Chapter 14

Help Wanted…or Not

Ocean Bluff

Casey Rhodes was emotionally drained at the moment. He had been pulling double duty for the last 15 months working at Jungle Karma Pizza five days a week and instructing the Cubs in the ways of the Order of the Claw six days a week. Lately, Casey's hours had been increasing at both sites.

Now, Casey had been lobbying with his friend and boss, R.J. James, for a couple of days off in the near future to recharge. R.J. had denied his request, stating that since demand was up, J.K.P. needed as much of its staff on duty as possible. "A little hard work goes a long way, Case," R.J. had told him, "And the more work you put in, the farther you go." Casey had learned a long time ago not to question R.J.'s wisdom. There was nothing he could do.

Now, it was about noon. And not only was Casey exhausted, now he was alone. Theo Martin and Lily Chilman had just left, saying they were going on their lunch date, and R.J. had also vacated the premises, muttering that he had to pick something up and that Casey was in charge until he got back. What could have made all three of them pick that exact moment to leave, Casey didn't know; this wasn't a Tuesday, Lily and Theo's usual day for their weekly date, and normally R.J. never left J.K.P. unless it was to get supplies (R.J. usually slept on the couch in the loft above the restaurant) and the way he had gone rushing out the door it didn't seem like a supply run to Casey. Besides, there wasn't one scheduled. Dominic Hargan and Fran Kinney were had gone backpacking in Europe (for the fifth time since they'd met) and Casey could really have used their help right then.

But currently, he was alone, and it couldn't have been at a worse time. It was time for the lunch rush, the busiest time of the day. Casey had put a couple pizzas in the oven prior to his friends' evacuation and he hoped that would be enough, but he wasn't sure. He was in charge, but he was obviously the only one working. However, he knew Fran had worked solo for periods of time while the rest of the crew was out tending to their Ranger duties. And she was also very understanding, once she found out their secret. But in any case, working solo had been done before. Casey figured it could be done again.

Luckily for Casey, things were starting off slow. The first five minutes went by and no customers showed up. Then, Casey got a pleasant surprise when a young man in black and a young woman in green walked in.

"Jarrod! Camille! What's up, guys?" said Casey from behind the counter.

"Hey, Casey," said Jarrod Richards. "How've ya been?"

"Good to see you, Casey" said Camille Leone. "How are you?"

"Not too bad," Casey replied. "Can I get you guys anything?"

"Well, now that you mention it, I am kind of hungry," said Camille.

"Maybe a couple of slices will do us good," said Jarrod.

"What would you like?" Casey asked.

"I'll go with a slice of white pizza," said Camille.

"I'll take a meat lover's slice, extra cheese," said Jarrod.

"Anything to drink?" Casey asked.

"Whatever you think goes well," said Jarrod.

"Same here," Camille agreed.

"Coming right up." Casey went to put the slices in the oven and take out the pizzas that he had already put in as Jarrod and Camille sat down at the table closest to the counter. "Shouldn't take too long, guys," Casey said to them as he gave them their water.

"Thanks, Case," said Jarrod.

"So how come you guys stopped here today?"

"Well, we figured we'd pay you a visit since you're working by yourself," Camille said. "It has to be hard on you right now."

"Tell me about it," groaned Casey. "Did they have to leave me by myself now of all times? I can't understand it. First Theo and Lily leave saying they're going on their lunch date…"

"Wait, don't Theo and Lily usually go on their date on Tuesdays?" asked Jarrod.

"That's what I was thinking. Then, R.J. leaves, saying he's gotta pick something up. I don't think it's a supply run, there wasn't one scheduled for today. So why did he leave? And why did Lily and Theo change their schedule? I don't get it."

Jarrod chuckled. "Well we talked to…oof!" He never got to finish his thought as Camille kicked him under the table. Luckily for her, Casey's back was turned and he didn't see it.

"What?" Jarrod whispered.

Camille shook her head and put her finger to the side of her nose. "Shh."

"Oh, right."

"Did you say something?" Casey asked.

"Uh… haven't a clue," Jarrod said.

"We can't figure it out, either," said Camille.

"A lot of help you guys are," Casey grumbled. Then he stopped. "Wait a second. How did you guys know I was working alone?"

"Umm, well…" Camille stammered.

"Let's just tell him," said Jarrod.

"Tell me what?" Casey demanded.

"Just that we ran into Lily and Theo on their way to their lunch date and they said they had a surprise for you when they got back," Jarrod said in a rush. "I really shouldn't have said anything."

"Way to keep a secret, Jarrod," Camille snarled, hands on hips.

"Secret surprise, eh?" Casey said with a grin on his face. "Can you tell me what it is?"

"Sorry, don't know," said Jarrod.

"Even if we did know, we wouldn't tell you," said Camille, "because then it wouldn't be a surprise."

"You're really gonna go there?" Casey groaned. "They didn't give you any hints?"

"Nope. Sorry," Jarrod said.

"Can't help ya here," Camille said plainly.

"Ah man," Casey grumbled. Suddenly a buzzer went off in the kitchen. "Oh. Pizza's ready. I'll get it." Casey headed to the back to get his friends' pizza.

"Nice save there," Camille whispered to Jarrod.

"What can I say?" he whispered back. "Acting was always one of my fortes. It helped me when I was possessed by Dai Shi."

"How could acting help in that situation?"

"It makes the enemy believe you're in league with them. An enemy within is better off believing he's in control when he's really not."

"Did R.J. tell you that one?"

"Master Mao did, actually."

"When?"

"Soon after Dai Shi was defeated. Master Mao wanted to…"

"What did Master Mao want?" Casey had come back with the pizza. "Here you go guys." He handed a slice of meat lover's pizza to Jarrod and a slice of white pizza to Camille.

"Thanks, Casey," said Camille.

"Master Mao wanted to talk to me about my experience with Dai Shi controlling my body and how it altered my life," Jarrod continued. "I told him all that I remembered: what he did, what was going through my mind, and how I coped."

"So how did you do it, anyway?" Casey asked him.

"It was tough," Jarrod said with a shudder. "I still have nightmares every once in a while. But I found a way to break free when he wasn't in his full state of control."

"And it's a good thing you did," said Camille. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't saved me."

"We're glad to have you back on our side, Jarrod," Casey said with a smile.

"Thanks."

Suddenly the door opened and a bunch of kids rushed in followed by a couple of adults.

"Looks like you've got some company." Camille grinned.

"You'd better get on that," Jarrod told Casey.

"I hear you. Be right back." Casey headed off to where the kids were sitting.

The kids were a soccer team that had just lost a game to a team from Orange River. They lost it big, too: Five to nothing. The kids' coaches had taken them to J.K.P. to celebrate a good effort, though. The coaches ordered six pizzas; two pepperoni, two mushroom and two cheese.

This was not what Casey had expected. He had a couple pies ready to come out of the oven about now, but this was a little much for him. He told the soccer team it would take a while and got the drinks for them.

Then the door opened and another group came in. These were a group of baseball players fresh out of practice. They ordered three pizzas. Casey had just finished putting the soccer team's pizzas in the oven when he took their order.

"Hmmm…" Casey said to himself as soon as he got back to the kitchen. "Looks like I'm going to be busy. I'd better put a couple extra pies in the oven just in case. Casey did just that as soon as he was finished with the baseball guys' pies.

The customers just kept on coming. A couple here, a group there, another bunch over there; no single customers, they always came in packs. (Like wild dogs,) Casey thought, (or like Rinshi.) And they came hungry. A couple would only order drinks, but most ordered at least one slice each. In a matter of an hour, the place was filled to capacity. Casey was working as fast as possible, but he couldn't fill all the orders quickly enough and the customers were starting to get impatient.

"Ugh…I can't take this!" Casey groaned as soon as he had gotten back to the kitchen for the 50th time. "Why did they have to leave me alone now of all times? I don't know how Fran did it!" He went to put yet another pizza in the oven. "Oh, man, R.J. is gonna have my head for this. Half the customers must've walked out by now…"

"Not true, they're all still here."

Casey did a double take. "Camille? Jarrod? How'd you guys get back here?"

"You left the counter unattended. So we hopped it." Jarrod grinned.

"We explained the situation to the customers," Camille told Casey. "We told them we swear by this place as having the best pizza in town. And if you couldn't come through, they could give J.K.P. all the negative publicity they wanted."

"Thanks, guys," said Casey with relief. "I really hate to do this, but I'm gonna need some help. Do you guys have any experience making pizza?"

"A little," said Camille. "R.J. taught us a little bit a few months ago."

"What about running cash registers?"

"Leave that to me," said Jarrod. "I know how Camille gets around machines."

"I'm learning," she scoffed.

"Good, you're hired," said Casey.

"What do we get?" asked Camille, hands on hips.

"Your meal's on the house today for starters."

"I'm listening…"

"…and for as long as I can swing it with R.J."

"That's good…" said Jarrod.

"But…" said Camille.

"All right," Casey huffed. "I'll give each of you half my pay for the day. Is that enough?"

Jarrod and Camille looked at each other and nodded.

"That's what I was looking for."

"Works for me."

"All right, thanks guys. Now let's get to work."

The combined efforts of the three were enough. With all three of them taking turns waiting tables, making pizzas, and ringing up customers' bills, the rest of the lunch rush went by as smooth as silk.

"That's the last one," said Camille as she rang up the check. She had become quite proficient at working the cash register in the last hour.

"Finally," said Casey as he wiped down table 16. "We did it."

"You owe us, Casey," said Jarrod.

"Big time," Camille added.

"I know, I know. I'll come through, I promise." Casey slumped down in a chair. "That… was… brutal. I'd rather battle both of you than go through that again."

"Oh?" said Jarrod.

"What did I say?"

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Camille asked Jarrod.

"That somebody needs to be taught a lesson? I believe so."

"Guys, you're scaring me…" Casey said.

Camille and Jarrod then got up and started walking slowly towards Casey. "What are you guys doing?" Casey said, bewildered by his friends' actions. But Jarrod and Camille kept coming, circling around him with chuckles escaping their faces. Casey figured the best thing to do was back away slowly, but they kept coming. They rushed him; he hopped over the bar to the kitchen. They followed. Casey ran around the table but tripped over a pot and crashed to the floor.

Jarrod jumped on him and put him in a headlock, while Camille searched through the refrigerator. "This should do…" she thought out loud as she took some eggs out. She approached the headlocked Casey with a big grin on her face. "Sorry, Casey, but Jarrod and I negotiated this before we got here. You need to be taught a lesson and we're the teachers." Camille cracked an egg and prepared to dump the yolk on Casey's head, but Casey slipped out Jarrod's headlock and the yolk ended up on Jarrod's head instead.

"Ha! Now's who's got egg on their face?" Casey gloated. "Or, should I say, in their hair?"

"Smooth one, Camille," said a very annoyed Jarrod.

"Sorry," said Camille. "But I've heard egg can help a person's hair look healthy," she said giggling.

"Really?" said Jarrod sarcastically. "Then maybe you should practice what you preach," he said as he cracked an egg over her head. "Your hair looks even better than usual."

"Ugh…" Camille growled. "How dare you!"

Casey cracked up. "I love it! So much for teaching me a lesson. Now you've gone and wasted an egg each. You know you're gonna have to…"

"Shut up, Casey!" they both yelled, and each broke an egg on his head.

"Oh, it's on now!" Casey grabbed a bag of flour from under the table and dumped it all over them. Then he proceeded to grab the rest of the eggs and run, but Jarrod rushed to the sink, turned on the spray hose and blasted Casey, forcing him to drop the eggs and leaving him soaking wet.

Camille was the one laughing now, but not for long, as soon the hose was turned on her. She quickly rushed over to Jarrod's position; as did Casey, and the three of them tried to grab the hose from each other, twisting, snarling, grabbing; until the hose ended up pointing at a man in purple, soaking him, too.

"Uh…oh…" Casey said, knowing he was in trouble now.

"Ooookay. Am I interrupting something?" asked the man in purple.

"I guess it's our fault, R.J.," said Jarrod. "We were trying to teach a lesson to Casey and things got out of hand."

"I can see, and feel, that," R.J. said. "Why are you two back here anyway?"

"I needed their help with the lunch rush," Casey explained. "I had to make a deal with them for them to help me out. It was too much for me to handle alone."

"Hmm… I see. So you temporarily hired them, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you could have made worse choices. They did help you through the lunch rush. But afterwards…"

"Yeah, we overdid it a bit," said Camille.

"Lily, Theo, c'mon in," R.J. said. The two other Pai Zhua Masters, who had been waiting outside, did as told.

"What happened in here?" Theo said, looking around with disdain on his face.

"This is a disaster area," Lily groaned. "It looks like a bunch of Rinshi hit it."

"Not them, just their ex-masters," Casey growled.

"Hey, you're not blameless in this, buddy," Jarrod growled back.

"Definitely not," Camille agreed.

"Guys, don't ever leave me alone again," Casey turned his attention back to Theo and Lily. "I had to make a deal with these guys so that they'd help me through the lunch rush."

"That was my fault, actually," said R.J. "To be honest I'm the one who set all this up. I had something to do, so I figured I would see if Casey could make good decisions in business like he could in battle. So I set it up so that Casey would be alone, and how he would react would determine on whether he passed or not."

"Well? How'd I do?"

"Casey, you did well, for the most part."

"I know where I messed up. Asking for help, right?"

"No, that's where you did your best. Jarrod and Camille were supposed to help you. I set it up that way. Theo and Lily were with me the whole time."

"Wait, what?"

"They were informed of the task that I was setting up for you. It was just coincidence that it was the lunch rush that I had to do what I had to do."

"So the only one not in on it was me, huh?"

"Not completely true. There were two other people not involved."

"Who?"

"I just picked them up."

"It looks like we missed the party, huh?" said a voice from outside the kitchen.

"R.J.," Casey asked, "What did you do today? Where did you go? Who did you pick up?"

"Who do you think?" said another voice. Then a young man in white and a young woman in orange entered the kitchen.

"Dom! Fran! You're back!" Casey said in shock.

"Yep, just got back today," Dominic said.

"We brought you all souvenirs," said Fran. "But it looks like the party started without us."

"You guys could've told me you were coming back. You could've sent a text or an e-mail or something," Casey said quickly.

"We figured we'd surprise you," said Fran. "Well, Dom did. I just went along with it figuring it be fun and besides I was kinda looking forward to seeing your faces…"

"BREATHE, FRAN!" Everyone else told her.

"I was hoping you'd be up to your neck in customers so we could charge in to the rescue," said Dom with a grin on his face. "Oh well."

"Yeah, well, you almost got your wish," Casey groaned. "If it hadn't been for Camille and Jarrod, I might not have made it."

"Well, now that we've got all that settled," said R.J., "Casey, you've got a little explaining to do. First, what were the terms you agreed on to get Jarrod and Camille to help you?"

"Free food for as long as I can swing it with you and half my pay for the day each."

"That seems fair." R.J. turned to Camille and Jarrod. "Since all J.K.P. employees get free food, how would you like to work here full-time? I could use the extra help."

"We get paid the same as everyone else, right?" Camille asked.

"Right."

"And same employee benefits go with that?" Jarrod asked.

"Of course."

Jarrod and Camille talked it over for a few seconds, and then nodded.

"All right. We're in," said Camille.

"You've got two new employees," said Jarrod.

"Excellent." R.J. turned his attention back to Casey. "Casey, you do take responsibility for this mess, being as they were under your supervision?"

"…yeah."

"Well, normally I'd have the destroyed supplies come out of your paycheck; but, to be honest I kind of expected something like this would happen, so no harm done. All you have to do is clean it up. Alone."

"…all right," Casey sighed.

"Unless, of course, someone wants to help him."

"I'll help," said Jarrod.

"Me too," said Camille.

"Thanks, guys" Casey said with relief.

"OK," said R.J. "We're closing up for the day to celebrate Dom and Fran's return. You three catch up when you're done. The rest of you guys, come up to the loft, I've got something special for you."