Daycare 2

Day 5: Cooking Competition!

(Pt. 1)

"Welcoooooome to a new daaaaay aaaaaat daycaaaaaaaaaare !!" Liam cheered extra loudly, glad to have his voice back from the commotion yesterday. He let out a proud huff as he jogged his way up to the playroom. "Hey, guys!" Liam called, scanning the playroom, noticing that Lily wasn't there. In fact, only Puppet and Ace were there.

"Hey, where's Lily?" He asked. "Interrogating Randi." Puppet replied, her and Ace staring suspiciously at the book she received yesterday. "Gabby's there, too." Ace commented. He raised an eyebrow, showing a face of confusion. "Why?" Liam asked, Puppet simply pointing to Maaci, who was sulking in a corner. Which was strange for her because she's usually overflowing with excitement. Liam shuffled over to her and tapped on her shoulder. She didn't react. "Uh, Maaci ??" He hummed. Still no response.

Liam turned back to Puppet and Ace. "Where's Lily and Gabby?" The male asked. "Outside." Ace responded. Liam spared a quick glance at Maaci again before making his way to the back. Outside, he saw a somewhat expected unusual sight. He walked over to the huge hole in the ground, which most of the other kids were surrounding. "Randi?" Liam questioned, kneeling down. "You! Tell them to let me out !! " Randi demanded, pointing a finger at Liam. Liam stood up and looked at Lily. "What's going on?" He asked.

"Okay, so, get this." Zharia instantly butted into walking in between Liam and Lily. "Prick." Lily whispered, Gabby flicking her in the forehead to get her quiet.

-

So, for some reason, Maaci was super excited about something when she came in the daycare. "Guys! Guess what?!" Maaci exclaimed. Tori jumped up and zoomed over to her, suddenly just as excited. "What? What?!" She cheered. "So, my mom showed me something this morning.." Maaci hummed, pulling out... "Is that my phone?! Again?!" Lily exclaimed. "Yeah, I put my email in, so now you get both me and your emails." Maaci explained, casually.

"Anyway, what did your mom say?" Randi asked, looking back from the chair he was sitting on. "She said that she got a special call this morning and...look!" Maaci skipped happily over Randi holding the phone out. He mumbled the words on the screen before lifting an eyebrow. "So?" He grumbled.

"Lemme see." Lily ordered, snatching her phone. "Maya Winn we...yeah, yeah, yeah...it has caught our attention that your daughter has clear potential in cooking, baking, etc. based on our sources. We invite you to our CAP...to participate..." Lily trailed off in thought. "What's 'CAP'?" Carmen questioned. "It's--" Randi was interrupted by a clearly over-excited Maaci. "CAP stands for Children's Aptitude in Pastries. It may sound very simple but only kids with THE BEST cooking potential from ALL OVER THE WORLD get a chance to participate!!" She squealed. "I've always wanted to participate but I was never invited. So I was always super-excited whenever Randi held a fancy party with important people in hopes that they might notice my food!"

"I thought Randi made the food?" Taffy mumbled to Gold-Mann. He glanced at her before looking away with a shrug. She lifted an eyebrow at this but decided to ignore for the time being. "So you're totally going, right?" Puppet asked, bothering to glance away from her book cover. "Ye--!!"

"--no." Randi deadpanned, crossing his arms and glaring at Maaci. She turned to him in disbelief. "B--why?!" She exclaimed. "You're obviously not ready! And if this show for the 'kids with the best cooking potential' actually only focuses on kids, then they expect you to fail. The reward can't be that appealing. You'll only embarrass yourself! And my family's name! Whether it's participating in a low-level competition, or failing at one of higher class!" Randi hissed at her.

Maaci's excitement clearly shattered at those words. "B-But, I swear I'm ready, I--!" Randi looked away in a huff. "No." Maaci gripped onto her shirt, upset and pressed her lips together. "F-Fine..." She mumbled in a disappointed manner and slowly shuffled to the corner, just sitting there, mumbling things to herself.