Chapter 4
When Sharpay and Ryan arrived in the kitchen that evening, they were twenty minutes late, having stopped for frappuccinos. Zeke was waiting for them. He was about their age and seemed pretty normal, which they were relieved about after their meetings with Coach Wildcat and Troy.
'You're late,' he said to them. 'I had to wash some of the dishes myself, and I burned the creme brulee.'
Ryan snorted.
'Creme brulee is a serious matter, Ryan,' Zeke said. He handed them both a plastic apron and took away the frappuccinos.
'But-' began Sharpay.
'You can have them on your break,' Zeke said.
'When they're warm?' Ryan was horrified.
'I'm not wearing this,' said Sharpay, holding the apron as far away from herself as possible.
Zeke shrugged. 'OK. But you're going to get a lot of dishwater on your clothes.'
Sharpay hastily pulled the apron over her head, but she didn't look happy about it.
Zeke directed them to their sinks and left them to it, as he had to get back to cooking.
Ryan didn't think he could even make it through an evening of this, let alone for however long this arrangement could last. He set to and began slowly washing his first plate.
What followed was eight hours of dishwashing, with one half hour break where they drank disgusting, lukewarm frappuccinos. By the time they could hang up their aprons and leave, they were both exhausted.
'You'll get better the more you do it,' Zeke said to them on the way out. Ryan hoped he wouldn't be doing it long enough to get good at it. He would never be able to unfeel wet mashed potato. He had a new appreciation for all the servants they used to have in America, although now he thought about it, they only had to load the dishwasher, not be it.
'Why isn't there a proper dishwasher?' he asked. Zeke just laughed and walked away. Ryan didn't see what was so funny about that but he was too tired to care.
Back in their 'apartment', Digby had set up an office in the far corner of the kitchen area. His office was one piece of lined paper and an ancient landline phone, which was plugged into the one socket in the kitchen. Every day that week when Ryan and Sharpay returned from the restaurant, he was sitting in the corner, yelling into the phone at people who used to work with his company, who by the sound of it now just wanted him to go away. Peaches was lying flat on her back on the sofa bed.
'I'm waiting for death, dear,' she told Ryan when he asked what she was doing.
It was almost enough to make Ryan and Sharpay want to go back to the restaurant. Back home, they had a different social event almost every day. Nothing seemed to happen at Bontins, and it was driving them all crazy. They never spent this much time sat at home together before and were starting to get on each other's nerves. Ryan had started wandering around Bontins alone just to have some alone time.
He had found a nice secluded bench to sit on where he just about got enough signal to check his Instagram, when he was rudely interrupted by a cheerful hello. He turned and saw a girl about his age smiling at him.
'You're in my spot,' she said. When Ryan didn't reply the smile dropped from her face. 'Uh, I was kidding, it's not like I own it…'
'My dad actually does kind of own it,' Ryan said. 'But...um...I didn't mean that you couldn't sit here. You can sit here.' He scooted over to make room.
The girl sat down next to him. She was small, and her feet didn't touch the ground.
'I'm Kelsi,' she said. 'You must be Ryan? I've heard a lot about you and your family.'
'Oh, all good I hope?' said Ryan. He was used to people talking behind his back but they didn't usually admit it.
'Uh.' Kelsi paused slightly too long. 'Yep!' She smiled. 'You know, you guys kind of rescued this place. Coach Wildcat was telling me about it. Nobody wanted to buy it and then your dad appeared. It definitely wouldn't be here without him.'
'What a tragedy.'
Kelsi shrugged. 'It's a job.'
'Why don't you just… get a different one?'
Kelsi glared at him. 'You've never applied for a job before have you?' she said.
Ryan shook his head.
'I didn't think so,' said Kelsi, but she was smiling. 'Bontins must be a bit different from what you're used to.'
'You could say that.'
After a few days of dishwashing, Ryan and Sharpay were almost adequate at it. They had established that Sharpay was the best washer, because she took her anger out on the grease, and Ryan was least likely to drop something while drying. Only about a third of customers were sending food back because of dirty plates now.
When they arrived for more of this on Friday morning, Zeke was already there, talking to another staff member. Sharpay thought he looked vaguely familiar but didn't know his name as he wasn't important enough for her to be bothered to learn it. He was carrying two dirty plates, so she figured he was a waiter.
'So don't tell any guests about this,' the waiter was saying to Zeke. 'This party is strictly for staff only. Oh, and it's bring your own booze. Taylor says we can't afford to take any from the kitchen this month.'
Sharpay turned to Ryan, stunned. Was someone having a party without them? She marched over to the two boys and inserted herself into the conversation.
'A party? That sounds like so much fun!'
Zeke and the other guy stared at her like they were rabbits in the headlights.
'When is it?' she asked when they didn't say anything.
The guy looked nervously at Zeke. 'You probably wouldn't want to come. It's not a flashy party like you're used to. Just a little gathering, really.'
'I love gatherings,' said Sharpay. 'The last party I went to was just a little gathering really, at my friend Taylor Swift's house!'
Zeke's eyes bugged out. Sharpay pouted at him.
'Uh, ok, well it's tomorrow night-'
'Dude!' said the other guy, disapprovingly.
'Jason, they already know there's a party,' said Zeke to the other guy. He turned back to Sharpay and said 'Bring your own booze, it's at the pool.'
Sharpay nodded and turned back to where Ryan was.
'There's a pool here?' he asked once Sharpay had relayed all of the information.
'That's not the important part, Ryan,' said Sharpay. 'We're finally going to a party again, it's been years!'
'It's been two weeks.'
'Years! I'm gonna claw my social life back one step at a time. It's just a shame there's not gonna be anyone who matters there.'
