Stressed is Desserts spelled Backwards

[Megan Sims]

Megan walked into the home economics room. And rather than walking to the station she normally used, she walked to the whiteboard at the front of the classroom side of the room. Grabbing a blue marker from the tray she wrote Three-Course Meal across the top and then Starters:, Main: and Dessert: under it and put vertical lines to turn the three words into columns. She had send a message to her students, asking them to arrive today with pens, paper and ideas, though she hadn't told them why. She then sat behind the desk to wait.

Each of the tables had two chairs behind them, they were big enough to sit more than two people, but she wanted them to get the idea that they were to once again, as they would if they were in the kitchen stations, to work in pairs.

When the students had arrived, and the tardi bell sounded, the woman wasted no time, as the students would need to work hard to get everything done before the class was over. "Welcome to Creative Cooking, I'm Ms Sims." She greeted them, as she had a couple of new faces. "As you may notice, we're not in the kitchens today. And if that wasn't stating the obvious, what was? In our next class, you are going to prepare and serve a three-course meal, which means you also get to invite one other person each to lunch that day. Today, you will work together to decide on what you are going to cook. If you don't get it all decided today, you will need to meet outside of class and finish it off. I will need a copy of each of your menus before the next class so I can make sure you have all the food you need." She gestured around the classroom. "This will become your restaurant, so as well as cooking the food, you will need to prepare your table for eating at." Megs knew that she'd said a lot for the students to take in, but she wanted to get it all out now. "I'll be here if you need any help with ideas, but basically what you make is up to you, so you will be responsible for collecting your own recipes."

---

Present:
Adonya van Rutherford (1)
@amberpayton (1)
Cortney Smit (2)
Jayne Doe (3)
Miranda Florin (2)
Peter Holden (3)

Absent:
@jacobs

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney, in her normal attire of her cheer uniform, walked through the hallways toward the home economics room. She had been a little intrigued with the instructions to bring pen and paper. When she walked into the room, and saw their teacher behind the teacher's desk, she arched an eyebrow, but walked forward and flopped down into a chair at one of the tables in the middle of the room. She put her bag on the other chair, making it very clear that the other seat was already claimed. She opened the folder she had for the class, not her recipe folder, and copied down what Ms Sims had put on the board and sat back to wait for further instructions.

She listened with interest as the woman at the front of the room spoke. The idea sounded very exciting and when Ms Sims returned to her desk, the head cheerleader turned to the girl beside her. "So... what are we going to cook? What food don't you like?" She figured it was just easiest to rule out what they weren't going to cook before they started deciding what they might plan for their meal. Cortney couldn't even think of who she would invite to join them for lunch.

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne walked through the hallways, apologising to anyone she walked into, her mid was buzzing, she was still trying to around all of the information she had learned, and she was struggling to work out why she had been lied to about the death of her... their parents. And the fact she had a twin. Weren't twins supposed to have some psychic connection that let them know who the other was, even if they had never met?

She was still puzzling over this as she walked into the class room. She surveyed the room, they had never used the classroom portion before, not while she had been in the class anyway, and she wasn't sure how to approach the situation. Walking forward, she found a table near the front of the room and sat down in one of the two chairs. She pulled out the note book she had brought along for the class and copied down what Ms Sims had written on the board.

When the teacher returned to her desk, Jayne turned to the person sitting next to her. "Any ideas what you want to cook?" She asked. She'd never done a three-course meal before, but she had a few idea of what they could do for each course. However, she didn't want to be seeming to take over either.

[Deleted]

Jet had chose to sit as far back in the classroom as she could possibly manage, at a table on her own. It wasn't that she was trying to look cool, or acting like some sort of lame delinquent. She just didn't know who else to sit with and wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of just picking someone and making herself cozy...
She hadn't been to school in a long while, and even after all that time, it still felt just as strange and awkward.

Well, on the bright side, at least she was in a pretty awesome class. One that interested her and kept her entertained, unlike Pre Algebra. In fact, Jet found that she was actually pretty stoked about Creative cooking. She had always enjoyed cooking, even when she was in foster care, and that hadn't changed in the least when she struck out on her own. She had a lot of respect for food and cooking, seeing all the power it had over people, society, and influence it had in expressing different cultures.

Listening to Miss Sims careful, Jet was sure to scribble down as many notes as she could keep up with in her little black day planner....right next to all the doodles she had done in math.
She hoped that if she did, that she wouldn't be able to forget anything important or have to ask a teacher or fellow student later.
With each passing word Jet become more and more excited about their current project, and almost a split second latter she went from her obsessive scribbling to jotting down ideas for a three course meal.

[Deleted]

Amber-Lee walked in with a smile on her face, she had just sorted out her hair. She was in a good mood today, Amber-Lee then said to her teacher. "Hello, I'm new here." She then walked towards the back, sitting as far away from everyone as possible. She then got out a note pad and pen, she knew what she was doing. She was going to do her mothers favorite, after all this time trying to forget she can only remember everything. She wrote down the following:

First Course:
Home-made Potato Salad.

Second Course:
Carbonara Pasta With Bacon Strips.

Third Course:
Sticky Toffee Cheese Cake.

Amber-Lee whipped her eyes as tears started to build up over the time she wrote it, she then smiled. Her artistic side came out, she drew next too her three course meal ideas that she remembered from her mother a clear picture of her mothers face. She then looked at the picture and hugged it tightly, she didn't care how ridiculous she looked it was the best picture she'd drawn in years. She then said to herself. "Oh god, Mother... Oh god, where did you go? Why did you leave me like that! I want you home with me right now."

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed to Creative Cooking, curious about what they would be doing that required pencils and paper. Not that it was an issue, as she simply brought her backpack along, but still, it was an interesting way to spend the more boring parts of lectures.

As she entered the classroom, she spotted Ms. Sims on the actual working side of the room and headed over, smiling at the teacher before she sat down next to Cortney, a move that probably didn't surprise anyone, as they always worked together.

She pulled out a binder of paper and a pencil, setting them in front of her on the table, then watched the rest of the students file in before Ms. Sims started the class. As the woman spoke, she bit her lower lip as she started thinking about what they could do, then, when they were released to start working out ideas, she turned to Cortney.

"I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes, as in, pieces of them, so if we're doing a salad, possibly we could keep them out of it, but like ketchup is fine." It wasn't the taste of the things as much as the feeling, but if Cortney really wanted to do something with tomatoes, she would get over it, "What about you?"

After considering their options, she offered, "What if we were to do a berry mousse type thing for the dessert, something light, so that we could do something heavier for the main?"

[Peter Holden]

    Peter always enjoyed his creative cooking classes, as they were a nice break from his usual academic and equine classes. It was especially nice in the winter, since with the stoves and ovens on, the room was usually warm and pleasant in comparison to the frigid outdoor air. Upon arriving, he found a seat in the classroom section of the room, which was a completely new experience. They usually reported to their stations and got right to working, but today would obviously be different. 

    The seats were arranged in pairs, just as they worked in their stations, so Peter took the one next to Jayne, whom he had usually worked with in the past. Smiling and greeting her as he sat, he pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen as he'd been instructed to bring, and copied down the little chart that had been recorded on the board.

    After the goal for the class had been explained, Peter turned to Jayne and offered his thoughts in response, "I'm not really, set on anything, and I'm really open to anything. Would you be interested in working with a theme, or do you just want to group dishes that compliment each other? Do you want to go for a casual or more formal menu?" He thought it would be interesting to do a more formal take on the meal, or focus on a certain culture to choose their dishes.

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe had not been happy when she had received Ms. Sims' note. Not only did pencil and paper mean that they would be taking notes, but it also meant that they wouldn't be cooking or baking, which was really a waste of time in a creative cooking classroom. After all, they were there to actually do stuff, not take notes.

Entering the classroom, she looked around briefly, her grey eyes pieces of flint as she spotted two new girls sitting by themselves. She would have to choose one of them, she knew, as she didn't want to be the odd one out. Too bad that Cortney had already paired off with someone for the class before she'd even begun attending the Academy, but that was that.

Finally, she chose to sit next to the girl with the red hair ((Amber)) in the back, sliding into the seat without a word to her partner as she turned to the board, her eyes flying over the words that had been written there before she bent to pull out her spiral notebook and pen. When Ms. Sims began speaking, she copied down a few bullets of important information, before turning to her partner, her eyes sparkling as she thought about her favourite meal to prepare, "How about we do an apple roast pork for the main?"

Her expression dimmed as she saw that the girl was already writing, and crying while she was doing it. The shutters went back into place, the flint back in her grey eyes, as she waited for the girl's response. Of course, she would get stuck with the freak that couldn't keep it together. Why did that not surprise her?

[Megan Sims]

Megs greeted each student who entered with a smile. As a girl she didn't recognise entered and found a seat, the woman's eyebrows rose, as she had three new students - all female. She looked into the eyes of another girl who stood at her desk. The woman spread her hands as the girl walked away after stating she was new. Now, Megs might be a little old school here, but normally when you approached a teacher to announce that you were new, which was kind of obvious since she hadn't been in the class before, but manners would have meant that a name would have followed the oh so obvious and unneeded statement.

Once the students had had the time to group themselves up, Megs finally decided to speak up again. "Blythe, I am sorry, but I am going to make you into a group of three." She nodded her head toward the other new girl (Jet). "You in the back, you will need to move yourself up to sit with Blythe and her companion." She thought she'd make it obvious enough that she didn't have the other girl's name, and the fact that the teacher wasn't a mind-reader.

"You have till the end of the lesson to begin compiling your menu. I will mention now, that your grade is coming from how well you work together as much as it is from the meal itself."

[Deleted]

She stared at the teacher, she flung her chair back and moved towards the other two. She then said unhappily "The name is Amber-Lee Payton, if you don't know it then ask." She then pulled a chair and sat down, her attitude was harsh but intended. She doesn't like being forgotten, thats all that has happened to her in the last few years.

Her piece of paper still had the outline of the drawing of what she remembered of her mother, still puzzled and angry the young child stood up and walked for the exit. "I'm done here. I can't take this any more, I'm leaving." She them turned and stared at each member of the lesson, she bowed her head to the teacher when she got to her.

After that she sorted out her hair and her clothes, she then left the room. Her real side shining through now, she was over the death of her family. She knew everything now, all she wanted to do was get back to where she was born and look over all the clues again. She was on her own mission, that's cool. The lesson wasn't going to help her find anything out anyway, she was ready for whatever was going to hit her hard in the face.