"I understand, North Star and there is no need to be jealous or embarrassed. I am happy to teach you guys the fine art of tracking," I offer graciously.

Like, seriously.

Am I the greatest friend ever or what?

They are obviously lucky to have me.

Not!

I am the lucky one!

Just look at them! And once your done sighing and blushing, watch how kind and awesome they are.

"I believe he is talking about your impressive senses," Paprika inserts.

"Impressive? Psht. Just slightly above average," I brush off the compliment.

"Cupcake! Don't sell yourself short! You are incredible!" Always rebukes.

"I was with you almost the whole time, and I saw how amazing your senses are. You were able to track them all down by their smell, tracks, and sound," North Star says.

I look down to hide my flaming cheeks and mumble nonsense.

"Now, now, stop embarrassing Coffee Bean," Marc admonishes before adding, "Even though she is absolutely adorable when she is blushing."

This makes me blush even more.

Huh.

I never knew my cheeks could catch fire until now.

"Well, I think we will have to take lessons later. First is the third round," Axel declares.

"Yay! You guys are super fun! I love this game! It's just as fun as Master's game!" I cheer.

"Aw," Meanie cooes adoringly. "That's my little psycho."

I stick my tongue out at him.

I am not crazy!

Wait...

Maybe I am.

Let me check with the voices in my head, first.

"Am I crazy?"

"Psht. No way, Jose. You are unique and genius and different than anyone else in the history of humans. Different, not crazy," Sarah confirms and Star quickly gives her concurrence.

Ha!

I'm not crazy, after all!

Star and Sarah are the bestest!

Now, for the parkour run through the city...

Mr.Blackbourne strides through the door, perfectly on time.

"We need to get this last round done as soon as possible before it starts to get dark."

We did spend a lot of time on the second round...

"We will all be participating. Everyone will carry a camera and Corey and Victor will tap into the city cameras so we can view all the runs. We will all race to the finish line which will be Bob's Diner. To win, you must be their first. There are no means of transportation except your own body. Everyone must have their phone with them in case they get lost. Any questions?"

I tentatively raise my hand and say, "I don't exactly have a phone..."

They all look at me surprised.

"What kind of seventeen year old girl doesn't have a phone?" Brandon asks.

Hey!

There are several of us without phones!

You don't need a phone to live! If you go back to caveman days (in other words, the eighties) there were lots of teenagers that didn't have cell phones even though they were invented in the 1970s and commercially available by 1983.

So there.

Drop the mic.

Victor spoke up, "I have a tracker that we can use to find you if you don't arrive in time, Princess."

I beam at him.

"Thanks, Prince!"

His fire eyes burn brighter as he smiles back at me.

Victor is the handsomest prince I have ever met!

Okay, fine.

He is also the only prince I have ever met.

I change into my black parkour shoes that are mesh, super flexible, and have a great grip.

I once again marvel at how much stuff Gabriel and I were able to cram into the giant suitcase.

I take the tracking device and stuff it into the pockets of my sweatpants and accept my camera.

I pop it into my mouth.

Since you need your hands for parkour, you have to hold the camera in your mouth.

Corey starts a countdown.

At zero, we all take off.

I bound out of the house, easily passing them all.

I can't believe they actually challenged me to a race.

Dummies.

I leap over obstacles in my path until I get to where the houses and buildings get close together.

I run and leap to the roof of a second story building using my arms to catch the roof and pull myself up the last bit. I run across the roof and leap to the next building. I jump over the odd things like fans and electric boxes in the roof that seem to be there just to annoy me.

I clear the distance quickly.

When I get to the end of the street, I leap of the building at an angle to soften my fall and do a safety roll out of it.

People stare at me like I am crazy.

I ignore them and run through town.

Parkour has you leap over obstacles and take the most direct path instead of running around them like in a regular race.

I make excellent time and make good use of the empty rooftops when the streets get too crowded.

Soon enough, I am at the diner.

I fling open the door and a started Uncle states at me.

"Are the others here yet? Did I win?" I ask excitedly.

Uncle recovers slightly and answers, "Well, I am not sure what you are talking about, but you are the first person to burst in here."

"Oh, some boys are teaching me how much tougher they are than me and how I need their protection."

I frown.

"I think they need teaching lessons as well. Their plan isn't quite working."

Uncle bursts out laughing, "Are you talking about the North, Luke, and their friends by any chance?"

I nod happily.

"Well, you sit down and I will get you some food while you wait for them. Something tells me it will be a little while before they get here."

Meekly, I ask, "Actually, Uncle, there is a recipe that came to me in my dreams that I want to try if you'll let me use your kitchen?"

Uncle beams at me.

"Of course! I will have the boys sit down and wait for you to finish cooking and eating. Come out when you are ready. Business is slow at this time so there will only be one chef in there."

I grin and nod.

I race into the kitchen, happily.

I have been dying to cook this since my dream.

Bouncing into the kitchen, I slip on an apron and grab a mixing bowl and whisk. I make the first ingredient quickly—butter cream frosting. Next I add in some of every single candy in the kitchen.

I ignore the other chef's disbelieving state as I grab the chocolate, strawberry, and caramel syrup and our in an unhealthy amount of both.

I whisk it all together.

"Um, what the **** are you doing?" The brown haired chef asks finally coming out of their stunned daze.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I am Sang Sorenson. Uncle said I could use the kitchen. I had a dream where I cooked this and loved it, so here I am!"

He seems to consider this and nod before saying, "Makes sense. My name is Wil Winchester. Nice to meet you. Have fun with your cooking."

Wil pushes his glasses up his nose and returns to cooking on the other side of the kitchen.

I smile and return to my bowl of sugary goodness.

To cut through the sweetness, I dump in some cayenne powder and call it good.

I give it a final stir and taste my concoction.

I think I just died.

It is pure perfection.

It is the single most sugary thing I have ever tasted.

If I could eat this everyday of my life, I would die happy.

I would also probably die sooner, but happy.

I eat a couple cups of the goodness and put a cup in a bag for Luke and a cup in a dish for Uncle.

Quickly, I steal a sticky note and write, Try me! on it and stick it to the dish.

I am so nice to be sharing this!

I stuff the bag into my pocket and walk out and see the boys are all sitting at a bunch of pushed together tables.

"Ah, you slowpokes are finally here. Welp, I won again. Who's ready to head back?"

They just stare at me so I shrug and walk out on my own.

They quickly follow and we walk back together.

"Peanut, how do you keep beating us?!" Paprika cries.

"I don't know how I wouldn't. Don't feel bad, I am sure you all have your own gifts. My talents just exceed yours," I say reassuringly.

They continue to ask questions, but I ignore them because I am too busy trying to not buzz and vibrate in place and show them that I just ate sugar.

Finally, they give up and talk with each other.

I walk to Luke and whisper, "I cooked you something amazing. Don't tell North Star; it is the epitome of sugary. I'll give it to you when we get there."

Luke blushes for some reason and nods at me, smiling widely.

After an eternity of walking with the sloths, we arrive back at the house.

They all head to the game room downstairs and I tell them that I am going to get a glass of water first and to go ahead without me.

Luke discretely hangs back and meets me in the kitchen.

"Here ya go," I say. "Almost pure sugar."

Luke looks at it lovingly and makes a "gimme" motion.

I laugh and hand it to him.

He disappears to go hide it while I make my way downstairs.

"I'm sorry that you guys weren't able to prove your point. It's okay. I'm just better at a lot of stuff than you guys," I say apologetic.

"That's okay, Ms.Sorenson. I think we all have a lot of questions, though," Mr. Blackbourne states pointedly.