the other hand, lived in a tiny little home with her dad. She, of course, loved her home. Every little nook and cranny held a memory of her mum. Her dad often observed she appeared to look more and more like her mum daily with her shiny black hair and hazel brown eyes. Of course, she would have loved to have her mum's long wavy hair, but her dad found it impossible to brush the nest of knots, so she had her hair cut into a bob instead.

At the end of the road, she met Geordie with his sister Ada. Geordie was a grade bigger than her and Ada shared her grade but in a different class. They looked a bit bothered. Hi Geordie, Hi Ada, I thought you guys would be long gone by now?

Ada was the first to greet Kiki with a nervous Hi Ki.

She was a mousey girl with light-brown hair and freckles, similar to her bigger brother Geordie. Ada's first day of school was quite an eventful one.  Being late and trying to make the assembly line-up as fast as she could,  while balancing her oversized bag and lunch box, she tripped and slid all the way to the assembly on her bottom. The entire school had a good laugh leaving Ada red-faced. Later that day, during activities, Claire and Hopper had to pick teams to play dodge ball and Ada's horrendous fall that morning gave them something to focus on the entire day.

Hopper and Claire made it appear, at every selection round, they were about to choose Ada by pointing at her and considering the possibility. Soon enough, Ada's hopeful look on her face turned to despair as she realized she was the last one standing and Claire and Hopper refused to pick her.  Their whispers and snickering laughs aimed at her made Ada turn and walk away before they could see her tears. As she walked she heard someone call her name.

Ada, wait for me! I don't play with meanies. Ada turned to see Kiki throw her team vest down run towards her. Since that day, Kiki and Ada had had become best friends.

Geordie spoke up with his usual nasally voice. He shifted his large round spectacles on his freckled face and looked behind him nervously then back at Kiki. Ummmm, I wouldn't go past your place right now if I were you, Claire and her friends are waiting outside for you.

Now Kiki huffed in anger as her entire face turned red.

What does she want now? Well, my dad's at home, so I bet she will not say anything mean in front of him.

She marched furiously down the street