The Nutella Debacle

Ulrich was trying to catch up on some of the homework he'd been behind on. Just because they'd finally shut down the supercomputer, didn't mean he was actually on top of his schoolwork.

Well, the key word was trying — of course, Odd came bursting into their room, dropping his iPhone right on top of Ulrich's biology textbook.

"Take a look at this!" his roommate practically shouted. He grabbed Kiwi and started dancing around the room. "They're having a huge discount on Nutella and it's causing massive riots! We have to go take advantage of it!"

Ulrich let out a breath, shoving the phone aside. "I'm busy. Ask Jeremie or Aelita."

"It's Thursday," he pointed out. "We're done with classes for the day and there are no more XANA attacks; I say we go to the grocery store!"

"You're crazy."

Odd took his phone back. "Maybe so, but I really love that chocolate-hazelnut spread! Come on, Ulrich, let's go have some fun!"

"Fighting people for a jar of Nutella is not my idea of fun," the boy spat, refocusing on his homework.

"It's down to 1.41 euro!" his roommate whined. "That's a steal!"

The brunette signed deeply. "Alright; if it'll get you to shut up, I guess I'll go with you."

"No. No way."

Jeremie crossed his arms in a move of defiance as he looked around his room at Odd, Ulrich, William, and Aelita.

"I don't get it," Aelita commented, skeptical. "It's a chocolate-hazelnut spread?" She looked to Odd. "Is it good?"

"Think of those Ferrero Rocher chocolate candies, but in the form of something you put on a croissant," Jeremie explained. He shrugged. "I mean, I like it, but I don't know if it's worth running out to the store just because it's marked down."

"It'll be fun!" Odd pressed. He turned to William. "Can you drive? I'm banned from Yumi's car after the chili cheese baked potato incident."

The older boy stood. "Sure. Tell her to meet us there."

The six of them arrived at the nearest store to what they could only describe as a scene straight from America's Black Friday chaos. It was definitely newsworthy, all the people shoving each other and screaming just to get at the boxes of Nutella jars.

The cheeky grin on Odd's face widened as he grabbed a cart. "Let's do this!"

Aelita inconspicuously moved to stand behind Ulrich. "I don't know… This is kind of intimidating."

Odd was already at the Nutella display, elbowing his way through the throngs of people who were shoving and screaming at one another. But he couldn't abandon his carriage — he was like the captain of his own ship, and these people were like an iceberg he had to break through, and the Nutella was the island he'd been seeking for days.

Maybe he paid more attention in school than he thought.

His small frame finally allowed him enough room to shimmy closer to the display as he swept an arm across a shelf, causing cases of Nutella to fall into his cart. Some woman elbowed him in the face, casting a dirty glance his way when she saw what he had. It was then he noticed William had somehow made his way through the melee and was fighting with an older man over a case.

"I say we have a race," the younger boy suggested, putting two more cases of the jars into his cart. "Jeremie can be the ref — last one to the register has to pay for both trolleys."

William smirked. "You're on!"

The boys were able to make their way out of the fray and into another aisle, spotting Jeremie and the rest of the group. Aelita still looked a bit shaken, but now stood next to Ulrich instead of behind him. Yumi rolled her eyes as they approached.

"All this just for some discounted chocolate-hazelnut spread," she criticized, crossing her arms. "If you wanted it so badly, I could've brought the jar I got yesterday over to your dorm!"

"It's 1.41 euro!" Odd repeated for probably the thousandth time. "So what if bruises might form on my face tomorrow? At least I'll have all this delicious goodness!"

Jeremie had moved to the far end of the aisle, away from the boys and their carts. "On my mark," he said. "Three… Two…"

Odd and William steeled themselves, gripping the handles of their carriages so tightly, their knuckles started to turn white.

"One!"

The boys took off at lightning speed, careening around displays and mobs of people still trying to get to the boxes of Nutella. Odd shot a glance back to see William right on his tail, but failed to notice a paper towel display right in front of him. He crashed into it, causing the plastic-wrapped packages to fly everywhere, most of them landing in his carriage. William collided with him and he ended up falling, landing in the other boy's cart so the metal was digging into his back.

He looked up to find a very stern, older woman, a sneer already present as she looked him over. He pasted a fake grin on his face and let out a nervous laugh.

"You," she accused, jabbing a finger at him. "And you," she added, noticing William, "are banned from this store!"

"Why?" Odd sputtered. "All I did was knock over a tower of paper towels!" He paused. "Does this mean I don't get my Nutella?"

The woman let out an agitated sigh as she stomped away. She was most likely the manager, though Odd and William hadn't thought to look at her nametag. Shrugging, the boy jumped to the floor, having wiggled free from the inside of the carriage. He grabbed his own, taking heed to ignore the woman's scolding and continue the race. He removed the paper towels before starting up again.

He ran into Aelita, the impact causing her to topple back into his cart. She looked up at him, dazed.

"Hey, Princess," he said casually. "Nice of you to join me."

She glowered. "Odd!"

They made it to the checkout line, which was almost a kilometer long by that point. William begrudgingly dug through his wallet and produced enough cash to cover both their spoils of Nutella. Aelita still hadn't moved from the inside of the cart, as it was too congested in their part of the store. She reached up to put the cases of spread on the register's conveyer once it was their turn. Yumi, Jeremie, and Ulrich came up to join them.

"Nice of you to watch from the sidelines!" Odd shouted.

"We had Nutella at home!" Yumi pointed out once again.

"But this is 70% off!"

"You're failing math, yet you know that 70% of €4.50 is roughly €1.41?" Jeremie asked dryly.

Odd smiled. "This is food. It's more important."

"This is a fiasco," Ulrich commented, looking around the store. There were people still fighting each other at the Nutella display. He stared down at Aelita. "You okay?"

"Never better," she replied, offering a hollow laugh.

The boys piled into William's car, Yumi having offered to only take Aelita back to Kadic. Odd gave them each a jar of Nutella for their troubles.

"I could've been in my room this entire time, doing homework," Ulrich said dryly. He turned to face his roommate. "But no: I got to watch you make a huge idiot out of yourself and get banned from the store!"

Odd ignored him, instead paying attention to his phone. "At least I won the race."

William scoffed. "At least it was discounted."

Jeremie looked up from his phone. "We're never doing that again, right?"

Odd smiled. "I can't make any promises."