The Donut Shop ✔️

'N' Stands for 'Not Today, Satan'

A few days passed without any incident. There was a huge test that Monday, but, as there wasn't Sol Bakery to study at, the boys decided to study separately. Wednesday morning, Mr. Feld passed out the results. 

"Tweed Ramirez," he called out, slipping his test onto his desk face down. Tweed's eyebrows furrowed and he turned over the page, gasping. The whole class looked up at him, but he fixed his expression of shock in exchange for realization, then disappointment.

When Mr. Feld began talking again, he turned to Ethan. "I got a B," he whispered, and Ethan's eyes grew wide. To anyone else, a B would have been great. To Tweed, it was the first B to ruin his perfect GPA and steal his rank from Mara, his arch-nemesis, who was following in a close second since the beginning of high school. And it was all because of Sol Bakery closing.

"We need our study spot back," Tweed said, replicating Ethan's thoughts, and they each gave firm nods as they began to plot another way to stop the bakery's shut-down.

As their classes passed by uneventfully, the boys congregated together at the end of the day, discussing the plan they had arranged during lunch.

"My first B... You know, the more I think about it, maybe we're in a dream and all of this is just one long nightmare," Tweed said, referring to Sol Bakery, but Ethan shook his head as they arrived in front of the office to wait for the person they wanted to meet this morning. After the rough start to the day, Ethan was praying that this girl could change their luck. 

"No, man. We're in this mess, whether we like it or not. We're going to have to find a new place to be after school if-"

"Hello, boys." 

Ethan and Tweed both glanced up at the approaching voice, and Tweed stifled his groan beside Ethan. Mara Bauchman. Logistically speaking, she was the perfect match, equipped with clever and witty one-liners, the perfect girlfriend for Tweed. That is if he could stand her for more than two minutes at a time.

Today, her dark hair was slicked back in a ponytail that allowed the ringlets to escape like rampant wiring, and her skin was polished with a dark-brown gleam like a brand-new IR emitter.

"Bauchman," he spat out, glaring at her. Ethan knew that Tweed always thought of her as his sworn enemy and despised that she beat him out for the class president position because, whenever Mara was mentioned, Tweed went off like a malfunctioning computer. 

Ethan nudged his friend where Mara couldn't see to remind him of the plan they had discussed on their way there. 

"Did you need something from me, or did you come for more of your loss rubbed in your face?" she mocked, and Tweed guffawed at her. 

"Maybe I should speak?" Ethan cut in and stepped in front of Tweed, who was, undoubtedly, prepared to fire back a spicy remark to Mara.

"Hey, Mara, we were just about to propose our idea to the student council, if that's alright with you?" Ethan asked her, holding up their proposal folder to show her.

Unlike Tweed, Ethan tried his best to be polite to her, despite sometimes feeling the weight of her ingratiating and condescending smirks. He never spoke bad about her, but he tended to avoid her, which wasn't that hard, speaking of how busy she was.  

"What is it?" Mara asked, her emotions impervious on her face. She reached for the folder in Tweed's grasp, but he jerked it out of her reach, holding it behind his back. Mara raised her brow.

"As if I'm going to let you two propose something to my council without seeing it first," she scoffed, backing away from Tweed, but still shooting him daggers with her eyes. Ethan, once again, cut in.