Chapter 1

"Alright, enough Ms. Belcher. As entertaining as your antics are, please take your seat so I can teach my class…"
A tall, slender woman in her late 40s fixed her gaze on the 20 year old, tilting her head down and peering out over her purple rimmed glasses with one eyebrow raised and the other furrowed, but a slight curl to her lips that hinted at a smile.
"Ah Mrs. E, you know I would never want to keep you from teaching, but sometimes a girl just has to be heard!" Louise took her seat as her classmates swallowed their chuckles and took out their English books.

The red haired teacher rolled her eyes and pulled out her lesson plan. "Ok, as you already know your final draft is due at the end of this week and then next week we will be starting our section on publication. We'll be having a guest speaker – he works at a publishing company in the city and he'll be talking about the whole process of how authors get started with their books and what the publication process looks like and so on, so please be sure to come to class next Monday. And all of you will be on your best behavior…understood?" Her warning was intended for a certain brunette who had a history of asking borderline inappropriate questions whenever there was a substitute teacher, TA, or really anyone new in the classroom. "Yes, sir!" Louise clapped back with a salute.

"Tiiiina!" Louis called out through the pale pink scarf wrapped thoroughly around her neck and lower face.
"Hmm? Oh hi. Louise. What are you doing?"
"Trying to catch up to you!" she said, panting somewhat, her breath crystallized in the air. Going to the same college as Tina was pretty awesome in her opinion. Though Louise had matured over the years, she still found that her boisterous and vindictive nature, coupled with her dry and somewhat cynical sense of humor, left her with few close friends. She had enough "classmate friends" – the ones who thought she was funny and would work on an assignment or two with her – but when it came to "weekend hangout friends" or "let's grab a bite to eat friends", she had just a few. So every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday she'd zip out of her English class to meet up with her elder sister for lunch.

"So where would you like to eat today?" Tina asked as she adjusted her pace to a stroll.
"PIZZA!" Louise exclaimed.
"That's not really a place thou.."
"Or tacos…" Louise said hungrily.
"Still not a place."
"Oh wait no, I got it. Taco pizza. There. The best of two worlds. Why decide when they can coincide?" she lilted.
"So I guess we'll go to Pizza Haven then. Perfect. I caught the cashier looking at me last week and I need to see if he likes my hair like this." The girls made their way across the college campus to the restaurant located just on the other side of the dorm buildings. Once inside and in line, Louise shrugged her backpack off of one shoulder and swung it around to dig out her book.
"Have you finished that yet?" Tina asked dryly.
"Not yet, got about 50 more pages or so. Ugh I just love it so much! The way he writes is magical," she replied with a contented sigh. "You know T, I still think you should check out his books. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life! Not that I get scared of course, but it gets my blood pumpin' if ya know what…"
"Look! There he is, Louise!" Tina interrupted with an urgent whisper. "Now I need you to pay close attention to how he asks me what kind of pizza I want."

Back in her dorm room, Louise emptied her backpack from the day and ruffled through her assignments to see which ones could be procrastinated. She was an average B student with the occasional C, and so far she was getting through her Gen Ed classes just fine. Math was definitely her favorite with English as a close second. Deciding to procrastinate it all, she grabbed her book, hopped onto her bed, and immersed herself into the final chapters of the thriller.

"Man, that James Harvey really knows how to get a girl going!" exclaimed Louise to herself as she closed the book, both relieved and disappointed that she had finished it. She opened her laptop and googled the author's name. There was still no news about his next book's release date and she had already read all the others.
"Uuuugh Jimmy, my man, you're killin' me!" she huffed and then opened up her writing assignment. "To Grill or Not to Grill?" was the title centered on the page. She had found a niche in creative writing, well, in writing period. She could whip up a story in minutes and fill out every detail no problem. She attributed it to her extensive practice at lying and story-weaving throughout her youth. In actuality, writing had improved her behavior in high school because it created an outlet for her ever active and impish musings. Instead of acting them out, she wrote them out. Her fingers started tapping away at the keys as she made the necessary edits to her final draft paper. This particular assignment had been a little more challenging than most because it made her face an emotional part of her past.

Just a few years back when she was 17, her dad had taken her out for her birthday and everything was peachy cheeky keen til he told her he wanted her to take over the restaurant at some point. It was never something the Belcher's had properly discussed. There was a somewhat general acknowledgement that the eldest Belcher kids would likely run the place down if left in charge, and Louise had hinted once that she'd take over, but that was years ago. Tina had gone to college solely with the intent to meet her one true love and to survey what the larger world had to offer in terms of boy butts. Gene graduated from high school and was working with a local community theater in the next town over, doing multiple jobs and participating in the productions. When Louise responded to her dad that she intended to follow in Tina's footsteps (minus the soulmate and boy butt quest), and didn't really have any interest in the food industry, Bob was forced to hide his disappointment.

Mrs. Elbright had passed out the writing prompt – Write about a time when you have made a decision for yourself at the cost of someone or something else. Discuss the emotions around that decision. Explore the viewpoints of the other people involved (if applicable), etc. – and Louise's heart immediately sank remembering that birthday when her dad had looked so….deflated. She had tried to talk her way out of feeling guilty and her dad out of feeling betrayed by her usual banter,

"Ah Dad, I mean, who could ever run this restaurant like you? I mean, definitely not me. Let's be honest here. You're the burger master champ! And I can barely buss a table. Look! That table right there! Pathetic right? I appreciate you trying to make me feel good about myself and all, you know, offering me this place, on ma' birthday….but's that's your thing. And you're good at it, Dad…"

The whole conversation had left a sour taste in her mouth at first, because her dad was right, she could have run the restaurant well. Money and numbers made sense to her, she'd done the food orders and she had caught on quickly to the food prep and enjoyed making her own burger of the day from time to time. She just wasn't interested and to Bob, that was like saying she wasn't interested in everything he did and who he was. But the Belcher's were tight, especially her and her dad, so they made it through.

Now sitting and re-reading that conversation in her paper, Louise grabbed a lock of hair on either side of her head and tugged them down slightly in mild frustration. Her mind snapped out of her reverie as she heard the metal friction sound of keys in the door and jumped up to hide behind the door just before it opened.

"Louise? Are you hom-"

"BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!" Louise yelled as she lunged out from her hiding spot and then burst into outrageous laughter as her roommate Georgia crumpled to the floor in shock, eyes wide and glazed over in fear.

"I..h-h-haate y-y-y-you…" Georgia gasped, reaching her hand up to Louise so her friend could help her up off the floor.