Let us congratulate EricaABlair  for their winning entry from Summer Mishaps 2022!

I'm usually a nice person. Usually. But for the past three days I've been drinking copious amounts of ice water, barking at customers, and yelling at the newscaster on TV in the corner of the bakery who keeps stating, "Temperatures will be rising until the end of September. Avoid working outside between 10am and 4pm. For more information on climate change, visit..."

I don't need to be outside to feel how freaking hot it is. Mom went to Barcelona last week for some kind of tax conference, leaving me to manage Nadia's Sweet Treats all by myself. When I called yesterday to tell her the AC was shot, she said, "No. I'll be back on Friday to fix it. Don't call the repair company—it's too expensive."

Friday is four days away. She must be out of her mind. 

Ambling to the bakery's freezer, I stick my head in. I close my eyes and sigh.

Glass shatters behind me. Shoot. I sprint out of the kitchen just as a boy skates away, his mouth around the end of a giant snickerdoodle cookie.

I recognize his black, unruly hair. "Jake!" I shout, jumping over the broken glass and chasing him down the steaming asphalt. "Get back here, or I'll call the cops!"

Taking the cookie out of his mouth, he has the audacity to smirk as he hollers back, "My dad's the sheriff. Good luck with that." He disappears around the corner. 

Dang it. Slowing down, I catch my breath. The blistering sun scorches me as I make my depressing trek back to the bakery. I enter the double doors, my right foot slips, and I land on my butt.

"Ow!" I whisper-shout, but it's not the fall that hurts. It's the sensation of my hand touching the floor.

The floor that is now covered in two inches of ice. 

"Oh my god." Every inch of the bakery's interior has transformed into an establishment out of Frozen, and for the first time since December, I am freezing cold.

 
"Farah Moradi, a sixteen-year-old student at Lebanon High School, solved climate change after leaving her bakery's freezer door open while chasing down a thief. The cold air from the freezer disseminated through Earth's atmosphere, immediately decreasing global temperatures. This allowed more ice—which reflects sunlight—to form at the polar ice caps. Water vapor condensed and carbon dioxide dissolved into oceans, reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses in the air. Scientists speculate Moradi may become the youngest person ever to receive a Nobel Prize..."

I turn down the TV when Mom trudges inside, the suitcase dragging behind her. Her eyes widen as she takes in the ruined pastries, soggy wallpaper, and drenched floor. "Farah! What did you do?"

"I fixed climate change!" I reply, elated. "Can you believe it? I might win a Nobel Prize! And this not-so-anonymous billionaire gave us one hundred million dollars!"

She stares at me.

"Mom?"

"You're grounded."

"But mom—"

"For life. Now go get the mop. And clean up this mess."