Chapter 20: Interesting Tactics

Maya's POV:

You know, I love instant noodles and such, but after eating them…3 times a day…for days on end…it gets a little bland.

A loud pounding on my door interrupted my e-mail to my parents. I open up the door and Luna comes in, dragging in Jill and her crutches.

"Look Maya, are you going anorexic or something?! Every time you come out here it's to get some Mr. Noodles and some boiling water, then you just go back into your little cabin, and camp out and watch anime! What happened to going out and tasting foods?! We're going to get you through this Maya, me, Jill, and you! And if you have any other people who you want to help you, I'll take them along with me and we'll have the best time, and you'll realize how delicious food can be again! Seriously Maya, I'm serious, you don't need to starve yourself for anything, or anyone!" she yells.

I sigh. "Luna, I'm really not in the mood today."

"See?" he says, shaking Jill's arm. "I told you, she's delusional, she's absolutely crazy. We've got to get her some real food. You stay here, you'll be the leverage!"

"What are you talking about Luna?" Jill asks, looking worried.

"You're the sob-story of this operation! You've just got to stay here and it's not like she'll put you out of anything, I mean, you're on crutches!"

"I thought you wanted me to come along so we could help her!"

"Yea and we will, just as soon as I get my hands on some really awesome food!"

I turn to scowl at the two, still lingering in my doorway. I open my mouth to say something, but Luna beats me to it.

"No need to waste your words Maya dear! I'm just going to drop Jill off here for a moment, and then I'll pick her up when I'm done! You know, can't just leave her behind! I've got errands to run, people to see, but being with Jill will just slow me down and stuff! So, I'll be back! See ya1"

Luna pushes Jill, who flails awkwardly. I run to catch her and scowl at Luna, who has run out of the room and shut the door.

"Sorry about all of this," Jill says, blushing and refusing to meet my eyes. I help her stable herself on the crutches.

I sigh. "It's no big deal."

Jill looks at me thoughtfully. "She means well," Jill says, shifting to sit on the bed. "She's just worried about you, we all are."

"I can take care of myself," I snap.

Jill isn't fazed. "Well of course you can take care of yourself, that's why you're here! But…you just don't seem yourself."

"How would you know anyway?" I scowl. Who did this girl thing she was. It hadn't even been a week and she thought that I was all giggles and laughter? How dare she make assumptions about me?! "No one is always happy!"

"I know that," Jill says, smiling at the floorboards. "But you seemed different to all of us. You were genuinely happy, and definitely passionate about food."

"Well that was stupid! It was time for me to grow up!"

"That's not true Maya. Being passionate about food made you who you were. It made you happy, it made you ecstatic, and maybe you were weird, but so what? We respected you for loving what you did! Now, now you just seem sad about…well…almost everything."

"There's nothing too amazing to be happy about okay? That's it."

"Who are you trying to convince Maya?" I ask. "Me? Or yourself?"

I look at her. This girl was on crutches. She definitely hadn't made all the right decisions in her life. So how could she tell me that what I was doing was wrong? How could she tell me that I wasn't happy, or heading in the wrong direction? I tried to be logical, tried to reason with her, but to no avail. No matter what I tried to fight her reasoning with, it all came down to me, being too ashamed of failure to go out and do something about it.

"What if you're no good at what you love? Then you should just give up right? It's no use trying to do something that you'll fail at no matter what. I'm just trying to figure out what else I'm good at, but it turns out…I'm not good at anything at all." I ask.

"That's not true Maya! You were good at cooking, because you loved it! I mean, I was a rancher. And I sucked. I had this ginormous plot of land full of weeds and boulders. And I'd throw my seeds all over the place and forget to water them for days on end. But you get better! Everything changes eventually; all it takes is a little bit of patience, and a lot more faith in yourself. You were so passionate, what made you give up?"

I laugh, in spite of myself. "A reality check."

"From who?"

Loud voices argue outside the corridor.

"Luna I wasn't making this for you!"

"Come on Chase, you're a gastronomical genius! You can whip up one of these in like three seconds! Don't you care about the well-being of the chefs in training?"

"What the heck are you talking about Luna?! Have you gone crazy or something?!"

"No Chase, I'm not crazy. Hasn't anyone ever told you how to talk to a lady?"

"Yea Luna and they also taught me that if I see someone who looks like they should be put in a mental asylum to NOT give into what they want!"

"Wrong! If you see a random robber on the street who wants to grab your purse, then you give them the purse to avoid conflict with them!"

"Too bad I don't actually have a PURSE!"

"Dude, put things in context. Right now, the purse is the food. And I need the food. I'll be the burglar. You can arrest me later; I just need this now, and in order for me to accomplish my goal!"

"But you pose no threat to me!"

"Chase, I swear, if you don't give me this stupid buffet right now, I'm going to kick you so hard…"

I fling open the door. "What the heck is going on out here?!"

Luna grabs a buffet cart from Chase, wheels it into my room and slams the door on his face, locking it as she does.

"LUNA COME ON IT TOOK ME LIKE AN HOUR TO MAKE ALL OF THAT, AND I NEED IT!"

"This is for the greater good Chase! Sorry!"

"What did you do?!" I demand.

"Luna?" Jill calls out, looking at the buffet.

"Let's eat, guys!"

"Except there are no plates, no forks, no table…" Jill comments.

"Right! Hold off the idiot by the door okay?"

Luna shoots through the door again and Chase bustles in, taking in the sight.

"Hey Chase," Jill says weakly.

"Okay, I'm going to take this, and if you guys object, you can tell me now!" Chase says, taking hold of the buffet table. I turn away from him, unable to meet his eyes. He doesn't even realize how much I've changed.

"You would steal from a girl on crutches and an emotionally detached girl? You are a cold-hearted villain!" Luna exclaims, shutting the door on him. She sits by it so that Chase can't open it unless he throws her away from the door.

"Oh come on Luna! Seriously, I need this stuff, and even if I didn't, I'd need to actually go and make some MORE!"

"No, actually this works out pretty well! We're having a convention for Maya's anorexia!" Luna announces.

Jill presses a palm to her face and I stiffen, and peek at Chase's reaction.

He's staring straight at me incredulously. "Is this because of what happened a couple days ago?"

I redden instantly.

"Ooh-la-la, what happened there?" Luna asks, moving the cart closer towards me.

"Nothing," I mutter. "This is so stupid. I'm not anorexic you guys, if I was, I wouldn't be eating."

"You aren't eating. Instant noodles every day is definitely not eating," Luna chides.

"Hey, if you were a starving African child and I offered you some instant noodles, you'd eat it up in a heartbeat!" I challenge.

"But we're in Paris," Luna says, narrowing her eyes. "What did you come here for Maya? And why do you need us to remind you of that?"

"You're insane!" I exclaim. "I'm not anorexic, and it's not your problem if I'm trying to find a new passion! Maybe I'll take up the language or something!"

"Maya, what is this really about?" Chase asks his eyes boring into mine.

"Fine! You really want to know?! I'm a failure at whatever I try to with food! I'm a failure, and that's never going to change! I only put people at risk when I try and operate a stupid oven. I'm not going to be selfish and keep putting everyone at risk because I couldn't handle an Easy-Bake Oven!" I shout.

Luna folds her arms across her chest. "Well now this is something we can work with."

Jill nods.

"You agree with them force feeding me stolen food?" I ask incredulously.

"It seems like the only way we're going to get through to you is if we rekindle your passion for food! And if it's one thing I can't stand, it's seeing my friends suffer when I can help!"

I sigh. "Jill, I understand that you want to help but there's nothing you can do right now. I'm over it!"

"Stop kidding yourself and eat this!" Luna says, shoving a spoon of something sweet in my mouth.

I swallow so I don't choke, and the sweet soup goes down my throat and warms my palate. Hmm, there must be some sort of jam in this, and definitely some parsley, and…is that cinnamon? No stop what are you doing?!

Why can't you just be normal and say, "Oh what delicious food!"

"What did you think?" Jill asks, leaning over.

I shrug. "Sweet soup? Sure."

"Oh come on, that's delicious soup!" Chase complains.

I shrug again. They continue to pass me dish after dish, and I shrug off their delicious tastes and slump on the floor, exhausted from lying. I could still identify every ingredient, every taste. But skills like that meant nothing when you can't actually cook.

"Come on Maya!" Chase says aggravated. "Just try this one, and tell me honestly if you hate it that much!"

He shows me the Herb Dish, shining and smelling delicious. I peek over at Jill and Luna, who are stuffing their faces with the cakes and pastries. No one's paying attention except Chase, except the person who'd witnessed my fails, and who knew just how much I loved this food. There was no way I could lie to this guy in particular.

"O-okay," I stutter, cutting a piece of the fish and sliding it into my mouth. The herbs gave off not only a great taste, but an exquisite punch of flavour bursting all over my mouth.

"How is it?" he asks, looking hopeful.

"It's…okay," I say, lying through my teeth.

Chase lurches forward and puts his hands on my hands, leaning in close to my face. "Your lies are written all over your face Maya. You think I don't know that? I just want to hear what you have to say about the dish. Please?"

I exhale. His palms are sweaty. "You tricked me! You knew this was my favourite dish! You prepared it especially for me so that I'd crack to its deliciousness! EVIL!"

Chase smiles. "I'VE DONE IT GUYS!" Chase exclaims.

"YAY!" the two girls exclaim groggily, their mouths full of cake.

Chase's eyes widen. "Oh no. You two ate all of it? I have time to make 1 dish! 1! How am I supposed to win the contest with one dish?!"

"You're only supposed to submit one dish, stupid," Luna gawks.

"I know genius, but we find out what utensil to use, and I would've picked one of the 6 dishes I made!"

"Then go figure out which one it is and we'll re-cook it."

We bolt out of the room, Jill more gingerly. Chase flies down the hallway and grabs the paper, scanning it quickly. He turns around and bolts in the other direction, to the kitchen. Jill limps back the other way, panting heavily.

"What is it Chase?!" Luna calls.

"Cutting board!" he calls back. "Time for the second round of our science experiment Maya!"

"What?" I exclaim, stopping in my tracks. Jill catches up to me, panting.

"You didn't think I could do this by myself did you? That was a huge experiment! If you know every ingredient, maybe you can tell me, scientifically, what was missing!"

We pile into the kitchen, and Chase sets out the ingredient list.

"Fish. Let's get some Tarpon," I say.

Chase's eyes go wide. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get your hands on a one tarpon?"

I smirk at him. "I'll be back in 20 minutes, or less. Get everything else ready! Use purple and indigo herbs, they bring out each other."

I sprint from the room and roam around the streets, then hop on a bus and run to find my father's old fish store.

Chase's POV:

"How do you know it's done?" Luna asks, sticking her nose above the pot.

"When you take the cover off and the steam burns your face off," I say.

"Whoa, as soon as Maya leaves you're back to the old moody-broody chef," Luna says. "Interesting."

"Sure thing, at least I don't change back into an insensitive rude toad as soon as I'm around the mayor's son."

Luna reddens at that. "Who told you that atrocious lie?"

"Nobody had to tellme Luna. It's blatantly obvious with all your googly eyes," I comment, taking the herbs out and preparing the dish. I can't do much without that fish though. I check my watch. She's supposed to be here in 10 minutes.

Come on Maya.

"What do you mean googly eyes?!" Luna asks.

I sigh. "Luna, just forget it okay? It was a joke, a comeback, and a diss, whatever! I I'm just stressed out today alright? "

"No, you're lying!"

"Why do you think that?"

"Because, you're not the first person to tell me something like this and I want to know why people think it!"

I roll my eyes. "Luna, did you ever stop to wonder if people were actually pondering about your love life all night long instead of their own lives? Look, people are trying to see if the rumors are true, so they're going to keep bugging you until you grow up and do something about it! Stop talking to him, or stop caring about what other people think!"

"But we're not dating so-"

"So it shouldn't bother you!"

Just then Maya bursts through the doors holding a giant bag of fish. The stench is incredibly thick.

"Maya!" I exclaim, wrapping her in a hug without thinking it. "Oh what am I doing?!"

I grab the fish and together, we start preparing them. We wash, cut, clean, and season them, then bake them with the herbs. May helps out, and Jill and Luna take notes and watch it happening. Eventually they end up playing some music to keep us calm.

Maya doesn't complain about not being able to cook. She follows my hand movements and follows my instruction. Finally, we pull out the dish, which looks big, and smells divine.

"Done," she says triumphantly.

"Now we just have to get it to the contest!" I say. I cover the dish in silver in and we rush back to the cooking arena across the street. I enter it into the contest and we watch the judging panel taste each dish individually.

Finally they come to ours.

"Never before have I tasted a fish this tropical, yet free of conflicting tastes! The herbs go delightfully well! If you mind me asking, which fish is this?"

"Tarpon, sir," I reply. "It's from Toucan Island originally."

"How did you acquire such a rare king fish?" the chef asks.

"My father owns a famous fish store in Paris a couple blocks away. That's where we bought the fish."

"So the dish belongs to the both of you?"

"Well I-," Maya begins.

"Yes it does!" I say, cutting her off.

"Well, it is a most excellent dish. I have made my decision. The winner of the cooking competition and the $300 dollar prize goes to Chase Matthews and…"

"Maya Andrews," she says, blushing.

Everyone cheers and they hand us both a big check. They take pictures and I smile triumphantly at our dish.

"See how well that went?" Luna asks, as we sit in the board room eating the last bits of victory cake.

"Hmm?"

"Your fish, your passion and history with fish and cooking, it helped us win the contest. Now you're $150 richer!" I tell her, sliding an arm casually around her shoulder. "Thanks Maya."

She ducks her head down. "It's no big deal, I didn't…actually do much."

"Are you kidding me? I used up the last of the fish on that dish we ate in your room. And it still wasn't as good! Professional chefs were at that contest. We're just amateurs, and because of you, we managed to beat all of them!" I tell her.

She smiles at me, and I smile back. Perhaps Maya wasn't the best chef yet. But she had a dedication and a drive that everyone could learn from…maybe even me.

Author's Note:

So I decided it was time for an really long Maya chapter! I really like this one! YAY! Sorry about the long wait, too many geography tests to study for -_-

Also, if you were wonderng where our other characters were in this chapter, you shall find out soon enough ;)

~AudaciousAdventure