Barely ten minutes into class, someone was at risk of diabetes.

"Wait, Evans!" I hurried over to stop him from tipping a tablespoon of sugar into the mixing bowl. "It's teaspoons, not tablespoons. Your pie is going to be overly sweet if you add four tablespoons of sugar in it," I explained, passing him a teaspoon instead and looking over to his partner. "Make sure to help each other along the way alright? That way, you'll make less mistakes."

"Alright sir," Evans' partner nodded but Evans himself looked at me in awe.

"Wait. T-s-p meant teaspoons? Holy bananas my life has been a lie," he stared at the mixing bowl filled with flour and two cracked eggs. "No wonder my cupcakes always tasted like diabetes."

For some reason, Evans was beginning to grow on me and I couldn't help but laugh a little. "Now you know!"

I was about to leave their station and move on to the next when Evans decided to call my name. A-actually, having a 'Mr.' added to the front of my name was really embarrassing. I wonder how Xander managed the first few times—oh wait, he's already used to it isn't he? At the office...

"Mr. Honeycutt, how did you know my name?" Evans asked with a frown, mixing the ingredients with a whisk but looking at me as he did so. I told him to keep his eyes on the bowl and walked away quickly.

!!! W-wouldn't it be weird if I said Xander mentioned him? Do teachers normally talk about their students to other teachers? Would it disturb Evans? I-I guess I'll just leave it since I wouldn't know either...

I moved on to the next station. The pair in front of Evans and his friend were progressing rapidly on the pie crust, and appeared to be having a short discussion regarding the blueberry filling.

"—blueberry, not mixed berry."

"Yeah but it wouldn't hurt to put some raspberries inside," his partner, the girl who raised her hand to point out the recipe in the textbook, didn't seem to agree. "Just blueberries would be boring. And besides! Didn't the teacher say we could make our own pies? Nothing wrong with tweaking the recipe a little."

"Fine," the male student gave in with a sigh. "Can we please not add the lemon juice though? The recipe in the textbook doesn't have it, and lemon juice in pies are just weird."

"O-oh!" I piped up initially but sort of froze when both of them turned to me with a startled look. "Uh, well, if you're worried about the pie tasting weird with lemon juice it's really not going to make much of a difference," I tried to reassure the boy who looked a little sceptical. "All it does is enhance the flavour of the berries, actually. And I think the idea of having a mixed berry pie is great as well," I nodded in the girl's direction, and she blushed a little.

At this, her partner clicked his tongue and turned away with a shrug. "Whatever you say."

Immediately, I began to panic inside. Did I say something that made him angry? Perhaps he was allergic to lemons, or maybe he just really doesn't like lemons, o-or maybe he doesn't want the girl to think he likes lemons so he had to say he didn't want them to be in the pie but what reason would he have to lie d-does he want to impress her or perhaps give a thoughtful opinion since she already had the idea of a mixed berry pie how do high school students even think I'm just a pebble I don't want to think.

"I, um," they looked at me again. "I think you guys should talk it over. Discuss—before moving on to the filling, or maybe how about the type of crust? Would you like a lattice design? O-or maybe something more fancy like cut-out hearts? You could always come up with some ideas to make your pie stand out," I suggested nervously.

Thankfully, the girl smiled. "Thanks sir! Can we ask for your advice once we're done with the filling?"

Her words, though simple, lifted my spirits. "Of course you can! Um, you are...?"

"Layla," then she pointed to her partner. "This is Brendon."

"All the best you two," I presented them with a brief thumbs-up, and Layla laughed while Brendon seemed a little uninterested.

Slightly more positive, I turned to the station in front. At once, I was startled. The pair were washing and skinning potatoes. "What sort of pie are you intending to make?" I asked the girl tentatively, expecting something along the lines of shepherd's pie. They reminded me of the time when Xander and I made it.

"Hi sir, uhh," she glanced at her partner. "We...don't know yet."

"Oh," was all I could come up with. Not intelligent in the least. "Do you need any help?"

"More than a pie, we're trying to come up with a potato thing. I suggested some spicy minced meat and Shin came up with some recipe to compliment it. We're just going with the flow," the girl smiled sheepishly, washing her peeled potato before placing it in a pot filled with water.

Ah, the naturals. Blessed with culinary sense then...? They seem to know what they're doing.

"Alright! And what will the ingredients be?" I turned to the boy who had been a little quiet, peeling his potatoes at lightning speed while listening to our conversation.

"I was thinking of a cheese mix. Mozzarella and parmesan, chopped tomatoes and tomato paste with the minced meat then spicing it, with a bit of sour cream and spring onions on top of the crust," he spilled nervously. "Will it be okay?"

"Woah, wait. We were going to do all that?" His partner looked at him incredulously. "How do you know so much of this? You don't belong here, go to Master Chef or something." Shin turned a little pink. Oh, he's a little like me. I blush easily too.

"That sounds really good," I nodded. "I'll be at the teacher's table if you need any help. The minced mix might take some time to do since you have to let the spices settle...so if you need help with time management, just tell me—uh," I didn't know the girls' name. "You are...?"

"Nyugen," she giggled. "You're very cute sir."

I felt my face heat up instantly. "O-oh. Wha—"

"Nothing sir," she grinned, then turned back to her potato.

I blinked awkwardly, then returned to the teacher's station at the front of the class. Everyone else appeared to be fine until I spotted someone using a chopper to halve strawberries, which I hurriedly corrected and produced for him a fruit knife instead. His size and grip made the fruit knife look tiny in his hands. A chopper suited him more—u-uwa, what am I thinking.

Finally, I was able to get started on my sample blueberry pie. At least that was what I had thought initially.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted someone passing the home economics room and turned my head slightly to see who it was...only to drop it back down in exasperation. Xander stood by the doorway, a stopwatch and whistle around his wrist while presenting the substitute teacher in class a signature smirk.

"Ooh, Mr. Jaxon!"

"Hey sir."

"Hi Mr. Jaxon!"

O-oh. He's really popular here too. What am I saying? Xander's popular everywhere.

"Hey kids. Pay attention to your teacher," he spotted someone trying to slice a lemon. "Don't cut your fingers and don't mess with Mr. Honeycutt or I'll give you guys extra rounds tomorrow."

"But what if we're nice sir?" The nice girl Nyugen piped up. "Do we get less rounds? And can we play something else other than football?" I turned to Xander with a glare. You were forcing them to play football?

Thank cupcakes I wasn't in his P.E class.

"No you don't. The usual is a minimum requirement kids—exercise is important," my husband returned my glare with a smirk. "Isn't that right, Mr. Honeycutt?"

I paused. Everyone was looking at me and I knew Xander had done this on purpose because I felt a blush coming soon and this was not going to end well. As an embarrassed pebble, I wished someone would bury me underneath some comfy soil.

"U-um, yes...but there are other important things!"

"Like pie?" Xander said teasingly as he glanced at the recipe on the board and I nodded vigorously.

"Of course. Pie is...i-it's important," the girl in the front laughed and her friend beside nudged her. "So you should go away. You're distracting everyone," I crossed my arms firmly and tried my best to appear—uh, dominant.

Ha, haha.

Naturally, all Xander did was try to hide his laughter before saying that he had something to tell me instead. O-oh. He told everyone to get back to their recipes and concentrate before approaching my station.

"What is it? Did Laura say something?"

"No," Xander peered at the bowl of blueberries I had on the teacher's counter. Although my station was supposed to be elevated, my husband was (unfortunately) still taller. "Shea called but I told her you were in the middle of class. She said it wasn't important though. Just something stupid, so I said I'll tell you to call her back."

I paused in thought. "Are teachers allowed to interrupt classes because of private matters?"

"Nope," Xander shrugged with a hint of a smirk. "I wanted to see you."

My face heated immensely.

"You see me every day!" I turned away from him and concentrated on my crust instead. "B-besides—"

"I want shepherd's pie. Don't make blueberry," he ordered, giving the blueberries a distasteful look. "Oh, unless you change the blueberries to strawberries then I'll make an exception—"

I gave him a look. "Don't order me around in my class!"

"Right," Xander shrugged, lowering his voice. "More rounds in my class then. Tonight."

...this guy!

I threw a rag at him but he ducked and winked before leaving the home economics room.

*

I ended up making shepherd's pie. Without a doubt, I wasn't a very defiant person, especially when it came to...certain people or people in general, actually. B-besides, what if Xander actually forced me into running extra rounds? I couldn't afford that! I wouldn't survive the first.

Anyway, it was ten minutes till the end of preparation time and I was preparing to go around with the register for grading and taste-testing. Most of the pairs in the class were adding final touches like cinnamon sugar on top of their crust or fancy arrangements of fruit on top of the pie. It as admirable and endearing, the effort and talent that the class had. I began to understand why teaching would appeal to certain people.

"Mr. Honeycutt, sir—uh," two girls in the first station up front raised their hands. "We're done with ours."

I approached their counter in anticipation, and was pleased to find an apple pie.

"Sorry sir, uh. We kinda followed the timing on the board but it somehow overbaked and..." one of the girls pointed to a charred edges of the pie's crust. "Yeah."

I assured them that it wasn't their fault and explained that different pie crusts would differ in terms of their time in the oven. Checking the pie through the window of the oven was key, and not a fixed timing. "The ease of baking also depends on the filling inside, so if I may..." I cut a slice of the apple pie. The apples dices were large and a little dry. "If the apple filling had a little more moisture—just a little more, it's alright you see. You were close!" I wrote an 'A' beside their names on the register. "You did great!"

It tasted good too, apart from the charred edges. The taste was what mattered, in the end. It might not have looked fantastic but that was secondary to taste.

When I moved on to the next station however, I realized that I would probably have to invent something called A+++. Um, what's above an A?

Shin and Nyugen's custom-made, go-with-the-flow, maximum-culinary-talent pie looked and smelled amazingly good.

"Wow! Um, I," I stared at the perfect amount of sour cream and spring onions on top of the potato pie crust and checked for burns. "This looks really good."

Nyugen nodded excitably and handed me a knife to cut it open. "Sir, the spicy minced meat tastes so good. Quick try it."

The cut was clean and immediately I could feel the pressure of a potato crust baked to perfection while the inside remained soft, filled with a spiced mix complimented by cheese and diced tomatoes. I tasted it and—oh no, it was a perfect blend. I glanced down at the register and considered the tiny box. Was A++++ possible? Should I give four plusses or three plusses; that is the question.

"What do you think sir?" Nyugen anticipated with bright eyes while Shin looked on anxiously. "Can we please get an 'A' this time?" I blinked.

"E-eh? Wait. Have you never gotten an A before?" I asked, taken aback. The pie was perfect! "That's impossible."

"No sir, we haven't," Shin admitted, biting his lower lip. "We have been working really hard for it."

"But what are you saying?" I gaped. "To make your own recipes within minutes—that's already talent! I couldn't have done that at your age," I pointed out truthfully. "You guys really have a knack for this—cooking, or baking, for the matter. Don't be disheartened! B-besides," I showed them the register. "I gave your pie so many plusses there's not enough space in the box!"

Nyugen burst out laughing.

"Sir! You're so cute what the fuck," I gaped at her language.

"D-don't curse in class Miss Nyugen!"

"Okay sir but you're seriously very cute. Are you sure you couldn't have made recipes when you were our age?" She asked in disbelief.

I shook my head. "Of course not. You guys are really talented. I've failed a lot of times," I laughed quietly.

Suddenly, Shin came forth and spoke very quickly. "Sirdoyouhappentohaveballphobia?"

I paused to register his words before blushing heavily.

"W-wait, how do you know about that?" I looked around, anxious. "That's like, my dark past or something."

Shin stared at me for a moment and then Nyugen decided to speak for him.

"Sir, are you and Mr. Jaxon like, married or something. The sexual tension is strong, I can't take it."

I almost fainted.

*

I ended up giving the whole class a distinction grade for their pies and was on my way to the staff room to drop the register in Mrs. Harry's pigeon hole when I bumped into a wall—Xander, sorry.

"Hey Angel," his eyes were really happy. It began to sink into my mind and I found every detail, all of a sudden, something akin to a dream. "I was about to go see you. Let's have lunch in the cafeteria before sending you back to the bakery."

"But what about practice? There's club activities today right?"

"I can make it back in time before it starts, don't worry," we made our way down to the school's cafeteria. "How was class? Tell me if they cause any trouble."

I poked his elbow. "They're harmless kids! And nice, unlike you," I gave my husband a look and he smirked.

"Nice is the opposite of me, yes."

I sighed and gave up. "What do they serve? Do they have new things? Is the lunch lady still mean?" The last part was important. My portions were always incredibly small during high school and I resorted to bringing my own lunch instead.

"Staff get a different menu and a separate queue," Xander explained, and while we were making our way across the cafeteria, a couple of teachers in the staff dri-fit gym attire waved my husband over.

I peered up at him. "They're calling you."

"Yeah," he shrugged, ushering me into the queue. "Those are the rest of the P.E department. Just the four of us for the whole school."

"Oh no...must be tough," I wanted to pat him on the back but it was an awkward gesture since I had to reach up abnormally so I didn't.

"Not really. Your department has one person," Xander laughed and I pouted.

We managed to get our lunch in less than two minutes and I started in the direction of where Xander's department was sitting when I realized that there was no staff table. I pointed out my discovery to my husband.

He nodded.

"Everyone's kinda sitting around. Just hanging out with their department only," he said, and I somehow made a strange correlation between the high school students and their teachers. Apparently, no matter how many years we've aged, math people still sat with the math people and, well, sports people sat with...sports people.

"Do you think people change?" I raised the question to Xander out of the blue, as he led me to a table with only two chairs.

He thought it over after pulling out the chair for me. "Yes, but not easily. Fundamentally, we like to stay the same."

I laughed. "Does that mean you're still a—what do they call it...a jock?"

Xander flicked my forehead. "What's that even mean? Sounds dumb as fuck."

"Y-you!" I gave our surroundings a quick survey. "Don't curse in school!"

Xander was trying not to laugh at something over my shoulder and was, obviously, not listening. I followed his gaze and turned around.

3A was sitting across three tables joined together, with a couple of them staring and some waving. Nyugen and another girl—I think was Layla—were giggling. Was this how high school students embarrassed their teachers? Was it some favourite pastime that I—as a lonely pebble—was unaware of during my time as a student?

I turned around and hid my face in my hands.

Xander on the other hand, was thoroughly amused. "Haha, I think I just saw one of them mouth: they're so cute."

(A/N: 3A is secretly my class *spies on my characters*)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Xander and I were just about to turn into the street in front of Baked Love when we spotted a group of staring passers-by hanging around the corner, pointing at something ahead that was beyond our view. We turned the bend.

There was a police car parked right outside of our bakery. I panicked, and looked to Xander immediately. He was frowning, jaw clenched. Picking up our pace, we entered the store and looked around. There was no one at the cashier.

"Where's Shea?"

Xander moved to check the kitchen, where voices were coming from. I followed. The first I heard was Rose's and immediately, I knew something serious must have happened. Rose should have been busy at the hospital she and Joe was working at.

"—be some mistake officers. We rarely advertise, no less negative advertising. That's beyond what we are capable of," she was saying when Xander and I entered the kitchen and eyes turned to us instead.

"Chip!"

"Are you the owner of this bakery?" A man in uniform came up to me, and at the corner of my eye I saw Giselle standing blankly at the stairs, listening. "Chip Honeycutt?"

"Yes, yes I am," I confirmed slowly. "Is something wrong? Would you like something to drink? I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

The officers blinked, as though taken aback. "Uh, no. It's our job. We weren't waiting for very long." He produced a folder towards me but Xander took it. "We've been receiving complaints about negative advertising and a case for defamation. We just want to ask some questions."

"And who reported this?" Xander mused coldly, eyes hardened.

The officer who spoke to me frowned. "We're not allowed to disclose particulars, sir. Basic procedures."

I could tell Xander was losing his patience. Placing a hand on his arm, I spoke instead.

"We understand, it's okay really. It's just that we would like to know who we have offended without intending to, you see...u-um...it's really not a nice thing to offend someone—even without intention, so. Well," I managed nervously, "if we know, then we can be careful from now on. I just have no idea what's going on so...if I can be of any help."

The officer exchanged looks with his partner and nodded. "Thank you for your cooperation. Just a couple of questions will do. This isn't something serious...and we have our reasons to doubt the credibility of this report either way," the man glanced at the folder and produced a somewhat amused snort. "Sounds like a scam."

"Please sit," I said and pulled up two foldable chairs from the corner of the kitchen while Rose poured three glasses of chilled water. Xander turned to Giselle at the stairs and ushered her upstairs, talking to her quietly. "Will this take long?"

"It depends...we'd like to start from your relations with the owner of the new place down the street: Angel Rachel's Cakes for Devils. What relationship do you share?" I was thoroughly surprised by the question, and stated simply that I had no idea who the owner was.

"The owner of the bakery is Rachel Lovise. Her store has been gaining popularity around the country lately and she's set up a branch bakery cum café nearby. Do you know her?" The officer's partner was furiously taking down notes when I shook my head.

"I...don't really. As in, I'm not well-informed of the stuff happening in the city. I've only heard from my brother that they were a popular place in the city."

"Alright. Are you aware of the comparison that people are doing online of your bakery and hers?" I turned to Xander upon hearing this, and was instantly startled. Shea and Coco peered in from the window to the kitchen, while Rose was at the cashier tending to a customer.

"Comparing...?"

"Yes. Coincidence, perhaps, that you guys have the same cupcake flavours but your bakery is losing out in terms of aesthetic sense, providing motive for negative advertising or the spreading of foul rumours—that's what was reported, or written here, at least," the officer read off the papers in the folder before handing it to Xander for him to see. "No shit though, aren't all cupcake flavours almost the same? I mean, how different can red velvet get," he snorted, and his partner smacked the back of his head with the notepad he was writing on.

Because I hadn't patronized the new store, I was completely unaware. Perhaps Shea had been right. Some knowledge about competitors was necessary; e-even if I didn't see them as competitors or, well, didn't want to compete anyway.

"I...I don't know how to prove this claim wrong, sir. What can I say when I don't know anything?" I explained nervously. "I wasn't even aware of all this."

"Well thing is," the officer laid out, "we can't pursue this without concrete evidence either. So far it's just been some social media things that we're having checks on. It's just we're a small department compared to the others, so we need all the info we can get."

His partner nodded. "For now, we'd like you to be aware of this and convey a message to your workers or anyone representing your bakery. Just lay low for a while, and we'll sort things out. Simply put: be careful of what any of you say. This case can be closed if nothing's aggravated."

There was a short exchange of thanks and formalities before I had to sign something, and then the officers got into their car and drove off.

Of course, Xander had some ideas. "What's their problem?"

"Shh, Xan..." I poked his elbow. "Look, everything's okay now. They can't do anything as long as we're nice people! Don't go creating trouble, alright?"

My husband sighed.

"Not if trouble doesn't come to us."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: That was fun!! In all honesty, I wonder what my teachers do during lunch when they're sitting around. LOL I mean, they legit sit in their departments and my classmates call the P.E department the 'jockchers' cuz we're just weird and awkward and lame :> hehe. We also talk about how they must have been like when they were younger. "I think Mr ____ was a real jock last time. Like, you know the alpha male type HAHAHAHAHA" yes that sort of thing. We are so weird o.o heheee.

*SHIPS RANDOM TEACHERS TOGETHER*

-Cuppiecake.

Thank you so much for reading, and for being here!! ^^