//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 – A Regular First Day, Right? (Also: The Pressure) // Story: Not So Regular Romantic Comedy Show // by Morex25 //------------------------------// Chapter 4 – A Regular First Day, Right? “Alright, listen up!” Benson called up for everyone’s attention. After breakfast was finished, it was time for everyone to be assigned their chores for the day, so Mordecai and Rigby, alongside the rest of the staff gathered on the steps outside the house, waiting for Benson’s orders like any other day. But today was slightly different. Today there was another person among the regular staff. It was Twilight, who attended the ‘meeting’ as a casual observant, curious on how exactly parking management worked. “We've got this birthday party today, so... lots to do. Lots to do.” Benson continued speaking while scribbling notes on his writing board. Though he appeared to be focusing on his writing like normal, in reality he was distracted by the new addition to the meeting. Despite her nice gesture earlier today, he was still wary of her presence. She may have good intentions and natural curiosity for the happenings that plagued the park, but those same things could, most likely leave them all without a job. So yes, he didn’t like her presence at all. Still he had to keep up appearances and continue with his work. “Muscle Man, Hi Five Ghost, you're in charge of picking up the special entertainment.” He pointed out to the duo, who look delighted of receiving the task. “Yes! Uh!” The duo cheered while high fiving. “High Five Ghost?” Twilight repeated back confused causing Mordecai to wince at Benson’s slip. “It’s just a joke!” Mordecai said rapidly, forgetting to feel embarrassed from the bathroom incident from earlier “Sometimes we call Fives like that!” He really hoped Twilight bought his explanation. It was better if for now, they refrain from revealing HFG true ‘nature’. “Oh, okay!” Twilight accepted the ‘explanation’, not because it instantly made sense, but because of the surprise of Mordecai talking to her again. "I can see why, though. He really is pale like a ghost.” She added on her mind. “Moving on…” Benson continued not exactly happy from the interruption. “Skips, you set up the bouncy castle.” “Hmm.” Skips hummed and nodded before, like his namesake, skipped into the bushes. An action that didn’t seemed to surprise anyone besides Twilight, who took notice but didn’t voice any questions. ‘Seems like everyone here has their own quirks” It kind of reminded her of home and how her friends would act and say stuff to each other that only made sense to themselves and probably would confuse any outsider that happened to look at them. “Let's see, I'm picking up the kids, so...” Benson continued reading the assignments while scratching his pencil against the side of his head. “Mordecai and Rigby, you set up the chairs.” “Augh!” Rigby moaned and to show his displeasure for the task more clearly, he slid from he was sitting from the steps and into the ground. And after his butt touched the ground, he turned around and looked up confused at Mordecai who didn’t imitate his actions. “Hey, you left me hanging!” But before Mordecai could say anything to his friend, Pops decided that that exact moment was the perfect one to step into the conversation. “Oh, what about me~? Surely, I'm invited to my own birthday party!” Pops called out from all the way up to his room on the attic or ‘third floor’ of the house with a sing-a-song tone that sounded weird coming from a man his age. “Um, your birthday was last week, remember? It's a kid's party today.” Benson explained not having the heart to get angry at any of Pops’ ‘antics’. “I still have ballo~ons!” The overly excited elder declared as he pulled out an exorbitant bundle of inflating balloons for everyone to see. “We've got it covered, Pops!” “Oh, I see.” Pops said sadly as he made his whole body go limp and let the bundle of colorful balloons slip him out of the window, and carry him through the air. Something that once again only Twilight seemed to have found it strange. “Did..you guys see that?” that shouldn’t have been possible at least not with the amount of balloons he had. Unless the balloons were inflated with a gas much lighter than helium in order for Pops to achieve air buoyancy. Hydrogen came to mind, but knowing the inflammable nature of the gas she discarded as ridiculous. So then, what gas could it be? While Twilight was deliberating and calculating the properties of all the different gases she knew in order to explain what she just saw, Mordecai took the opportunity to complain to Benson about the job. “Dude, how come we always get stuck with the lame jobs? Setting up the chairs?!” It was the most boring job of them all, besides he still wanted to impress Twilight by doing something big. “Laaa~aaame!” Rigby added his eloquent two cents. “I can't trust you guys with something actually important. You're always slacking off.” Benson explained annoyed by the complaints. The two slacker should be grateful to even have a job in the first place. “You calling us slackers?” The tall bluenette asked in low tone, peeved by that remark. Not missing one bit, Rigby got the cue and followed his friend remark. “Did he?” “Did you?” asked in an almost sincere tone of disbelief. Gotta handed to him, he’s delivery was excellent. “He's calling us slackers.” Mordecai confirmed with the same voice before confronting Benson once more. “Look dude, we can totally set up all those chairs without slacking off.” Now, Mordecai would be the first to admit that he was so full of bull when he said that he wasn’t a slacker. Heck, it was practically being his lifestyle since he could remember. Still, he’ll be damned if he admit to it when the word was used against him as an insult. “Good. Do it then.” Retorted back knowing well they were full of themselves. “We will” Mordecai was full alright, but with conviction. This time it WILL be different, “Yeah, and then next time you'll get someone else to set up the chairs?” Rigby added hoping they would never have to do such a boring job ever again. After pondering for a second, Benson gave in. Let’s see if that was motivation enough for them to complete this ONE job. “Fine” the redhead answered. Only to regret it a second later when both slackers broke into a loud cheer. “OOOOOOOOHHH!! Not settin' up the chairs next time! Not settin' up the chairs next time! UHHHHH!” God! Why couldn’t the two of them put the same enthusiasm into their jobs? Then the manager noticed that Twilight seemed to be lost on her own little world. “Hey you! Wake up!” he yelled and snapped her out of whatever she was thinking of. “Wha? What happened?” Twilight said confused, looking around for what broke her away from her mental calculations. “You. What do you plan to do?” Benson was conflicted, on one hand he should wish this girl to be a slacker or terrible at her job so she wouldn’t find anything strange, but on the other hand, he really, REALLY, disliked people who didn’t do their jobs correctly. “Um… well, before I can conduct proper research, first I need to get acquainted with the park’s general topography, then I can look around searching for whatever this ‘anomalies’ are.” Twilight could barely wait to start. Even though she didn’t believed in most of the ridiculous tales about this place, this was still an excellent learning opportunity. “Hey! Maybe she can come with us!” Rigby suggested appearing right next to Benson. “What? Why?” the redhead asked confused. “Well, she needs to look around the park right? So what better way to do so than by coming with us? Right Mordecai” The small brunette offered while nudging Mordecai to follow along. “Well, I…” “Oh no! no, no, no, no. You’ll just take that as an excuse to ride around the park and slack off!” Benson said convinced that he had figured out Rigby’s plan. “No, no way, maybe…maybe she can supervise us!” Benson wasn’t far off when he assumed what Rigby plan was. His plan was that if little miss overachiever came along with them maybe he could trick her into setting up the chairs for them. It was the perfect plan. “Then you can be sure that the chairs will be set and ready long before the party even begins, Right man?” The little trickster said once again while trying to get his partner to support him. “If you ask me then…” “Wait just a second” Benson cut Mordecai off again to turn his head back to Twilight. “Do you have any sort of experience with this kind of job?” Again, he was aware of her title and degrees, and had seen her make and serve breakfast in an efficient manner first-hand, but that didn’t really tell him if she was prepared for this kind of job, especially if it was supervising those two. “Well, I don’t like to brag but back when I was…” Twilight began ready to tell Benson her long winded story, he cut her off completely. “Wait. Stop. Stop. I don’t want your life’s story; Just a simple yes or no!” “Yes, I do have experience.” Twilight said refraining to show any kind of annoyed emotion on her face. Yes, she had strict teacher before but she didn’t remember being cut off like that before, and certainly never that rudely. Benson remained silent for a few more seconds until he finally conceded. “Fine, she can go!” “Really?!” asked both Mordecai and Rigby for two different reasons. Rigby was happy because he got to try his secret scheme. Mordecai on the other hand was worried. It was true that he wanted to impress Twilight, and setting of the chairs wasn’t the way to go, and worryingly enough. If he failed in his task, the embarrassment would be even greater. If he had gotten something more difficult, he could at least blame it for being to hard but that he did try nonetheless. “Yes, really” Benson confirmed. Why did they act all surprised anyway? It’s not like he was this bad, ugly monster of a boss. Was he? Anyways, he was about to walk away to do his on job when he noticed that Twilight had her arm lifted into the air like a kid wanting the teacher’s attention. “You don’t have to do that, we’re not on a classroom.” The redhead manager sighed, while the girl brought her down looking embarrassed by her faux pass. “What do you want?” Though in a weird way he appreciated the gesture of respect, something he didn’t get from the two slackers. “Um…” Twilight began hesitantly still a little embarrassed by her mistake, “May we take the cooler?” When she saw Benson about to respond she quickly added. “It’s for Mordecai. He still needs to apply ice to his nose once every few hours in order for it to fully heal.” At her explanation the tall bluenette went to touch his nose with his hand, which he regretted instantly because it sent a sharp sting of pain. He had completely forgotten about his nose. “Fine you can take it. But you better not fill it with sodas and spent the day just drinking!” Benson warned seriously, he even used his pencil to emphasize the point. “Take what you need and do your jobs!” “Thanks, Mr. Benson!...ehm…” Twilight thanked only to look embarrsed again. “What? What is it?” “What was the job I need to supervise?” “Just… set up the chairs” [Bonus]: in Elmore, California. More precisely, inside a treehouse several girls were discussing amicably. “Boring!” Well everyone except Masami, the smug rich girl from school. “You think because it's on a tree it's all that.” She was kind of a snub just because her father was the local factory that employed a lot of people in their town. “Well, it isn't, it's just as boring as a real house. I mean, what is it you actually do in here, Molly?” Masami asked to Molly, the one who invited everyone into her treehouse. “Well, I just hang out, watch the boys...” Molly said nervously. Molly being a very tall girl for her age, was self-conscious about her height which make her very shy. Speaking of boys, there were just down below acting like most boys acted at their age. Very dumbly. “Lame! “ Masami continued with her rant. “You don't watch boys, you kiss them.” She said in a very suggestive manner, which surprised the rest of the girls. “What?” They couldn’t believe what Masami just said. Sure they have thought about it as normal girls tent to do, but they never said it out loud. “Hold on! Don't tell you don't have boyfriends. You do, Molly, right?” Masami continued, picking on Molly, knowing that she was an easy target. “Hmm! Sure I do! You don't know him, though.” Molly answered nervously. “He's way older and... he's in High School!” She finished off, surprising the rest of the girls. “Wow!” Not wanting to be undone, each of the girls said something about their ‘boyfriends’. “Well, my boyfriend is so old that he doesn't have a babysitter!” said Terry, the hypochondriac of the group. “Wow!” “Well, mine's so old, he stopped wearing braces!” said Carmen, the bookworm. Who despite being one of the smartest kids at school, she didn’t realized that her statement made little sense. Either way it worked. “Wow!” “I wish I had a boyfriend” lamented Penny, the cheerleader, who was the only one who answered honestly as she looked down the window and see the boy she had a crush on; a blue headed boy known as Gumball. “What about you, new girl?” Masami said as she turned to a redhead girl who remained mostly silent the entire time. “Do you have a boyfriend, Pumpkin?” Pumpkin, a dumb play on words from the term Country Bumpkin, because she had moved with her family from a rural town. “No, I don’t have one.” ‘Pumpkin’ Cake answered honestly. “But there was an older boy back in my home town!” That’s part was true. Philip also known as ‘Pip’ was an English boy, whom she had a crush on. “Hmm. A likely story.” Masami said not believing her. “You don’t fool me, I’m sure he doesn’t even exist.” Pumpkin wanted to protest and yell at Masami to take it back, but she didn’t want to cause a scene in front of the rest. Since she was new at their school, she didn’t want to mess things up and fit in with the rest. “See she can't even defend herself!” “Cut it out, Masami.” One of the girls intervened, It was Carrie, the resident Emo/punk rock chick (don’t ask it’s complicated) who also happened to be a ghost. Yes, a ghost. And considering the weird stuff that happens in Elmore, heck in California in particular, a ghost wasn’t all that strange. “Don’t pick on her when you too don’t have a boyfriend!” Carrie pointed out, finally tired of Masami’s attitude. “I have a boyfriend!” The rich girl responded defensively. “he is... it's...Darwin!” she said after taking a quick peek at the window. “Darwin!?” The adoptive brother of Gumball? It was a little too hard to believe. “Yeah, he's great because... he's got legs and, you know... a head.” She finished lamely, not knowing anything about the boy. “Okay…” Carrie sum up everyone reaction with just one word. “Anyway. I just want to say that MY boyfriend is the best!” “Oh yeah? Why?” asked Masami, again not believing any word. I mean, how can a ghost have a boyfriend? “Not only he is older, he has a job!” Carrie revealed, wowing the rest of the girls. “No way! Prove it!” In an instant Carrie took out her cell phone and showed them a picture of her and her boyfriend on a date at a concert of a famous rock band. “By the way, his name is Fives!” [Extra]: “Stop it XeroM! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Yelled out MoreX who was currently chained to a radiator and being forced to watch how his ‘evil’ counterpart XeroM kept on adding on stuff to the story he had created from the heart. “If you continue like this, soon you will run into a plot hole so big that even you can’t cover up with excuses. It will be the end of my story!” MoreX only hope was for XeroM to open her eyes and see reason before it was too late. “OUR story!” XeroM snarled with anger “Remember that we are still one and the same! Only that I am superior and far better writer than you!” How dare he claim ownership for the stories? Even if MoreX never realized it, she had being there from the very beginning, influencing his writing. She had as much claim for ownership as he did! “Please, listen to me!” MoreX pleaded but it fell in deaf ears. “Now have you begun writing the next chapter yet?” The captor said with a more relaxed manner than before. After her captive refused to answer, she walked towards the computer she gave him and read what was written. She knew that despite his protests, MoreX would continue writing no matter what. It was in his nature. “Good, very good! A little short but still, a decent job.” Though she was happy with the result, she would never give a direct compliment to her obviously ‘inferior’ self. “Now after you’re finished I’ll just add my extra and the chapter can go up!” “Please XeroM, I know that you think you want this because you think our readers want it, but that’s not true! It is intrusive and distracting; it doesn’t add anything to the story itself, and soon our very existence will be the catalyst that would cause our readers to stop reading!” XeroM stop herself and remained still while she pondered his words. Maybe, just maybe, he finally was able to reach to her. But his hopes were instantly dashed when XeroM began moving away, leaving him all alone. “XeroM?” “Sorry, but that’s not for me to decide. It’s our readers.”