Hell's Kitchen came into view just as the men finished piling the fish-filled coolers onto the deck. Pietro, Scott, and Christina stood on the front steps of the restaurant and waved at us as we approached.
When the truck pulled our boat into the parking lot, Ramsay threw the knotted rope ladder and made his way down. Dave saw his opportunity to be useful and made his way halfway down the rope ladder, then held his hands out for the coolers to be passed downwards. Garrett and Shaun made quick work of moving them off the boat, and soon enough they were cleared from the deck.
I was one of the first to climb down the ladder once the fish was transported. Ramsay stood at the base of the ladder and helped me down, resting his hand on the small of my back for support.
Everyone who was disembarked from the boat had started to carry the coolers inside. Reluctantly, I left Ramsay's side to help others.
"EEEEEEEE!" came a high pitched squeal from behind me. I whipped my head quickly to see Bella held in Ramsay's arms, her foot tangled in the rope ladder.
Bella's face was flushed, but she took the moment of being held to turn her chest into his, pressing her large breasts against him. Her cat-like eyes peered at me from over his shoulder as she did so, taunting me. I felt jealousy rise in my chest like a pot boiling over.
"Clumsy sod!" Chef Ramsay chastised Bella as Dave hurriedly removed the rope from her.
As soon as the rope was gone, Ramsay let go of Bella. She looked flustered, but the embarrassment on her face quickly had shifted to something closer to lust.
"Sorry, Chef. You know how blondes are. Clumsy me!" she joked, shrugging while she flipped her bleached hair over her shoulder and batted her eyelashes at him.
"Not really, Bella." Ramsay stated, "in case you haven't noticed, I am blond as well, and I haven't made a fool out of myself. Let's hope you're less ungainly in the kitchen." he stopped for a moment and then added, "if blonde is even your true hair color."
He then made to peer at the roots of her hair, to which she shrugged away.
"Get to helping the others move the coolers you blundering twit," Gordon said as he turned away from her and back to help the last few people down the ladder.
Bella saw me standing at the base of the steps to Hell's Kitchen and gave me a predatory smile as she brushed past me, grabbing one end of a cooler Gina was working to lift. As she lifted her side, she leaned towards me and hissed into my ear,
"Someday soon, Ramsay is going to appreciate my... 'assets'. I have a lot to offer him. Unlike you." the glint in her eye was vicious as she turned away from me and carried a cooler inside with Gina.
The jealousy I had felt earlier multiplied by ten and I became restless. Trying to quell my inner torment, I grabbed a cooler and single-handedly carried it into the kitchen. It was extremely heavy but the hatred I felt towards Bella could have empowered me to flip a car over at that moment.
As the last of the coolers were brought in, Ramsay approached the head of the kitchen. Bella moved herself to stand in front of me as Chef began speaking. I scoffed and stepped further back, moving until I was next to Taylor instead. Taylor noticed how Bella had been acting towards me and gave me a knowing glance.
"Right, chefs. This will be your second challenge. We'll be cleaning, gutting and then finally filleting all the fish we caught. Right now, our sous chefs are separating out the fish. Each of you will have one fish, so don't screw it up. For this challenge, each filet must be perfect to earn a point for your team. If I notice anything at all off about it, you will not receive a point. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Chef!" all of us responded loudly.
"Excellent. Let me show you how I expect you to carry out this challenge, so no one will have the excuse of not knowing how. Come close and watch." Ramsay waved us forward.
We made our way over to where we could better see him. Taylor and I leaned in from over the stoves to watch. Bella once again tries to cozy up to Chef, very nearly leaning over his shoulder to watch him work. I can feel my hand involuntarily ball into a fist.
Ramsay reaches down below the countertop and pulls up a fish... my fish he'd helped me catch from earlier!
"This beautiful white sea bass shall be used for our example." Ramsay pats the side of the fish as he lays it down on a cutting board.
"Now, this will be a bit messy, so I've given each of you a bucket for your fish guts. Watch carefully."
He takes a sharp knife and presses it into the fish's flesh, "you'll want to make a clean cut. Just put the tip of the knife into the fish's vent and cut right up until you're almost right underneath the chin." he expertly cuts the fish open.
"The next part is not difficult, but might make you a bit squeamish. As a chef, you have to be ready to handle these things. Food doesn't always come pre-packaged," he grins then reaches his hand into the cut he'd made, "just pull all the little bits out. If they don't come out easily, cut them out like this," he runs a blade along the inside of the fish and then pulls out the insides.
Jokingly, he turns and holds the fish guts towards Bella, who recoils in disgust and takes multiple steps back until she's at a more respectable distance. With a laugh, he turns back to the fish and resumes teaching. My fist gradually unclenches as I enjoy her obvious discomfort.
"Now before we rinse it out, we'll need to de-scale the fish," Ramsay grabs the tail of the fish and carries it to a sink, "take the back of your knife and rub it quickly against the grain of the fish's scales. Do one side, then flip it over to the other side and repeat."
The descaled fish hangs limply in his hand as he turns on the sink, "just give it a good rinse now. Be sure to wash out the insides."
"Finally, the most important part- filleting," he takes the fish and lays it down on a cutting board.
"First, look at the gills. Slice right behind them. Feel the bone halfway through, and come down," he slides the knife skillfully under the flesh.
"Now, turn the fish around and tilt it. Put your hand over the top of the fish and use your clean knife to slice down along the backbone," the sound of the knife running against the backbone is barely audible but makes a small clicking sound.
"Using your thumb, hold the meat of the fish back and use the knife to separate the meat from the bones. Be sure to feel where the bones are so we can avoid getting them in our fillet," he slices the meat cleanly off.
"Hold the head firmly, bring your knife down and just below the spine connecting to the head, and carefully take the tip of the knife from the top to the bottom. Perfectly clean, with not a single spot of meat missing." he pats the meat proudly.
"Let's trim 'round the edge of the fish, and then carefully remove any rib bones. Be sure not to cut off more meat than necessary. Now, slice from the top and remove that dorsal fin. Let's cut that tail off as well, but be sure not to nick anything. Remove the last fins," his knife dances across the fish as he speaks as if performing his instructions on its own.
"We take the two beautiful halves and lay them down on your cutting board. Think about cutting evenly sized portions from your fish. Generally, you should get five fillets from a single side of fish," the knife bobs up and down on the fish, moving effortlessly, "Voila!" he steps back from the now perfectly filleted fish. Everyone leans in close, nodding and muttering.
"I hope you all paid attention because your challenge begins..." he takes a deep breath and pauses for a moment, "now!"
All of us rush back to our stations and grab our fish. I follow his directions exactly but move a bit slower than some of the others just trying to be sure I don't accidentally miss a bone. While halfway into cutting the second half of my fish off from the bone, I hear a loud "fuck!"
Turning towards the sound, I can see one of the red team members, Cindy, holding her thumb.
"What is it, Cindy? Are you alright?" a concerned Ramsay approaches her.
"Ugh, God, I don't know Chef. I think I need to see a medic." Cindy holds her thumb with her other hand, blood seeping from between her fingers.
"Right you are, medic!" Ramsay shouts, leading Cindy into the back of the kitchens.
The rest of us look worriedly after her but eventually resume our challenge. Chef Ramsay returns a few minutes later and resumes his post at the head of the kitchen.
One by one, each of us completes our fish fillets.
Once Ramsay sees the last of us complete our challenge, he claps, "excellent work everyone. I was going to have one of the red team step away to not have their fillets judged and make the teams even, but it seems Cindy will fill that slot. Each of you will be graded out of ten, one point per fillet."
Taylor and Pietro face off first, with Taylor getting 8/10 and Pietro garnering 9/10.
Up next, both Garrett and Gail get perfect tens.
Bella and Dylan step up and both are judged 7/10.
Abel and l bring up our fillets for judgment. Ramsay inspects my fish first, and I manage to get a 9/10. He nods at me, "close, but you have a nick in this one fillet. Be careful, filleting requires a steady hand." he reminds me, his eyes soft. Abel scores a perfect ten, much to my chagrin.
Jay and Mary bring up their dishes, and Jay scores an abysmal 4/10.
"Jay, were you sleeping while making these?" Ramsay's voice booms angrily, using the end of the knife to indicate a full half of the rib cage lodged in the poorly cut fillets of fish, "if I attempted to eat this it'd be closer to eating shrapnel than fine dining!"
Jay hangs his head as he walks back into line. Red pulls just ahead with a 6/10, which ties our teams.
Kalyani and Shaun score an 8/10 each, still leaving us at a tie.
Last up is Gina and Dave. Gina looks nervous as she carries her plate up, while Dave looks completely confident. Fortunately for us, Dave's confidence was misplaced, as Gina scores a perfect 10/10 while Dave scores only 7/10, which makes the red team the winners by a mere 3 points!
The red team collectively lets out their held breath and cheers. The blue team looks miserable.
"Excellent work, ladies! I have the most amazing treat for you in store," he makes eye contact with me, and I can sense there's something meaningful behind his look.
"You'll be going with me to a very special kind of dining event, Dining in the Dark!" he excitedly rubs his hands together, "unfortunately, Cindy had to be taken to the hospital for stitches, so she will not be joining us tonight."
"Now for the blue team, you all will be cleaning up this awful stinking fish mess, and cleaning down every inch of the kitchen. After that, you will be ironing out tablecloths and cleaning the dining area for tomorrow's dinner service. You'll also be polishing all of the glassware until it is absolutely spotless."
The blue team stands around grumbling.
Ramsay motions his arm towards the kitchen, "well? Get to it, men, you'll want to hurry so you can get to bed at a decent time. As for the ladies, please get dressed in something comfortable and come meet your limo at the entrance in ten minutes," he smiles at us all, then waves us to our rooms.
The men watch us with remorse as we cheerfully make our way past them. A chant of "let's go red team!" starts up, and we all get behind it, cheering and dancing our way up to the dorms.
