A Piece of Cake (ON HOLD)

A Piping Problem

Ava was pissed. She always kinda felt that way, but especially today. It was finally Thursday, yet she still couldn't get that new kid out of her mind. It had taken long enough to get used to the other guys in Muffin Tops and even longer to start liking them, but this new kid was an idiot. Not only was he a scruffy-looking delinquent, he was completely inexperienced. The district bake-off was next month. There was no way they would be ready with this kid dragging them down.

Ava continued to brood over Gavin's incompetence all the way to her final period, math class. Ava liked math, and she was good at it, too. She'd been an honour student her whole life, and this year she had all the AP classes, except for math. The school had really screwed up the schedules this year, and she had tried , but there was nothing she could do. She was stuck in the regular math class this year.

She huffed as she finally made it to her desk, but to her dismay, someone else had made it there before her.

"Move. You're in my seat," Ava huffed impatiently.

"S-sorry." Gavin stood up and started gathering his things. "I just joined this class this morning. They reviewed my transcript and it turns out i just made the prerequisite." Gavin smiled, obviously pleased with himself.

Ava scoffed. "Don't care. Move." Gavin pushed his things onto the desk right next to Ava's. She rolled her eyes as he sat down.

"Hey we're like, study buddies, now!" Gavin turned in his seat and smiled at her. Ava responded with a scowl. Gavin didn't miss a beat and kept right on smiling at her. Ava turned to face the front. Mr. Guy was handing back the quizzes from yesterday. He handed Ava's to her with a smile.

"Nice work," He said.

Ava looked at the sheet. 95%? That was horrible. It was a only a quiz, on quadratics, no less. She should've done a lot better.

Gavin leaned over to look at her paper, and whistled, impressed. "Wow, you're smart. Best mark I ever got in math was a 63 on my final exam. That's how I passed the course last year."

Ava felt kind of bad for a bit. She'd cried for four hours when she got 70 on a chapter test last year. She was about to say something when Mr. Guy started teaching. She tuned Gavin out and focused on Mr. Guy's teaching. Or tried to, anyway. She couldn't stop thinking about stupid Gavin with his stupid long hair and his stupid baby face and...

Before Ava knew it, the bell had rung for the end of the day. She looked down and noticed her notebook page was empty; she had been so preoccupied, she forgot to take notes. She huffed and began to gather her things.

“You can borrow my notes if you want,” Gavin said, startling her. She turned to glare at him. “They're neat and everything.” Ava gingerly took them from him as she rushed out of the classroom. She barely heard Gavin calling out a goodbye to her.

Muffin Tops didn't start until 4, but Ava was always there a half hour early. She was the only one ever there that early, and she usually just ate and did some homework. Suddenly she heard the class door squeak open and she groaned, realising it could be only one person.

“Hey!” Gavin rushed in right towards Ava and began to take things out of his bag. “I wanted to come here early, to help set up or anything like that.”

“We'll be fine. We can do everything when everyone gets here. “ Ava said and went silent. A few moments passed, and Gavin seemed to take the hint.

“You're studying? That's a great idea.” The two sat with their heads in their books in an awkward silence until the door opened and Mrs.K came in.

“Hey guys!” Mrs. K called as she began to sort through the fridge and cupboard for ingredients they would need for the day. Ava stood up to help her, and soon after she noticed Gavin did the same. She hoped he wouldn't follow her around like this all day.