When the cops finally pushed through the crowd at the entrance door of Bella's Eatery, the thugs were covered in mustard and ketchup and with their beefy build, they simply lacked breads.

I stretched my neck to ease the throbbing pain rooting from the base of my head. That man had yanked my head really hard.

"Are you okay?"
"I thought you fight well"

I took the tissue from Ethan's hand to wipe off the mustard that lathered my hands. He looked taken aback by my accusation.

"Who told you that I don't?"
He asked back with a smirk, wiping ketchup off himself.

"Then what was the ketchup show?"
I pointed at his ketchup ladened tissue and hand.

"Fighting ain't always fists and arms, Cynthia. It is primarily about strategy. Charging head is not always the best idea. I mean, let's think legally. When has anyone gone to jail because of a ketchup assault? Never."

My brain had stopped processing everything a while back so I stared at him as blankly as a baboon would stare at calculus and asked,
"So you just attack people with ketchup because they can't take you to jail because of it?"

He shrugged nonchalantly,
"That sounds saucy but not really."

-

"Nana, I'm home."

It was eerily silent in the house. I closed the door behind me as softly as I could. It wasn't late enough for Nana to go to sleep. I stepped towards the bakery and with every step I could hear the muffled sound of talking. By the time, I stepped in front of the door attached to the bakery, the muffled noise of people talking was incremented to loud arguments; one voice that stood out was my Nana's.

"What do you mean, Colton?"

When I pushed the door open, no one's attention was snapped to me, for which I was half-awkward and half-thankful. Nana was dusting her floury hand on a towel and opposite her stood Colton, my first cousin. I saw Noah sulking towards the back so I quietly made my way to stand beside him.

While Nana's question was receiving a silent stare from Colton and being reciprocated by a cold glare from Nana, I whispered to Noah,
"What's going on here?"
He understood the assignment and whispered back,
"He came over and started talking about how good Darling's was doing. Apparently he invested in Darling's."
"What?"

My outburst was louder than anticipation and Nana finally looked at me. Her face was grave serious, which was very seldom spotted and I knew that it wasn't a joke anymore. At least not a funny one.

"You heard right, Cynthia. Your cousin has decided to invest in his grandmother's rival bakery. Even though he knew that our bakery is on the verge of collapsing, he chose to invest in Darling's!"

Nana's voice boomed across the bakery and even Noah flinched beside me. Colton looked taken aback as if he hadn't expected the outburst and I couldn't help but wonder why. We all knew that Colton was basing his career on investments and stocks. Nana never asked for any help from the family. She did what she could and didn't what she couldn't. With me working on a regular job, the paycheck was enough for the both of us combined with Nana's savings. Noah's salary wasn't a mandate, he made sure we knew that. I never knew why but never asked him either.

"Why are you getting angry, Nana? You know it is my job! Cynthia lives with you and still does absolutely nothing for your bakery. I don't see you going crazy on her."

"No one obliges you on your investments. You invest on what you prefer. You preferred not to invest on your family's bakery even if you had the means to and you are taking dibs on me now, Colton? Why? What is bothering you?"

Noah pulled my arm when my unflinching tone started to become only aggravated. I somehow always found Colton annoying and one of the primary reasons was his tendency to blame me for everything. He wanted to be the centre of attention only when it was positive; the negative attention he pushed towards me.

"That's enough, Cynthia. You too, Colton. I don't have anything more to say to you. It's late you should leave."

Nana walked out of the door leaving me and Noah to glare at Colton until he slowly made his way out too. When he was at the door with his hand at the knob, he looked back.
"Who in their right mind would invest in this?"
He pointed around the bakery before continuing,
"No good sales, no advertisement, no customer, nothing. Nana lives in her imaginary world. This bakery is as good as nothing."

With that he left.

When I was walking back to my room, still inwardly grumbling about Colton, I stopped outside Nana's door. She never locks her door but I was about to knock when I heard a small sob coming from inside the room. My heart gave a lurch and the sinking in my stomach just fell some more.

I knew it from the day I started living with Nana. She was enthusiastic. She was fun and homely but she was passionate in her works. Nana baked because she loved baking. She only commercialised her hobby to make a living; to be independent at her age. Advertisements and more business terms was something that Nana wasn't very aware of and in truth, I've never been much help to her either. I wasn't a good baker or a seller. Noah could only do so much.

I was pursuing my dream with a stable job and that was all thanks to Nana. That's when I decided that I would be helpful to Nana too. I'd do the best of what I can for her. Sending a quick prayer to make sure Colton's stocks plummet, I went to bed with a new found determination.

The next day, the first thing I did was step into Mr Buckshot's office.

"Good morning, Mr Buckshot!"

Mr Buckshot looked far less enthusiastic than the last time that I saw him.

"Ah yes good morning! You are officially a member of the staff from today. Good luck, Miss Dumont."

"Thank you, Mr Buckshot! Do you have another minute? I have something to discuss with you."

When I came out of his office a few minutes later, a deal was set. The terms were:
Cakeuphoria's chocolate fudge brownie would be a new addition to the School's lunch menu.

I stood before my newly polished desk and the contrasting dusty chair. The label in front of the desk read my name in capitals with the designation of In-School Psychologist and my body felt like jelly with excitement. A proper job and fixated identity — I was just starting a new chapter of my life. My blossoming pride was short-lived when I heard a knock on the door to my tiny cabin.

"Come in!"

Cheryl walked in first and for a moment last night's dinner shenanigans came back to me and my chest puffed in anticipation of what she had to say. I might as well have already become the new gossip subject of the school. I was about to say something, anything really to feel better when another girl walked in after Cheryl.

"Oh hey you two! What can I do for you?"
I spoke in my normal pseudo-enthusiastic tone which, unlike never before, felt awfully loud and unwanted for the cold silence in the room. Cheryl was avoiding my face at all costs and the other girl had barely entered the room, she looked far too nervous and scared to be casual. When I got no response, I tried again.

"What's wrong girls? You can tell me."

Cheryl finally looked up at me and in her face was a look I wasn't expecting: it was one of guilt and anger, a deadly combination really. The other girl, whom I could then remember as Natalie stepped closer to my desk. I wondered who would answer me first when a sob reached my ears. It was Natalie, who looked to be on the verge of collapsing, her face was incredibly red and eyes already swollen.

"Hey, hey, Natalie, what's wrong?"
I moved closer to her in hopes of consoling her but she only flinched back.

"She is getting bullied Miss Dumont."

It wasn't Natalie who spoke. It was Cheryl who still hadn't faced me. If she did, she would have seen my eyes as wide as saucers and jaw hanging open.

"Bulling? In this age? By who?"

I realised the abruptness of my questions a little too late when Natalie broke down in tears. I slowly made a move to help her and finally, without flinching away, she leaned into my shoulder. That's when Cheryl started speaking.

"Natalie used to get higher grades. But now she is in the poorer classes with us. Her old friends," she made air quotes around 'friends', "they are the bullies. They make a mockery of her everyday at lunch, even in library sometimes."

When I first heard about this class stratification system, this kind of things happening was my first concern. My strong objection to this discriminatory system was rooted from this concern. As Natalie sobbed into my shoulder, I couldn't help but be anxious too.

"Did you tell-"
I was interrupted by Cheryl.

"We did. We went to Mr Buckshot. He did not even look at it with worry. He just told her to get good grades and walked away."

My jaw visibly clenched at that. I almost regretted not punching him last day when he ranted about the usefulness of the new system. I didn't even realise my fists were clenched until Natalie sobbed harder and I had to pat her back. Cheryl continued with a sigh,

"For us, we've always been average so we never associated with the high graders but Natalie is already so bothered with herself about the slump in her studies and these so called 'friends' of hers are only adding fuel to the fire."

Natalie had composed herself better by then. She lifted her head and when her hair pushed back, I could see the dark circles that went for miles and her puffy and red eyes. I tried my best to rationalise my thinking for their sake and replied in as calm a voice as I could muster:
"I'm glad you came to me. I promise you that I'll do my best to do whatever I can against this system. As for your bullies, I know it can get difficult but try to ignore them. Don't even spare them a look. If you find it uncomfortable in their presence, you can come to my cabin here and eat your lunch here. I'll be here. I'm always here. Even if you just need to vent and rant, I'm here, Natalie."

When Natalie walked out after nodding to my offer, still slightly shaking, I watched as Cheryl lingered back.

"Thank you, Miss Dumont. I feel like we have a new support system for us in this school now. Well, even beyond school hours too."
She laughed softly and I could only smile as last night's ketchup and mustard drenched thugs' image flashed before me.

"I'm just doing my job here. And beyond school hours, well..."
And we laughed again about how brave her uncle was, mockingly of course.

When Cheryl walked out, my mind moved from Ethan and last night's events to what was happening at the school. I wondered if me facing the Chairman would be a good idea. I had just made a deal with him as a supporting advertising to Nana's Bakery and now I wanted to scream at him. There would always be a possibility that aggravated by my atrocity, he would discard the brownie deal but that would falter my efforts to help Nana. My dilemma only kept dipping as the day passed and by the time I was walking out of work, I still had come to no decision. I couldn't weigh the options. The students were important but Nana was too.

I walked to downtown, imagining scenarios that might take place when I face the Chairman. I could imagine him narrowing his eyes from behind the dark desk and asking with a cold voice,
"What do you mean you do not agree to it?"
"I'm sorry, Mr Buckshot I cannot agree with this policy."

My voice sounded like a squeak of a mouse in front of a lion even in my imagination and in the back of my head I could hear the younger Buckshot laughing and mocking me with,
"Who cares about your opinion?"

I shook my head to remove myself from the imaginary situation. If the imagination was so sullen, the reality would be beyond reach for sure.

I was walking past Bella's Eatery. The inside was crowded as usual and I let out a small laugh. Last night it was crowded for all the wrong reasons. I wondered if they are gloomy over their loss in ketchup and mustard. I was about to cross the street when my eyes fell upon a figure outside Darling's. They were dumping a box with a scrunched up face. Almost as if feeling my eyes on them, they finally turned around to face me.

"Cynthia!"

Ethan waved and called out loudly from the other side of the street. His call had taken the attention of a lot of street goers on me and under there assuming stares, I waved back with much less enthusiasm.

I crossed the street and he jogged over to me.
"Where are you off to?"

"Just home. What about you?"

He shrugged nonchalantly and smiled.
"I was in the area and passing by that cake shop," he pointed towards Darling's, "I tasted their brownie and it was so bad. It looked so good from outside that I am so disappointed now."

Possibly possessed by half of Nana's spirit, I smiled with triumph and made a crazy offer in the heat of the moment.

"Come with me, I know a good place."

A/N:
I did a thing yesterday and deleted the entire chapter without any backed up copy. Apologies for the late update :'))