Interlude Lucy – School Days Part Two

Interlude Lucy – School Days Part Two

The introductory class was really… okay?

Lucy felt, from the very start, as if she didn’t quite belong. For one, she was definitely on the younger side. Not by that much, but she’d estimate the average age to hover around the mid-twenties, and judging by the looks of the people in her class, they were definitely middle-class sorts.

There was also a lot of stuff that the teacher assumes she knew already. Fortunately, while the class promised to be hands-on eventually, the opening class was pure technical knowledge. Some of it covered the equipment they would be using, and then the latter half of the class was a summary of the lesson plan for the year.

She made note of anything that came up that she wasn’t aware of. A quick search online wasn’t going to plug every gap in her knowledge, but it would be better than coming in entirely blind.

In any case, the class finished and according to her new best pal Ethan-the-ever-smiling Cat’s own class wasn’t going to finish for another hour.

Which meant she had time. And time was opportunity, if she was willing to abuse a few things, like the school’s willingness to put up with her shit.

Lucy grinned when the teacher slipped out of the classroom before anyone else had time to leave. “Hey!” she called out, her voice pitched up to catch people’s attention. “Does anyone here know how to bake cupcakes? Or like, make cookies?”

That earned her a few looks, but there was someone brave enough to answer in the bunch. An older guy, maybe in his mid-thirties or so, with a well-trimmed beard and a bit of a dad bod. “I know a thing or two about baking,” he said.

“Miss Leblanc?” Ethan asked.

The name sent a thrill down her spine. Sure, she’d initially done it to tease Cat, and it worked even better than she expected, but hearing it again now and then made the happy chemicals in her brain do a little dance.

“I have a small plan, and I was wondering if anyone here would be willing to help? There’s a cool samurai mech carrier parked out by the admin building, and I think a bunch of people are worried about it. I was thinking we could help people calm down, maybe set up a sort of photo-taking thing with one of the mechs? And that’d be a lot cooler if we had free food to hand out!”

“Free food?” another student asked.

“I’m sure the school wouldn’t mind us… grabbing a few supplies. I saw these super cute cupcakes the other day, with little cat ears on them! It looked easy to make!”

“I don’t know if we have the school’s permission for that,” Ethan said with a winning–if somewhat condescending–smile.

“Perfect!” Lucy snapped. “Ethan, go get permission. You, uh, what’s your name?”

“Aiden Baxter,” the cupcake guy said.

“Good! Aiden, you’re in charge of the cupcakes. Anyone here know how to make cookies?” Lucy asked. A woman nearby snorted. Lucy hadn’t spent the entire class just listening to the teacher’s lecture. She’d been eyeing the others as well. A few had given her looks but it was hard to do anything with your judgmentalism when in the middle of class. This woman was also one of the older students, probably in her later twenties, and she’s given off the vibes that the class was beneath her the whole time. “Thanks for volunteering!” Lucy said. “So, we should aim for a couple of hundred cookies and maybe half as many cupcakes… muffins? I’m not sure what the difference is. Do we have pre-made frosting, or should we make our own?”

“A-are we really doing this?” someone asked.

Lucy paused, and so did just about everyone else.

This was the risky part. Once people started to act, the momentum would keep them going, even if they suspected that they might regret it, but at the moment that momentum didn’t exist yet.

“If you have something real important to get to, then yeah, you’d probably be best to run along. But… I mean, this is gonna be fun! Plus we get to snub the school a bit which is always funny. But best of all, we get to help a samurai. I’m pretty sure Stray Cat is actually super worried about her image, and having her big scary mech presented with cookies and cupcakes kinda makes it seem… you know, friendly and nice?”

Lucy smiled, because that lie was bold-faced bullshit. Cat had never cared much for people’s opinions. It was kinda hot, actually, the way she’d strut around with confidence up to her one eyeball, and becoming a samurai had only helped.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“That does sound kinda badass,” one of the younger guys said.

“Plus, free cookies. And free training early.”

Lucy clapped her hands together, the sound like a gunshot because she’d been practicing her mom-clap for years. “Okay! Let’s get those ovens preheated. “Aiden, can you set things out and make sure everyone’s working on something?”

“Sure, I can try,” the man said with a nod.