2.

The car ride was nothing like i've ever experienced. Cars aren't something we have because everywhere in our town is within walking distance. The car was clearly moving but i never felt a single bump or even the engine running. As it came to a stop outside the castle I realized how amazing it looked in person. I’ve actually seen the outside of the castle in person only in our textbooks. My cake isn't exactly right color-wise, but i feel like that makes it a little bit better. It means im less likely to be noticed. Once inside I noticed how much luxury the royal family gets while the rest of us struggle to get by. They also have grand paints with lots of colors and different colored walls in each room. They lived surrounded by color almost like they are boasting that they are superior, even though no one else even knows it.

After walking for what felt like forever with my cake shaking in my arms we finally made it to the throne room. There was only one empty table left so I knew we were the last to arrive. My town is the farthest from the castle so I wasn't surprised, but I did feel everyone's eyes on me as we walked in. There were 29 other tables. My boss instructed me to set the cake down just as the queen started to stand.

“Thank you all for making your cakes, but as you know, we want the best cake for our son’s crownings. Our staff is going to come around first during the first round and eliminate any cakes that aren’t big enough for our crowd. After that the king and I will come around and chose our favorites. The last round will be picked by our son. We will start right away when you are eliminated please take your cake and leave right away. We are very busy setting up for tomorrow so we can’t have extra people about the castle. Thank you all and good luck.”

I just about fainted after she said that I had to make it through three round The staff instantly came around. They never even came to our table because I made such a big cake that it definitely passed the first round. Half of cakes were eliminated. Now came the hard part. The queen and king were eliminating cakes left and right without saying a word. By the time they approached my table all but two cakes were gone. I thought there was no chance I would get to move on. The competitors cakes were so much better than mine. They had better bakeries meaning they had more supplies and more talented bakers than me. They let me continue on. Three cakes left and it was up to the prince. He came down and looked at the cakes and started to ask questions to the bakers. He eliminated the first cake that was lemon flavored. He let the second one stay and then came to me.

“You made this cake?” he asked with a confused look on his face.

“y-y-yes I did.” I somehow stuttered.

“But you are roughly the same age as me. How did you learn to make such elaborate cakes?”

“I-I am the only baker at the bakery. I’ve been working there since I was 10.”

He walked back to the other table and said something to the other baker that i couldn’t quite hear. A few seconds later she is in tears and grabs her cake as she ran away. It took me a minute to realize that meant i had won. Somehow my cake was chosen. I was congratulated then they said to expect payment soon. We were than shown out of the castle and got driven back to the bakery.