CHAPTER ELEVEN

°°° Not so Pleasant Surprise °°°

     The rest of the morning was peaceful. Andrew threw tantrums after finding out he had to go to school without Jason, whose class would be going on a field trip. Since it held little to no academic value, he decided to sit out the two-day trip.

     Sean reminded Andrew of the gain and attention he’d enjoy, as most kids would want to know what new heroic saves Sean had made. A smug smile was plastered on Andrew’s face throughout the drive to school, a smile that Sean was sure would last throughout the day in school.

It was almost eleven fifty in the morning, ten minutes before Ann would be back from seeing a client.

      The kitchen was a mess; flour was scattered everywhere. In the pans were the dishes Ann had washed after breakfast, the floors, and the boys—Sean, Jason, and Dan—who had called in sick to work.

Sean was supposed to be in charge of taping the baking experience, which soon became a flour fight. They had all covered themselves and their phones in flour.

DING!!

The oven alerted the trio, who were engrossed in watching DIY videos on YouTube.

      They all looked at themselves. They were exhausted. After four trials, the first of which was pulled out of the oven too early, The second had too much flour, hence breaking easily. The third was burned, and even though the internet said they’d get better the more they baked, the fourth had all three problems.Dan looked at both boys and took a deep breath. If this didn’t work out, then they’d just order a cake from the closest cake store.

     Sean took out a camera and began recording. After putting on the oven gloves, Dan opened the oven. The smell of freshly baked cake was encouraging. He nodded and pulled out the cake pan. He walked with it to the kitchen island and dropped it on one of the cake trays Ann had stashed away in the store room.

Jason walked to the island and took a deep breath. The tension in the air was high, but their dramatic and slow motions made it seem thick and suffocating.

"Not burnt," Jason raised a check list and ticked the corresponding box. "Smells nice," he ticked again. "Looks right. "The ingredients seem well mixed, but I think we are forgetting something," he said, putting his pen in his mouth and thinking.

"Chocolate?" Dan asked.

"No," Jason shook his head.

"Salt?"

"No."

"Water?" Dan raised a brow.

"No, it’s not any of those," Jason shook his head, still thinking.

"The pan needs to be turned upside down." Sean blurted something out from behind his phone’s camera.

"What? No. "Who bakes a cake and... turns them over?" Jason’s sentence slowed down toward the end. "Oh, my God."

"What?" Dan half yelled, feeling genuinely tensed. Ann would be back anytime soon.

"The cake… I just realized that we do not know how to take it out of the pan." Jason turned to his father with horror written on his face.

~~

"Andrew, help me with the bag," Ann said, shutting the door to her car.

She’d dropped by Kingston Junior High to pick Andrew up after she got a call concerning him. Andrew wasn’t feeling too good, so she’d picked him up and taken him for a quick checkup.

"Honey, I’m home," Ann announced, holding the door open for Andrew to walk in. "Dan? Sean? Jay?" She called out, dropping her bags on the sofa. "Anyone home?" she shouted, but still there was no reply.

"Mom!" Andrew, who had walked in ahead of her, yelled out in pure horror, startling his mother.

Ann jerked from the shock of the scream, and immediately she got a grip on herself and ran towards the kitchen.

"Oh, my God," her eyes widened upon reaching the scene. "What happened here?" she asked, unable to stop shaking her head.

"Surprise?" The baking trio—Dan, Sean, and Jason—gave a suppressed and unsure yell, the camera in Sean’s hands still recording.

"Dan? "You mind explaining all of this?" Ann gestured to the entire kitchen. The kitchen island was covered in flour, and the black floor tiles weren’t spared from the flour bath either. "What have you done to my kitchen?" she cried.

"Umm…" Dan was unsure of what to say. "You weren’t supposed to be home this early," were the words he found himself saying. Immediately after he said it, he, Sean, and Jason face palmed. "I’m sorry, those were the wrong words," he tried taking back his words, but like bullets out of a gun’s barrel, it was physically impossible.

Ann took a deep breath and then asked more calmly. "What are you trying to do?"

"Sorry Mom," Jason stepped forward. "We noticed you have been quite stressed of late and we haven’t been helping matters in anyway, so we decided to do something... special for you," he said with a smile that was mixed with multiple emotions.

"Oh, my God!" Ann couldn’t help but laugh softly. She wanted to speak but found herself speechless."Does that mean you aren’t mad?" Sean forced a smile.

"I… I don’t know... should I?" She turned to Andrew.

Immediately he realized she was asking for his opinion, and a mischievous smile appeared on his face. After sending and receiving eye messages to and from his brother, Jason, Andrew gave his verdict.

"No," he said with a serious tone, shocking even his mother. He then walked around the kitchen, inspecting it, before facing his mother. "I reckon at least a thousand dollar damage was done; the flour, eggs, and electricity burned." "Just how many cakes did you guys bake?" He turned to them, pointing at the waste bin with cake pans sticking out.

"Are those my…" Ann’s eyes widened. She had been so focused on what it would take to clean up that she hadn’t noticed the cake pans.

"Andy!" Sean yelled at Andrew under his breath, giving him a stare that was supposed to make him scared and stop making matters worse.

"What?" Andrew smiled, unmoved by the threat-glare. He then turned to his mother. "Personally, I’d say you should be mad at them, but..." with emphasis on the word "but," he gave his brother a look, "since they did it to please you, I think it would only be fair you let them off the hook... of course with conditions," he smirked at Jason.

      Ann thought for a moment. Andrew was a con artist, and she knew it, but he was right. They should be punished for damages, but she shouldn’t be mad at them. She sighed deeply and looked at them. "Well, if it tastes good," she said, placing much emphasis on the word "if." I’ll let you guys off the hook with just cleaning up and doing dishes for a week. If not, you pay for the damages, and domestic chores are all yours for a month," she smiled, facing Dan, letting him know that he was the one who would foot the bill and run the house for a week or a month depending on the outcome.

"Mom has been possessed by Andy," Jason thought to himself, frozen.

"Ann," Dan called after her as she left the kitchen. "Can you maybe help us take the cake out of the pan?" he asked, biting his nails.

Ann laughed and walked back to the kitchen to give them a hand.