A day later Jacob took Mark to a small bakery in the center of town after school with the goal of getting him to relax a little.
" I know I got it wrong!" He would say as they walked. "I just know it!"
"Mark, it's only one question and we worked really hard on it. I'm sure you did fine."
"It's not just that. Spanish is my worst subject right now and I want to go on the trip in March. I can't mess up on this. I really can't."
"But it's done now. There's no use thinking about it like that. What we can do though is get you something sweet to celebrate the end of a terrible test!"
"You say that like you've never worried about test grades before."
"I like to pretend I don't."
They walked until they reached a small white building. It had little pots of orange Mums on either side of the door and a sign in one of the pots on the left that read "Open". When they walked in, the sweet smell of warm cinnamon buns and coffee welcomed them. The boys left their coats on the hangers by the door and went to the front counter.
"Whoa!" Jacob rushed over to the display case and marveled at the expertly frosted cakes and cookies. "These are amazing!"
A woman behind the counter turned to face him. She had long black hair that was tied back in a low ponytail. "Oh! My son made those." She said proudly. "He's got a knack for things like this. Always loved to make people smile with his treats. Here Let me go get him."
"O-oh, that's ok-"
"DAN!"
"Wait, Dan?"
Their friend came running to the front of the store wearing a hair net, a stained apron, and plastic gloves. He brought a fire extinguisher with him and he looked around for any danger. When he didn't find any he put the extinguisher down and sighed. "Mom, please don't yell in the bakery. I thought the coffee maker blew up again."
"Not this time, but these kids like your cakes. Go sell a few. I'll put this away." She took the fire extinguisher from her son and left with a wide smile.
Dan was embarrassed but relieved when he found out who his she was talking about.
"Hey, guys. Sup?"
"We didn't know you worked here," Mark said a little shocked himself. "Did you just start?"
"No, I've been working for a while. I needed to save some money so I figured I'd work with Mom here." She kissed his head as she passed him and Dan gave her a one-armed hug.
"What do you need to save for?" Jacob asked.
"My little brother has to go through surgery in a few days. It's not a big one but he's still pretty nervous about it and recovery time will be pretty long. I'm saving up to buy him a game he really wants as a little get well soon gift. Anyway, you want anything? I've got cannolis!"
"Sure, we'll take a few," Mark said. He bought six and they all sat at a table by a heater.
"So," Jacob started quietly. "Do you guys, um, want to go to the playground or something after this?"
Dan scratched the back of his head. "Sorry but I can't."
Mark groaned. "Why not? You never hang out with us."
"I just have a lot to do."
"Like what?"
Dan went to hang up his apron. "When I get home, I need to make sure my brother takes his meds. He fights with me about it so it takes about ten minutes. Then I've got studying to do and homework to finish..." He stopped for a moment and thought. "Then My brother's got more medicine to take. After all that I eat dinner and go to bed. And that's just Tuesday!"
"Do you ever have time for yourself?"
"Not really."
Mark turned to Jacob. "What about you? Do you have any free time whatsoever?" He screamed with his mouth closed when his friend made the so-so sign with his hand. "Ok guys, here's what we're gonna do!" he got a piece of paper and a pen from his bag. "I'm going to straighten out your schedules. Dan, you're first."
It took a while, but Mark soon developed a week plan for his friend. "So, if you spend at least thirty minutes on math-"
"I'll have time to get my history done with twenty minutes to myself." Dan finished. "Nice! Your turn, Shy Guy!"
Jacob shrunk in his seat. "I'm good, thanks."
"No, you are not." Mark took out another piece of paper and handed the one he filled out to Dan. "You're not going to be happy if you've got all this stress weighing you down pal. Now, what's your average day like?"
He sighed in defeat."Fine. After school, I go home and do homework."
"How long does that take you?"
"I don't know. Two hours maybe?"
"What do you do after that?
"I study and make dinner."
"Study for what?"
He was quiet for a moment. "Anything. I just study."
"Wait, wait, wait," Dan said baffled. "Anything? Even if you don't have tests and stuff?"
Jacob nodded.
"I don't-just-why?"
He shrugged. "I need to get better at stuff. I work ahead a little too if the teachers let me."
"Hey Jacob, let me give you a little advice," Mark said as he pointed his pen at him. "Don't do that."
"Why not? It'll prepare me for what's to come."
"I mean, as long as you're enjoying it then I guess it's ok?" Dan said. "Just don't cram a lot of stuff in your head at once." He was going to say more but a yell from the kitchen had him out of his seat and searching for the fire extinguisher once again. "DANG IT MA! IT'S THE BLUE TIMER! BLUE!"
"DANIEL MARTIN YOU SAID IT WAS THE GREEN ONE!"
The fire alarm went off and the aroma of burnt bread filled the air.
The boys decided it would be best to wait outside while Mrs. Martin figured out how to get the alarm to turn off. So, they sat on the steps of the bakery. "Well, that was interesting," Mark said. Jacob and Dan hummed in agreement. "What should we do now?"
"I never heard the story of how you guys, uh, met," Jacob told them as he fidgeted with his music box.
Dan started to laugh. "Oh yeah! I can't believe we never told you! Mark start the story."
"What?! Why me?"
"Fine, I'll start." He cleared his throat for dramatic effect and Jacob did his best to keep the butterflies in his stomach from flying. "We met a few years ago in middle school. Back then, the only people in our "group" were me and Alex."
"You had an afro back then," Mark recalled.
Dan frowned. "I thought it would look cool. Anyway, Alex found this table in the corner at lunch that no one would ever go to and it became our meeting place. We didn't have any classes together and it was a nice place to sit and whine about our teachers."
"Didn't you call it the cursed abandoned table or something?"
"Yup! The CAT for short. Man, I miss that table..."
"Yeah, yeah, get to the good part!"
"Alright, jeez! Ok, so, skip a few days, Yadda, yadda, yadda, and now its Monday. Alex and I go over to our table like we usually do at lunch and we see Mark sitting there. Long story short, we went over and hung out with him a bunch. Now he's the "Leader" of the group. Well, Co-leader. Alex was the first and she refuses to give up her title."
Mark opened his box of cannolis he was supposed to take home and nibbled on one. "I can't believe I was that shy."
"Neither can I," Jacob said. "It's kind of weird to think about considering you were the one who introduced me to everyone."
"Ok, you have to admit you had fun though," Mark told him as he closed his box.
"The whole thing was just, wow." He stopped to think of a better way to describe it but that was all he had. Just wow.
"Wow" huh? That's a new one."
"I don't know! It was just surprising! I wasn't really expecting people to care. I guess I still don't."
"I didn't either," Mark told him. "Yet here we are."
"Yeah..."Jacob looked at his phone. "Oh! I should get going. Bye guys." He started running towards his house.
"Ok, well see ya later!" Mark called.
"Bye-oh you've got to be kidding me." Mark looked down to where Dan was glaring. Once he saw what it was, he sighed, picked the object up, and followed Jacob home.