After Micah told Mr. Croystin about his idea, the latter was down to the core with it that he told all his employees to come to Burp-N-Burger the next day to try out Micah's new burger. They'll have a time of the day where the employees will try Micah's recipe since not many people are coming in at the moment. In the meantime, Micah returned to Loud kitchen to eat dinner with Lincoln and his family. Although he wasn't that really close with Lincoln's sisters, he was glad he was still acquainted with them on good terms.
After dinner, both Lincoln and Micah got into their night attire and began watching Kong: Skull Island in the former's room drinking some water bottles. As he watched with Lincoln, Micah was amazed as the story progressed. Whether its setting takes place in 1973, the intense action scenes, how some characters can become insane due to World War II effects, a good amount of people survived at the end, or how the World War II Lieutenant finally reunited with his wife and got to meet his adult son for the first time, the movie melted his heart to the core. Even though the movie's post-credits scene resulted in the later installments of the MonsterVerse franchise, those movies are to be watched for another time.
The boys then proceed to go to sleep in their respective sleeping areas, but not before Micah secretly gets his phone out and proceeds to text his sister on how sleeping over with Lincoln is going.
Micah: Hey Hannah, how's your night been?
Hannah: Oh it's good. It would've been better if I continued to sleep instead of waking up at 11:30PM!
Micah: Yeah, sorry about that. This is my first time being at someone else's place. It feels strange yet great at the same time.
Hannah: 'Sigh' It's fine big brother. I'm just glad to hear that you're enjoying yourself.
Micah: Thanks!
Hannah: So tell me, what made your time great over there. Other than meeting that white-haired kid's sisters.
Micah: Well, . . .I was able to make a new menu item for Burpin' Burger and I plan to show it to my boss and co-workers tomorrow.
Hannah: Oh nice, hopefully people will be persuaded to continue eating at your fast food restaurant rather than Stun Burger.
Micah: I hope it will. And of course, I also watched a monster movie called Kong: Skull Island. It's one of the best movies I have come to love in my opinion.
Hannah: . . .Well, I am gonna say that I'm glad you enjoyed that movie, but I'm gonna have to shatter you a little bit, you haven't seen many movies nor do you watch television often due to your devotion to work.
Micah: . . .
Hannah: Wait . . .you never told your pal about your personal life?
Micah: No, of course not! That's my privacy there!
Hannah: (groan) Let me rephrase that, you never told him about yourself?
Micah: No, I did. But Hannah, it's better that he doesn't know.
Hannah: Why not?! You can't keep hiding this.
Micah: Hannah! Please, it's for the best. Don't ever tell him this.
Hannah: 'Sigh' Fine, I'll respect your wishes . . .for now. I have to go to (Yawn) bed now.
Micah: Yeah same, See ya sis. I love you.
Hannah: Love you too.
After Micah puts his phone away, he slowly drifts to sleep in his sleeping bag before finally dozing off. He just hopes that things will turn out for the better so he can return to working smoothly.
(8:30 AM, June 2, 2022)
Girl Jordan and her friends had finished cleaning up the former's room out of pity for the former. After packing their belongings, they settled in the dining room wearing new day clothes and started eating buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup. They were made by Girl Jordan's parents as they wanted to thank the girls for spending time with their daughter.
As the girls were enjoying the pancakes, Christina finished hers quickly and secretly signaled Girl Jordan to do the same and meet her in the latter's bathroom. Girl Jordan did so and met up with the redhead girl at her destination a few minutes later.
Girl Jordan closes the door and makes sure no one is currently eavesdropping on them before facing Christina. "All right, cut to the chase. What do you want to talk about?"
Christina crosses her arms and leans against the bathroom wall. "Ok. You know how you said that you'll go shopping with me after you ask your shining, white knight out?"
Girl Jordan's face turned bright red from her friend's small joke. "Well . . .yes, but don't just call Lincoln that! Calling him 'white knight' will just make me damsel in distress!"
"Well, you currently are one right now." Christina giggled, getting an angry yet blushing glare from her friend. "Anyway, I was thinking we should just shop for your attire now instead of waiting for later."
"What?! Why?!" Girl Jordan asked.
"Look, I know that we agreed last night to shop after you ask your crush out, but as I kept thinking it over, we might as well shop sooner. My parents said it's fine if I go."
Girl Jordan's blush vanished but kept her anger in place. "Give me one good reason why today is better than later."
Christina thought it over before answering. "Well, girls don't shop on the day they get back from a sleepover. So if we shop now, none of our friends, I don't know if Paige is one to you, will find out your head-over heels for Lincoln."
Girl Jordan blushed once more in embarrassment and looked away. "Stop talking as if I'm obsessed with Lincoln!" she said. "I only have a crush on him with genuine feelings attached."
The redhead girl shrugged her shoulders. "Alright. Alright. I'll stop the teasing for now." Christina stops leaning on the wall and looks straight at Girl Jordan. "So was my claim enough for you to be convinced?"
Girl Jordan groans in frustration. "Well you do have a point so . . .Fine, I'll ask my parents if they can take us shopping in the afternoon today and if they say 'yes', we can shop for semi formal clothes then."
"Semi?"
"I was thinking me and Lincoln's date should be at Jean Juan's French Mex Buffet, since you don't have to wear formal clothes there all the time you go. "
"But isn't that the same restaurant where Lincoln and that girl, Ronnie-Anne I think, went on a double date with their older siblings?"
The brunette shudders at that memory she thought she had forgotten. "That was different and not true romance. Don't ever get me started with that kiss they had. Ok?" She gets a response from Christina from the latter nodding her head. "They were only there for Lincoln to apologize to Ronnie-Anne for hurting her feelings behind her back regardless if five boys were making fun of him or not. Lincoln only needed to apologize to her so his eldest sister could get back together with her respective boyfriend. It wasn't really romantic if Lincoln truly didn't truly have feelings for Ronnie-Anne at all since they were just friends. And if you ask, it doesn't really make any sense for two people to date if their older siblings are already dating."
Christina took a moment to absorb all of the information her friend just said before speaking. "Yeah, I can definitely understand your logic there." While she herself didn't want to remember that double date either. It was for the best that she was helping the brunette get together with the boy she isn't interested in. Mainly because she doesn't want to associate with the white-haired boy ever again. "Well it looks like we're in an agreement now right?"
"I guess we are." Girl Jordan said. "Is there anything else you want to say?"
The redhead thought for a moment before finding a question to ask. "Oh yeah, and as long as we get to discuss other places you can go on a date with Lincoln at, I don't have any problem with Jean Juan's being the place you choose to go to."
"I can live with that." Girl Jordan grinned. "Now let's get back to the dining room, while I do need to see my friends out, my stomach keeps asking for more pancakes. Man, I'm really starving!" She wasted no time leaving the bathroom with Christina following behind her.
(12:00 PM, Burpin' Burger)
At the current hour, no one is present or ordering anything on the menu since many of their customers are still trying the products at Stun Burger. It made Micah blood fuel up a little bit knowing that the taste of Stun Burgers is really enticing people very well. He was only glad that he managed to create a recipe sooner before Burpin' Burger completely went bankrupt. He would hate it if the place he works at shuts down because of a new fast food joint rivaling right across the street from them.
Taking the opportunity at the moment, Mr. Croystin orders Micah to create his recipe for him and his employees and has Stella and Sasha close the front windows with newly built window blinds that were paid from some of the savings he had in store. To ensure that no one will try and spy on them, Rusty and Zack cover the drive through windows with soaked up newspapers, Grant barricades the open door since Mr. Croystin still needs to replace the A.C. for a better one, Clyde and Harry lock any remaining doors from the back, and Liam turns on some lamps he brought from his farm to maintain the brightness that was outside. Even though it's still very bright, they have to make sure that it looks active so no one from the outside would feel suspicious.
As soon as everyone made sure that no one from the outside would try to hear or get inside the restaurant, Mr. Croystin and his employees were scattered around the booths in the bright light waiting for Micah's burger. After twenty minutes of either waiting or conversing with each other, a sweaty Micah made himself present with Lincoln by his side carrying trays of the former's burgers to the front counter. While it's the same, Micah remembered to add a tomato slice into his recipe on the count of Lisa's review from last night knowing that it will make the burger a little juicy when you chew on it as well as making it slightly medium rare to have a little juice come out from one bite..
"Alright everyone," Micah called to everyone present. "You all obviously know why this secret meeting is happening right now so I'll just get to the point." He gestured his hands for everyone's attention to be on the burgers presented on the front counter. "With a lot of hard work as well as loads of sweat made from cooking, I present to you: Micah's classic. Now made with a juicy sliced tomato added in."
Everyone was confused for a second with 'Fry' raising his hand to speak.
Micah stopped him from even spitting out a single word. "I already had the Loud family have some of my masterpieces and got reviews from them in order to know what people like them would want for a juicy burger." Everyone understood what he meant now. "Now, I'd like for you all now to take a burger, eat it, and tell me how you feel about it."
Micah and Lincoln both watched as their co-workers and boss took a burger for each of them and began eating. After everyone was finished eating, the two boys sat on one side of a booth near the door that leads to the trash. Micah asked for each individual to sit across from them and express their opinions about his masterpiece while Lincoln had a clipboard and paper in hand writing what the interviewees said.
Of course, everyone had had their own opinions:
Liam: It was darn juicy and felt complete as a whole.
Clyde: I have no problem with the burger, but could give the customers some napkins since the sauce kind of drips a little.
Zach: I got no complaints with your masterpiece.
Stella: In my opinion, I'll give it a 9/10. It's good, it just needs a fountain drink to go with it.
Rusty: I love the mild spice, you should put your recipe on tv so the ladies can be convinced to come.
(Stun Burger)
Mr. Relgaz and some of his employees were staring out their restaurant windows at their rival restaurant, completely confused as to why there's newspaper on their window glass. "What in the hell are we looking at?"
His employees couldn't really come up with a good answer. "Maybe they think zombies would get in?" Mr Relgaz and his other employees look at him with disbelief. "What? It could happen." He gets his head whacked from the top by his boss.
(Burpin' Burger)
Sasha: Y-you've done an amazing job creating this burger and I hope to eat it again soon!
Harry: Don't get me wrong, your burger's nice. However, it can do better if french fries can have some of that sauce as well.
Caleb: It is good. But on the contrary, I needed to keep drinking water to wash down the spice since I couldn't handle it well. So maybe a drink should come with it so people won't burn their tongue that much.
'Fry': I'd say that the burger can make both the good cop and bad cop get along.
Micah and Lincoln stopped what they were doing and looked at him as if they spotted a ghost. The former blinked before coming back to reality. "Dude," he said, "What was that?"
"My opinion, what else?"
Lincoln looked into 'Fry''s eyes and can only see naivety inside them. "That's not really how the technique should be said."
"Technique?"
"Good Cop, Bad Cop aren't real people 'Fry'. It's a negotiation strategy used by two policemen to interrogate their opponent to their advantage to get the information they need out of them."
"Strategy? I thought it was two cops named Mutt and Jeff doing the interrogation."
"That's just the informal version of Good Cop, Bad Cop. Those names are nothing more than a psychological tactic that was used by the police in two opposing approaches."
'Fry' couldn't believe what he was hearing. "How is this possible?!"
Micah rolled his eyes in annoyance. "We really don't have time for this. This is getting us nowhere. NEXT!" He and Micah got back to interviewing.
Grant: It's a decent burger. Probably can be enough to become a recommended burger.
Mr. Croystin: A great burger created by a fine worker alright. I approve of it! Just tell me exactly how you make it later.
Any other co-worker of Micah had expressed their enjoyment of the hand-held food made for testing.
Micah sighs after listening to all the interviewees' opinions. "Man. I'm beat. Hey Lincoln, you got it all written down?"
"Every single word." Lincoln showed his clipboarded paper of what everyone had said.
Micah was glad that the interviewing was over. It's not that he didn't enjoy it, he just didn't think it wasn't something to be excited about. He then gets off from the booth and starts stretching, not minding that everyone is present in the same room. "Well, now that it seems that everyone is in agreement that we must add my recipe to the menu with some tweaks needed, shall I get started in showing Lincoln and Harry how to make it."
Mr. Croystin was near the counter and was the first to speak. "Actually, Micah, why don't you have them try making it at your home first before cooking it here?"
"Why? You all like it."
"Of course we do, but have to do some advertising first before we actually sell this experiment of yours. Always let people know what's about to come at a certain time and place instead of just throwing it out of the blue. Right?"
"Huh . . . You do actually have a point there."
"And also, we can't let our competition know about your burger before it's even released. That will just make it more difficult to stay alive." Mr. Croystin wipes some sweat from his forehead from the moistness coming from the enclosed room they were all in. "Besides, the main aspect of why your burger is great is because of the sauce you add in."
"The sauce? But that's easy to ma-" Micah was cut off from Lincoln covering his mouth.
"Yeah, don't end it with you saying the ingredients of how to make it man." Lincoln's friend nodded before taking his hand off his mouth.
Mr. Croystin rubs his eyes while signing in annoyance. "Micah, you're a great fast food employee, but sometimes you get on my nerves without even trying." Micah looks down with a little guilt in his eyes. "Back on the subject, it's the sauce that makes your burger juicy and good, but we can't advertise it on tv due to one reason."
Micah answered quickly. "Because Stun Burger will find out?"
"Well yes, but actually it's because we currently don't have the budget for it since most of our customers are across the street and I plan to use our business savings to get a new A.C.." That made some employees feel a bit down.
Stella thought for a moment before coming up with an idea. "Why don't we use fliers to advertise instead?" Her suggestion caught everyone's attention. "We can use the blank papers from Mr. Croystin's office to print fliers so we can let people know of Micah's upcoming burger in a way without Stun Burger knowing. Also, it would be best if we can get a guy who can be our human billboard to attract people who are driving by for tomorrow."
"That's a smart idea Stella." Lincoln said. "Can we try that Sir?" he asked Mr. Croystin.
The Burpin' Burger manager thought of the strategy Stella made. He wasn't sure if Stun Burger wouldn't be aware of this. They're trying to keep their fast food restaurant afloat against a branch of a rising, successful fast food chain that has made many other restaurants go bankrupt. They're making a huge gamble with one new menu item that has a very high chance of becoming a letdown for them. However, they really didn't have much of a choice since they're on the brink of defeat anyway so they might as well have faith and give it a shot.
"Alright Ms. Zhao," Mr. Croystin reluctantly sighs. "We'll go with the fliers and see how that goes." He then looks at Grant with a firm look on his face. "Grant, go to my office and start making a picture for the fliers on my computer."
"Got it." Grant wasted no time rushing towards Mr. Croystin's office.
Just remembering something, Mr. Croystin turned towards Lincoln. "Loud, can you get anyone on the outside to go and spread the fliers?"
Lincoln grinned with confidence. "I know just the person who can do that." He takes his phone out and goes to a secluded area in the restaurant to make the call.
"And the rest of you, clean up the newspaper and other messes we made to barricade the place."
As everyone remaining started cleaning up, Micah instead went to his manager. "Hey Sir," Micah asked, "Who are you gonna have as the human billboard?"
Mr. Croystin actually forgot about that. "Hmm, I'm not sure yet. All my employees are assigned to their designated spot, so I'm gonna have to-" He was cut off by Sasha shrieking for a bit as everyone saw that she was frightened by a teenager with blonde hair right outside Burpin' Burger. "Hey! What's the meaning of this!?"
The teen was embarrassed that he caught the fast food employees' attention via scaring one of them. "Sorry about that. I just came by to get some food here I thought I could use right about now. I mean, Burpin' Burger's my first pick but there were newspapers on the window glasses so I didn't know if you guys were open or not."
Micah grinned at Mr. Croystin, who reluctantly knew what he was thinking, and the latter walked towards the windows that separated him and the teen while Sasha continued taking down newspapers.
"So kid, you like Burpin' Burger?"
The teen nodded his head quickly for an answer. "Oh, I love Burpin' Burger. I would never try Stun Burger since it destroys other fast food restaurants."
Mr. Croystin smirked on how devoted he is to the fast food restaurant. "Hey kid, what's your name?"
"Otis, Sir. It's Otis."
"Well, Otis, I would love to have a talk with you which I believe will be worth your while. What do you say?"
"Oh, I'm honored. I'm in!"
(3:00 PM, Ketcham Park)
Chloe and Emma were walking down the sidewalk near the streets drinking water bottles they bought not so long ago. They were heading towards the bike rack where they locked their bikes on
Emma took a sip before looking at her best friend. "Hey Chloe, you gonna try talking to Clyde soon?"
Chloe grinned before taking a sip from her water bottle. "You know it. Now that there's not much happening throughout the summer right now, I'll be able to hang out with Clyde more than I did in school. I hope to create more memories with him like how I did once back in 5th grade."
"That's good," Emma said. "I can see that you two will get along pretty well."
"Thanks Emma," Chloe said. "Speaking of which, can I ask you something?"
"Sure. What is it?"
The two made it to the bike rack and Emma drank the rest of her water before throwing the bottle to a nearby trash can. "You know Christina, right?" Chloe said as she puts her water bottle on her bike cup holder and looks at Emma in confusion.
"You mean that redhead girl who was hanging out with Girl Jordan lately. What about her?"
"Yeah, I think that might be it." Chloe pointed out.
Emma unlocks her bike from the bike rack. "Those two aren't exactly what you call friends and yet they're interacting with each other more than they do for the rest of us." That last bit had caught Chloe's attention.
"Those girls are getting along so well right now that it might be for some secret plan they're making."
Emma nods in agreement as her best friend unlocks her bike and gets on it. "Maybe if we go find them, they'll probably even tell us what they're doing."
"Chloe," Emma gets on her bike, almost ready to leave soon. "As much as I want to find out too, we don't know where they even are-" She was interrupted by a limousine that was driving by them real closely. To them, the girls squinted hard to shockingly find Girl Jordan sitting in the limousine with Christina by her side. As soon as the limo drove past them, the girls immediately wasted no time riding their bikes to wherever they're going.
"Let's follow that limo." Emma commanded. "Maybe we can get answers from them after all."
"True," Chloe agreed. "It questions me as to why the two are being driven in the same limousine. Something's definitely up and I intend to find out what it is."
The two girls proceeded to tail Girl Jordan and Christina to where they're going but still kept their distance away. Otherwise, the richer girls will notice they've been followed. Hopefully they'll get to the bottom of this soon.
So yeah, Otis is now in this story. I wanted to put him in because it felt right to have a canon Burpin' Burger employee in this story.
I initially wanted Girl Jordan and Christina to shop in this chapter, but I realized it might be dragged if I do. That will happen in the next chapter.
I hope you still enjoyed the chapter.
