Chocolatiers

Chapter 1: Ravens, Bombs, and Elf-like Laughter

Charlie Bucket stood, staring at the deformed dolls on the stage perched in front of him. Eyes popped off of melted white miniatures as the music became garbled like out of that scene in cliché horror movies where the creepy music randomly plays from the piano, record player, music box, etc. The little kids behind the gate started to cry at this macabre scene of gore and fire. Charlie, assuming the nine other people standing in a line around him were doing the same, stared worried and wide eyed, at the scene in front of him.

"God, please don't let this be a bad omen" he thought to himself.

"I swear, all this needs is a raven to scream bad omen." The boy next to him said wryly. Charlie turned to the cynical boy. He was wearing a blue windbreaker and his hair was spiked up, catching the light snow. He nodded as if to say "I acknowledge you" and gave a sarcastic mini salute with two fingers. At that moment, a caw came out from above the stage. The two boys looked up. And what else but a black raven would be squatting proudly on the top of the stone roof above the entrance.

"Oh, that's just fucking perfect." Mike chuckled under his breath. He was smiling, smug about the whole thing, like he was hoping for a disastrous day. Charlie inhaled deeply at that word, and then laughed nervously. He thought it was funny, but cussing was highly discouraged in his family, and the way Mike was slouching would be frowned upon too, and the tee shirt with a flaming skeleton head as well.

Violet Beauregarde decided to avert her eyes from the train wreck unfolding before her eyes and looked to the kids lined up to the side of her. She was the only one among them with a fighting chance of winning, of course. Between fatty, rich girl, the annoying punk, and the Jesus reincarnation, she knew she was the only one with enough guts to be competitive and enough kiss-up ability to get Wonka to like her. Yeah, she knew she was being a kiss-ass to get ahead, she wasn't in denial about that. And maybe she was over competitive, but those are the people that make it in this world.

Augustus Gloop, along with everyone else standing in that line, took his eyes away from the scene before him and leaned forward a bit. He saw the gum-chewing girl, Violet Beauregarde, standing 2 people away. She was looking forward at the stage with a blank stare as the dolls continued to melt and their springs popped. As Violet stared at the man, she chewed that record-breaking gum in a repetitive motion. Augustus had to admit he was attracted to her from the moment he saw her interview. Her licorice-flexible body, her intense blue eyes, her confident attitude, he wouldn't mind getting to know her today, put his moves on her. Violet suddenly turned from the strange chocolatier over in his direction of Augustus.

"Alright" Augustus whispered, "Showtime". Violet looked straight at Augustus, and he started the sexiness. "Keep the sexiness at 5 for the moment" he thought. He raised his eyebrows to the girl and presented his sexiest smile, lifting up one side of his mouth.

"Okay, you got her attention, now wheel her in. Sexiness to 11!" He flipped his hair back and gave the largest wink he could, while clicking his tongue.

Violet scoffed in that "valley girl" like way. She did a quick "uh" and breathed out through her nose, rolling her eyes throughout. She leaned back into her straight up position. Augustus got back in line as well, than looked down at his… robust stomach. Most girls he asked turned him down, probably because of it. Sure, his belly was so large he couldn't see his feet unless he pushed the fat back, but please, it was just more of him to love.

Veruca Salt was more excited then she had probably been in her entire life. It was weird; she usually didn't get excited like this. Just living in a family where you get everything you could want kind of takes the excitement out of everything. But here, with a gigantic white castle looming over her, the child-like giddiness crept up inside her. And hey, now that she thought about it, this could be a good chance to make friends.

Yeah, 13 years of life and she might finally be making friends. She nervously laughed, then leaned out of the line and looked around. She looked toward the guy to her left, his name was… Augustus, that's right!

"Hey" she stated cheerily, waving with energy. He leaned out toward her and started nodding and lifting his eyebrows, half smiling the whole time.

"Heeeey, sup'?" he returned, dragging it out, and officially dropping any pretense of being subtle in his routine. Veruca laughed at the cartoonish attempt at sexiness, but it did feel nice to see a guy trying to get her attention. A snarky retort from behind her snapped her out of the moment, though.

"I know you look like a spoiled little airhead, but don't tell me you're that stupid to actually fall for that same awful routine he did on me?" Veruca spun her head around to see who it was. The girl standing there was wearing a parka over a blue jump suit, and she had limbs skinny as twigs. She crossed her arms and scolded Veruca with nearly disgusted eyes.

Augustus leaned back, rolling his eyes and mumbling "Pfft, I know I'm fabulous."

Veruca, hoping to fight Violet's meanness with friendliness jolted out her hand like a spring.

"Hi, I'm Veruca" she said with teeth that wanted so badly wanted to grit and a forced smile that seemed like hooks had been planted into the sides of her lips just to pull them open. But hey, Veruca thought, you never know what people are like when they open up…

Violet stared at the hand like it was a grenade, and then just leaned away, glaring through Veruca's soul with laser eyes. Veruca's awkward hand, still hanging out, was shaking in fear. She kept smiling, unblinking, keeping up a staring contest with Violet. Violet eventually leaned back in line, but not before scoffing off Veruca and whispering the words "just another bug on another dashboard". But Veruca just continued to stand out of line, arm out, eyes wide with fear. A tiny valley girl shouldn't be that frightening, but that stare was burned into her mind. Her dad, recently getting off a business phone call, turned his head to his daughter.

"Veru…" he began in his posh accent. But Veruca suddenly snapped out of her daze and got back in line, arms stiffly folded to the side like an army woman. Her dad gave her a confused look that could pass for disgust, with half of his lip open and half closed, and eyebrows raised. It was just the "posh" way of doing it.

"I'm fine" Veruca whispered, the wind still feeling knocked out of her by that stare, and it showed. Yet Mr. Salt turned away, not wishing to probe further.

"Wait for it" Mike Teavee said.

Mike and Charlie had their heads ducked out of the line, watching Veruca.

"Wait for i-i-it" he repeated in a higher pitch.

Charlie just darted his eyes between Mike right in front of him and Veruca down the line.

"Wait for i-i-i-i" Mike continued, getting higher with each "i". Charlie was very confused as to what was happening. Mike had just told him to watch Veruca and Violet because he had a feeling "sparks would fly". But all Charlie was seeing was Veruca offering a hand of friendship and Violet refusing.

"i-i-i-i-i" Mike-the-broken-record-and-canary-seemingly-gettin g- high-from-helium continued, before Charlie suddenly stopped him.

"What are we waiting for?" he excitedly asked Mike. The sarcastic teen turned around and gave a small chuckle.

"Veruca over there" at which point he discreetly pointed to the girl down the line. "is like a bomb that's about to go off and explode ALL over Violet." Charlie slapped his hand onto his mouth and gasped.

"You mean" Charlie whispered leaning in further to Mike, looking mortified, "Veruca… is…an… actual bomb?" Charlie stood back up and began panicking, jumping from foot to foot and waving his hands. Mike just laughed into cupped hands.

"Yes Charlie" Mike began, "Veruca is a literal bomb and I'm just standing here doing nothing." Mike crossed his arms and smirked, but Charlie wasn't paying attention at this point. His fearful eyes seemed magnetized on Veruca, and he took a quick step forward, before a bewildered Mike grabbed his arm and pulled him back so they were facing each other.

"What are you doing?" Mike asked him under his breath.

"I...I thought you said…" Charlie stumbled.

"I was being sarcastic." Mike slowly explained.

"Right" Charlie said. He gave a few slow nods as he averted his stare over his shoulder, taking a look at a, to be abrupt, oblivious Grandpa Joe. After a slow turn around, he saw a perplexed Mike looking at him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"My family just hates sarcasm in any form." Charlie answered. "They think it's too mean, a form of bullying. They never use it, they ground me when I use it, they even discourage against me hanging out with other kids who use it." Charlie shrugged so blasé about it, like it was such a normal element of family life. Mike, meanwhile, looked taken aback. His head was tilted, his eyes were large, his eyebrows were wide, and his mouth was slightly open and ajar. Suddenly, Mike changed tone. He smiled, nodded, and patted Charlie on the shoulder.

"Charlie Bucket, I'm going to give you some life lessons today."

Violet, confident that she had properly instilled fear in Veruca, stood back in line next to her mom. She was flashing her winning smile, the one that she practiced for hours in front of the mirror. It was the perfect grin, everybody she saw was won over by it, who could find anything wrong with such an innocent, charming, smile? She could plaster it on at any time to hide any emotion, and everybody would consider her the sweetest little angel. It was the perfect way to start getting on people's good side, and get ahead because of it.

She noticed her mom slightly nodding next to her. Violet looked up to the nearly identical looking woman. "It was good." she said to Violet without the smallest hint of excitement in her voice. "You could work on your intimidating stare, however."

Violet nodded, still keeping that smile while cheerily saying "Thanks mom." That was a pretty big compliment by her mom's standard, actually. Violet then looked up to where the large red throne was sitting. No Mr. Wonka had shown up yet, so all there was to see was a crackling fire, disturbingly burned dolls, and a large crowd still pressed behind the gate, some eagerly waiting, some little kids crying, and some reporters flashing pointless picture after pointless picture. Violet started doubting he would even show up. If you were hosting a world famous, extremely exclusive tour that everyone was chomping at the bit to get into, after years of hiding away and starting up your factory after not seeming to hire any workers, you think you would at least try to be on time. But then…

"Wasn't that just fantastic!" This high-pitched, almost elf-like laughter started from the right end of the line. A man; dressed in a bright red overcoat, a tall black top hat, and chalk white skin, skipped up to the middle of the stage. Still keeping that smile. Everyone, all the people crowded behind the gate and the ten people lined up before the stage, became statue silent. The man nodded at the crowd blankly, then jumped and pulled a card out of his pocket. He held it in front of him with shaky gloved hands and monotonously read from it, as if it was the first time. "Good morning Starshine, the earth says hello." He read. He looked up with an encouraging smile, but just looked dopey. Seeing only empty stares, he quickly ducked his head behind the card again. Violet still kept that smile. "Dear guests, greetings. Welcome to the factory. I shake you warmly by the hand." The man then looked up and put out a hand, not seeming to realize that the closest people were about 10 feet away. He kept the arm out, for several painfully awkward seconds, Violet guessed hoping that someone would leap forward and vigorously shake his hand. Eventually, Wonka realized nothing would happen, so he ducked behind the card one final time. Violet still kept that smile. "My name is Willy Wonka." It seemed with certification that this extremely idiosyncratic man was indeed the world famous chocolatier got mixed reactions.

The first person to break the piercing silence was a loud, passionate yell of "I LOVE YOU, WILLY WONKA!" The same voice shrieked and giggled, as others around her joined. Violet, along with a few other kids in line, ducked around to see who it was. There they were, as Violet figured they would be. A group of several teenage girls about her age, wearing pink shirts with silver Ws on them, were excitedly jumping around and giggling. She had seen their fan fiction, and fan art. They all portrayed the mysterious Wonka as a brooding, muscular hunk with a dark back-story. He was the type that "just needed some affection". Violet turned around and chuckled at how that group of girls would react if they got any closer, and saw that Willy Wonka was just a frail, tiny, pale man. After finishing her snide chuckle, she noticed her mom staring daggers into her.

"Violet" she quietly scolded. "Do I have to tell you again?"

Violet shrunk into her parka and mumbled "No." Her mom's most famous saying had been basically branded into her brain by this point. "Save fun for later, right now win." Every time Violet broke when she was supposed to be in cutthroat mode, and started laughing or, God Forbid, trying to befriend the competition, Mrs. Beauregarde would snap that saying and Violet would be immediately intimidated. She plastered that smile on again and looked around. She looked to her right and saw Mike and Charlie talking and laughing. She looked to her left, that girl Veruca glanced in Violet's direction, but quickly darted her eyes forward again. Augustus was staring forward to a still awkwardly nodding Wonka like he was a god. Violet then felt her hand against the small rectangular packet in her pocket. A pang of sadness moved through her. She realized she had no one to tell. Her mother would tear her apart, and she wasn't really allowed to have any friends. She never really thought about it, but yeah, she had no friends. She just competed and won, competed and won, in a large, continuous cycle. Her mom might be wrong, there may be no fun later, just another trophy to win. And with that thought, for the first time, her smile faltered.