A woman went to the pantry and returned with a bottle that she quickly uncorked and delivered to Sophia, who smelled it, put a few drops in a glass to taste it, nodded, and filled the cup twice with wine that she then poured into the boiling pot.

She put another water sample in the metal cup, tasted it, and delivered it for the women to try. The old cafeteria lady shrugged and said, “It tastes the same, blend.”

The other three women tasted it, and as if they were hesitating, they both said it tasted divine, making Sophia ask the worried cafeteria lady, “Your sense of taste is not working very well, is it? You are still young to be losing it, so what was it? A disease? You were born like that?”

“No, my sense of taste is working perfectly! You don’t cook as well as you think, that’s all!”

The Principal frowned and said after tasting the cup that Sophia gave him, “Well, it does taste way better than before she put more salt, pepper, and wine in it. The veal is showing off already, and it is starting to taste wonderful. I believe it will taste amazing when it is ready. Now what? Lower the temperature of the stove and let it cook?"

With a nod, Sophia confirmed, “Yes, lower the temperature, cover the pot, and let it cook for an hour or so. The vegetables will almost melt after all that time, and the kids won’t get angry about eating them because, in an hour, the vegetables will turn more into a sauce than anything else. There will still be enough texture in the vegetables and the potatoes, but I am pretty sure no one will complain. It is better if we make more rice and another pot of stew just like this one because I am about to bet there will be a lot of students asking to repeat, so we need to have enough for them.”

One woman pointed at the stove and said, “We don’t have enough space for everything. We either make another pot of stew or more rice.”

“Stew then, because rice cooks faster. We can make rice while serving the students the moment we notice the rice is about to end. So, peel more potatoes, ladies, while I take care of the meat. Emma, vegetables and meat, if you please! As for you, lady, you can say your taste is working perfectly, but we both know that is a lie! Instead of lying like that, you should just assume that you can’t taste anything and leave the tasting to the other women next time you cook around here! That is why you cook so badly! You can’t taste squat! Are you also short-sighted? Because yesterday you served raw meat, all red and dripping blood! You could have sent a lot of kids to the hospital with that lack of care!”

The Principal glanced at the four women and saw them looking awkwardly at the angry little girl who was scolding them without any of them arguing back, a strong indication that she was right.

He didn’t say anything at that moment, because it was never his policy to scold the people who worked under him in front of the students, but he made a mental note to talk with them later on, and it would probably be better to make sure the three women attended some cooking classes, just to make sure that one day, the students didn’t get another bad case of food poisoning, like what happened last month and the month before that, and on both occasions, he had to say to the parent’s committee that it was because of a batch of bad ingredients that weren’t in good condition, and no one in the kitchen staff noticed because the supplier swore all the ingredients were fresh.

…

Lunchtime arrived, and while two women were at the front, serving the students, Sophia, Emma, and the other two women were in the kitchen, taking care of the stew in the oven and cooking more rice.

As Sophia predicted, a lot of students came asking for a refill, astonishing the cafeteria lady because, ever since she started working in that school, no student ever came back asking to repeat. It didn’t only make her surprised; it also annoyed her a lot because that was proof that Sophia, at her young age, was a way better cook than she ever was. And considering she was the official cook at that school, it was not good for her pride.

While Sophia and Emma were cooking in the school’s kitchen, Jack Cross was with his co-worker, Billy Patel, in front of the tall, windowed building, each of them on one side of the entrance under the shade, looking at the people entering and leaving the building.

Then, a dark limousine arrived and stopped right in front of them. Jack frowned, wondering who parked right there instead of going to the car park.

A driver came from his seat, rushing to open the large sliding door. From the back seat came a young woman dressed in a tight red dress that reached the middle of her thighs.

She was carrying a purse full of tiny gems that were glowing under the bright sun, a large white hat, and reflective, round sunglasses.

She stepped out of the limousine, fixed the bottom of her dress, and walked straight to the entrance of the building. She looked from top to bottom at the two security men who were staring at her, and without even asking why they were staring, she followed her driver, who quickly opened the glass door for her. Before entering, she stopped for a brief second and looked at Jack Cross, who looked at her without averting his gaze.

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Billy Patel sighed and said, “The entitled brat just arrived... At least she didn’t say anything, because she has the annoying habit of complaining about the way we stand, how we are dressed, or why we don’t greet her. I thought she was going to say something to you, but she didn’t.”

“Why would she? I didn’t say anything.”

“That is what you usually do. And that is why she tends to pick on you. I used to greet her, but after her last runt, I just nod at her passage. The other guys also do the same. Better not to fall under her bad side, because things can go pretty wrong around here if she gains a grudge against someone.”

“Why? Is she someone important? Because she seemed a normal woman to me.” Jack spoke with a shrug, making his co-worker wonder if he was joking or not.

“She is our boss’ daughter, remember? A spoiled brat, if you ask me. Born with a golden spoon stuck up her ass, she treats everyone as if they were beneath her, and sometimes as if we were all garbage. If she is here, it means someone will have a bad day. I just hope it is none of us.”

With a sigh, Jack looked to the other side of the street and asked, “What about lunch? That food truck over there looks interesting. Mexican food, it says.”

“We can go there today if you want. I like their spicy food. Let me just call two guys over the radio, and we can have a break to eat.”

…

After eating, Jack Cross and Billy Patel returned to their place in front of the building, and the other two security men went inside, returning to their stations.

Time went by, with Jack getting bored by the minute. He couldn’t stop yawning, and even with Billy alerting him to at least disguise by covering his mouth, it was no use. The boredom was far too much for him to endure.

He was not used to standing still for so long. When he was a cook in Crosslot, he always had something to do or somewhere to go, be it buy ingredients, talk with sellers in the market, or argue with an Explorer or an Adventurer, who had the bad habit of trying to get him angry, and most times, they would regret that as soon as he had enough and knocked them out.

The dark limousine was still parked in front of the building, with the driver reading something on his phone.

A shine caught Jack’s attention, coming from the front window of a white van parked in front of a small market with two people in the front seat. They were too far away, so Jack wasn’t sure if they were looking straight at him or not, but it was strange that they were parked there for so long without going anywhere as if they were waiting for something.

Behind that van, there was a car, also parked, but because they were so close to the van, Jack wasn’t sure if the car was empty or not.

The noise of the building door opening made him look back, and there she was, the same proud woman glancing at him from behind her sunglasses. Next to her, a security guy was opening the door for her.

The driver came rushing from the driver’s seat and waited for her with the limousine door open.

It was then that Jack noticed something was off. The white van started its engine and was now moving in the parked limousine’s direction. The car behind it came as well, and strangely, it increased its speed, going past the white van and making the brakes squeak as it stopped right behind the limousine.

Without even thinking, Jack ran. Billy Patel was still wondering what he was going to do, but he immediately followed him when he heard, “Something is wrong!”

The young woman looked back and seemed surprised to see Jack running towards her. Better yet, she thought he was going to her, only to find out that Jack went past her, straight to the car that had both front doors open, and two men were coming out. The one nearest got a punch straight to the face, and Jack slid over the car hood, landing in front of the other man and hitting him with a jab straight up that put him out cold.

Billy Patel noticed that the van also stopped, and two men came out from the side door, carrying guns. Before he could react, Jack was already next to the van’s driver, punching him.

The surprised scream from the driver distracted the two armed men, and Billy Patel took that chance to tackle them at the same time while shouting, “Take her out of here, Jack! Hurry!”

Not waiting for another order, Jack rushed to the scared young woman, and with no care whatsoever, he pushed her inside the limousine and shouted to the driver, “Let’s go! Now!”

A loud bang echoed in the building, and the driver fell to his right side, hitting his arm. From the floor, Billy Patel shot the man who came out from the front seat of the van, the one that had shot the limousine’s driver, and still on the ground, he landed an elbow in one man’s face while kicking the other’s stomach.

Billy was still fighting the two men when Jack went to the limousine driver’s seat. Without even thinking, he turned the key, hit the gas, and drove away, leaving behind his friend, who was still struggling to stop the other two men from going to the white van to follow Jack and the woman he was protecting.

Jack didn’t know where to go, so he just drove ahead, cutting left at the next intersection and then straight ahead on the next one. After some minutes, the shaking, scared woman in the back seat asked, “What… what was that?”

After a glance in the rearview mirror, Jack said, “You probably pissed off someone with that arrogant attitude of yours; that’s what happened. Now shut up; I need to figure out what to do next.”

“Hey! What did you just say?”

“I told you to shut up! I am thinking here! Unless you want me to throw you out and drive away, sit tight, and don’t annoy me!”

With a gulp and looking too surprised by such a reaction from someone who never once spoke to her, the woman complained, “I… just want to know what happened… And where are we going…”

Noticing his angry gaze on the rearview mirror, she immediately went silent, but still, she heard him mumbling, “Darn it… Sophia will get so mad over this…”