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Josh’s mom. She posts almost the same thing every day. So embarrassing. I mean, super nice, but still embarrassing.

Anonymous 4 days ago

DO NOT GO TO THE DOUGHNUT STOP!!!!!

THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE DOUGHNUTS. I’VE GONE FOR THE PAST THREE SATURDAYS AND EACH TIME, THEY’VE RUN OUT AND I NEVER GOT ONE. I HEAR THE DOUGHNUTS AREN’T EVEN SO GREAT.

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I froze.

Do not go to The Doughnut Stop. Those seven words knocked the wind right out of me, like I’d been flying through the air on a swing, my sneakers touching the trees, and the next second, the ground had reached up and punched me in the face.

Click. Click. Click. How do you delete?

Windows shrunk. Windows multiplied. A new comment box opened. I slammed the mouse onto the counter.

I’d never needed to get rid of a comment before. Josh updated the site. He’d know how, but I didn’t want him to see the words, and I didn’t want to wait.

I couldn’t wait. I had to do it now. Because every second, one more person—maybe more—would see that comment and remember what it said even after I made it disappear.

Click. Click.

It wasn’t as if I didn’t know we had a supply problem. I just didn’t know how to fix it. Yet.

Even with Zoe in the helmet, we couldn’t keep up with demand. The major obstacle to increasing doughnut production? The seventh grade. I’m all for education and everything, but do you know how much time is wasted in school? I’m not talking about cutting anything useful, just speeding things up and getting rid of waste, like health class.

Actual health: very important. Waydin Middle School Health Class: useless and completely unrelated to actual health.

Click—

The comment window disappeared.

Ugh!

I got up and paced around waiting for the site to reload.

When the comments were finally back up on the screen, I realized there was one I hadn’t read:

Anonymous 4 days ago

There’s a reason we don’t let kids run for President. It’s the same reason we shouldn’t let them run businesses. They’re kids! They don’t know what they’re doing. The Doughnut Stop is run by a kid, and it’s a total disaster.

I was there last Saturday and that kid was all, “due to high demand, we have a one doughnut per customer limit.” Then they ran out anyway. They were supposed to be open for another two hours!! It would have been funny if I hadn’t driven almost an hour and really wanted a doughnut.

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I jumped out of my chair. My insides felt all fizzy, like a soda somebody had shaken up.