Chapter 2: The Mocking

“Some desserts melt under pressure. Others learn to punch back.”

The paper bag rustled as it was tossed into a dented metal bin behind the food truck, next to a leaking can of frosting grease and a half-eaten éclair with a bite taken out of its pride. Inside, the small cheesecake lay on his side, strawberry drizzle pooling beneath him like a wound.

For a while, there was only silence — the kind of silence that stretches long and sticky, like gum on the bottom of a forgotten tray.

Then came the voices.

“Well, well,” came a syrupy sneer. “What do we have here? Discount aisle deluxe.”

He twisted slightly and looked up — three desserts stood over him, towering like high-rise pastries. A cannoli with crushed pistachio fists, a cupcake with extra-frosted muscles, and a crème brûlée whose caramelized top gleamed like armor.

The cupcake snorted. “You one of those clearance kids? Leftover lunchbox material.”

The cheesecake tried to sit up. “I’m not— I didn’t—”

“Save it, Drizzle,” growled the cannoli. “You’re soft. You’ve got cracks.”

They laughed. Even the crème brûlée chuckled in a brittle, toffee-crack voice.

“Tell you what,” the cupcake grinned. “You can come hang with us. Just gotta say it.”

“Say what?” the cheesecake whispered.

“That you’re nothing. That you’re not real dessert. Just a failed filling in a soggy crust.”

He hesitated.

And for a split second, he almost said it — the words forming like curdle on his tongue.

But just then, from the far corner of the alley, a voice drifted out — low, distant, and dry as powdered sugar on a windy day.

“Strength isn't always loud.”

The bullies turned. No one was there. Just shadows.

The cheesecake’s heart pulsed — not from fear this time, but something else. Something tighter. Firmer.

The cupcake rolled his paper-thin eyes. “Whatever. Enjoy the trash, cheeseweak.”

They walked off, laughing.

But the cheesecake didn’t slump back down.

He sat up.

Straightened his tilt.

And whispered to no one in particular,

“I may be cracked. But I’m still holding together.”

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