So here's the next chapter…hope you enjoy!
Chapter 2
The announcement of the cake-off hanging in the air was such an intimidating event that even Edward stopped playing with his iPod touch to marvel in astonishment. How could he beat this baker boy (Edward knew Peeta was talented in baking because of his uncanny ability to read minds) at a cake making contest? He didn't even eat for crying out loud! But, he reminded himself, he did watch top chef and Hell's Kitchen. Also, he was Edward Cullen.
"Alright," President Snow said, bringing Edward back into the present. "A cake-off it is. Edward and Peeta will have one hour to make their cakes, at 11:00 AM tomorrow. An array of ingredients will be flown in and there will be a panel of judges."
On that note, the President stepped back into his helicopter and expected Edward to follow. The thing was, Edward didn't follow. Edward was still standing with Katniss and Madge. All three of them were admiring Snow's word choice of "array".
"Come along, Edward!" Snow called with the same mannerisms one would use when beckoning a puppy. He even clucked his tongue for effect.
Edward then walked up to the copter, but before entering he shouted out.
"Good luck, bread boy. I have a thousand years of experience in this art!"
Peeta Mellark was fuming. Not only had this Edward person attempted to steal his girlfriend, he was working with President Snow and now he was trying to take the one thing Peeta had left; the art of the bakery. He thought furiously about what he could do, he could put garlic in his cake! That way he could poison that beastly creature! But wait, Edward wouldn't be one of the tasters. Plans foiled again. Besides, Edward could read his thoughts, what an ungainly advantage.
"What are we going to do?" asked Prim faintly. "We can't let that soul-eating monster win!"
"Tell me about it," said Peeta and Gale nodded. Madge and Katniss were still drooling over Edward. The boys glared at them.
"Hey!" said Katniss, waving a hand around, "We can see those glares, we're standing right here,"
There was a peculiar sort of tension between the boys and girls, who were currently at the ripe old age of twenty. Haymitch shook his head.
"At least you guys now know how Jacob Black feels," Prim muttered.
"Oh please," huffed Madge. "Could you stop these Team Jacob-y antics? Edward Cullen is the sole reason why I learned to play Bella's Lullaby on piano."
"Edward's too overprotective. I mean, a lullaby, really?" reasoned Prim.
"I thought you liked my lullaby," Katniss said, looking hurt.
"Alright!" shouted Haymitch. "I can now tell this is not just a hallucination from my drinking, so we should prepare."
"Please," said Katniss. "This is a cake competition we're talking about. And this is Peeta we're talking about! He can just make that triple Decker milk chocolate strawberry layer lava cake that he made me for my birthday. You know, the year that Gale just gave me a dead squirrel.
"Hey!" said Gale, "That squirrel was the best thing I caught that day!"
"That was the only thing you caught that day," said Peeta quietly.
The fact that that Gale did not lash out at him was a mark on how dire the Edward situation was. Peeta and Gale needed to stick together.
Madge cringed, silently realizing something. "Oh dear, I wonder what he'll get me for my birthday," she said.
"I don't know, Madge," consoled Katniss. "I don't know."
"Just listen to you kids. You aren't even going to practice when the competition is tomorrow? You think because it's a cake-off and we have Peeta on our side you don't have to try? You know what this is reminding me of? This is reminding me of when the McKinley High Glee Club won Sectionals and then they lost their motivation! What would Mr. Schuester say at a time like this?"
The gang hung their heads in shame. Haymitch was right, Mr. Schue would be disappointed in them.
Everyone's common knowledge of Glee and other TV shows proved how much new programming the Capitol had to provide now that the Hunger Games weren't a yearly event.
"So what are we gonna do?" asked Haymitch with a pep rally nature.
"Sing songs?" asked Prim uncertainly.
"No!" shouted Haymitch, "Peeta is going to perfect his cake for tomorrow and we are all going to help. During the contest he'll have to make his cake on the spot and I don't know if we'll be allowed to assist in any way, but we have to be trained for all circumstances."
With that, they trouped off to Peeta's place to learn the culinary arts. The room dedicated to baking had three ovens and was jam packed with all the ingredients anyone could ever want, and a few that no one ever would. They huffed and they puffed, in a big bad wolf fashion, although they did not blow the house down, until they knew considerably more about baking then they did before. Granted, considerably more for them was considerably less than the average dolphin would know about baking, but Peeta was a patient teacher...when he wasn't being distracted.
Right now, for instance, he was being cute/creepy with Katniss and the flour. They were throwing it on each other and then brushing it off in a fit of giggles. The Edward incident was clearly forgotten, for now.
"Hey Peeta, why do you have Finding Nemo stickers on all the fronts of your ovens?" asked Gale randomly, managing to gesture to the schools of colourful fish that adorned the kitchen appliances and ruin the creepy/cute moment at the same time.
"Finding Nemo is a classic," Peeta said. Everyone agreed that it was.
Two hours later, baking didn't seem as fun. Peeta had them using crazy ingredients such as onions (explaining everyone's teary eyes), pepper, and, alas, garlic. He claimed that they were practicing with these for in case Snow tried to sabotage them by only giving them selected bad ingredients to use in the challenge. It was believable, in theory, but when they were actually preparing cakes with anchovies and marmalade...
"I've inhaled so much pepper that my oesophagus hurts," complained Katniss wearily. "I know pain, and I didn't even know oesophaguses could hurt."
Peeta kissed her neck, "Poor oesophagus," he stated simply. Looking around and seeing his friends with pained oesophaguses (or would that be oesophagi?) broke him. "I think we practiced enough now," he said.
Everyone cheered and got up from their death-like flour-covered poses. Haymitch picked up his man purse or satchel as he liked to call it, reasoning that Indiana Jones has one. The contents of the bag scattered because it either had a pre-existing rip or was cut on a hap hazardously placed butter knife. Either way, credit cards from Haymitch's wallet spilled all over the floor.
Katniss helped him hurriedly picked up the cards until she found an intriguing hot pink one.
"Haymitch, why do you have a coupon to Margaritaville?" she asked.
"Because it's Cinco de Mayo," Haymitch answered, as if that explained every question anyone could ever have, including how Lost ends.
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Madge, who also noted that today was not Cinco de Mayo.
"It's a holiday for getting drunk, just like Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, Halloween, Easter, Arbour Day, Labour Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pony Day, Thanksgiving, Canadian Thanksgiving, Independence Day, New Years Eve, Valentine's Day, Victoria Day, Birthdays, International Pie Day-"
Gale stopped him with, "Is there any holiday that's not for getting drunk Haymitch?"
"Nope," said Haymitch gruffly, waltzing out the door and slamming it shut, "We better win tomorrow."
The others, who hadn't heard him and were still inside, contemplated the issue of Cinco de Mayo. There had to be another reason for it, there re ally had to.
On the morning of the cake-off, Haymitch was still getting over his hangover, so he was absent from the challenge. The camera crews were flown in just before the President and Edward Cullen arrived.
Our party of Katniss, Peeta, Madge, Gale, and Prim were standing at one end of an enormous outdoor kitchen. The adversary, Edward and the two helpers he brought with him, Bella and Renesmee, were on the other side. As you might have guessed, Peeta also had two people helping him in the event. Madge and Katniss to be exact. It was true that Katniss was a horrible cook, but Madge was alright.
"Why didn't you pick me?" Gale asked when the choosing took place.
"Well, Gale, I'm pretty sure your only cooking experience involves skinning a squirrel,"
Gale was silent. Peeta took out h is trusty recipe book. The event was starting in ten minutes. The camera was counting down, they'd be live in five….four…three….two….one!
"Hello viewers of Panem," said President Snow. "Now, I'm very sorry to interrupt the Glee marathon we're currently showing, believe me I wanted to watch it to! But we have more important matters at stake. You may remember these rebels who ruined my life –I mean, started a rebellion, a few years back. Well today I will show you that they are not as amazing as they think. Katniss Everdeen, you think you're all that! But you're not! So today she and her fellow companions will be competing in the first of many competitions against Edward Cullen, a cake-off!"
The cameramen gasped.
"We will have three celebrity judges judging the cakes today. As you know, the recent break-through in resurrection technology has made it possible for us to bring people back from the dead. How else would we be having new episodes of Glee next fall? So, the judges are, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and, my personal favorite, Simon Cowell!"
"What do they know about cakes?" Peeta muttered angrily, but it was lost under Paula's mindless cheering.
Peeta, Katniss and Madge broke off from the group and went to their side of the kitchen. A wall of glass separated them from Edward, Bella, and Renesmee, but that couldn't stop Katniss and Madge from entranced by Edward's beauty. Minutes remained before the cake-off would begin and the teams started trash talking each other.
"Hey you!" Katniss shouted to Renesmee. The little vampire turned to her. "Yeah, I'm talking to you! I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I mean, think of sad I would be if our franchise ended with Peeta and I having a daughter and then Gale imprinting on her. That's right!"
"Oh burn!" shouted the others.
"You're just mad," Bella said to Katniss, "That I already have Kristen Stewart to play me so you can't have her!"
Katniss was affronted. "How dare you say something like that?"
"Yeah!" shouted Madge, "Bella, maybe you should go buy a personality! They have them on sale at Wal-Mart!"
"Uh well at least I'm not a sullen scowler like her!"
"Oh no, you did not just insult Katniss," said Peeta. "It's on. Someone, go get me my monogrammed oven mitts."
Madge quickly rushed to get them just before the buzzer sounded. The cake-off had begun. Katniss, Madge and Peeta huddled together.
"Are we still making the triple Decker milk chocolate strawberry layer lava cake?"
"Yes," said Peeta. "Let me just find the recipe." He flipped through the book, but, to his horror it wasn't a recipe book at all.
"That's not you're recipe book is it?" asked Katniss.
"No, this is the Deluxe Twilight sticker kit. This is sabotage!" said Peeta ominously, but then as an after thought, "But, hey, I can add these to my collection!"
"Peeta!" said Katniss, "This is not the time to be thinking about your sticker collection."
Peeta shook his head. She was right. If Katniss was making an effort to resist Edward, he could at least try to ignore the stickers. "We'll have to improvise," he said.
The group was off to a shaky start. Even though they had totally won the trash talking session, it didn't help that Katniss and Madge kept being momentarily stunned by Edward. They could Prim and Gale cheering from the side lines, and Paula clapping for some reason.
"Yeah, make those cakes dawgs!" said Randy.
"Madge, pickles do not go with Oreos!" Peeta shouted.
"But you said to improvise!"
"Alright, times up, put the cakes in the oven," ordered the President. Edward put his in smugly but Peeta was still hurriedly adding to the other group's concoction. Finally, he pried his fingers away from the batter and let the masterpiece fry.
Ding! Went the ovens simultaneously and the cakes were brought to the judges.
"Peeta's first, said the President. Each judge took a forkful.
"Yo dawg, there's something funky goin' on with this cake, it's a little pitchy. Baby, this just isn't dawg-pound material."
Peeta frowned. It had to be the pickles.
"Well," piped up Paula, "I really appreciate your effort, and you look great. Those monogrammed oven mitts really complete the ensemble,"
"Well," said Simon. "I've had worse cakes but this felt very karaoke to me."
The group sucked in a breath. It did not look good. Edward, Bella, and Renesmee took the spot in front of the judges next and presented their cake. All the judges took a bite, but they did not all get to speak because Simon spat out his piece and started shouting.
"Eww! What is this! It's absolutely dreadful. What did you put in here?"
"My blood, the sweetest thing in the world."
The judges looked aghast.
"It's like a drug to me, like my own personal brand of hero-"
"HA!" shouted Peeta. "Looks like they've been using performance enhancement drugs!"
Everyone gasped. It was true.
"Well," said President Snow, "Who really, really minds? I mean, Edward's cake was obviously better. Just look at the Presentation,"
"No." said Simon. "I'm sorry, President, but this violates our standards completely. Peeta's cake wins by default."
"Whoo!" they cheered.
High fives ensued and Haymitch appeared on the horizon. The group ran over to him, but not before Peeta had thanked Edward for the new sticker book.
"Did we win?" asked Haymitch drunkenly.
"Oh course!" shouted Katniss. "We had Peeta on our side!"
"Actually we won by default," Peeta muttered.
"Not so fast," President Snow interrupted the celebration. You may have won this round, but there's still four to go. Since you won, you do get to pick the next challenge. So what's it to be?"
No one spoke until Katniss looked at Haymitch and had an idea. "A drinking contest," she proclaimed. The others nodded.
"Yeah," said Haymitch. "We've got this one in the bag."
Tune in next time for shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, EVERBODY!
