𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇

XXVI

— RORI —

On the fifteenth of November, at two o' clock in the morning, i attempt to bake a cake.

I choose to bake a chocolate cake, because i know everyone will like it, and i follow a tutorial on YouTube.

"For this next part, you're going to want to insert a skewer into the centre of your cake in order to test if it is ready or not."

"A skewer?" i repeat, narrowing my eyes at the English women on my phone screen. "What the hell is a skewer?"

"As you can see...my skewer remains squeaky clean. And so now, all that's left to do is let the cake cool down before we start icing."

"I don't believe i own a skewer," i tell her, struggling to pronounce this word that is unknown to me. "But i suppose a knife will do."

Removing a butter knife from the drawer beside me, i gently insert it into the centre of my cake, frowning in disappointment when i find it coated in the chocolatey mixture.

Determined, i place the cake back into the oven and set a timer for ten minutes.

"Ten minutes should be fine." i once again turn to the woman on my screen. "Right?"

When i find that she has already moved on to icing her cake, i huff in frustration and close the app, choosing to open Spotify.

I put on some playlist consisting of music from the nineties, feeling rather inspired by my brother's birthday, even though it features artists he would never be caught dead listening to, such as Britney Spears and The Spice Girls. And i spend the majority of the next ten minutes sliding across the recently mopped kitchen floor in my pink, fuzzy, socks.

I drank three cups of coffee earlier on. And i never drink hot coffee for the sake of it.

I don't know what i was thinking. To be honest, i wasn't. I was just so exhausted and, well, now i'm not.

The timer has yet to go off, so, in the meantime, i prepare the frosting, not being shy when it comes to sneaking a little for myself.

Only, i get distracted by the music, singing and dancing in-between.

I'm actually rather care free today...perhaps it's because of all the coffee i drank, but, whatever the cause, i'm not complaining.

For the first time in seventeen days, everything has gone smoothly.

I aced my German test today and i also found out i got an A on my recent Chemistry test.

An A!

Little ol' me got an A in Chemistry. Who would've thought?

Christian would've thought. That's who.

He was so proud when i told him during our study session in the cafe. He even told me himself! And that meant way more than he would ever know.

Things have, surprisingly, not been awkward between the two of us ever since i found out that Seamus and Annalise kissed.

Christian didn't try to defend him, nor Annalise, which i greatly appreciated, and even let me vent to him for a whole hour.