The town of Bumblewick had one rule: no one could resist the “Cookie Monster Munch” challenge. It started with a video of a raccoon gnawing a bakery box, then spiraled into a meme war. By Tuesday, even Mr. Jenkins’ goldfish was doing the “crunch move” in its bowl.
Lila, a 14-year-old with a TikTok following of 37, decided to upstage the chaos. She rounded up her friends—Troy, who’d once tried to braid his pet iguana, and Priya, who’d once livestreamed herself eating a pickled egg—for a “counter-challenge.” “We’ll do something *original*,” Lila declared, clutching a bag of gluten-free pretzels. “Something no one’s seen!”
They settled on the “Wiggly Biscuit,” a dance involving limp limbs and a sound effect of a blender. Troy added a rap: “I’m a biscuit, I’m a mess, I’m a snack for the Instagram flex!” The video dropped at 3 a.m. By noon, it had 2 million views. But then came the backlash. The raccoon’s crew sent a diss video: a squirrel doing the “I’m-not-a-cookie-monster” dance.
Lila’s phone exploded. “You’re a fraud!” one comment read. “Your biscuit’s dry!” Another. She stared at the screen, then tossed her pretzels into a bush. “Let them eat cake,” she muttered. The next day, Bumblewick’s trend shifted to a silent meditation challenge. No one remembered the biscuit. But Lila? She’d already moved on to a new idea: the “Squid Game of Yarn Balls.”
