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“I spent it all in Chadwicks!”
“So no cupcake for you then!”
“Don’t be too sure about that. Look, it’s those girls doing the cake stall again. What else do we have?”
“I’ve got an apple in my bag!”
“Give me that then. And watch this!”
Aged thirteen and fourteen, the two boys have a shared room in the Coliseum, and ShortFuse is accustomed to having to play second fiddle to his older brother.
“I’m going to get a free cupcake!”
With the air smelling faintly of lemon and chocolate and overconfidence, ClaireVoyant has transformed the cake stall into a temple of beauty. RoughDi, armed with her apron, her tongs, and an unshakable sense of superiority, is on the case the moment that MegaBite tries to swipe a cake from the corner of the table. Drawn by the scent of chocolate and the promise of some drama, a group of youngsters coalesces at the scene.
“You’ll be on report again,” says RoughDi, “if you’re trying to nick that!”
MegaBite grins, “now now Di, that’s no way to talk to a paying customer!”
“You haven’t paid! And you’re not a customer. You’re a public nuisance.”
ClaireVoyant joins in, “you’d better watch it, Di is doing karate lessons now!”
At the mention of karate Hayley tunes in, quickly bringing her entire clique with her.
MegaBite decides that charm is his preferred martial art, “tell you what, how about I trade you one of these fine apples for a cupcake?”
“It’s got teeth marks in it,” observes ClaireVoyant.
“Proof of freshness!”
Unaware that diplomacy is failing faster than the chocolate chip cookie supply, none of the older crowd are on hand to help. So eight year old FullyCharged decides to be the mature adult in the room. Copying the stance from one of his comic
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