Readers: :) Please enjoy~

Chapter Five: The Weekend

Mrs. Evans entered Sarah's Café, placed her purse in the cubby, and threw on her apron. Smiling at the few early noon guests in the restaurant, Julianna pushed open the kitchen door. As she was washing her hands in the sink, she caught sight of Mrs. Hawkins elbow deep in pancake batter. "Morning, Sarah!"

Jumping, Sarah Hawkins spattered some of the pancake mixture on herself. "Julianna, I didn't hear you come in. How was your dinner?" she asked as she searched for a towel with which to wipe the batter off of her arms.

"It was great," Julianna replied cautiously. The dinner part of the evening was what Sarah had asked about, so Julianna's response wasn't really a lie.

Sarah wiped off her hands and returned to stirring the thickening batter. "I heard some kind of commotion coming from out there shortly after Jim went to get your dishes. When I asked Jim about it later, he was pretty vague. Just said that one of the customers spilled water on herself," she stated without lifting her eyes from the bowl of mixture. It was obvious Sarah was pinning for information.

"Oh, really?" Julianna asked in surprise. She reached for a pan hanging over the stove, not about to let on more than Sarah needed to know.

"According to Jim." Sarah poured the batter onto a griddle.

Julianna cracked a few eggs in a frying pan, pretending to be oblivious. Sarah finally glanced over, disappointed in not getting a response. She studied Julianna, hard at work with her eggs Benedict. Then it occurred to Sarah that something wasn't right. "When I hired you, you said you'd come in late on Saturdays due to Church, but you're here. Not that I don't believe you. I just wondered how you got here for the lunch shift so quickly."

"Church started at nine forty-five. I also learned long ago how to be a multi-tasker."

Sarah laughed.

The two of them continued cooking, and there was silence for a few moments. Sarah flipped a pancake, and Julianna seasoned her eggs, despite her being preoccupied with her thoughts of the night before. There was that fleeting moment between Kayley and Jim that had signaled something. Yes, they knew each other, as Kayley even claimed. Yet, there was something more to it; something underlying the surface. And it bothered Julianna. She had to know more about Jim.

"How old is Jim?" Julianna tried to ask as nonchalantly as possible.

"Seventeen."

"Ah. Kayley's seventeen as well." Julianna tried to hide her troubled expression by concentrating on flipping eggs.

Sarah Hawkins smiled slyly. "Maybe we should get them together for a playdate," she chortled.

Julianna mentally cringed at her dumb mistake of soliciting Kayley's age. "Whoops..." In response to Sarah, Julianna smiled but didn't say anything.

Just then an idea popped into Mrs. Hawkins' head; Julianna could see it written all over Sarah's face. "Oh goodness, what now?" she asked herself in exasperation. Yet she kept smiling and tended to her eggs.

"Where is Kayley?"

"Brooding in her room," she answered promptly, unthinkingly. And then she realized she had made another critical error, and it was too late to fix it. "Uh-oh. Why can't I learn to keep my mouth shut? No wonder Kayley runs into such trouble; she inherited my horrid blabber mouth!"

Sarah shot Julianna a look of concern. "Oh, what happened?"

"Uh, she does that," she replied, fumbling with her spatula. "She says it's meditation." Julianna shrugged indifferently.

Sarah poured more batter on the griddle. "Well, I was thinking that during the weekends you could bring her down here to work a few shifts. And that way she and Jim could hang during breaks. She's such a sweet girl; I think that just being around her would really help Jim with his attitude and behavior issues. She'd set an example."

Julianna nodded thoughtfully, though she was really wondering if Kayley would hate her for the rest of her life if she allowed that to happen. Her two thoughtless slips of the tongue that morning had already gotten her into enough trouble as it was.

For some odd reason, suddenly, out of nowhere, it donned on Sarah that something still wasn't right with Julianna working there that morning. "Julianna, you're not supposed to be here!"

Julianna peered at her in confusion.

"You're supposed to be waitressing!"

Julianna was so frazzled from the previous night that she had forgotten her own job! She face-palmed herself. "Oh, you're right. Let me finish these eggs and then I'll get right to it!"

O~o~O

Having cooked the ordered eggs Benedict, Julianna did just as promised. As she was clearing plates from a table, one of the customers enthused, "These were the best eggs I've ever had. Please give the chef my compliments—wait, better yet, could you go get the manager? I would like to inform her of what a marvelous job the chef did with these eggs; in itself the cook deserves a pay raise!"

Blushing, Julianna carried the plates to the kitchen and dumped them in the sink. "Uh, Sarah, Table 13 would like to meet you."

And so Sarah departed the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a confused smile on her face. "They love the eggs Benedict. Quite frankly, despite all the things I can cook, I've never cooked great eggs—Don't tell Jim, because for some reason unbeknownst to me he raves about them.

"Julianna," she said, getting back on topic, "How would you feel about a promotion? Full-time sous-chef?"

Julianna couldn't shake Sarah's hand fast enough.

Kayley sat on the edge of her Color Me Purple bed. Book in lap, she was absorbed in a handful of poems by Rudyard Kipling. Finishing one, she sighed contentedly and placed her chin on her hand as she looked around her room. She flipped the book closed and stood up, straightening her navy "I Love London" t-shirt. She wandered over to a box labeled "BOOKS" and peeked inside. Having selected a historical novel of the fifth wife of King Henry VIII, she glided to her bed and delved into the 16th century lives of one unlucky girl and one of England's most notorious, infamous kings.

Jim rode his skateboard to Mullaly Skate Park. Admiring the set-up, he wondered if he should ride the tube or the brand new, gigantic half-pipe that dominated the skate park. He decided to start with the tube and save the big air moves for last.

Pushing himself forward, Jim quickly picked up speed. Zooming into the tube, he ascended the circular wall and completed a 360 degree loop. That never got old. He did it a few more times, each loop building up his adrenaline.

Soon he was ready for the half-pipe. He skated over and scaled the steep stairs to the top, where he then impatiently waited his turn. After a few bike and skateboard junkies had gone—one of the tattooed skateboarders losing balance off a jump and skidding to the bottom in utter mortification—it was Jim's turn. He was never more ready. Jim pushed off and sped down the half-pipe, wind blowing back his hair. Suddenly he climbed the other side of the half-pipe and was literally soaring through the air, spinning and twisting. He had never felt such exhilaration. He loved it more than anything. He hit the half-pipe with a perfect landing and soon found himself back at the push-off point.

As he caught his skateboard, he heard one of the other skaters mumble, "Show-off." Jim smirked to himself. Half-ignoring the gawks he was receiving, he sat on his skateboard and waited to go once again.

After spending nearly an hour on the half-pipe, he decided on going home and making himself lunch. On his way out, he overheard two dudes lost in conversation as they headed to the tube. One, jet-black hair pulled back in a tight, greasy, shoulder-length ponytail, was raving on and on about his girlfriend. The other, a sandy-blond, shaggy-haired dude—the one who had called Jim a show-off—muttered something like, "Good for you." It seemed obvious that he didn't have a girlfriend. And was jealous.

Jim, in all honesty, couldn't have cared less about their little discussion. That is, until...

"Zach, like, why can't you find one?" Greasy Dude asked in an extremely hoarse voice.

"Dude, we're here to, like, have fun. So, like, get off this topic."

"Whatever, dude. You're so lame," he laughed harshly, waving his hand dismissively at Zach.

Silence followed. Then...

"There's this new, hot chica at school," Zach announced, his face lighting up.

Greasy Dude shot Zach an inquisitive look. "How hot? Muy caliente?"

Zach grinned. "Totally. Above and beyond, even. She's like, from some other country or somethin'. She's a bit clumsy, though. The other day she tripped on a chair and fell. It was kinda funny, but I felt bad for her too."

"No way..." Jim suddenly felt a void of hollowness and an unfamiliar sense of protectiveness. If they were talking about who he thought they were... Jim had to hear the rest of this. Sure, Kayley could be annoying, but still...he wouldn't stand by and let her get hurt. It simply wouldn't be ethical. Though, in reality, he had no idea what he would do if they were talking about Kayley. They had every right; it wasn't a violation. Unless they went too far. He changed course and took a detour toward the tube.

Greasy Dude laughed. "You're crushin' on a klutz!"

"I was thinking of askin' her out, y'know?"

Greasy Dude shook his head. "Just dun go leavin' your skateboard lyin' around. Like if you ever invite her to your house or somethin'." Greasy Dude elbowed Zach, obviously implying another meaning for her being there.

Jim rolled his eyes, disgusted. "Yeah, right, like she'd ever fall for that." He had to brush it off. Having heard enough, he diverted course to the direction of the exit and soon was rolling home, insincerely and sardonically muttering under his breath, "Good luck, buddy. You're gonna need it."