Anna spent all of Saturday night brainstorming ideas for how to help Sweet Surprise, but every possible solution came with its own set of problems. New recipes took weeks to refine, and it would take a lot more than one new treat to tempt people to come to Sweet Surprise more often. Anna was too young to use social media, and as much as he loved interacting with people, she doubted her grandpa would be interested in keeping up with the latest trending hashtags. Training her family's companions to do tricks that might attract customers wouldn't work either since Bertrand could only be bribed with so many pecans before he'd go into a food coma and pretend to hibernate.

With nothing to show for her brainstorming but way too little sleep, Anna's Sunday would have gotten off to a lousy start if it weren't for one thing: she had a date with Taylor.

Anna still couldn't believe how lucky she was. Not even her bees' honey was half as sweet as Taylor. Just talking to her for five minutes was enough to get Anna smiling like a kindergartner in a candy store.

Today they were grabbing lunch at the mall, with Taylor's dad sitting at a table nearby to keep an eye on them. Or, more accurately, he was struggling to stop his cat, Pitch, from stealing pepperoni while the girls shared a deliciously cheesy pizza.

"I needed this," Taylor said as she finished off her second slice. Her flies mixed with Anna's bees in a constantly shifting cloud, their buzzing drowning out the mall's usual cacophony of bleats and bellows. "Mr. Woods has me working on a project, and my hands are so tired."

"Another project?" Anna groaned. "Please tell me we don't have to give speeches again." As much as she'd loved coming up with her own cookie recipe, having to explain it to a huge crowd had been exhausting.

"It's not for school." Taylor's bright smile sent Anna's heart fluttering like her bees' wings. "Remember that lab I got to visit a few weeks ago?"

"Of course!" After Taylor won first place in Mr. Woods's annual companion showcase, he'd invited her on a tour of the lab where his husband worked. Not even Mr. Woods and his famous experiments could hope to match half the stuff Taylor had gushed about afterward. Cats glowed in the dark thanks to jellyfish genes, deer stomped their hooves in Morse code, and spiders spun entire scarves out of their silk.

Of course, none of that was as amazing as the sweet speech Taylor had given about why she'd included Anna's bees in her painting, but it was still really cool.

"I can't say much 'cause it's a secret, but..." Taylor leaned forward to whisper, excitement leaving her voice less than quiet. "They asked me to make them a painting!"

"That's awesome, Tay!" Anna slapped a hand over her mouth as Taylor frantically shushed her, drawing an amused glance from Taylor's dad as he looked up from prying a crumpled napkin from Pitch's claws. "Your paintings are so pretty. They're super lucky to get one."

Taylor blushed. "Aw, shucks. They only asked me to do it 'cause Mr. Woods has been talkin' about my project so much."

"Must be hard not to talk about something so amazing." Just like how people used to talk about Sweet Surprise. Would other people still appreciate Taylor's paintings once the buzz over her unique way of using her flies died down, or would they abandon her like everyone was abandoning the bakery?

Taylor would be devastated.

She already spent hours fussing over the tiniest specks of white space in her paintings, and she'd overdone herself so badly when she rushed to redo her companion showcase project after her first version got ruined that she'd practically sleepwalked through school. How would she be able to handle it if people started treating her like garbage again?

They wouldn't dare. Anna would never let anyone hurt Taylor like that again.

"Are you okay?"

Anna startled, her bees nearly dropping onto the pizza. "Sorry, I was kinda zoning out. Did you say something?"

"I was just thinking about what I'll do for that painting. It's for a super special occasion, so I've gotta make it just right." Taylor shook her head. "But I can worry about that later. You seem like something's bugging you."

Was it really that obvious? Anna forced her lips into a smile, pulling her bees into a tighter cluster so they wouldn't start swarming like they usually did when she got upset. "I'm fine."

"You sure? You look like you could use some emergency Skittles to me." Taylor slid a bright red packet of candy across the table. What had once been a tradition Taylor only shared with her best friend Eliza had spread until all the kids she hung out with by the creek carried their own sugary stash to give to anyone who was having a rough day. Anna was more of an M&M's fan, but knowing Taylor cared enough about her to share something that meant so much to her always made her smile.

Taylor had been so happy about how great everything was going for her art. The last thing she needed was for someone to bum her out with bad news. Besides, Anna loved hearing Taylor gush about painting. She barely understood a word she said about types of paint and the different brushstrokes she used, but her happiness came through loud and clear. "Don't worry about it." Anna leaned forward. "Do you need help brainstorming?"

"That can wait until I know what's bugging you," Taylor said gently. "Please tell me what's wrong."

"Okay, but you have to tell me all about what you're making later."

"Deal."

"Sweet Surprise isn't doing so hot." Anna tore open the packet of Skittles, popping them into her mouth in pairs. The fruity candy crunched between her teeth, citrus bursting across her tongue. "Mom says if things don't get better, we're going to have to shut it down."

Anna's voice cracked. It was one thing to hear her family talk about how badly the bakery was doing. Saying it herself made it feel as real as the tears burning in her eyes.

Taylor's flies shielded Anna from the stares of the other people in the food court. "It's gonna be okay," she said quietly, offering Anna a napkin. "Everything you guys make is delicious. Shouldn't be too long before everyone remembers that."

A purr rumbled from under the table as Pitch wound himself between Anna's legs. She bent down to stroke his soft fur, giggling as he licked stray pizza grease off her fingers. She dabbed her eyes with the napkin and nodded to Taylor's dad, silently thanking him for sending his companion to cheer her up.

"Things've been rough for a while," Anna explained. "It's been years since we were popular, but the last couple months have been especially bad. Some days, we don't get any customers."

"Have you guys tried giving out samples? Those cookies you made for your project were so delicious I bet people would line up to try 'em."

"My parents said we need to figure out how to get folks to come inside before something like that'll work." Even though that idea was a dud, just knowing Taylor didn't think Sweet Surprise was doomed gave Anna hope. Her family might have given up on it, but at least she wasn't the only one who thought it was worth saving.

But that didn't make her family's lack of faith in her and the bakery hurt less. "What really sucks is they keep telling me not to worry about it and to let them handle it. How am I supposed to do that when they've already given up?" Anna crumpled the napkin into a tight ball in her fist. "It's like they don't even care!"

Her bees' buzzing filled her ears as they swarmed around her. Hawks screeched and chipmunks scurried for cover as shoppers swerved to avoid the agitated insects.

But Taylor wasn't afraid. She held Anna's hand until the swarm's sharp buzzing dulled to a steady hum. "But you do, and so do I," Taylor said. "We'll figure out a way to save Sweet Surprise. I promise."

"Thanks," Anna whispered hoarsely before taking a long sip of water. "I just wish I knew what to do."

"Me too," Taylor said. "Are you still coming to the creek today? Maybe we'll have better luck coming up with ideas there."

"Of course!" Second only to Sweet Surprise, the creek was Anna's favorite place in the whole world. The friends she hung out with there were like a second family to her. If anyone could help her save Sweet Surprise, it was them.