Michael could hardly wait to get to school. It wasn't that he actually liked the school. In fact, the place bored him stiff. But that's were the Others were. Max and Isabel. He had seen them last week for the first time since that night in the desert, the first time in three years. For the first time in three years he was actually almost happy. And today he had something to show them.

He couldn't believe that they hadn't figured it out on their own yet. They both seemed so smart. And lucky. They had things he could only dream about. People who loved them, rooms of their own; Max even had his own bike. But even with all that, they didn't know how to eat. They were still experimenting.

He grinned happily, proud of his one little secret. He scanned the playground quickly as he got off the bus. They were already here. He could feel it. He found them sitting on the low brick wall that went around the flowerbeds. They watched him approach and were happy to see him. He could feel that, too.

"Hey," he said as they scooted apart so that he could sit between them.

"Hi," Max replied.

Isabel just smiled and hugged him. She'd done that every morning since the first day of school. Max said it was because she had missed him for so long. It was kinda strange being hugged all the time, he thought, but it was kinda nice, too. So long as nobody else saw it. He reached across her to grab her lunch bag.

"Hey!" she protested. "What are you doing?" She stopped abruptly and frowned. "Did you miss breakfast again?"

He shook his head impatiently. "No. It's not that," he said as he dug around in Izzy's lunch. Good, she did have Little Debbie's today. "You gotta try this."

They leaned toward him curiously as he pulled a skinny bottle out of his jeans pocket. He unscrewed the cap and poured some of it on both of the cupcakes.

"Try it." He handed one to Isabel and one to Max. "Go on." He chewed anxiously on his lower lip as they nibbled the little snack cakes. He beamed as they suddenly stared at him in astonishment.

"This is it!" Isabel said. "This is perfect!"

"How did you find it?" Max asked in awe. "How did you know?"

He rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "Mrs. Mitchell couldn't cook," he explained. "She was at the third..." He paused, trying to remember. "Yeah, I think the third house I got sent to. She couldn't cook and Mr. Mitchell put this stuff on everything. The first time I tasted it I knew."

He watched a little enviously as they ate some more of the tabasco-coated cupcakes. To be perfectly honest, he *had* missed breakfast again. He tried not to look too hungry. He really did want them to enjoy the treats. He was surprised when Max broke his cupcake in half and handed part of it to him. He wanted to say that he wasn't hungry, but his stomach decided to growl just then and he knew that Max wouldn't believe him. He took his part and poured more sauce on it.

"Why haven't you figured this out before?" he asked.

Max looked embarrassed. "Mom and Dad..." he began.

"They look at us funny when we do weird stuff with our food," Isabel said.

"We don't get much of a chance to try different combinations."

Well, he supposed that was one good thing about not being part of a family. Nobody really seemed to care what he ate. He watched as Max picked up the bottle and studied the label carefully.

"We could go through a lot of these really fast," Max said thoughtfully. "How much does a bottle cost?"

He shrugged and suddenly became very interested in the plastic cupcake wrapper.

"I thought you said you bought this at the grocery store."

"I said I *got* it at the grocery store."

Max frowned at him in confusion. Isabel looked up from her cupcake and openly gaped. She caught on a lot more quickly than her brother did.

"You stole it," she said in shock.

He could feel his face turning red and that made him angry. It wasn't his fault.

"You can't just go around taking things," Max said, his eyes wide and round. "You'll get arrested. Why didn't you just buy it?"

"With what money?"

"With your allowance."

It was Michael's turn to frown. "What allowance?"

"Doesn't your... um, foster dad give you an allowance?" Isabel asked.

"For what?"

Max and Isabel simply stared at him. He sighed. Guess that was something that wasn't so great about not being part of a family, he thought.

"You can't take anything else," Max said seriously. "Isabel and I can *buy* it."

He kicked at the dirt and didn't look up. "They have 'em free at the Crashdown," he said quietly.

"They aren't free."

"They don't charge."

"You aren't supposed to take them."

"There's no sign."

"Promise you won't take anything else," Max said.

He frowned at the ground. This wasn't how this was supposed to go, he thought in disappointment. He nodded miserably. Max's arm around his shoulders startled him.

"This was a great idea, though," Max said with a smile. "Thanks for telling us."

"Yeah," Isabel agreed with a matching grin. "And at lunch we'll make Max share *his* cupcakes."

Michael's happy grin returned as Max and Isabel laughed. Maybe it had gone all right after all.

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