Stray Cat Strut

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.

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.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it 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.

"And... wait, what's your name again?" Lucy asked the other woman she'd singled out.

"Giselle," she said.

Lucy nodded sharply. "Let's get those cookies started?"

Bags were dropped down next to desks, and people actually started to move, though it was with a bit of hesitation. Ethan looked like he wanted to tell people to drop the whole thing, but Lucy levelled her best, most winsome smile at him.

"Better get the VP on the same page as us, or he might be a little surprised!" Lucy said.

Ethan jumped. "Oh, uh, yes, right."

"And try to find tables too! I bet there's some somewhere!" she called after his back.

Now that that was handled... Lucy turned back to the class, dialed down her smile about 20%, and walked over to the first spot that looked like it had trouble brewing. A few friendly suggestions were enough to get them moving in the right direction, but the next issue had her change her stance and approached things with the final say.

The students would probably be a little insulted if they knew just how much easier they were to manipulate than a bunch of unruly orphans.

Lucy didn't get too much work done herself. She helped a bit by pouring some batter into cupcake molds, and she wandered around with a garbage bag picking up after the messier students, but her job was mostly managerial.

Cookies only needed fifteen minutes of baking. Cupcakes needed closer to twenty-five. That didn't include any cool-down time that they needed before they could apply any frosting.

Lucy tried her hand at making a few cookies look like little cat heads, but they looked... kind of like cats born with significant and serious birth defects. At least hers stood out amongst the much better, more standardized work the others on frosting duty could manage, even if it wasn't in a great way.

Within an hour and a half, they had a few platters filled with baked goods. Something like two hundred cupcakes and twice as many cookies. Mostly because they had ransacked the kitchen's supplies and used all of the many ovens all at once.

"Well, that was productive," Lucy said with a satisfied nod. Which is about when the Vice Principal walked in along with half a dozen members of security.

The entire room froze, and Lucy could recognize that wide-eyed look of guilt anywhere. These people hadn't ever learned how to look impassive and calm in the face of an authority figure, which was the equivalent of spilling blood in front of a hungry shark.

"Oh good!" Lucy said. She scooped up a cupcake, walked up to the Vice Principal, and pushed it into his hand. "Try this out, they're real good! Did Ethan go off to find tables for us?"

"Tables?" he asked.

"Well, we're not going to stand there with handfuls of cookies, that'd be unsanitary."

"I'm... afraid that the school requires certain permissions before--"

"It's fine," Lucy said. She smiled. "It's fine. Now! Big guys! If you help us carry all of these over to the mech, we'll give you a cookie each! How's that sound?" she winked at the nearest security guy who seemed taken aback for a moment.

The Vice Principal hesitated, but Lucy was already moving. Momentum and all that. It was important.

"I suppose we have tables in storage," he finally said before looking at the cupcake. It had a little cat face on it, with fondant ears and a cute little smile. He took a tentative bite.

"Perfect!" Lucy said. "Alright, everyone, grab a platter! Are there covers for these? Aiden, did you happen to see if there were, like, spare napkin packs around? People are definitely gonna need those. Come on, cooking class! Represent!"

Lucy grinned. She was quite certain that Cat wasn't having half as much fun as she was.

***