"Alright Ms. Fiona Keadersen, your writing, and reading scores are well above average, so I am going to suggest you for honors classes there, but your arithmetic needs some serious help, so I have no choice but to place you in a remedial math class, and assign you a tutor."
Fiona sat next to Cake in her recently assigned councilor's office on Vincent Academy's prestigious, well-groomed campus. The office was neat, and tidy, and a small golden plaque was screwed on to the the entrance read 'Mr. Studibudi'. She smiled to herself, thinking of the irony of his name coinciding with his profession. Fiona was grateful that Cake had insisted on her learning to read from an early age. Prince Gumball had also played a part in helping her with writing and science, due to his passion for writing long research papers that he insisted she help him with. Yes, libraries and the ways of the scholar were not a new concept to her, but math was. She had always been fairly bad at math beyond multiplication and addition. Gumball had spent many a wasted hour over a paper-covered desk, sitting next to her trying to explain the more complex mathematical theories, but all his attempts had gone one ear, and out the other. She just wasn't interested. She didn't need to know the Pythagorean theorem to kill a three-headed cave yeti. But she did need to know it to survive high school.
"Don't worry girl! We will have you in honors Calculus in no time! Just you wait!" Cake nudged her side encouragingly, snapping her from her daydream.
Fiona smiled shyly back at her.
"Oh Mr. Study Buddy... Er... I mean Studibudi..." A pleasant voice sang from outside the doorway.
"Oh yes! Do come right in Mr. Schweet. I am just finishing up with these ladies." Mr. Studibudi replied.
A tall, preppy-looking boy with positively bubblegum pink hair stood at the door way. His arms weighed down with several large cardboard boxes stacked on top of one another. Fiona could tell that they were not going to fit through the short doorframe.
"Here. Let me help you!" She called as she got up from her seat and hurried over to help him.
"Oh no. I am quite alright. Please take as long as you like. I am in no hurry!" The boy replied hurriedly as he attempted to walk through the door way and set the boxes down.
Just as Fiona had predicted, the boxes were too tall for the door frame, and tumbled backwards towards the unsuspecting carrier underneath.
"Look out!" Fiona cried as she pushed the boy out of the way before the boxes could squash him.
The boxes burst open, scattering thousands of synthetic light pink and white rose petals around them.
"Flower petals?" She said with annoyance, expecting the boxes to be filled with something more heavy and dangerous.
"Oh my. This isn't good. Look at the mess I made!" A voice sighed from underneath her.
Fiona looked down and blushed. She had fallen on top of the young boy during her attempt to push him out of the way.
"Oh my goodness! I am so sorry!" She blushed as he got up and dusted himself off.
"Oh perfect timing!" Mr. Studibudi smiled. Not even seeming to notice the hallway floor outside of his office was now covered with pink and white rose petals.
"Ms. Fiona Keadersen, may I introduce you to the new Class President, Mr. Bernabon Schweet." He continued gesturing to the pink-haired boy standing above her.
Gumball.. She thought to herself.
"Very pleased to meet you Ms. Keadersen." He boy smiled like Prince Charming as he offered her a hand to help her up.
"Oh please, call me Fiona." She returned his smile, a light blush from earlier still present on her face.
Cake scoffed as she leaned against the doorframe next to Mr. Studibudi. She shot Cake a wicked glare while the boy was distracted picking up rose petals off the ground.
"Oh my glob! Let me help you with that!" She knelt down and frantically scooped the rose petals into a nearby empty box.
"Oh it is quite alright... Fiona. There is no need. I have plenty of time."
"Yes Ms. Keadersen, this really couldn't be better timing!" Mr. Studibudi interjected.
"How is that?" They both asked unison. Bernabon glancing up, and picking a flower petal that had landed on the top of her head. She blushed an even darker shade of pink, rivaling the color of his hair. He smiled.
"Well..." He gestured to the Princely lookalike "Mr. Schweet will be your tutor for math!"
"What?!" Fiona glanced at Mr. Studibudi, then at Bernabon, then Cake. Who stood behind both their heads, she winked at her and gave her a thumbs up.
How many more people were she going to meet that resembled her old friends?
After Fiona and Bernabon had picked up all the remaining petals, with the help of Cake and Mr. Studibudi, Fiona apologized profusely one last time, and waved a brief goodbye to Bernabon Schweets and Mr. Studibudi as they left.
While walking down the sidewalk, Cake stared expectantly at Fiona. She responded by pretending to take no notice of her.
"Fion-a-a-a-a." Cake began.
"Yes?" Glancing sideways at her, try to pay her the least amount of attention possible.
"He li-i-i-i-kes you." Cake giggled and squished her hands against her cheeks.
As much as Fiona loved this Cake, and all she had done for her, the scene as well as the woman before her reminded her too much of what she had left behind in Aaaa. But looking back isn't going to help be get back! She thought. And like she had responded to Cake in the past, she replied.
"No, Cake. He doesn't like me. He just met me, and it is his job as the Class President as well as my new math tutor to make me feel welcome. Don't interpret his friendliness, as trying to flirt."
"Whatever you say Honey, all I know as that as soon as you too were in the same room together, all the hair on the back of my neck began to stick straight up, and the last time that happened, was the day that I met my fiancé, Mon."
Ah yes, Cake's elusive Mon, no doubt this world's version of Lord Monochromicorn. She thought. She had never officially met Cake's night in shining armor, but she did know that he was a famous linguist, who traveled around their world and deciphered long lost languages and codes. She had promised a visitation and introduction before the end of the year. If I am here that long...
"Alright Cake, whatever you say." She sighed as they passed through the formal entrance gates of Vincent Academy on to the street.
Cake clapped her hands together. "Well now that we have that settled, we have shopping to do." Cake waved frantically attempting to hail a taxi.
"Oh dear."
For the next three hours Cake hauled Fiona around the city, taking her from shop to shop, picking out shoes, socks, and various other accessories every girl needed (well at least Cake thought they needed) to start her first day of high school. The shopping spree finally ended at Cake's favorite beauty parlor, that served Champaign and chocolate-covered strawberries to their guests while they had their hair styled.
"Cake, I don't like this..." Fiona growled as the veteran hairstylist who smelled like expensive perfume and artichokes picked out pieces of her hair with a fine comb, smeared them with strong-smelling goop, and wrapped them individually in tiny pieces foil.
"Hmm?" She replied innocently, as she sat cross-legged while she flipped through a thick magazine balanced on one knee, and held a bubbly flute of champaign in the other.
Fiona raised her eyebrow and smirked. Cake shrugged casually. "You have to look good on your first day of school. Vincent Academy is not the sort of place that you can walk into wearing last year's trends." She paused, sipping from the flute, then continued. "You seem to be quite the fighter. I want you to think of the things you wear, and the way you present yourself from now on as a sort of battle gear. Preparing you for any emergency that might befall you in the hallways."
"But Cake, it surely can't be that bad..." Fiona began.
Cake's face darkened. "Fiona, the children that attend this school are the sons and daughters of millionaires... Billionaires even! They have lived in their ivory towers their entire lives. Unaware of the pain and suffering of the rest of the world. We have seen what it is like, we know how to defend ourselves with our fists, but these children fight with their brand names, and designer jewelry. I am not doing this to torture you... Well, maybe just a little, but I can't help it, you are just so cute!" She confessed.
"I am doing this to give you a fighting chance. A chance I never had when I went to school there. Fiona, it may sound weird, and I know we haven't known each other for a long time, but I feel like we were sisters in a past life, or something crazy like that..."
Not too far off... Fiona thought.
"Oh Cake, I am sorry for doubting you. Please forgive me!"
"Of course I will Honey! I couldn't even if I tried real hard."
That evening, after a delicious dinner of pizza and ice cream or "pre-game day food" as Cake called it. Fiona was sitting in her newly assigned room, which happened to be the one she had first woken up in a few weeks earlier. At that moment, she was staring through the windows, at the amazing sky line of the city, thinking of her old home.
There was a knock at her door. "Fi... are you busy Baby?"
"No Cake, I am never too busy for you."
"Okay sugar, I am coming in."
Cake pushed open the door and walked in, the entire time keeping her hands behind her back.
"Fi, I have a little present for you." She announced.
"Oh Cake, you have already done so much for me today, and I will never be able to repay all of your kindness..."
"Oh shush you. I didn't get this big, cushy writing job to make money that was just going to sit in some man's bank. I work hard enough for it, and I might as well spend it on something besides take out and bad movie reels."
Earlier that week, Cake had confessed to Fiona that she was a closet old film geek, and she spent many blissful hours on the internet tracking down rare film reels, that she would play in her secret theater that one could only get to by traversing through her enormous closet, and tapping on the far wall, then after entering a secret passcode. '1-2-3-4' as Fiona has recently discovered.
"Anyways, I want you to have this." Cake shoved two small packages wrapped in silver paper, tied with long, white bows into her lap.
Fiona opened the packages, making sure she didn't rip the paper, but instead folded it neatly, and placed it aside. The first package contained a phone with matching chibi bunny case, bunny charm, and headphones to go along with it.
"This way I you can call me if anything happens, also you can get the numbers of any cute boys you meet." Cake winked at her. "You can put music on it if you want." She continued as Fiona unlocked the screen, and flipped through the impressive music selection Cake had taken the liberty of filling it up with. "I put on a little bit of everything on there, so there is no bias to my personal musical tastes."
The second package was a little larger than the first, and much lighter. Fiona pulled off the lid and peered inside. It was a fluffy, white cloth. Cake shook with excitement.
"Go on! Try it on!" She urged her.
Fiona pulled the fabric from the box, and realized that it was a loosely-knit white beanie. She walked over to her closet, and looked at the mirror on the opposite side of the closet door. She tried to put it on, but she had no idea how to wear a beanie. Expecting it to be like other hats, she pulled it right on top of her head. It covered her eyes. Making her world go dark.
"Uh... Cake, I am not too sure I am doing this right."
Cake chuckled, and walked over to her. "You silly girl. You put it on like this." Cake slid the beanie back on her scalp, letting some of her professionally highlighted hair fall back on to her face. Cake continued to tweak it for another ten seconds or so before stepping back to admire her handy work.
"Perfect. Well, see for yourself." She stepped aside, and let Fiona gaze into the mirror. Two small bunny ears had been worked into the pattern of her cap.
"I just happened to see it at one of the boutiques today while you were trying on clothes in the dressing room." Cake confessed. "It just reminded me of you, but I can't tell you why exactly."
Big wet tears began to roll down Fiona's cheeks. "Oh Cake! I am so lucky to have you!"
She hugged Cake tightly and sobbed. Sobbing for the old, and the new.
She smoothed her plaid blue and white uniform skirt and straightened her tie and buttoned collar. She looked in the mirror. Something was missing. She had replicated the makeup like the way the woman had instructed her to, albeit a little bit lighter than the woman had done. She checked her backpack. She had her notebooks, pens, pencils, calculator, she also threw in her white bunny beanie for good measure. Knowing hats were prohibited on campus, but she could wear it on her way to and from school. The hat made her feel powerful. It reminded her of the way things used to be. She also unplugged her phone from its charger and slipped it into a side pocket of her green backpack before she forgot it.
She took one last look in the mirror. Checking she had put everything on. Academy required standard Penny loafers? Check. Navy blue knee high socks? Check. Academy issued plaid skirt? Check. White long sleeve button up with black tie? Check. Navy blue knit sweater vest (two sizes too big courtesy of her begging and pleading Cake for better part of twenty minutes while shopping)? Check.
"That's it!" She shrieked as she dove for the scrap of ribbon she had carefully folded last night, and placed in her bedside drawer.
She looped the ribbon around the base of her hairline, and tied it in a perfectly symmetrical floppy bow on the top of her head. She tilted her head to the side and took in her new addition to her outfit.
"Fiona, you are going to be late!" Cake called from the kitchen.
"Okay Cake, I will be right down!" Fiona gave one last twirl in front of the mirror, nodded in agreement, grabbed her lime green backpack, and ran out the door.
"No need to run! And were do you think you're going? You can't skip breakfast on your first day! Especially when I got up so damn early to make it!" Cake called after her.
"Oh Cake!" Fiona sighed as she ran back into the kitchen, grabbed a burnt pancake from the stack of its fellow burned brethren, squeezed Cake tight with thanks, and then ran out the door.
"First day of High School here I come!"
