Manipulation High

Chapter 30: Breakfast muffins

Clay POV.

I stood in the cafeteria kitchen awkwardly, the rest of the members of the club were already working on making their food. The pairs were talking to each other eagerly as some of them looked over recipes and were already making mixtures and heating up their ovens or frying pans to make their breakfasts for the small challenge we’d be having tomorrow.

George wasn’t here yet and I was worried that he had decided to run off. I felt bad about what had happened earlier, it was almost eight hours ago and I had not thought about anything else since then.

While I waited awkwardly for him, the other people in the room were all working busily as I looked around looking as confused as a lost child. I had wanted to call George several times, to ask if he was coming or even if he was just okay, but I still felt bad about it earlier and thought that calling him would make it worse.

Bad was also here, he was working with a friend of his from his maths class, a girl called Puffy. I walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and smiled at me, “hey Clay, what do you need?” He asked, tilting his head slightly as he did.

“I was wondering if you knew where George is.” I asked, watching as he and Puffy both looked over at me and putting down what they had been using.
“I haven’t seen him since this morning before first period.” Bad told me. “I don’t share any classes with him and he didn’t turn up for lunch. Sorry Clay.”

Honestly I don’t know why I was expecting Bad to say or think anything different. I knew that he and George only saw each other before or between classes. Maybe I had just thought that Bad would be able to contact George because it just seemed to be a superpower to find his sad friends.

“If you wanted I could try and call him,” my friend offered, and I gratefully nodded. Bad wiped the flour off of his hands and aprons, and quickly washed them both before running to where he kept his phone near one of the tables by the door. He stepped out of the room as he began doing something on his phone and so I turned to smile at Puffy.

“What are you and Bad planning on making?” I decided to make conversation as she began splitting the mixture she was pouring into several different bowls. I noticed around the counterspace that Bad and Puffy were using to cook their meal there were some bowls with different fruits and even some chocolates.

“Breakfast muffins,” Puffy responded, “it was Bad’s choice unsurprisingly. We made a basic mixture and then are going to cover them in things like chocolate, blueberries, and even raspberries. I am letting him take full creative control on this one.”
“Clearly,” I agreed, before both of us let out some light laughter.

“So what are you planning on making for this contest with George?” She asked in response after having just explained herself.
I told her, “We are making some waffles and smoothies. The only problem is I can’t cook without the head chef.” I jokingly said.

“Head chef?” She questioned. “Since when are you not in charge of something? Aren’t you the guy who always likes to be the king?” Puffy gave me a playful jab and I rolled my eyes at her.
“Not always, but George is the better cook out of the two of us. He is covering the waffles and I am covering the smoothies.” I informed her.

“That’s a first.” She hummed as she finished pouring the mixtures into different bowls and began mixing in the different fruits and chocolates and other foods.
“Ouch,” I playfully remarked, before hearing the sound of the door to the cafeteria kitchen open.

I looked over to see Bad walking into the room with George following after him, and a relieved smile appeared on my face as I watched him awkwardly walk in and get himself ready. Bad gave a smile as he walked over to me and Puffy, and I asked my friend where he had found George.

“Where did you find him?” I questioned as Bad stood beside Puffy and took a moment to look over the recipe that the two were making.
He turned to look at me to answer. “I stepped out of class and I called him. He had asked the librarian if he could hang out in there to do some of his homework and she said yeah.”

That kind of made me annoyed, or maybe more upset, because George had said he’d come here after school and he didn’t turn up. I didn’t say anything else to the pair as they began quietly chatting to themselves about how long they should cook the muffins for.

While they talked I looked over my shoulder to see George quickly washing his hands and I headed over to meet him. Once the Brit noticed that I was beside him he gave me a sheepish look. “Hey Clay,” George plainly greeted as he took quick steps over to the section of counter space that we were using.

“Hi George,” was my reply. “Want to tell me about why you didn’t turn up here on time. You had said that you would.”
“I’m sorry,” the brunette said as he refused to make eye contact, instead just beginning to rifle through drawers and cupboards to find any ingredients for waffles.

“Is a sorry all I get?” I questioned, deciding it would be best to do what he was doing and begin getting our ingredients ready. While the brunette prepared the waffle mixture in some large bowls I went to a large cupboard right beside where we were working and pulled out a smoothie maker and a waffle iron. “You said you’d be here and you weren’t. I was worried about you.”

“Look after school I just felt terrible about this morning. It just feels like everyone here is out to get me. So I went to the library after school to see if it was open so I could borrow a book, something for me to do after school to distract myself and I lost track of time.” George muttered his explanation as he began pouring milk and flour and other ingredients into his mixture.

“Don’t worry about it, but I was just concerned for your safety, what if someone had taken you? What if you were kidnapped by one of our classmates and I never saw you again?” I asked as I worked.
“I was ten minutes late. How far could a kidnapper get in ten minutes?” The brunette responded with a quizzical smirk.

“A kidnapper could get really far in ten minutes if he was taking a small, smart, cute, British gamer boy.” I purred playfully, and a grin appeared on my face as I saw him blush before he covered it up with a chuckle.
“I highly doubt anyone would want to kidnap me, especially for those reasons.”

“If you are so sure then Georgie.” I continue to tease him, before remembering what we were here to do. “Now, how about the two of us make the best smoothie and waffle this school has ever fucking seen?” The brunette’s eager response was all I heard before we began working.
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1258 words

Have an average existence today.