N O T I C E D

Chapter 12: Judge Kenzie of Dunedin.

-WRITTEN-: 1st April, 2022.

-PUBLISHED-: 8th April, 2022.

As soon as we split up, Nevaeh and Kenzie had made a quick run to the beach and then to Nevaeh's house as Diego and I headed home finishing the baking contest preparations. Everything had been set up outside the Martin's house seeing as their land was big and the outside hang out area had become our makeshift baking contest venue.

Everyone had been dressed according to Kenzie's outfit choices planned from last year. The ingredients were laid on two different tables as our judges table was being set up. The star shaped lights hung outside the venue as everything seemed to be set.

"What about Kenzie's gift?" Mr. Ashton, Mr. Martin's neighbor and someone the Martins saw as family, asked. "The car's ready right?" I asked the father of the birthday girl as he nodded. "Yes, Ev it's set to come tomorrow with a beige bow on top and the registration and all the details have been done so we're all ready to go." Mr. Martin confirmed as Diego came back towards us and gave me a thumbs up.

"The presents table is packed and looking good, although sadly I double checked but none of the gifts have my name on it." I smiled and relaxed a little as I realized something causing my face to drop. "What about the red carpet and the cake's flavor?" I asked, trying to keep my nerves at bay. "Eve, everything is set besides the red carpet is inside the house and the cake is finished and getting delivered." Diego's phone dinged. "And that's Nevaeh saying that Kenzie and her are on their way."

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"And welcome to the annual baking contest held at the Martin's house where the birthday girl has just entered and she is looking gorgeous." My dad spoke through a microphone as Kenzie looked at us stunned. "I– this —--" She blinked rapidly.

"Wow," That's all she could say as family members wished her a happy birthday and smiled at her. Diego headed towards her and handed her a judge badge and chef's hat. "What?" She looked confused. "You're the judge and there will be....." The fake news reporter, being my dad, interrupted Diego. "The rules are simple; two teams competing to impress the judge Kenzie of Dunedin and whichever team loses gets the prize of fear of following the judge's orders." He said as Kenzie snapped out of her daze, she breathed in and placed the hat on her head. She turned around to me and handed me the badge, I pinned it on her and laughed as I remembered our childhood pretending to be chefs.

"Alright forks the judge is all set and now she will announce the teams." My dad reported as Kenzie picked the team members. "Team 1: Levi, Uncle Ash, Aunt Tasha, Uncle Cole, Nevaeh and Dad ooh and Evelyn." Team 1 made their way to their station as I stood next to Nevaeh. We focused on Kenzie knowing who was in team 2 already. "And team 2: Piper, Diego, Mr and Mrs. Prince, Uncle Richard and Aunt Adrianna and Auntie Naya and Uncle Aryan." 'Great I'm going against my parents and my best friend. . . damn she really is evil.'

We all got set as we got handed our color-coordinated aprons, team 1 had blue aprons and team 2 had red aprons. I put my game face on as the countdown started. "5 . . . . 4 . . . 3 . . 2 . . . 1 and GO!" I ran towards our teams table and started flipping through the baking book looking for our assigned creation.

"Page 34: Halloween brownies." I read as Mr. Ashton started reading the instructions and ingredients out loud. "Brownies ingredients: Butter, cocoa powder, Chelsea white sugar/sugar, eggs, vanilla essence, Edmond's standard grade flour and, Edmond's baking powder." I read as everyone started taking out the ingredients.

"Okay so first up we . . . preheat the oven to 180°C bake." I handed the book to Mr. Ashton and I quickly went to preheat the oven and took out two trays as Kenzie looked at me from across her table, "Making some extras?" She asked as I grinned. "There is never such a thing as too much Kenzie, besides more for us right?" I joked as she chuckled.

"Okay so we split the duties up?" I paused thinking about how we were going to do this. "Okay no, it's not a bad idea Nevaeh but how about we try to make our display for the presentation of the brownie dish different that way not a lot of people are crowding around this station." I nodded at Mr. Martin's words as Uncle Cole started speaking.

"Okay so Evelyn, you, Nevaeh and Levi can start with making the brownies with the assistance of Nathaniel." Uncle Cole looked at the remaining people in our team. "And Natasha, Thomas and I will start decorating and designing the presentation plate."

"Okay, I'll set the ingredients like how much we'll need and you guys start with the actual making." I said as I grabbed the butter and cut 250g of it. I looked for a bowl to put it in when Levi came up to me. "Um, your phone's ringing." He said as I asked him who it was.

"It's the..." He stopped whispering the name. "The cake lady." I froze for a second before quickly switching jobs with Levi.

"Hi Mel, how are you?" I asked as I answered the call.

"Hey Evelyn, um bit of an emergency back home so I was wondering if you could come and pick up the cake." I turned around and looked at everyone laughing and enjoying their time. "Yeah, uh but the cakes finished right? With everything on it??" I asked, trying to avoid panicking at my stupidity. "Yeah it's all done, every little detail is done just how Nathaniel, Kenzie's dad, asked it to be." I sighed in relief as I tapped Mr. Martin on the shoulder. "I have to go pick up the cake." I told him quietly as he nodded. "Go, I'll get Diego to take you." He said as I nodded.

I jogged towards the rain slider and untied my apron. "Hey," I turned around and greeted Diego. "Let's go." I told him as he grabbed his car keys from the counter and quickly walked towards the garage with me following behind. I took one glance towards Kenzie to see if she was looking and thankfully, she wasn't.