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"Last batch!" Ginger Breadhouse's words—in a voice renowned by the student body to be as sweet as her wares, if not sweeter—rang out across Ever After High's campus courtyard. "Come and get 'em!"
Installing a mini-oven in her mobile concession stand had been one of her better ideas, if she did say so herself. Which she did, with no one else speaking for her. This whole "owning one's own name and legacy" bit actually wasn't a bad idea, once got used to it.
Still, baby steps. One day, she'd be free of the disastrous reputation that preceded her family. Until then, she'd spread joy however she could, while keeping herself flush with money for baking supplies, and the occasional wardrobe upgrade.
It was a nice system.
"Last batch of apple fritters!" she called out to the crowds around the school. "Come and get 'em while they're still hot! They've been going strong all day! Don't be the only one in Ever After High to not taste the legendary goodness!"
Oooh, "legendary"? Was that maybe pouring things on too thick? Oh, well. It wasn't as if this stock was going to sell itself. Or maybe it was—she hadn't exactly been lying just now.
What was supposed to have been a basic batch of apple fritters had actually turned out to be a popular taste sensation of immense proportions—and that was even taking into account how popular her pastries already were! The thought made Ginger smile in amusement. Honestly, it was as if no one around this place had ever heard of mixing apples, dough, cinnamon, and frosting in an exact combination before—
…Wait.
What if they hadn't?
Ginger always suspected that her solitary pre-high-school life—a life spent refining recipes, and always walking on social eggshells so as not to give the wrong impression to any visitors who showed up to her family's home—had ultimately left her oblivious to the plights of others. It was a huge reason why she'd come to Ever After High in the first place, instead of opting for more home-schooling. She wanted the world to finally get to know her—and, also, the other way around.
Still, the fact that everyone's minds—and taste buds—seemed to explode whenever they tried one of her sweet treats, thus leading to higher-than-expected everyday profits, was sometimes a little too surreal to believe. It made her happy, though, that she was able to spread so many smiles just by doing the thing she loved, both as a hobby, and now as a part-time profession.
In short, it warmed her heart… to actually be… you know.
Useful.
"Ginger? Hey, Ginger!"
The sound of someone calling her name put Ginger's head back in the game. She looked up, first making sure her hot pastries weren't burning. Good, they weren't, they were perfectly golden brown—nearly camouflaging with her skin, funnily enough. Time to turn the oven off, straighten her pink pigtails and big round pink glasses, and flash her next customers a happy smile!
"Wow, speak of!" Ginger giggled, upon seeing a smiling blonde walking up to her booth, with a fashionable red-clothed brunette beside her. "Welcome back, Apple! Thanks for your patronage during breakfast! Though I hope you're not back to overindulge—you've got that amazing figure to watch!"
"Hi, Ginger!" Apple White said with a giggle back. "Don't worry, I know when I've had enough. Usually. But I wanted to bring around your new best customer." She looked over to the girl next to her. "You remember Briar Beauty, right? I've been telling her about your new lineup of treats for days."
Ginger nodded, since she did remember, if vaguely—she'd seen Briar on the day she'd arrived at Ever After High, surprising the student body with cupcake gifts and opening up her booth to the public for the first time. "Hi, Briar," she said, with a small wave. "It's nice to finally officially meet."
Briar waved back with her own big smile. "Hey, there! Yeah, we heard you yelling about how hot Apple is from across the field," she said with a snicker, lightly nudging shoulders with Apple. "Not that you'll get any disagreements out of me."
Apple chuckled and rolled her eyes, but not without blushing. "Ugh, sheesh, Briar, can we get our minds out of the well, please?"
"You go first, I'll follow behind," Briar smiled.
"Oy," Apple huffed. "Anyhow—Ginger was talking about how she's serving hot apple fritters. They're her special for the day, and after I had one at breakfast, I didn't think you'd still have any left! Especially not after word got around, and I saw you being totally mobbed at lunch."
Ginger giggled back with a small, relieved exhale. She'd just barely survived that rush. "I almost didn't have any left! But it'd take one of the Blind Mice not to see how popular they were. So I whipped up one last emergency batch." She put on a glove and fetched one from her mini-oven, placed it onto a soft paper towel, and gave one to Briar. "Would you like to try one as a new customer?"
Briar took the fritter, looking it over, then sniffed it. Upon doing so, her eyes shot up with a tiny gasp at the cinnamon-apple aroma. "Oh, I get where you're going with this," she said. "Free first hit to get me hooked, huh?"
Ginger laughed sheepishly, giving Briar's words the benefit of the doubt, and doing her best to—as usual—not give off the wrong impression. "Think of it as more of a money-back guarantee." She allowed a tiny bit of pride in her work to swell through her—but only a tiny bit. Swelled heads were bad for business and her life's mission. "Only without the formalities."
Apple laughed as well. "I got a freebie as a first customer, too. Now I'm here every morning to get my regular dose… of happiness, of course!" She winked at Ginger, who gave her own blushing eyeroll. "Go on, Briar. Join us."
"Well, so long as you're making it sound totally not creepy…" Briar took a nibble of the fritter… then a bite… then a big bite, digging into the filling, moaning through several large chews. "mmrmm mhmm gm—"
Apple, on prepared cue, gave Briar a water bottle, which the latter took a big swig from before letting a deep breath course through her and trying to speak again.
"Oh my gosh, shut up, shut up, shut up…" Briar took more bites, and more sips, becoming an efficient fritter-destroying machine as she wolfed down the entire thing in one go. "…shut. UP!" Finished with her sample, Briar leaned against the side of the food stand, breathing in deep satisfaction. "Oh my god, Apple, Apple, that… I know that was unsightly as heck—but I loved every bit of it!" She raised a clawed hand skyward.
Apple laughed. "Don't wanna say 'I told you so', but…"
Briar turned back around, quick as a flash, to Ginger. "What even was that? Was there magic in it? Enchanting my taste buds with every munch, maybe?"
"I, um…" A pang hit Ginger—a pang that was all too familiar—and she averted her gaze, shifting her feet. "I'm expressly trying to not do any trickery," she said, her voice soft and muted. "No magic inside my pastries themselves. Just lots of baking practice."
Briar blinked, noticing Ginger's sharp shift in demeanor. "Whoa. Hey, are you okay? Did I say something wrong?"
Apple pulled Briar close. "Bri, remember what all happened when she first came here?" Ginger heard her softly hiss. About no one trusting her treats because of her family? Including us at first?"
As Briar heard Apple's words, her face gradually morphed from one of confusion, to shock—then, eventually, to remorse. "…oh. Oh my goodness. Ginger, I am so sorry, I absolutely didn't mean to suggest—"
"No, it's okay," Ginger said with a titter. "A part of me kind of lives for mind-blown reactions like yours to my food. "Heck, yours wasn't even the most intense I've seen since I started attending EAH."
"It's really not okay, though." Briar shook her head, walking directly up to the booth's counter, and looked straight at Ginger, eyes wide and probing. "I… I know what it's like to be seen differently from how you want to be seen. Even if people don't know that that's what they're doing, or aren't trying to." Briar's hand went to her heart. "The last thing I want is to keep that cycle going, by doing the same thing to others. So yeah, I'm sorry. I'll do better."
For a few fleeting moments, Ginger felt weak over her entire body. No one had ever said words like those to her. Ever. All these years of trying to convince the world that she wasn't some kind of terrible predator, being viewed as suspect because she offered her skills for nothing, or at worst, a few small coins or pieces of paper… when all she wanted to be was just like everyone else.
Did she even deserve what Briar said? She'd… never thought about it before. Speaking of being a lot to take in.
"…thank you, Briar," Ginger breathed, her voice shaking, a little unhappy at herself that she wasn't able to say anything more eloquent. "That… really means a lot to me. Apple, you never told me all your friends were this nice! I thought it was just you and Raven."
"We've got niceness all over EAH," Apple said. "Sometimes you just have to turn peoples' pages, but I think you'll find happy endings are pretty common around here." She elbowed Briar. "Just so long as you don't judge books by their covers."
"Yeah. I get you." Briar grabbed a few bills from her purse and placed them down on Ginger's counter. "Sorry, girl, but I am not letting you give that fritter to me for free. That was spelltactular and then some! It'd feel like stealing. Especially since I now know how much these treats mean to you." Briar stepped closer, her brown eyes exploring Ginger's of the same shade, her voice slipping into an awed tenderness. "You're amazing. Like, amazingly talented, and just… amazingly nice."
"T-thank you," Ginger said, her cheeks tinting. "You're sweet, too."
"Thank you," Briar said, looking over at Apple with a slanted grin. "Guess you were right about my baked goods conversion—but who knew you'd be this right?"
"Hey, I'm right about a lot of things," Apple said with a satisfied nod and hands on her hips.
"I mean, we can talk semantics later? Still…" She looked back at Ginger, placing her arms on the counter. "What time are you off? Asking for a BFFA."
Ginger felt somewhat warm in the back of her head. "I close up shop in an hour so I can tend to my studies."
Briar snapped her fingers. "This is perfect! I've seen you in my classes. Wanna meet at Hocus for studying and smoothies in two hours? My treat, of course."
Ginger let out a little gasp. "Smoothies?"
In her short time at Ever After High, she actually hadn't sampled one of these mythical "smoothies" yet. A confection that was just as good as baked goods, but without the baking? It seemed impossible—and yet, they were all the rage on everyone's lips, even after she'd set up shop!
"I'd love to," Ginger said.
"Rock," Briar said, stepping back with a single finger pointed at Ginger. "It's a date, Sweetness. See you soon."
Apple mock-sighed, shaking her head to the sky. "And another one falls to the charms of Clan Beauty."
"What?" Briar replied, with a wave to Ginger as she and Apple walked off. "Can I help it if my namesakes are attracted to me? My life's party doesn't stop until I say so, honey."
Ginger watched the two girls walk until they were out of earshot, then grabbed one more apple fritter and took a bite.
They were… average. The same level of flavor as ever. Not enough to knock Ginger off of her feet, but when one was used to creating confections, sometimes one needed something very new, or very strong, to make an impression.
Hopefully that was what she would get in a few hours. For the first time in a while, she was excited—and in a good way.
In the back of her mind, she hoped she never lost the ability, or even the motivation, to bake for others. Otherwise, what would even be her calling in life?
Oh, well. That was future Ginger Breadhouse's problem. Present Ginger needed to prepare for a very important date.
She'd been late for so many others—she definitely didn't want to be late for her first real one.