5. A Mixed Bag

"I can't eat your food," Zandra said sadly. "It's not fair for you guys to go hungry just because my brother is a jerk. I mean, if he'd just given me something I don't like, I'd ask to swap or something. But this baby junk isn't even food."

"Don't be silly," Dell replied, scooping the tiny bag of fresh fruit out of Zandra's crumpled lunch bag. "The fruit, for example. Probably tastes good, even if there isn't much of it. And I'm sure we've got enough for three lunches between us, if we work out how to use it."

Sabine nodded in encouragement.

Zandra sighed. "But a baby bottle, and baby food? We're not going to eat those. I've got nothing to give you."

"Actually…" Sabine mumbled, getting her phone out. "I'm wondering about the nutritional value of this lot. It's probably balanced, baby food always advertises the vitamins and minerals, but there's not really enough." She tapped her phone again, taking a photo of the ravaged bag with Jay's handwriting on, and its meagre contents. "You know how seriously your dad takes healthy eating. How would he react if someone showed him what Jay packed for your lunch?"

"Don't," Zandra said, and shook her head for emphasis. "He'd be really mad. Yeah, that would make Jay think twice about stuff like this. But I don't want to go running to Mum and Dad every time…" She knew that expecting her parents to solve every problem would be a small child's response, and she could guess that Jay would see it that way too. She couldn't give him another reason to mock her, but she also couldn't say that to her friends. She settled for "This is something I need to deal with myself."

Dell tucked a lock of rainbow hair behind her ear. "Oh we aren't tattling," she said with a conspiratorial wink. "This is just insurance. If you trust me to organise a little poetic justice, we need something to ensure that Jay won't go running to Mummy to save him."

"I can't wait to hear this plan," Sabine said with a smile. And then turned back to the little packed lunch. She pulled out a small foil packet, looking something like a toothpaste tube, which had been hiding behind the pack of wipes. "Mind if I take this? I swear, I have no idea how the kitchen here manages to make steamed vegetables dry."

Zandra turned her head and squinted at the packet until she saw the words 'Sweet Carrot & Parsnip Puree' on the side, and answered "Be my guest." She honestly couldn't imagine anyone over the age of three eating the stuff, but watched fascinated as Sabine squeezed it out onto the side of her plate, and then stirred in a sachet of black pepper before dipping her broccoli in it.

Zandra had to giggle at her friend's antics. Maybe Jay's prank hadn't ruined everything after all. But then she looked at the baby bottle, and the jar of chicken. Carrots were a thing a lot of adults ate, and they didn't need texture if you were using them as a dipping sauce.

"Okay, that's not too weird," she said. "Carrots are carrots, I guess. But we can't do that with the other stuff. Chicken isn't chicken without the texture, it would be nasty."

"Ever tried pâté?" Dell asked. "It's like ground up chicken, can be pretty nice. And I reckon chicken is still chicken, no matter what it says on the jar. I'll swap you for some of my fillings." She pulled out her own lunch. Dell had a pack of sandwiches that were just bread and spread, as well as little foil-wrapped bundles of meat and salad. So the bread didn't get soggy, she always said. It looked like a very good trade to Zandra; swapping pieces of actual meat for the processed goop she had. It didn't seem exactly fair, but it was close enough that hunger might persuade her to accept the offer. She was so happy that her friends were trying to help her like this.

"Thank you," she whispered, lifting the baby bottle out of the way so that Dell could reach the jar. She looked at the bottle in her hand, not sure what to do with it.

"You want that?" Dell asked, pointing at the bottle. "Looks kind of childish, I think, but that's just a bottle. But milk is milk, right? Good for bones and stuff." She took the bottle from Zandra without any resistance, and quickly took the lid off the bottle. It only took a second to empty the contents into a clean glass.

"I guess," Zandra said, as Dell tasted the glass of white liquid. It looked a lot more pleasant now. But before Zandra could decide whether the original packaging would put her off drinking it, she noticed that Dell had suddenly stopped moving as soon as she tasted the stuff.

"Milk is milk, yeah," Dell said, a little more bitterly. "Except when it's formula. How do they make a liquid taste powdery? They always advertise that stuff on how nutritionally balanced it is, but never the flavour. You notice that? I've never tasted one I'd be willing to swallow, and your brother is even more of a jerk than I thought." But after putting the glass down, she let her hand rest on the back of Zandra's, and then the positivity returned to her voice: "We'll find you a new drink."

"It can't be that bad," Sabine chuckled, taking the unwanted glass for a taste. "Mmm… synthetic protein blend, bulking agents, emulsifiers, vegetable fats, and a tiny bit of flavour. Banana maybe? Too subtle to tell. And yeah, powdery. If you told me this was a protein shake, I'd say it's not the worst I've had. Trade you for a lemonade?"

Zandra took the offered glass with a smile. She didn't think it was a very fair exchange, but it seemed better than allowing food to go to waste. And she was sure that she would find a way to show her gratitude at some point. She took a sip of cool lemonade, and then looked over at Dell's hands on the table beside her, spreading baby food on a slice of white bread. The brown mush could have been anything really, it didn't look too unappetising. But just knowing that it was baby food was still enough to put Zandra off trying it herself. She nibbled on a small piece of ham from Dell's lunch box instead, and found herself waiting expectantly as Dell took a bite out of the sandwich.

"That doesn't really taste like pâté, does it?" she asked nervously, still feeling a full dose of guilt about putting her friends through this.

"A bit weird," Dell admitted. "But not bad at all. In fact..." She scraped around in the bottom of the jar, eyes lighting up mischievously. "I think you should give it a try. Then you won't need to worry."

She scooped up a teaspoonful and brought it towards Zandra's mouth, her other hand gently cupping Zandra's chin. Dell's smile said she was still joking, but her eyes were a little more enthusiastic than Zandra would have expected as she guided the spoon between her friend's parted lips.

"There we go, that's my good girl," Dell purred, transfixed as Zandra's tongue darted out to lick the remnants. She couldn't resist stroking a finger slowly across her friend's bottom lip. "Tastes alright, doesn't it? Don't worry darling."

Zandra blushed crimson at being addressed like that, wondering if she could say that her friend was taking the joke a little too far. But she was still playful, and it was clear there was no malice in the words. She must just be amused by the fact that she'd spoon fed her friend some baby food, and Zandra wasn't too mad about it.

Dell giggled at Zandra's wide-eyed reaction, before reluctantly moving her hand from the other girl's face. And after a little pause Zandra found herself joining in. The moment had felt surprisingly intimate there, but that was quickly overwhelmed by just how surreal it seemed.

The three friends continued to swap around the bits of their lunches a little more. Sabine gave Zandra a piece of one of her potatoes, which were bigger than usual, and they pooled their various salad and vegetables to add a little variety to the meal. Eventually, punctuated by much small talk about mutual friends and rivals, celebrity gossip, and what they were each enjoying or struggling with in the morning classes, they stacked up three plates in the middle of the tiny table. Dell pulled out a big sharing bag of potato chips, and opened it out in the middle of the table so the friends could share. There was time for a lot more chatting before the end of their lunch hour.

"Oopsie, let me get that for you dear," Dell chirped as a crumb fell onto Zandra's collar. She flicked the offending bit away and then pulled out one of the baby wipes to casually dab at the corner of Zandra's mouth. Once the pack was open, Sabine grabbed one too and used it to remove any traces of sauce from her fingers. Then she slopped, giggling at her best friends.

"You two are adorable," she said. "But these are pretty good. Maybe I should get some to help me clean up after soccer practice."

"Help yourself," Zandra said, and just like that Sabine was putting the rest of the pack into the top of her gym bag. She took the baby bottle as well, and Zandra looked quizzically at her but refrained from asking what she was going to do with it. Zan was just happy that the embarrassing lunch bag was finally empty. She scrunched it up, and threw it towards the nearest bin. Now there was nothing to remind them of the prank as they enjoyed the remainder of the chips and small talk.

Too soon the bell rang, signalling the next period was starting. The three gathered their things, still giggling over their lunch antics, and headed towards different classes. It was only when Zandra reached the door of the Geography faculty that she realised she hadn't found time to ask Dell about her plan for revenge, and still had no idea what she was thinking of. She sighed but couldn't help smiling too. She felt sure that whatever Dell devised, Jay was not going to know what hit him. She felt lucky to have such good friends looking out for her.