The Bee's Knees

Chapter 17

Anna spent the next few days trying to come up with math problems about baking. Solving a problem Mr. Woods gave her was one thing, but making some herself? How was she supposed to do that when she barely understood a word of what Mr. Sanderson talked about?

By the time she arrived at her friends' usual table in the cafeteria on Friday, all she had for her efforts were a dozen crumpled-up sheets of notebook paper and a headache. Thank goodness they always sat by the library, away from the constant cacophony of the rest of the cafeteria. "Does anybody have any emergency Skittles?"

Everyone reached into their pockets, with Taylor being the first to take out a packet of candy. "You've seemed really upset ever since the audition. Did something happen?"

"We'll find a way to save Sweet Surprise even if you didn't make it on Sliced. We have to." Mason's fingers rubbed against the termite chunk in his pocket in a frantic rhythm.

Anna's heart sank. She hadn't said a word to her friends about how her audition went. There'd been no point, not when her parents wouldn't let her compete. Now that her week was already as rotten as a carton of eggs in a broken refrigerator, she might as well tell everyone how badly she'd screwed up.

"I have no idea how I passed the audition. My frosting was sloppy, and Ivan told me off because I didn't use enough cayenne." Anna sighed and bit into her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was usually one of her favorites, but today the smooth, creamy peanut butter crawled down her throat. "My mom might not let me be on Sliced. I did really badly on our last math quiz, so she's not letting me bake at all until I get my grades up."

"We can help you study." Mason pulled out a notebook filled with scribbled equations. "You can borrow my notes if you want. I got an 87 on that quiz."

"Thanks, but I'm not sure if that'll help. I've been trying to study and come up with practice problems all week, and the only thing I've learned is how much I suck at this." Anna groaned, burying her head in her hands. "Mom was right. Maybe I should stop bothering to try to save Sweet Surprise. With how awful I am, I bet it'll be better off without me."

"There's no way that's true! You're the best baker I know, and you've been trying harder to save Sweet Surprise than anybody else." Taylor's words flowed as smoothly as honey and were just as sweet.

Yet, Anna couldn't believe them. "You're just sayin' that 'cause—"

"Because it's true," Mason said firmly. "You just need a little help."

"Have you tried taking a break?" Eliza asked. "When I have art block, sometimes I go fishing with Tay. Even if we don't catch anything, just getting away from whatever I'm stuck on makes it much easier to deal with later."

"How can I take a break when everything feels horrible?" Didn't Eliza understand that no matter where she went or what she did the threat of Sweet Surprise hung over her like a thundering storm cloud?

Of course she understood, at least a bit. When things bothered Eliza, she ran away like when she ditched Taylor just because she got companions people didn't like. Anna wasn't like that. She'd never abandon everyone who was counting on her no matter how horrible things got.

She just needed to make sure she wouldn't give her family more to worry about or embarrass them on TV. "I should email the Craving Channel and tell 'em I can't be on Sliced."

"Might want to blow off some steam before you do anything," Jack said. "If I quit doing stuff every time I got a bad grade, I'd be stuck in my room forever."

Was he suggesting she'd do something stupid if she didn't? Her bees' buzzing rang in Anna's ears as it rose to a horribly high pitch. "The last thing I need is—"

"He has a point." Mason rocked back and forth in his seat. "Mom always says you should never make an important decision when you're upset. Maybe you need something to take your mind off of everything, kind of like how my termites help me."

Anna sighed, loosening her grip on her PB&J. Only then did she notice her fingers had dug deep into the bread, leaving her hands sticky with bright red raspberry jelly. Maybe she did need something to help her calm down. There was just one problem. "I don't know if anything will work," Anna said, her voice small and soft. "How am I supposed to not be worried about Sweet Surprise and my grades and everything else?"

"You don't have to stop feeling stuff," Jack said. "You just have to be careful about what you do because of how you're feeling."

"That... actually makes sense." And was unusually good advice from Jack of all people. Come to think of it, his temper used to be shorter than an ant, but nowadays he was much nicer to be around. "Where'd you learn that?"

"Oh, you know. Sometimes I just pick stuff up." Jack rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling nervously. "Things've gotten a lot easier for me ever since I started trying to be more careful about that. What do you usually do when you're upset?"

"Bake with Grandpa." Which was the same thing she did whenever she was happy, sad, or not quite sure how she was feeling. No matter what, she'd always been able to count on baking to make her feel better, but now that wasn't an option. "What about you guys?"

"I go to the library and read about trees," Mason said. "They just got a new book about conifers the other day. Did you know there's a species in California that has pinecones that weigh ten pounds?"

"Jeez, that's huge!" Eliza's hummingbirds glanced around them as if they were afraid a giant pinecone would fall out of nowhere and squish them. "When something's bugging me, I like to volunteer at the garden center. Mr. Fitzgerald is always super happy when my hummingbirds pollinate the flowers, and sometimes he gives me a few for my collages."

"I think I know somethin' that might help," Jack said. "Dad's got a bunch of vegetables that are ready to harvest, so why don't you come on over and lend a hand? Trust me, nothing feels as good as yanking vegetables out of the ground."

"I dunno if my parents would let me," Anna said. They weren't even letting her spend time at Sweet Surprise anymore. Why would they ever be okay with her hanging out on a farm instead of studying?

"You could tell them we're all studying together," Jack said. "My grades aren't exactly great, so I could definitely use some practice, too."

"I've been looking for some subjects for a still life painting I'm doing for art class, so maybe I'll find something there while I'm at it," Taylor said.

As long as it helped Taylor, then Anna wouldn't mind spending a couple hours at the farm. Besides, she was already as good as disqualified from Sliced, so what did it matter if she took a break from studying for a little while? "Alright, I'm in."