﹙ TAKE A BITE ★ ﹚

CHERRY CARRIED A BOX OF DONUTS!

Hartley was once more the reason for her and Aria's presence in the Madden home. It seemed as though everyone was a lot happier to see them when they had food with them.

Except Jake. Jake was always happy to see Aria because he was whipped and everyone knew it.

"Alright, it's Saturday, and I have a lot of nothing planned for the day, so let's get to it!" Amy entered the kitchen, plucking a donut from the box.

"A lot of nothing?" Hartley asked, setting her phone face down to pay complete attention to her friend.

"I was going to volunteer today." Aria remembered, checking her calendar.

"I was going to be beautiful and hilarious today." Cherry greeted, taking the open seat beside Hartley.

"So no plans." A little voice commented, which caused Cherry to snap her neck around to search for whoever said that.

She eyed Vic first, but she just shrugged.

"Look at all the fun stuff on today's community calendar!" Hartley raised her phone. "A car show, a line dancing contest, oh, a pie festival!"

"All perfect for our father-son day, Jake!" Vic suggested, leaning against the counter.

A fly buzzed around the room. "Great, a fly got in. I guess this is my entertainment for the day," Amy said, picking up a fly swatter and lunging toward it.

Suddenly, the fly landed on her shoulder. "Amy, stop! It's me, Colby!"

"You were the little voice!" Cherry said, pointing an accusing finger at the insect.

She was sure that Colby was sticking his tongue out at her in fly-form. He did that all the time in regular-form. The second he was a human being again, she was gonna get her revenge.

"Wait, you're a fly now?" Vic asked. "Then why have I been talking to this oven mitt all morning?"

"We just thought you were losing it." Amy supplied.

"And I'm nice now, so I didn't want to say anything." Jake shrugged, which earned a laugh from Aria, who covered her mouth in an attempt to be polite.

"Gross." Cherry stated, picking up a donut. "What do you even do as a fly?"

"This," Colby said, flying straight towards her.

"Ew! Ew! Don't harass me!" Cherry snatched the fly swatter from Amy's hand and used it to keep Colby away from her.

"That's the only time you haven't said please for something. You're growing up!" Amy gushed dramatically.

"It's an instinct!" Cherry defended. "Tell your brother to back away from my donut."

"I'm hungry!" Colby argued.

Cherry begrudgingly tore the corner of her donut and tossed it onto a nearby napkin. Colby muttered something about his sarcastic appreciation for the grain.

"Morning!" Eva greeted, entering the kitchen in business casual attire.

"Morning. What are you all dressed up for?" Amy asked, studying her mother's clothing choices.

"You look good." Aria complimented. "Very JCPenney circa 2014."

"Thank you. I don't know what that is." Eva shrugged, grabbing a mug from the counter and filling it with hot coffee. "I'm going to the community job fair at your school. Mama's gonna join the workforce!" 

"Wow. That's really good for you." Cherry complimented. "I can't imagine willingly wanting to work."

"That checks out." Colby stated, from the opposite side of the table.

Cherry narrowed her eyes. "Can someone please give me a book so I can crush him?" She asked as she played tug-of-war with Hartley over the fly-swatter.

"Mom, why do you want a job?" Amy asked. "I get the money part, but don't they make you work, too?"

"Everyone in the family has found a new place in this life except me. I mean, you all go to school, your father's a substitute teacher, and I used to be third in command of all villains. And now I spend my day building castles out of chips." Eva pulled the lid off of a Tupperware container to reveal her diorama. "Spoiler alert: the drawbridge is my mouth." 

"I'd love to help you go look, but Aria and I already volunteering." Jake said and then turned to face his dad. "If that's okay with you."

"Alright. But be back in time for our plans! And no funny business." Vic played up his best suspicious voice, lifting a newspaper.

"Jake really isn't that funny, so it won't be a problem." Aria promised with a beaming smile.

Aria and Jake crashed onto the couch, finally finished with their volunteering. Vic was on the reclining chair, preparing his plans when a loud knock interrupted their quiet.

"Hello, Celia." Vic pulled the front door open and froze. "And Robert, the police chief. So nice to see you, since we are law-abiding citizens!"

"Well, I need my paint supplies, so why don't you abide out of my way?" Celia said, pushing past him.

"Wait, why are your paint supplies in here?" Jake tilted his head.

"I don't want them at my house," Celia exclaimed. "I need space for my medieval weapons collection!"

"Your what?" Aria repeated, suddenly interested.

She and Hartley had been friends since sixth grade and she learned something new about her grandma every day.

"You haven't lived till you've seen her wield a Viking axe," Robert said.

"Well, I guess I'd rather not live," Vic stated.

"The paints are for me. I'm doing a little graffiti cleanup downtown." Robert informed, adjusting his collar.

Jake jumped at the opportunity for him and Aria to do something together again. "Oh, cool! Can we help?"

"Like a date?" Aria teased, sitting up.

"As a way to get more involved in the community!" Jake came up with a lie on the spot.

"Absolutely!" Robert smiled. "That's very admirable of you, son."

"But I thought we were going to hang out today, actual son?" Vic interrupted, holding his hand out like he were to grab Jake any second.

"It's okay, Dad, we can still do something this afternoon," Jake offered, glancing at Aria.

"This afternoon, huh? Deal. I'll see you at 12:01 sharp." Vic warned, waving a finger.

"Well, Robert, while you're out, I'll be preparing for our one-month anniversary tonight." Celia smiled, shoving a crate full of paint into Jake's arms.

Aria tried to take the crate from Jake but almost dropped it after he tugged it back, insisting on holding it like that would impress her.

She was already aware of his superhuman strength. One crate wasn't very impressive.

"That's what I call a win-win!" Robert grinned back at his girlfriend.

"How about a little preview?" Celia commented, her voice laced with flirtation.

"There are children in the room!" Jake reminded, motioning to himself and Aria.

Aria steadied one side of the crate, while Jake held the other. Truthfully, neither Aria nor Cherry cared very much about graffiti. They shared the same morals.

That was part of the reason Jake liked Vindicate so much. Every time he saw her on TV, she was doing something useful, not just locking people up to meet a quota.

Cherry and Aria understood graffiti was just art that didn't affect anybody but walls. There was no point in taking time out of their day to get rid of when real problems were going on in the world.