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Laurie cleared her throat and lifted her hand in the air. Angus nodded, indicating for her to ask her question.

“I can’t eat donuts. I’m gluten intolerant,” she said.

I was pretty sure she wasn’t, but I also wasn’t about to call her on it.

“That’s okay,” Angus said. “We brought a couple of honuts for people with intolerances.”

Evan laughed out loud. “Honuts?” he asked.

Angus smiled knowingly at the question. “Yes, a healthy donut. What did you think I was talking about?” he asked Evan, making us all laugh.

“All right kids, please follow me. The donuts await,” Angus called.

Angus led us away from the undercover patio, where we’d all been gathered, and further into Cole’s massive backyard. Mrs. Kingston was obsessed with gardening, and her backyard was her pride and joy. It was beautifully manicured, with multiple sectioned off gardens that had different themes and secret pathways that wound through the property. I might not have visited the Kingstons in years, but I suddenly remembered how much I loved to explore the vast garden as a kid. I’d always thought it was magical. Plus, Cole had a pool, which meant I had spent whole summers at his house when we were younger.

We followed a narrow path that cut between two hedges before arriving in a small, walled-off garden. I recognized it immediately as the place I used to call the Beauty and the Beast garden. The cozy secret garden was covered in blooming red roses that surrounded a perfectly trimmed square lawn. In the middle of it all, a long table waited for us.

Ten plates of donuts were arranged along the length of the table, and I tried not to cringe when I saw the tabletop had also been covered in hundreds of tiny glittering hearts. I focused instead on the donuts and was already licking my lips at the sight of them. I had decided that I wasn’t going to try to win any of the challenges Angus set us, but the competitor inside of me suddenly wasn’t so willing to throw in the towel. Especially not when there were donuts involved.

I actually felt kind of excited to take part, and I found myself wondering if it would really be so bad if I put some effort into the challenge. I could always make sure I lost the next one. Besides, so far I’d had zero interaction with Cole on the group date. Perhaps the True Love competition wouldn’t be so bad after all?

Once Angus had us all lined up, he began a countdown from three. When he shouted “go," everyone launched on their donuts like they hadn’t eaten in weeks. Almost immediately, I heard students from the film club yelling at the other contestants to drop their donuts and start again for licking their lips.

I couldn’t stop giggling as I tried to make my way through mine. A thick layer of cinnamon sugar rimmed my mouth and the temptation to wipe it away was almost unbearable. Teagan was having the same issues as me, and we both had tears in our eyes as we tried to control our bouts of laughter.

Evan, on the other hand, shoved the entire donut in his mouth at once and was crowned the winner before most of us were even halfway through. He stood next to us while he waited for us to finish, shouting words of encouragement.

Teagan finished hers before me and punched the air with her hands in celebration. I was still two bites away from finishing and struggling to contain my laughter.

“You’ve got this, Madi!” Teagan shouted encouragement to me.

“Come on sugar-lips,” Evan added at her side, almost making me choke on my mouthful of food as I laughed. I was only one bite away from completing the challenge though, and as soon as I swallowed the final piece of my donut, Teagan and Evan let out a cheer.

I smiled at their enthusiasm. That had to go down as one of the weirdest experiences of my life.

I turned and focused at the rest of the competitors. I’d been so caught up in my own donut eating that I hadn’t noticed who else was still in the race. There were still a few girls left. Laurie’s face was wrinkled in a cringe as she finished the last bite of her honut, while Brooke had a whole bunch of discarded donuts in front of her and looked like she was only halfway through her current attempt.

Anna and Zoe were both in the same boat as Brooke. They were going through donuts like crazy and seemed to be unable to stop themselves from licking their lips and having to start again.

I felt a twinge of disappointment when Laurie squealed as she finally completed the challenge. The cheering from the rest of the contestants grew louder as we watched the final three battle it out for the last place. Brooke was already ahead, but Zoe seemed to be finally getting the hang of it and was catching up quickly.

When Brooke had the final piece of her donut in her mouth, we all fell silent, holding our breath as we waited for her to finish without licking the sugar that was caked around her lips. When we finally saw her swallow, a cheer rose up, and the contest was over. Anna and Zoe had lost.

Anna didn’t look too bothered, but Zoe looked annoyed. It didn’t take her long to get over it though, and I soon saw her take out her notebook and start asking some of the girls questions about the competition so far. I had to give it to her; even in the face of defeat, she was still determined to focus on a story for the newspaper.

Everyone was on a bit of a high after the rush of the competition. There was laughter as people tried to wipe the sugar from their mouths and loud chatting as people lamented over how impossible it had been to avoid licking the sugar away.

I noticed Cole making his way from contestant to contestant, congratulating them on making it to the next round. Each girl's face lit up when he focused on them, and I could practically see them melting into piles of goo at his feet. He was hot, I got that, but I couldn’t understand his effect on them.

I decided not to watch him. Instead, I turned my back on him and listened as Evan replayed his glorious win.

“It’s not much of a challenge when you can stick a whole donut in your mouth,” I told him.

Evan laughed. “Jealous?”

I went to respond but found Cole standing at my side. He smiled when he saw that he’d caught my attention. Without hesitation, he reached out and wiped the corner of my lips with his thumb. It lingered there for the briefest second, and my stomach pulled tight as my skin tingled under his touch.

“You missed some,” he said, lifting his thumb to show me the sugar.