#themeatsmoothie

Cupid walked into a mostly-empty Bean Stalk Bakery; the majority of the Ever After student body were trying to replicate a scale model of the school grounds made entirely out of snow and twigs. Dexter Charming and Jillian Beanstalk were in charge of architectural design with the help of Cedar Wood, who chimed in with recommendations on the most sturdy and water-resistant types of wood. Lizzie Hearts contributed her keen eye for detail and was in charge of sculpting the many turrets and windows of the school.

Cupid dusted the delicate snowflakes off her pale pink windbreaker and hung it up on the ornate wooden coat rack near the doors. She ordered a gingerbread latte (made with no actual gingerbread men) and began to set up in her favorite seat: the only table with spill-proof magic in the entire café. There was a window to watch the foot traffic outside and a small lantern hanging directly above the table. Humphrey had snuck in after hours to install charging devices on the table, so any student could charge their phone or laptop without a pesky cable.

In two minutes of carefully rearranging her setup, she took a photo for her Hexstagram account: A steaming latte in a hand-painted mug, near her laptop with a screensaver of an ancient marble statue, in front of a window showing soft light street lamps and the cascade of snow. For the caption, Cupid decided on “Let’s get this (ginger)bread (latte) - at Bean Stalk Bakery”

Cupid opened up her Match App on her laptop. She and Humphrey were paired together for their Modern Technology and Coding class to design a new program that incorporated magic and technology. Cupid created an algorithm on student’s best options for romance or friends while Humphrey designed the code. Their project got an A, and Cupid was excited to test out the program outside of class. She didn’t know if it was entirely against some school rule, but she figured that anything was better than what happened last year on True Heart’s Day.

Above Cupid, a pair of wide eyes and a smile magically appeared on the wooden shelf of coffee mugs and potted plants. After a few seconds of analyzing Cupid’s screen, the eyes disappeared.

Cupid glanced up from her screen to see Kitty Cheshire's bright eyes staring back at her, for Kitty had materialized into the opposite chair with a proud grin. Alarmed, Cupid jerked her hand and the wrist movement pushed her mug off the table, where it floated for a few seconds and then hovered back on the table. Thank goodness for that spill-proof spell, Cupid thought.

“Kitty, you startled me! What are you doing here?” asked Cupid.

“It turns out throwing snowballs in people’s faces are only funny the first few dozen times. I thought it’d be funny for at least seventy-five″ Kitty shrugged. “Anyway, building a scale model of the school entirely out of snow requires a lot of math, which I am so not doing on a break. So I thought I’d come see what you’re doing alone on this beautiful day.” Kitty casually stretched in her seat, but Cupid knew it was a trick to see Cupid’s laptop screen.

Cupid chuckled. “I’m trying to get a head start on matches for the upcoming True Heart’s Day. I’d like it to be better than last year’s, so I really have a lot of work to do. If you’d like, you can-”

Kitty smirked. “Oh, I can help with that! You’d be surprised at how much eavesdropping one can do when one is invisible. I know enough secret crushes around the student body to fill up an entire book. Let me see!” Kitty spun Cupid’s laptop around and looked at the screen: the entire student body was shown with lines connecting each student to show relationships. Kitty glanced at the key in the corner of the screen: red meant currently dating, yellow meant friendship, blue meant Best Friends Forever After, purple meant having a crush.

After a few minutes of looking closely at the screen, Kitty uttered, “This . . . is a puzzle”.

“Well, no, not really, it’s technically an algorithmic-”

“Growing up in Wonderland taught me how to solve puzzles. I think I can solve this one” Kitty interrupted with a sly smile and a mischievous look in her wide eyes.

“I’m sure they did, Kitty. Do you think you’d be able to help me on this one?”

“Sure” Kitty smirked. “But it’ll cost you a lavender scone”

Cupid contemplated the offer. Dealing with Kitty would be a lot of guess work and a little frustration to her amusement, but Kitty was insanely talented for picking up patterns that no one else could see. Kitty would be a huge help, and for the price of a scone? It was worth it. Cupid walked up to the counter and purchased a lavender scone. When she returned to the table, Cupid was surprise to see that Kitty wasn’t there. Cupid sat down and noticed a napkin that said “Had to depart, best of luck with the hearts” in Kitty’s scrawled handwriting. On Cupid’s screen, Kitty wrote in a new relationship: a red line connecting Kitty Cheshire and Lizzie Hearts.