As I step into the bakery, it is eerily silent. Not a soul at our tables except one boy sitting alone on a barstool. I have a nagging feeling in the back of my neck, like I've seen him somewhere before. As I approach him, Mom comes out of the office. " Kylie! What a surprise, you're home early! Meet our neighbor, Jason Benowitz. How have we lived here for months and have never met till today?" He turns around with a smug smirk on his face, and that's when I realize it's none other than the boy from that day—the boy who ruined my image mere seconds into the school year.

"You?! What are you doing here?" I snarl, glaring daggers at him like he killed my puppy. He might as well have. "Well, whatever do you mean? Surely that's no way to treat your new neighbor, and after I went through all the trouble to bring you these." I see a glint of scheme in his brown eyes as he picks something off the table. He turned back towards me, and my jaw drops. " My family's recipe, the world-famous Benowitz Brownie". Stacked before me was a box of decadent chocolate brownies, coated in Rice Crispies and caramel sauce. "You bake? You? What business does a brute like you have making brownies?" I throw my arms up in frustration. "Kylie! Don't be rude, Jason baked these specially for us. He tells me he has quite a passion for baking and wanted to come visit the first bakery on the street, isn't that right, Jason?" Mom's expression tells me I won't be winning this argument with her around. "That's quite right, Mrs. Romano. After all, I figured I should meet Kylie since I'll be going up against her in the Battle Of The Bakers this year."