Pepper’s week was nothing but a roller coaster of emotions. The adrenaline of doing something he absolutely should not have lingered within him. The fear of being caught. Every noise that was loud enough to be a car door closing or a knock on the door sent his heart into a panic.
Sneaking into the junkyard was the highlight of his week. The rest of it was filled with the dread of work. He had been able to pick up a few new shifts but not a lot. Home was nothing but the reality of an empty workshop with no golem to work on.
He then realized it was time for his workout at Nate’s Ohana dojo and the lightbulb turned on to the fact that it was exactly what he needed. He thought back to the last workout session and the kind of grinder that Nate had put him through. The thought of sweating out all the nasty fast-food grease actually sounded better than another night being around it.
He parked his bike beside of the dojo, but his attention was focused on the police vehicle parked over by the pharmacy. He wanted to know more, and his curiosity was only amplified when he saw a few patrons leave the store, shaking their heads in disappointment. His hand latched onto the dojo door, but he paused and kept leaning ever so slightly back to try to see the cause of the problem.
“Pepper!”
His head snapped round to look inside the dojo. Crap… he thought and pressed his lips together. He could feel an embarrassed look appear on his face. Nate was standing in the center of the wrestling mats. His hands were extended and there was a confused expression on his face.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”
Pepper rushed inside and attempted to justify his hesitation. “There’s something going on…”
“Where?” Nate asked, cutting him off.
“Out there.” Pepper pointed.
“Is it important?”
“It could be.”
An arched eyebrow was followed by a tilted head. Nate’s shaved head made him look like he came from an ancient lineage of martial art experts. Pepper’s heart sank, while the feeling of being a dishonor to his whole family added to it.
“It could be? What kind of answer is that, Pepper? Why do you come here to train?”
He was too embarrassed to answer. “Because… I dunno…”
A serious look immediately came over Nate’s face and he wagged his finger. “No… no, no, no. We do not do ‘don’t know.’ We are not a ‘don’t know’ practice here. What is Ohana?”
“Family?”
“Say it with confidence, Pepper.”
“Family.”
“Yes… family. And what is the shape of an O?”
“A circle.”
“Yes… because our family is what is inside the circle. Those who are not Ohana are outside the circle. They are second—they are not as important as Ohana. What are these walls?”
Pepper bit his tongue. He balled his hands into fists. His nerves rose within him and fear took hold of his throat. He didn’t want to give a wrong answer. “The walls are what separates our inner Ohana from those outside it.”
Nate slammed his hands together and pointed two fingers at him. The clap echoed across the dojo. “Yes! The walls are what separates us. Within these walls nothing else matters than what we are here to do. Outside these walls does not matter.”
“Yeah, but—”
“It does not matter, Pepper.” Nate placed his two index fingers on the sides of his head. “Clear mind.” He lowered his fingers to his chest. “A heart of peace.” He pointed straight down. “A firm stance of confidence.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nate slammed his hands together again. Another thunderclap arrived with them. “All right. Let’s go.”
***
Pepper’s eyes locked onto Brent’s while he walked down the aisle of the bus. Brent looked like he was devoid of hope in life. That was something Pepper wasn’t used to seeing in his best friend. “What’s wrong with you?”
Brent plopped down onto the seat next to Pepper. “I put my application in at Rocket Burger yesterday.”
“You? Working? You really must be sick,” Pepper replied and huffed.
“I don’t have a choice.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m broke… actually, I’m worse than broke. I’m in debt.”
Pepper rolled his head towards him. “How are you in debt? You buy a secret mansion that I don’t know about?”
Brent leaned his head towards his friend. “Well… let’s just say I placed a bet on a certain someone to win the KBVS Club match… and now they’re sitting across from me and my wallet is just as empty as his workshop.”
“I told you to not bet on the matches!” Pepper snapped back. His verbal crack at his friend was enough to turn heads in their direction.
“Yeah… well… I was doing amazing until that last round.”
“How far in the red are you?”
Brent lifted his hands and crossed his eyes. “Uhh, enough to where I could kidnap you, sell your organs on the black market, and then I might have enough to buy a Big D Energy drink from Ryan.”
“Did I miss anything from school?”
“Uhh, P-Dub, you know I don’t pay any… any attention in school.”
“That’s fair.”
“Is it as bad as you make it out to be?”
“Is what as bad?”
“You know, Pep… Rocket Burger. Is it really that bad?”
Pepper sighed and pondered the question. He wanted to be honest, but he also wanted to be fair. His mind quickly turned to KT and all she had done for him. “You know what, man… it ain’t that bad. It has ups and downs for sure. But you get used to it. That and I’m pretty sure Tamin won’t be showing up any time soon.”
The two friends were surprised when Tamin didn’t get onto the bus. But Pepper couldn’t deny that his first day back was made even better by not having to see his nemesis at the start of it all. That was… until the bus pulled up and Pepper saw the camera crew.
There standing in front of the school was a news reporter, and directly next to her was Tamin. Pepper rolled his eyes and shook his head as he staggered off the bus. He looked past Tamin, but his ears couldn’t help but burn. He listened as Tamin bragged and spewed his greatness in every sentence of the interview.
They made their way into Mr. Dean’s class and were greeted with fist bumps upon arrival. “Hey, Mr. Dean, I don’t know if something got screwed up, but I didn’t get any homework assigned to me while I was at home. Is there something I need to do?”
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Mr. Dean made a duck face. “Uhh, yeah… there is something you can do. Take your seat.”
Pepper practically choked on his own saliva. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah… homework is dumb. Rated ten out of ten for not being a good time. Now take your—”
The public address system chirped to life. “Attention, Status Academy students. We will be having a surprise student body meeting in the gymnasium. Please start making your way there now. We will begin in ten minutes.”
“Saved by the bell,” Mr. Dean said.
“What does that even mean?”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re too young, Mr. Walker.”
The entire school piled into the gymnasium. There were plenty of seats—a constant reminder of all who had been lost in the Rift Wars. A void still not filled by society. Pepper looked around and a smile formed on his face when he saw Andrea.
The instant he gazed at her, he knew something wasn’t right. The joy she always seemed to carry around was gone. Her eyes were in a thousand-yard stare and the smile that captivated everyone wasn’t present. Not only that, but she was also sitting by herself. She normally came across as the life of the party. Now her friends were treating her as if she carried a contagious disease.
Principal Stephens’ voice cut through Pepper’s thoughts. “All right, all right, all right! Welcome, Status Academy. It is great to be with you all, and I am so excited over this announcement that… well. I knew we just had to come together for it. First, let’s cover the normal stuff. Our test scores are still middle of the pack. We’re not the best in the district; we’re certainly not the worst. But man, do we have that middle locked down.” Principal Stephens started to chuckle. “I mean, if there was a winner for being mediocre, holy cow, have we nailed it.”
There was an awkward silence in the room. Pepper couldn’t help but compare Principal Stephens’ demeanor with that of his mom. The tone of his voice was one he had heard more times than he could count. The speech dragged on far longer than anyone cared for—announcements regarding the volleyball team, science club being brought back, the new drama club being started, and the retirement of Miss Rosenblum.
“All right… finally… the real reason Mr. Harvey and I brought you all together. As you know… we”—Mr. Stephens pointed to himself and the vice principal in rapid succession—“we love us some Golem League action. And we have a few fans in our student body, as well as some competitors who are working to achieve their dream of making it there professionally. Well, Status Academy is blessed to have been gifted with a fully paid trip to GolemCon, the official worldwide convention devoted to the Golem League!”
Mr. Stephens’ excitement was barely able to be contained within his tiny frame. The student body was stunned. Some were filled with excitement, whereas others couldn’t care less. Brent leaned over and nudged his best friend.
Pepper chuckled. “We don’t even know the rules to compete.”
“Students are encouraged to write a letter addressed to Vice Principal Harvey and myself. We will review the letters and select who we feel is the best person for this opportunity. Additionally, each student may have additional letters submitted for consideration. There is no limit to the number of letters that can be submitted. You have two weeks to enter your submissions. Then we will take another two weeks to read them and make our selection.”
Pepper slowly turned to see that Brent’s face was overtaken with confidence. “Dude! You got this. I am so writing a letter for you!”
Pepper chuckled. “You have the worst spelling and grammar in the entire school.”
His best friend’s expression instantly changed into a deadpan appearance. “You really have a hard time receiving positive support, don’t you?”
Pepper scrunched his face. “Yeah… kinda.”
There was a pause between the two friends while Principal Stephens finished sharing some last-minute notes. Brent finally leaned over. “Do you think your boss will give me a job?”
Pepper reflected on his current predicament. He knew he had asked for as many hours as possible, but he couldn’t help but think of Brent’s situation. There was no doubt in his mind that things must be pretty bad if he had gotten to this point.
He then thought of Ryan’s offer to work in the supply store. The balancing act that would be required was not one he liked the thought of. The ability to help himself and help his friend at the same time weighed more heavily on his heart, though.
“I’ll talk to KT later today and put in a good word for you.” Pepper stretched out his fist.
Brent reached over and they bumped knuckles. “Thanks, man. You’re the best.”
***
By the time Pepper arrived at the restaurant he could see a long line that practically stretched to the door. Cars were backed up in the drive through as well. The area was buzzing with activity, and the audible chirps of the cooking timers clashed in a chaotic rhythm.
“Get another round of chicken going. Two more baskets of fries. Why is the grill not loaded up? Come on, Thomas, you need to pick up your speed,” KT’s voice called out from the back.
Pepper noticed the young kids intermixed between their parents. The little league baseball uniforms made him guess there was some type of tournament going on nearby—the kind of unexpected and unplanned rush that every fast-food restaurant dreaded.
He walked back into the prep area and soon saw KT She was rushing about carrying new loads of supplies from the cooler. “Did you forget your uniform?” she asked, brushing past him and handing the supplies off. She turned and kept moving at a fast pace.
Pepper had to pick up his pace to stay behind her. “I wanted to talk to you about Brent.”
She huffed and shook her head. “I don’t know if you have realized this, but right now is not really a good time.” She flung open the freezer door and entered.
Pepper propped the freezer door open and stood in the doorway. “I know.”
“Well, if you know, then perhaps we can pick this up at another time?” She turned around and started to fling clear plastic bags filled with chicken strips and nuggets towards him.
It only took a few seconds and Pepper’s arms were now full. He quickly moved out of her way and followed along as they quickly returned to the kitchen area. “Yeah, but Brent could really use some help right now…”
KT quickly cut him off. “We could all use a little help right now, Pepper. Our staff included, and right now you’re kinda impacting that.”
He rolled his eyes and sighed. But he couldn’t argue—she was right. “Sorry.”
KT handed the next round of food off to Fredrick before she turned and took the supplies from him. “Don’t be sorry. There’s nothing to apologize for, love. You just need to remember that one person’s emergency is not necessarily everyone else’s. It’s not that I don’t want to help Brent or you. I just need to focus on the here and now. Understand?”
“Yeah. Okay, I’ll get out of your hair.” Pepper turned to leave.
“Hey!” her voice commanded from behind him.
Pepper turned around and saw her arms outstretched. “Yeah?”
“Where’s my hug?” she demanded with a playful smile. He smiled in return and wrapped his arms around her. “I still love you, kiddo. Don’t you forget that. I’ll see what I can do about Brent.” She paused and gave him a loving tap on the back. “Okay, now get out of here or put a shirt on and get on the grill.”
He chuckled. “I’ll see you later.”
“Well, fine, be like that, then.” She laughed and gave him a playful jab on the arm.
***
The walk from Rocket Burger to Ryan’s was a long one. Pepper immediately regretted not having his bike to make the journey easier. He walked in and saw Ryan was helping a customer, so he lingered at the counter and waited. A minute or two later, Ryan and the customer arrived at the counter and Pepper moved over to give the customer more room.
“Hey, Pep, I’ll be with you in just a second,” Ryan acknowledged and adjusted his glasses on his head. “All right, sir, that will be 534 Flex.”
The man tapped his payment card against the reader. “You said it was a thirty-day warranty?”
“That’s correct. Thirty days is the store warranty, and if the manufacturer has a warranty, we can help facilitate that for you as well. Ronin has a 120-day warranty as long as there’s no damage or active matches you’ve entered. We normally recommend you perform about ten hours of testing through extensive training before entering a match.”
“And why is that?” the man asked, reaching for the plastic bag. Pepper noticed the store emblem on the bag—a circular saw blade with a rhinoceros in the center.
“We have found that roughly 60 to 75 percent of the faulty Ronins will fail within those ten hours of training. So if you make it past that, I would say you can rest assured you won’t have any issues in a golem match,” Ryan said, handing the receipt to the customer.
“Got it. Thanks again.”
“Any time,” Ryan said with a smile and then turned to Pepper. “Well, back so soon? Another round of clay or something else today?”
Pepper rubbed the back of his neck. His heart was already pumping, while a cold shiver ran down his back. “I, uhh … I wanted to talk to you about your offer.” Ryan’s face distorted with a look of confusion. “The offer about possibly working here?” His voice arched questioningly due to the shop owner’s expression.
Ryan sighed and smiled. “Oh yeah.” He chuckled. “Sorry, I deal with so many customers that I forgot for a second what you were getting at. Okay. Well, what were you thinking?”
“My best friend Brent was looking for a job and applied at Rocket Burger. I figure he could take some of the extra hours I was given and I could balance my time between here and there to make up the difference.”
Ryan pressed his lips together. “Hmm.” The shopkeeper stared into the distance and rolled his eyes, looking like he was contemplating a great number of things at once. “Honestly, I could use a lot of help on the weekends. So I could easily set you up with a Saturday and Sunday schedule. That would give you the weekday evenings to work at Rocket Burger after school.”
Pepper was certainly grateful for the opportunity. But there was a slight feeling of dread when he thought of all the Golem League matches he would not be able to watch live. His thoughts were quickly put to rest.
“Don’t worry.” Ryan pointed to the corner of the shop. Pepper turned his attention to the area and saw a large screen mounted on the wall. “I stream all the Golem League matches here at the store. So you’ll be able to have them on while you work. There’s also a holoscreen in the back for when you have to fix components.”
Pepper couldn’t help but smile. It was as if Ryan knew exactly what he was worried about and knew what to say to put his mind at ease. “Sounds good to me, boss.”
Ryan chuckled. “You don’t have to call me boss. Most of my close friends and larger customers call me Rhino. So you’re welcome to just use that.”
“Sounds good, Rhino.”
“All right, Pep. See you Saturday.”