One Slice (Part 2)

Megan and I crept in Jim's Bakery and turned on the lights, revealing the dark green walls and Elvis posters that framed the restaurant. Behind the counter was an old oven with a chimney top and a massive window with large amounts of paint splatter, creating small rays of sunlight.

"I'm gonna check behind the counter," Megan told me. "Let's see if they have any pre-made pizzas already."

"Alright," I replied, "I'll probably check with you."

We looked behind the counter, and to our surprise, we did find a pre-made pizza. It would have been perfect if the cheese hadn't turned black and blue from the mold.

"Ugh," I said with my tongue out in disgust, "We definitely can't use that,"

"Looks like we're gonna have to make our own," Megan said, half-excitedly.

"Do you even know how to make a pizza?" I asked her.

"I haven't done it before," she said, "But I've seen enough tutorials to understand what I'm doing. We just need one slice, right?"

"Right"

"Well, let's get started. I'll get the dough".

We used a triangle cutter to lift a single slice of pizza off of the dough. Megan sprayed it down with vegetable oil from the counter and spread tomato sauce all over it.

"We need cheese!" she cheered as if she were at a pep rally.

I replied, "I'm on it," and headed straight toward the block of cheese. Once I picked up the grater, I frantically swiped the cheese block across it, not caring that some of it fell on the floor. After I finished the task, I asked, "What else do we need?"

"Pepperoni!" Megan cheered again. I dashed back to the counter, but there were no traces to be found. But once I opened a cabinet, a bag of pepperoni fell square on my head. I quickly swooped it off, opened the bag, and tossed them on the pizza like frisbees. And there it was, our final result. It looked like a delicious messy homemade pizza. I couldn't help but admire it.

"Careful, don't get drool on the pizza," Megan quipped, "Now let's throw this thing in the oven and give it about five minutes." She put the pizza on a steel pan and headed to the ancient oven with the chimney top. After she set the oven to three hundred and fifty degrees with a five-minute timer, she sat down in the chair next to the stove. There was another chair next to her, so I sat down and put my mind at ease.

"Man, this was crazy," Megan said, "But you know us, we made it work."

"Definitely," I replied, "And I'm just glad everything worked o—"

A bright, menacing, moving orange light in the corner of my eye stopped my train of thought. The top of the stove had caught fire! Although everyone taught us not to panic, Megan and I hopped from our seats and ran around like maniacs, scrambling around in wild attempts to find a fire extinguisher. I found one, ripped it off the wall, and sot it at the flames until I couldn't see them anymore. Then I shot it again to make sure. The chimney top of the stove was dripping with foam, some of which rained unto the floor. Megan grabbed some nearby oven mitts and took the slice of pizza out. It was semi-burnt, with scattered dark spots everywhere.

"Now I see why they don't sell these ovens anymore," said Megan. Just then, the door flew open. A man stomped in, with his boots echoing through the roof. It was the owner, Jim Bean, and his face was stuck on an angry frown.

"Did you ladies break into my store?" he asked.

Both of us couldn't answer beyond a cluster of "Um, um, um, well."

"I need an answer," he said sternly. "I didn't open at the normal time because I had to take my son to his flight, and this is what I get?". There was nowhere to go from this point, so I decided to be honest.

"Yes, we broke in," I told him, not even looking in his face. "But if let us explain, it'll—"

"Let you explain a robbery?" he interrupted, "Do I look silly? I'm calling the police".

"WAIT!" Megan cried while making a dramatic stopping motion. "We just needed to make a quick pizza for her little brother, it's a gift for his teacher, and she accidentally ate his first pizza last night, so she's trying to make up for it. Can you please let us go?"

"Fifty dollars," he said.

"What?" I replied.

"You have a minute to leave my store with for fifty dollars. Five for the pizza, forty-five for the fire damage".

"Well, I guess," Megan said. I followed as she picked up the slice and threw a fifty-dollar bill at his shoe. She looked at him with disgust and said, "That's all I had for lunch, jerk."

We stepped out of Jim's bakery, got in the car, and tried cleared our mind for the five-minute trip to my younger brother's school.

"I can't believe this," I said to myself, "He didn't even try to hear us out."

"Look, it's over now," Megan tried to reassure me. "I lost my lunch money, but we got the pizza, we're gonna deliver it, and if we only take two minutes to drop it off, we won't be late for school."

"Well, I guess everything is starting to work out. I owe you for paying that money".

"No problem, just do it when you get rich."

"I'll remember that."

Megan turned on her ambient music once again and swayed her head until we got to Yandere Middle School. I carried the slice as Megan, and I hastily walked to the entrance. But as soon as we got to those big brown doors, a flurry of kids stormed out and took over. They were running, yelling, jumping, and wrestling all over the ground. One kid reached for the pizza, but I held it high until he couldn't reach it anymore. Meanwhile, Megan did pseudo-karate to ensure that she was untouched. Osiris came out and looked at me.

"Sis! You got the pizza!" he cheered.

"Yep, I wasn't gonna let you down. Come on!".

Megan, Osiris, and I walked to the grass to avoid the tumbling crowd. I asked him, "So, how come you destroyed the kitchen looking for the slice?"

He took a deep breath and began to explain. "Look, Mr. Hemisworth is one of the meanest teachers out there. He gave the whole class detention because one kid was at the sharpener too long. So no one felt like giving him a present. But I heard rumors from the kids at your school that he goes insane if no one gets him anything for his birthday. I didn't wanna risk it, so I thought I'd give him a cheap, easy slice of pizza, but no one else wanted to get anything for him. So when I saw it was gone, I got nervous and feared the worst. I even looked in the sink. It wasn't there!"

"Who on earth puts a pizza in a sink?" Megan asked.

"Let me finish," he demanded. "So now, with no presents, he's in there going crazy. He's been tearing up lockers, swinging from lights, just acting a fool".

All I could say was, "My goodness."

"So I thought just one slice would stop it all," he said, "But it might be too late."

"It doesn't hurt to try," Megan said, "Let's go in and give him the slice."

"Alright," I said, "But we gotta be careful."

We shuffled through the crowd into the vast, chaotic halls of Yandere Middle, and surely enough, Mr. Hemisworth was swinging from the lights while twirling a broken locker door on his arm. Some kids ran from the sight, while others stood around and recorded it, yelling, "Hemisworth!". But we managed to get through the crowd, and Osiris handed the slice to him, saying, "Happy Birthday Mr. Hemisworth!".

He looked at the pizza and the crowd around him. His eyes lowered, and he let go of the light and locker door.

"Thanks, Osiris," he said, "At least someone appreciates me around here."

"My pleasure," he replied, "You were always talking about Jim's Bakery, so I got you a slice of pizza. My sis and her friend Megan helped out too".

Megan and I waved at him, and he said, "Thanks, this may be the greatest birthday I've had in a long time."

"We hope you enjoy it," I said, "But we have to head to our school."

"Alright," he said, "Thank you again, and take care of yourself."

The path was clearer as kids started walking back into the school rather than scrambling. On the way back to the car, I couldn't help but reflect on what occurred this morning.

"You know, sometimes the smallest things could have the greatest impact."

Megan nodded her head. "I agree, that's why you shouldn't have eaten that pizza last night."

I nudged her and said, "I already explained why I did it, but I guess from now on, I'll ask before just eating food in the fridge."

Megan giggled a bit and said, "You're sixteen, you should've learned that when you were four."

"Whatever," I said as we got in the car. Although we may have been a little late to class, this morning was a crash course that I would never forget.