" Hey, Chloe! " I hear Harley say almost making me drop my icing. Jasper dropped me off at Eleanor's after our little chit chat about him working here, and now all I was doing was making a simple double chocolate cake with chocolate icing and hopefully, we still have some of the strawberries from a couple of days ago to put on it.

I turn around to find Harley still in her school uniform, but it hurt me to even look at her. The uniform looks as if someone just barfed their whole lunch on her.... which in a way they kind of did. She still seemed to be happy, she didn't really seem phased by the little welcome gift my friends had given her which was a relief, but I still was filled with guilt for even letting my friends do that to her. My excuse? My reputation was at stake. If I didn't want to end up like my friend I was going to have to play along with the 'popular kids' and deal with this sickening guilt that filled me.

" Oh hey, Harley....what happened to you?" I ask her, forcing a smile on my face.

" Nothing really...I didn't see you at lunch. Did you go somewhere before lunch? I didn't see you after class. I was going to wait for you and all but I saw that you were bust with your friends and I didn't-"

" I'm back!" I hear the most annoying voice in the world say and groan in response. Walking out of the kitchen, I see Jasper waiting at the counter with his same goofy smile but wasn't wearing his uniform anymore. He was just wearing black ripped Jean's and a white T-shirt, his usual outfit he wears when I see him out of school.

" Who's he?" Harley asks. Jasper over at Harley and smiles, showing off his bright white teeth. Harley didn't seem phased by the lovely boy's charm and immediately turns back to me.

" Can we talk later?" She asks and I nod. I didn't want to talk to her because I already knew what was going to happen. Harley was going to confront me about not doing anything about the little incident in the lunchroom and then quit her job. I didn't want her to quit her job, she's the best baker we have. I can't lose her.

Harley gives me a small smile and then turns her heel to walk away towards the kitchen. I focus my attention towards Jasper who was now leaning against the counter with an amused look on his face.

" What's worrying you Chlo?" He asks nonchalantly.

" Nothing. What are you doing here anyway? I told you I would think about it."

" Don't worry I'm not here for that. I was actually wondering if I could get one strawberry cupcake."

I raise a brow, curious as to why he wouldn't just go to his family's bakery down the street. Their cupcakes are probably way better than ours with way more decoration and toppings on them, but I nod and quickly fold up a small box and carefully get out the cupcake and put it inside the box.

Speaking of which, it was almost time to give Mike the homeless man his cupcake as well. Poor guy, he barely gets any money to help him, but Harley and I always try to help him by giving him his favorite strawberry cupcake.

" Here you go." I say and hand him the box " That'll be $4.50."

" Thanks." He says and then proceeds to hands me the money.

" Have a nice day." I wave to him.

" See you later Chlo." He says waving back and smiles, before walking out of the bakery. Leaving me once again with Harley who was in there probably baking more cupcakes as I speak.

" I'm back. " I chirp when I walk into the kitchen. Harley was now putting in what seems to be more bread in the oven to bake.

" Thank God. I was starting to think you were ditching me for that guy. Does he go to our school too?" Harley asks.

" Yeah he does, but don't worry I wouldn't dream of ditching you for that guy. " I say picking up where I left off on my cake by adding little swirls on the side of the cake with speed.

A guilty feeling figs deep in my gut when I say that. I kind if did ditch her for Jasper, and I'm really regretting it now.

" Well, that's a relief. He seems like the guy that has an ego as tall as the empire state building." She laughs and I laugh too.

" You have no idea. "

I put the last swirl on my cake and smile. I haven't made a lot of cakes lately but I think I know who I'll be giving this one to. It's been a while since they've eaten something like this and they deserve it. Adding the strawberries and other chocolate pieces I then take a step back and smile. It looked pretty good if I do say so myself.

" I finished!" I sing doing a happy dance.

" Yeah! That's my girl!" Harley cheers and jumps up and down with me and I laugh.

" We're idiots."

" Duh, but if we weren't it wouldn't be any fun here would it?"

" I guess not." I chuckle and Harley smiles then walks over to the oven to take out her bread. Has it already been that long?

" So, um, about what I wanted to talk to you about....." Harley says and I could feel a pit form in my stomach.

" Y-yeah?" I choke out.

" Well, I was wondering....do you think that I could hang out with you and your friends...I know I probably haven't met them yet, but I thought that since you go to that school that I could just hang out with you and your friends......"

I gulp nervously and put on a smile " About that. Do you remember the people that called you elf ears?" A sudden look of shock appeared on her face but it quickly disappeared forming a look of confusion.

" You mean to tell me the ones that spilled vomit on me....are your friends?"

" Y-yeah," I mumble and hang my head. I didn't want to look her in the eye, it was painful to even tell her now, but most of all it was just embarrassing to admit the fact that my own friends are the ones that made her first day a living hell.

" I'm sorry Harley. I-"

"It's alright Chlo, it wasn't your fault. I understand."

Now this time I was the one that was confused and shocked. I quickly put my head up with my mouth wide open, " What?" I ask.

" Yeah, I get it. You weren't even there at lunch so you didn't have any part in it. I would still like to sit at your guy's table. Maybe I could even befriend your friends. If I do, then what happened today won't happen again."

Poor Harley, she didn't go to school at all before but I didn't think she was going to be so naive. The girls in my group would kill a bitch if they didn't get their way most of the time, and I didn't want Harley to deal with them. Aubrey wasn't like those girls though, she always got her way so it didn't matter. Maybe Harley could become friends with her. Harley's pretty, she smart, she's not that poor. She'll be fine.....hopefully.

" Please?" Harley begs. I sigh in exasperation and smile.

" Sure."

" Yay!"

●●●●

" Hey, Mike how are doing today?" I ask the poor homeless man. He was pretty old, maybe like fifty or sixty but he was the nicest man I have ever met. I wish I could help him more, but Grams said that I couldn't let him stay in our basement.

Mike gives me a big smile and chuckles when I hold out two boxes of sweets. One of them holding his strawberry cupcake and the other holding the chocolate cake I had made a little earlier.

" Three sweets in one day. This generation might not be too bad after all." Mike says and chuckles, taking the two boxes and thanking me.

Wait for a second, three sweets? Is this man getting even crazier than before? I sure hope not.

" Three sweets?" I ask raising a brow. The old man nods and smiles.

" Yes, a young man came by not too long ago and gave me a strawberry cupcake too! Such a nice lad, always going out of his way to get me something different for a snack."

I smile, already knowing who he was talking about. Who knew that Jasper could be kind to someone of a much lower class than he is.

" How did Harley's first day of school go?" Mike asks.

" Well, I may or may not let my Aubrey and my other friends spill their lunch on her...."

" Why?"

" Becuase I was scared of my reputation. If I stood up for her against the popular kids of my school than I would've been dead the next day!"

" And you feel guilty? "

" Yes."

" What are you going to do to fix it?"

" Well, I'm letting Harley hang out with my friends so that they won't bully her any more than they already have."

" Do you think that's a good idea?"

I thought for a moment,  contemplating if the decision I had made earlier was a good one or not and then nod. " I think it was."

Mike smiles and shrugs " Than I say go for it, but make sure that next time. You do the right thing. Also, it's better to feel guilty than not to feel any guilt at all."

This is why I liked Mike. The old man always gave me such great advice for when I needed help with anything. He was there to help me when my grandpa had died and he was there when I started to run the bakery. He's like my personal counselor that was paid in sweets.

" Thank you, Mike. See you tomorrow?"

Mike nods " Be sure to bring the strawberry cupcake."

" Don't worry I won't forget it," I say walking away.

" Oh, and one more thing," Mike says. I turn back and raise a brow, " What's up?" I ask.

" Think about giving the boy the job. He really needs it."

" Do you mean Jasper? Why?"

" You'll need to ask the young man yourself. Now hurry or else your grandma will throw a fit if she knows that you came to see me again."

" Okay see you soon Mike," I say and turn my head back around and towards my house.