Banshee: Hi everybody! I'm SO sorry this took so long, but I've had MAJOR writer's block lately, and plus I had other stories I was working on. This chapter, and the next two are going to be filler chapters because I'm working on a 6-part chapter. Yay, fillers~!

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot.

Chapter Ten: Vanilla Cupcakes

Superstar, where you from, how's it going?

I know you, got a clue what you're doing

You can play brand new to all the other chicks out here

But I know what you are, what you are, baby

…

Look at you, gettin' more than just re-up

Baby, you got all the puppets with their strings up

Fakin' like a good one, but I call 'em like I see 'em

I know what you are, what you are, baby

…

Womanizer, woman-womanizer, you're a womanizer O

h womanizer, oh you're a womanizer baby You you you are, you you you are

Womanizer, womanizer, womanizer (womanizer)

…

Boy don't try to front

I (I) know just (just) what you are-are-are

Boy don't try to front

I (I) know just (just) what you are-are-are

…

(You) You got me going

(You) You're oh so charming

(You) But I can't do it

(You) You womanizer

…

Boy don't try to front

I (I) know just (just) what you are-are-are

Boy don't try to front

I (I) know just (just) what you are-are-are

…

(You) You say I'm crazy

(You) I got your crazy

(You) You're nothing but a

(You) Womanizer

…

Daddy-o, you've got the swagger of a champion

Too bad for you, you just can't find the right companion

I guess when you have one too many, makes it hard, it could be easy

Who you are, that's just who you are, baby

…

Lollipop, you must mistake you're the sucker

To think that I, would be a victim, not another

Say it, play how you want it

But no way I'm never gonna fall for you, never you, baby

…

Womanizer, woman-womanizer, you're a womanizer

Oh womanizer, oh you're a womanizer, baby

You you you are, you you you are

Womanizer, womanizer, womanizer (womanizer)

…

Boy don't try to front

I (I) know just (just) what you are-are-are

Boy don't try to front

I (I) know just (just) what you are-are-are

…

(You) You got me going

(You) You're oh so charming

(You) But I can't do it

(You) You womanizer

…

Boy don't try to front

I (I) know just (just) what you are-are-are

Boy don't try to front

I (I) know just (just) what you are-are-are

…

(You) You say I'm crazy

(You) I got your crazy

(You) You're nothing but a

(You) Womanizer

…

…

Wednesday.

With the whole spider incident forgotten (no one would dare to antagonize her again, out of fear of getting cold-cocked like that last kid), Nikki was able to walk around the school without getting pranked. Some students still flinched and cowered as she passed by, and it gave her an odd sense of pride knowing that they wouldn't try to fuck with her ever again.

But lately, she had been feeling bored.

Every day after school, she went through the same routine day after day; hanging out with her friends, playing video games, and watching TV. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy doing those things. She just wanted to do something different for a change.

But what was she going to do?

As she passed by the front office, she noticed some pamphlets advertising some extracurricular activities. She looked through them, and saw one that piqued her interest; a cooking class being held in the Home Economics room. It was being held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. With any luck, she could sign up.

"This'll be perfect!" She thought excitedly. "At least this'll give me something else to do for three days out of the week."

Taking the pamphlet with her, Nikki headed to the Home Ec room. It was early, and classes hadn't started yet so she could talk to the teacher alone. Sure enough, she found the teacher just as she as heading inside the classroom.

The teacher's name was Kimberly Adams, or Ms. Adams as everyone called her. She is a tall, young, and fairly attractive woman with neat ear-length hair that she kept in place with bobby pins.

"Um, excuse me." Nikki said. "Ms. Adams?"

"Hm?" Ms. Adams paused as she reached for the door. "Oh, hello there. What can I help you with?"

Nikki held up the pamphlet. "This pamphlet says you're teaching a cooking class after school, and I was wondering if I could sign up."

"Oh, of course." She said. "Just let me check my roster to see if we have an opening."

Ms. Adams led Nikki inside, and she placed her things on her desk. As she was looking through her papers, Nikki looked around. The Home Ec room had desks for the students, but the kitchen took up most of the room. The tables were numbered, and the cooking stations on the other side of the room were numbered as well. Stoves lined the room from wall to wall, and the door to the pantry was locked tight; no doubt that room was huge too. A large walk-in refrigerator was also part of the pantry and it too was locked up. There was also a large sink.

"Ah! Here it is." The teacher said. She opened the roster for her cooking class and looked for an opening. "Luckily, there's one spot left. Just sign your name here, and I'll see you this afternoon, okay?"

"Oh, what a relief!" Nikki sighed as she grabbed the sign-up sheet and pen. "I've just been in a rut lately, and I really need something else to do after school.."

She signed the form and gave it back to Ms. Adams, who smiled.

"Thank you, Ms. Adams."

"It's no problem, dear. See you this afternoon~!"

The morning bell rang and Nikki headed off to class with an extra skip in her step as she hummed merrily all the way.

…

- After School -

…

Nikki was excited as she headed over to the Home Ec room. It was her first day in an official cooking class, and since she was already cooking before then she figured she had a leg up over most of the other students taking the class.

When she reached the classroom she plopped her backside in the first empty chair she could find.

"Well hello there, sweetheart~. Nice to see you again~…"

Nikki's cheerful demeanor shattered as soon as she heard that smooth, cocky voice.

"There is no way my luck is that bad.." She thought. She turned her head to see a familiar redhead sitting next to her, and as soon as she saw him her head jerked back so she was looking at the front of the room.

"Yeah.. It's that bad…"

Fuck.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She hissed.

"Taking a cooking class." Axel said nonchalantly. Even though he knew that she was there for the same reason, he asked with a cheeky grin, "And you~?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you." Nikki seethed. "And why is it that every time I go somewhere, you're there? Are you stalking me, or something?"

"Maybe our paths keep crossing because the fates have decided that we are a perfect match." Nikki rolled her eyes at that. "Or it's probably just a coincidence that we keep ending up in situations like this."

"Huh. 'Coincidence' my ass."

"Either way, I don't mind at all."

"Will you quit beating around the bush and just answer my question?"

That was a wrong choice of words, and she just realized it when she saw his smirk widen after she said the word 'bush.'

"You say one perverted remark, or even a chuckle, and I swear to God I will stuff your head into the microwave and keep it there until it explodes." She growled, the look in her eyes saying that she was dead serious about her threat.

"To answer your question, no, I'm not stalking you. I signed up for this class before you did." Axel said. He added with mock-hurt, "Why would you think I'm stalking you? I'm hurt that you would accuse me of something as creepy and invasive as stalking."

"I wouldn't put it past you." Nikki deadpanned.

"Oh really?" Axel asked, taking advantage of the fact that she was looking away from him by inching his seat closer to her. "And why's that~?"

Nikki just kept talking, unaware of the fact that Axel was getting closer and closer. "Well for one you're a creep and a pervert, and you have no concept of personal space. You're always in my face, and you're always so close that I can smell that obnoxious body spray you're always wearing - 'Axe,' or whatever the hell it is - and I'm pretty sure you drink too because I can sometimes smell alcohol on your breath. And then you try to cover it up by chewing gum, which you're doing right now, and WILL YOU STOP POPPING IT?! I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE DO THAT! IT'S SO IRRITATING! Why is it so loud, anyway?"

She turned her head to the side and almost had a heart attack when she saw that Axel was so close that her nose touched his and she was staring right into his eyes; those bright, green eyes… How could such a douche bag like him have such beautiful eyes? He sat there with a smirk on his face as he chewed his gum, occasionally popping it just to irritate her.

"Axel.."

"Yes~?"

"Stop it." She growled, referring to the gum popping. "And while you're at it, GET OUT OF MY FACE!"

Axel did as she 'requested' and moved his seat back, but not before giving her a light peck on the nose. Nikki was absolutely livid at this point, that one action filling her with so much anger that she was ready to explode. She grabbed the nearest chair and was about to pick it up and use it to bash Axel's head in when she saw Ms. Adams walk in out of the corner of her eye. Her hands shaking, she let go of the chair and moved so she was facing the front of the room, her eyes cutting to the side to glare daggers at Axel, who sat there with a smug grin on his face. With any luck, one of the daggers would pop into the realm of reality and plunge itself into his forehead; which wasn't likely.

"Hello everyone~," Ms. Adams greeted cheerily. "Today, we're making pastries and desserts."

There was a collective 'ooh~' by the other students; mostly girls. Who doesn't love pastries?

"You can pick whatever pastry you want, but you have to make it from scratch. A real cook makes food from scratch, not from pre-packaged ingredients. I don't want to see any cake mix, or anything of the sort. Baking can be a bit time-consuming, so I'll set you up into pairs; you'll get twice the work done~! Now let's see.. Whoever you're sitting with at your table is your partner, how about that?"

"It's official.." Nikki thought grimly. "God hates me.."

"You have until the end of the class. Begin."

The students filed towards the filing cabinet full of recipes, picking out the ones that they and their partners agreed on before going to the cooking station with the same number as their seats. Nikki went over without waiting for Axel, and started looking through the pastry recipes. When it came to cooking, she had plenty of experience with it. What she loved the most was baking, which she did a lot with her mother, sister, and grandmother, so she felt very comfortable and confident with this assignment. She had her heart set on brownies, and was looking for the recipe card, but frowned when she couldn't find it. It must have been already taken.

Cakes? No.

Pie? No; Axel would make too many perverted pie jokes.

Cookies? Nah.

Wait… What's this? Cupcakes? Perfect! Their baking time is a lot shorter than regular cakes, and they were just like cakes except they were bite-sized. She could make a lot of them, too; meaning that she could share them with her friends and family.

But there was one problem: Her 'partner.'

Said partner was leaning against the filing cabinet, watching her as she looked through the recipe cards, not saying a word, until…

"Cupcakes? Is that what you want to do?" He asked.

"Um…" She paused as she looked through the numerous cupcake recipes. "Sure, why not? No one else is making them."

"Hm…" Axel hummed as he watched her file through the recipes. When she reached the recipe card for a vanilla cupcake, he reached in and snatched it out of her hands.

"Hey!" She exclaimed. "I was looking at that!"

"You were taking too long. Besides, who doesn't like vanilla?"

"You have a point there.." She said, mentally kicking herself for agreeing with him. "Vanilla is a popular flavor."

"I like vanilla." The redhead proclaimed. "It reminds me of you~. I can smell it whenever I'm around you."

Nikki gave him a flat look. "So you're saying I smell like vanilla…?"

"Yeah~.. It's sexy~…" Axel purred, earning a glare from her. "Do you wear perfume, or is that your natural scent?"

The brunette glared at him and scoffed. "Like I'm gonna tell you. Now give me that card back so I can get the ingredients together."

"Can I help~?"

"NO!"

"But I'm your partner~…" He whined.

"I don't care!" Nikki yelled. "I don't want you touching any of the ingredients! You might infect them with whatever diseases you picked up from your 'dates!'"

Without another word, Nikki snatched the recipe card from Axel and stormed towards the pantry. She grabbed some all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, and shortening from the pantry, and 2% milk and four large eggs from the fridge. The baking directions were on the card along with the ingredients, which took all the guesswork out of how to bake them. She remembered the number on her table; six, and walked over to the cooking station that was also labeled 'six.' Axel was already there, grabbing the equipment needed to make the cupcakes (Nikki said not to touch the ingredients; she didn't say anything about the tools).

Axel watched as she set the oven to three-hundred and fifty degrees, then went over to the mixer where she starting mixing the ingredients together. As she measured out the flour, he said, "You know, this'll go by a lot faster if we work together."

"I don't need your help." She snapped. "I got this."

Nikki emptied the two cups of flour into the mixer and started measuring out the sugar; or, at least, she thought it was sugar. In her irritation, she had accidentally grabbed the salt instead.

Axel noticed this.

"Um.. Nikki.."

"What?!"

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm measuring the sugar."

"That's salt."

"This isn't salt, it's…!" She looked at the container and read the label, about to say sugar, but stopped when she saw the word 'SALT' in big letters. "… salt…"

"Told you." Axel said in an 'Ah, ha, I told you so~' voice, smirking when Nikki turned and glared at him.

Instead of thanking him for stopping her from making a horrible mistake, Nikki stuck her tongue out at him and dumped the salt back into the container. Then she grabbed the bag of sugar, after looking at it first to make sure it was sugar, and started measuring it.

"These cakes'll need frosting." Axel said, ignoring her lack of gratitude. "What goes best with vanilla?"

"Chocolate." Nikki answered immediately. "I don't know why, they're just really good together; like peanut butter and jelly, or chips and salsa, or fish and chips, or-"

"Me and you~." The redhead purred in her ear, making her jump.

"There is no 'me and you!'" She exclaimed. She quickly added, "And there never will be! Now make yourself useful and make that chocolate frosting!"

So much for not being allowed to touch any of the ingredients..

He saluted her and said cheekily, "Oui oui, mon joli capitaine~."

Instead of berating him for speaking French again, Nikki just waved it off and went back to the sugar. Axel made his way to another mixer, getting the chocolate powder and other ingredients for the frosting. The mixer he was using was on the other side of the sink, and he could see Nikki in his peripheral vision. As he turned to grab the cocoa powder to add to the mixture, his back was turned to her and his lips curled into a diabolical smirk.

…

"There is no 'me and you!' And there never will be!"

…

"That's what you think, sweetheart…" He thought devilishly.

All scheming aside, the redhead gingerly added cocoa powder to the frosting mixture, routinely tasting it to make sure it wasn't either too chocolatey or not chocolatey enough. After a few tries, he felt he got it right. But Nikki was 'the boss,' and she was his partner, so she needed to approve of it too. Using the same plastic spoon he had used to taste it, he took a little bit of the frosting and held it out to Nikki, and said, "Here. Try this."

"Hm?" Nikki looked up from putting the cupcake batter in the oven.

Axel couldn't believe how fast she was. They had only started a few minutes ago! How could she get nearly everything done that fast? "She's finished with the batter already? Most of the other people haven't even gotten their stuff in the oven yet! This chick must have a lot of baking experience.."

She looked at the spoon in his hand and narrowed her eyes at it. "It hasn't been in your mouth, has it?"

"Just try it." He ordered, moving the spoon closer to her.

Reluctantly, she opened her mouth as the spoon was placed inside, and as soon as the frosting hit her tongue she was hit with a pleasant dose of chocolate. It wasn't too much, or too little; it was just right, not enough to overpower the vanilla in any way.

"So?" He asked. "How is it?"

"… Good." She said. "Everything's mixed up, and now they just need to bake. Can you set the timer for, maybe, twenty five minutes?"

Axel nodded and set the timer on the oven to twenty five minutes. He asked her if the oven was the right temperature, and she insisted that she checked it before she put the batter in. Sure enough, the thermometer on the oven said three-hundred and fifty degrees.

Nikki seemed very passionate about baking, and he could see it in how closely she adhered to the directions, how precisely she measured the ingredients, and how it didn't matter if she got a little dirty in the process. She made sure everything was right down to the latter, and every time she did something it turned out pretty damn close to perfect. The batter she made was perfect, and it was even baking perfectly as it was cooking in the oven. He took note of how she stood by the oven with pride as she watched the cupcakes baking. Everything he saw proved that she had plenty of experience; most likely from her mother. It must have taken years of trial and error before she could make something without fucking it up. She probably started at a very young age.

The only way to be sure of it was to ask.

"You're pretty good at baking. Have you done it before?" He asked, already having a feeling of what the answer will be.

"Yeah. I've been baking since I was six-years-old." She proclaimed proudly. "My mom, my Nana, my sister and I bake all the time."

"Can you make anything else? You know, besides pastries?"

"I can make plenty of things." She said. "I can name a few things right off the top of my head. Let's see, I've made Sunday roast, fish and chips, scones, bubble and squeak, Full English breakfast, Shepherd's pie, Roast Aberdeen Angus beef, mince and tatties, and collops. That's just what I can name off the top of my head."

As she was naming the dishes, Axel sat there with confusion written all over his face. He had never heard of these dishes, and most of them had ridiculous names. He recognized 'fish and chips' and 'scones' as English dishes, and he had always heard that English food sucked. He never had it himself, but after everything he heard, he didn't want to. Although… if she made it, then it would probably be good. If there's one thing girls like, it's a guy that enjoys her cooking.

He would have to get himself invited to her house for dinner sometime… maybe see how good her cooking really is; in other words, if it's worth having that much pride.

"Not that it's any of my business, but do you know anything about your heritage? You know, where your family is from, and such?"

"I'm half-English on my dad's side, and half-Scottish on my mom's side. My grandparents are hard to understand because of their accents, which are pretty heavy, but it's better than having them speak French and I won't have a clue what they're saying; like you." She paused for a second, then glared at Axel.

"Hey…" Nikki said warily. "I know what you're doing. Stop trying to get information out of me!"

"I just asked an innocent little question." Axel said smugly. "You didn't have to answer it."

Nikki just let out a huff and looked at the timer. The cupcakes were almost ready. To check on them, she took a toothpick and opened the oven, sticking the toothpick into the center of one of the cupcakes.

"They're done." She said after the toothpick came out clean several times.

"You sure?" Axel asked.

"The toothpick came out clean. They're done, all right."

The timer was turned off as Nikki put on an oven mitt and took the hot cupcake pan out of the oven. With Axel's help, she took out all the cupcakes, all twenty of them, onto a flat tray to be put in the fridge to cool down.

Once the little cakes were cool, they were taken out of the fridge and frosted.

"There. All finished." Nikki sighed contently as she frosted the last cupcake. She picked it up and held it out towards the redhead. "Here, have one."

"You're sharing one of your cupcakes with me?" Axel asked, surprised. "How sweet. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're starting to open up to me…"

The brunette narrowed her eyes at him and growled, "I'm giving you a cupcake because I happen to be in a good mood right now. Now take the damn cupcake before I change my mind and give it to my dog when I get home."

Knowing she was dead serious, Axel took the cupcake from her without another word.

At the end of class, the students cleaned up their cooking stations and turned the ovens off so everything would be ready and clean when the Home Economics class came in the next day. Every pair presented their baked goods for Ms. Adams to evaluate. She was very pleased with the results of their work, and even asked for some to take home with her. She was especially pleased with Nikki and Axel's cupcakes, and gave them high marks for them. They were the only pair that made something with vanilla, which happened to be her favorite flavor. On top of asking for a few to take home, she commented on how they worked very well together and she was going to pair them up for every class from now on.

When it was all done and over with, Ms. Adams gave everyone boxes to take their goods home. She gave Axel and Nikki cupcake boxes, and since they gave her six, and she and Axel ate two of them, they had twelve left. Nikki boxed up eight for herself, and since baking put her in a good mood, she gave Axel four. He was a little surprised when she held the box out to him.

"Don't read too much into it." She said, her expression and voice as serious as the Black Plague. "I'm just feeling generous because baking puts me in a good mood."

He didn't ask questions. He just took the box from her and watched as she gathered her things to leave.

As Axel walked home, he opened the box and started eating one the cupcakes. While he ate it, he breathed in the strong scent of vanilla mingling with chocolate, the scent making him think of Nikki.

He really did like vanilla. It was such a sexy aroma. The fact that the brunette smelled like it made her more appealing to him; it was better than his exes, who wore perfume that made them either smell like an overly-fragrant bouquet of flowers, or it was a musky scent that reminded him of the prostitutes that hung around the bars that he had to pick his older brother up from - when he got drunk out of his mind while he was hanging out with his friends on a Friday night.

She was getting more appealing by the minute, and as he continued to eat the cupcake in his hand, he wondered if she would taste just as good.

…

…

Oui oui, mon joli capitaine: Aye aye, my lovely captain