High-School Problems (Smash Bros Fanfic)

Chapter 33 - Samus' POV

"I'm not even asking for that much, dude! I just need a chocolate cake to serve, like, I don't know, 20 people. I mean, assuming they all take two servings."

The employee rolled his eyes. "Look, ma'am, we don't make these kinds of things in bulk. If you would like to buy four cakes for $120, I can--"

"nO way too much." I sighed. "Do you have any other options?"

He gave me a bored look. "Well, there's also 40 cupcakes for 80 bucks--"

"I'm not spending nearly a hundred dollars to give my best friend birthday cupcakes." I inhaled sharply. "You know what? Fine. Fine, whatever. I'll just make my own freaking cake." I spun on my heel and strutted out of the bakery.

Darn, Peach. Where are you? I never knew how hard it was to find a freaking chocolate cake in this town. Since I've gotten here, I've relied on Peach for cakes. Now nobody has any idea where she is (after that meltdown on stage, pretty sure you know the story), and nobody is bothering to look for her. 

I know what you're thinking. Just text her! Or call her, or something. But life isn't that simple. She's probably going through things right now, and I don't want to be the jerk who calls her just because I need a cake. By, like, tomorrow. Since tomorrow is the study session/birthday hangout.

Ugh, I'm so screwed.

*** 

"Please tell me you know how to bake."

Daisy shook her head. "Sorry, man. Last time I tried I nearly burned my castle down."

I sighed. "Do you know anyone who can?"

She shrugged. "Well you could always ask Peach--" She stopped herself mid-sentence. We both know Peach is a necessity in all party planning situations. Not having her around is not helping. But,  again, I don't want to be the bad guy who only checks up on her friend because I need something. 

I slouched in my chair. "What about Zelda?"

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Busy. Her and Link need to flex their relationship, you know. It's a full-time job."

I sighed again.

"I don't know, Samus, maybe you could try baking."

I shook my head. "No way. Marth hates my baking with a passion. I'm not going to let that ruin his birthday."

Daisy looked down at the floor. "You could ask Rosalina." She looked a little hurt giving me another suggestion, but I figured I shouldn't ask. We're not exactly the emotional type of friends, after all.

But I guess being Marth's BFF does something to your romance radar. "Hey, Daisy. Something happen between you and Rosalina?"

Daisy shook her head. "No way. We're on good terms, especially after the whole me-getting-on-the-roster thing."

She's right. And things have been going pretty well with Luigi, too, as far as I can tell. They're not exactly a couple yet, but it's getting there.

"It's Peach," Daisy finally admitted. "I don't want to replace her with Rosalina, or with anyone for the matter."

Of course. Peach and Daisy, the unlikely friends. Especially since they've been training together for a while, they've gotten pretty close.

"Why haven't you tried getting in touch with her?" I asked. I think everyone's worried about Peach. Like her or not, she's one of the most iconic people at this school. Plus, she's done a lot more for us than anyone has ever done for her. Not saying what she did to Pauline is justified. I just think we all want Peach back, and nobody wants to admit it.

"I don't want to disappoint Luigi," Daisy said quietly. "It took so long just to become his friend. And now that I am his friend, I'm scared that trying to contact Peach after what went down between her and Mario..."

She didn't even finish the sentence, but I got it. I was right, we all miss Peach. We're just afraid of reaching out to her. 

"Hey." I put my hand on her shoulder. "If Luigi is really your friend, he shouldn't be bothered by that."

"I know, but..."

"Daisy." I said her name sternly. "If you want to be a pessimist about this, then yeah, you're going to lose a friend one way or the other. You just have to decide which one."

She didn't look at me. 

"Hey, at least you have a choice!" I cracked a smile, trying to lighten the mood. "A bunch of my friends just left me without asking. Or died."

Nevermind. Not a good way of lightening the mood.

"Look," I continued. "You don't have to see it the way I see it, but I would much rather lose a friend I just made than a friend who's had my back for a really long time. Not to mention she makes amazing cakes."

Daisy laughed and wiped away some of the tears forming in her eyes. "Thanks, Samus. I was just really worried. I used to hate Peach so much, but when I look at her now, I realize that..." She sighed. "She's still just a person, you know?"

I managed a small smile. "I know."

I guess that's what friendship is. Seeing a person as just that-- a person. Marth isn't a hero-king in my book. And I'm not a bounty hunter in his. He's a person, I'm a person. Sometimes we do stuff really well, and sometimes we kind of screw up. Well, most of the time we kind of screw up. But that's the point of being a person, right? 

And Marth, as a person, needs to chill the heck out about school and relax for once. Which means this surprise birthday hangout has to be really fun. I just want him to enjoy himself instead of thinking about how that physics test we took yesterday went, or if his final semester grade will be a 98 instead of a 97, or if he's ever going to be smart enough to be more than just a pretty boy. 

It's easy to forget everyone has their own struggles. People are like that, I guess. Now that I think about it, people kind of suck.

I stood up. "I'll go ask Rosalina about the cake. And you, Daisy..." I picked her phone up off the table and tossed it into her hands. "Give Peach a call, would you?"

***

A/N: wow. it's really been a while, huh. can't believe i thought sophomore year was bad. junior year suuuuuccckkkkssssss. hate it. i don't think i've slept more than five hours a night since school started. on top of that, life hasn't been so easy in other aspects. it's kind of a lot. i'm on break right now, but it's ending pretty soon. i think i just lost motivation to write at some point. but i logged in for the first time in a long time today and reread some of your comments. it really helped :)

anyways, i know this chapter was a little sad but i hope you enjoyed it! the birthday shenanigans are coming soon. haha, i've been saying that for months now. but i'm serious, it should happen in a chapter or two. still gotta decide what's gonna happen with this peach situation...

that aside, thanks for all the love and support. reading the comments you left me really reminded me how much fun it is to write and get feedback. i love you all so much. thanks for motivating me to write today. 

see you sometime in 2020.

lots of love,

DaisyDetergent