Life Is What You Bake It // A Harry Styles AU

Chapter 7 - Term 3, Week 6

Warning: This chapter includes mentions of suicide and detail of PTSD as a result. Please read with caution!

Monday

Adele stares blankly at the recipe in her notebook as she ties her apron tightly around her waist. She knows the recipe well, but she doesn't want another disaster like the star-shaped pizza she'd tried a few weeks ago.

Bella arrives shortly, lightly poking Adele's waist as she passes to put her knives down on the workbench. "Morning,"

"Hey," Adele returns absently, and looks up to meet her gaze with a warm smile. "You alright?"

"Yeah, fine. How are you feeling?" She asks, a pointed look in her expression as she fixes her cap over her hairnet.

"I'm alright. Throat feels a lot better today, my mum didn't let me drink anything but hot water with lemon, ginger and honey all day yesterday. Was like drinking silk."

Bella laughs, moving to stand directly beside her. "That's good to hear. Your mum is smart, to be fair."

"Yeah, and a massive hippie." Adele hums.

"True. What are we cooking today?"

"I thought we'd try two tarts -,"

"Oh, bit like me and you." Bella jokes, nudging Adele's side with her elbow.

She snorts, and giggles. "Exactly. Um, so one savoury and one sweet. We can either do one each or just work on them both together, I don't mind which way."

"Ooo, okay." Bella nods, reading over the recipe eagerly. "What flavours are we thinking?"

"I'm not sure. Always open to suggestion."

She purses her lips thoughtfully. "I kinda want to make a fruity one. Like a pear frangipane."

"Oh my God, yes." Adele nods. "Do that one."

"And what about a goats cheese tart? Something like that."

"Yes, perfect. Okay, ingredients,"

The girls write up an ingredients list and hand it to Steve, who orders the entire class's things for them to go and collect from the pantry downstairs. They work on both tarts together, making the pastry first, lining the tins and filling them with baking beans, before baking them for twenty minutes.

In the meantime they prepare the fillings for each, the frangipane first and the goats cheese second, so that the sweet tart can be cooled in the fridge first. Considering no plan was made, which they would have done on Thursday if things hadn't gone so wrong, they manage to finish both tarts before lunchtime without a hiccup or a disaster. Steve even tells them they look decent, even if it was obvious they had no plan.

They decide that Bella will take the pear frangipane home because it's her mum's favourite, and Adele will keep the goats cheese tart for lunch today. She changes with everyone else, and they head down to the canteen to sit around the large table with the Level 3s.

"Lunch, sir." Adele giggles as she sets the tart down in front of Harry.

He hums loudly, sitting forward in his chair to get a better look at it. "Looks good, what is it? Goats cheese?"

"Correct." She nods, sitting in the empty seat beside him. "We did this and a pear frangipane. Bella's taking that one home."

"Sounds nice." He mumbles, and cuts a chunk out of the modest tart using the side of his fork rather than a knife.

"Surprised you two didn't set up a little table on your own to eat them." Eden mutters.

Adele looks to her with a frown. "Who?"