Me, Belle, and Caspian all jumped back into the Jeep, me driving, Belle in the passenger's seat, and Caspian behind me. Without much conversation I drive us to a lunch place in the outskirts of the nearest city, Laura's Diner. The owner, Laura DeVito, is a middle-aged woman who my mother helped out for a few years when money was a little scarce, so now she treats my family like, well, family. We all walk in, a little flustered, and we see Laura has a full house, with mostly families with little children taking up nearly every good table on the first floor. Laura looks up from behind the counter at the sound of the bells and a grin lights up her face when she recognizes me, which is fairly quicker than anyone else today has recognized me.
She makes her way towards us after telling her older daughter to take care of the register and I take a moment to scan the scene. No one we know explicitly sits at the tables, Belle and Caspian stand together behind me, examining the scenery, and multiple people are working in the kitchen, more employees than I have ever seen here in forever.
The restaurant has warm yellow lights and cozy furniture of a descent size. The color scheme is all warm and neutral tones and the air is cooler than outside, smelling like Laura's famous chocolate chip cookies and melting vanilla ice cream.
"Hi, Vee, how have you been?" She asks in Italian as I put forward a hand for her to shake.
"Pretty good," I reply, in Italian, and she grabs my hand, pulling me into a hug instead of a handshake. I saw it coming, obviously, from her body language, but I let her since I know she won't hurt me. I still tense up for a moment, until I let the warmth from her hug register with my body and I relax. She pulls away like she just noticed Belle and Caspian.
"Oh, and you've brought these two angels! How are you, Belle, Caspian? How's Mrs. Luxor?" She talks to them in English, thank goodness, as Belle has only taken a semester of French and Caspian two full semesters of Spanish.
"We're all good," Belle tells her, speaking for everyone.
"Do you have a table available on the top floor today?" I quickly interrupt the conversation in Italian before they can start filling the small silence with idle chatter. Laura gives me a look and I smile back sheepishly before she grins mischievously and waves us upstairs. As we walk up the worn wooden stairs, an overbearing tiredness washes over me, a bone-deep weariness. Just taking a breath feels like using too much energy.
We reach the entryway for the top floor, Caspian in front, Belle behind him, and me in the rear. I hold my breath since breathing takes more work than not breathing. Black spots cover my vision and my head starts pounding.
I feel my legs give way and I lose feeling in all of my body. Due to my strong training, I keep my mind alert for a few moments longer and tug Belle's sleeve before collapsing. I hear her surprised scream before everything goes dark and I fall into a dreamless sleep.
I wake up slowly, confused for a moment. I can hardly open my eyes, so I reach out with my other senses. The air still smells like Laura's cookies, so I guess that I am still in the diner, but I also smell mint mixed with a heady aroma that makes my head heavy. I then finally notice the arm underneath my knees and another under my shoulders, signaling someone is carrying me bridal style. I hear a lot of people talking at once, worsening my headache. I finally open my eyes to see Caspian carrying me and Belle, Laura, and her three daughters leading us to a back room.
I lightly tug on Caspian's shirt sleeve and he looks down at me, worry and concern evident in his eyes and the downturn of his lips. Everyone stops talking and I finally relax, my arms going limp and my eyelids too heavy to open. I feel Caspian set me gently down onto a soft mattress and Laura feel my forehead.
"Vivienne? Are you awake?" Belle shakes my shoulder, trying to see if I will wake. I sigh silently and use my energy to hold open my eyes. Six faces make their way in my line of vision, almost close enough to touch with my nose. I lightly close my eyes again and push through the weariness. I am Vivienne Anika Raji, and I will NOT be held back by anything or anyone, not even this bone-deep weariness that threatens to pull me under. I have not wasted the remainder of my childhood and almost six years of training myself just to lose myself to a small ailment.
All at once, adrenaline begins to pump into my blood without an outlet, making it feel like my body is on fire. I find strength deep within me and open my eyes, then finally sit up. Laura gasps, snatching her hand away from my forehead.
"God above, V-Vee, your skin is hotter than-than when I accidentally touch the stove!" Laura exclaims in fast Italian. Her daughters look at each other, confused, as they cannot understand what she said. The adrenaline fades away, along with the tiredness, and I stand up, frowning slightly. My spine goes rigid and I go back to being expressionless.
Then, quicker than a viper, I turn around and slap Caspian, a little hard but not too hard that I will severely harm him. Everyone gasps and Belle smirks.
"I told you so," she whispers to Caspian, nudging him, while he holds his cheek in his hand.
"Do not ever touch me," I tell him in a low, dangerous voice. From behind, Laura feels my forehead again and sighs a breath of relief.
"Must've been my imagination, your skin is normal," She says, now in a slower Italian. I nod and turn to leave.
"Well, after that I'd better get home, Laura. Don't worry, I'll make something at home for all of us," I tell her in quick Italian, pulling Belle and Caspian behind me. We leave and get into the Jeep, and I drive us to my home in silence, besides the radio music.
When we get to my home, I notice two things: one, no one else is home yet, and two, Belle and Caspian won't stop pestering me with questions.
"What happened back there?"
"What's for lunch?"
"Are you okay?"
"Why'd you slap me so hard?"
"Your house is so nice; how come you haven't brought us inside here before?"
"Can you make something to eat?"
I hold up a finger and they both shut their mouths.
"I don't know what happened, but it's nothing now Belle, I'll make something for lunch soon Caspian, and I haven't brought anyone who isn't family in my house before Belle, you two are the first, and I slapped you Caspian because I thought it was clear that no one touches me at all," They both sigh and I lead them upstairs to the Dance room.
"Stay here, you guys, and I'll bring you some salad and pizza, is that okay?" I ask them and they both nod their agreement. I quickly take out the pizza dough from the fridge that I prepared day before yesterday and take out some sauce, cheese, and vegetables. I sense two people walking down the stairs and I mentally sigh.
"Can we help?" Belle asks with a tone of lightheartedness. I look at the list of pizzas stuck onto the fridge.
"Well, you guys know how the Andersons' house burned down a week ago?" I ask them, pondering whether I should tell them the full truth or not.
"Yeah, what about it?" Caspian answers. I decide not to tell them the full situation.
"Well, I visit the guys down there who volunteered to rebuild it, and I offered to make homemade pizzas for them, thirty-two in total mini pizzas. Are you sure you want to help?" I inquire, sure that they'd want to do something else.
"Well, you have so much to do, it'd be completely rude if we didn't help," Belle responds, and I feel a little grateful, though I'd much rather do it myself.
"Alright then, I'm going to put on more suitable clothes," I tell them, then toss the keys for the Jeep at Caspian, "You guys go home and get dressed for hard labor," Before they can question me, I lead them both to the door and close it behind them after they start walking.
I go upstairs to my room and quickly put my hair into a crown, take off all my jewelry except my necklace, and change into a semi-loose white tank-top and black capris that go down to my calves.
Going downstairs, I prepare the pizzas, rolling out sections of the dough into even circles with a diameter of my forearm. I use my fingers to build a small amount of raised crust on the outer edges of the thirty-four pizzas, two extra large ones to keep at home for lunch. Ten minutes pass while I am doing this and I hear the doorbell ring, a series of whimsical chiming.
Flour on my hands, I open the door to reveal Belle in a tank top as well and shorts that come down to her knees, and Caspian in the same sort of clothes. I let them in and warn them with a silent stare not to stare at me before leading them into the kitchen and giving them their instructions.
"Belle, you spread sauce onto one of the pizzas like this," I demonstrate, ladling sauce onto the center of one of the dough circles and spiraling outwards, spreading it out, "Then, Caspian you put on the toppings according to this list," I show them the list on the fridge before looking at the first order: cheese, garlic, and salami, placing the toppings evenly around the pizza, "Then hand it to me and I'll brush it with a little olive oil," I take a red and black pastry brush and spread a little olive oil over the crust and some of the salami, "And I'll put it into the oven," I put the pizza onto the oven rack, "And when it's done, Belle, you take it out and put it in one of these pizza boxes," I take out a stack of white new cardboard pizza boxes from a cabinet and put it on the other side of the counter. "You guys got it?" I finish, putting a timer for the first pizza.
"Sure thing," Belle says, and we all get to work. With all three of us working diligently, we finish in thirty minutes and I find the time to be almost one in the afternoon. We load the boxes into the trunk and I pack my tool box and a pack of water bottles. We take the large cheese pizza I made last for us to share and hand it to Caspian, who gives us slices while I am driving. I drive with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a slice, while Belle has a slice in her hands and Caspian finishing up the rest of the pizza.
After ten minutes of songs coming from the radio along with the sounds of chewing, we reach the small clearing at the end of a neighborhood where a small house frame is up already. Today there are about ten guys on the scene, and I recognize a few from last time I came to help out.
Most of the guys are dressed in dirty overalls and tank tops, like me, and jeans or baggy shorts. Most of them are Latinos, with tan and weathered skin and dark eyes.
"Hey, what's up Vivienne?" Alessandro, one of the older guys, asks me in Spanish.
"Good, I brought the pizzas for you guys today, but we should work first and eat later," I explain, ignoring Belle's confused look and Caspian reading carefully into the conversation.
"Who are these kids you brought with you?" Alessandro asks in Spanish, understandably wary. Anyone who can't work shouldn't be here, else they'll get in the way.
"This is Belle, and this is Caspian, my friends, I brought them here to show them what a real day of work looks like," I reply back in quick Spanish that only a native or someone who has studied for a long time will understand. Alessandro nods and scratches his chin, ready to work.
"Alright, but make sure they don't get in the way," He says, and I nod my affirmation.
"Hey, Alessandro, what are these kids doing here?" A tall guy, not much older than me, asks Alessandro in Spanish.
"I'm here to work," I call out in quick and fluent Spanish. The guy looks taken aback for a moment before he narrows his eyes. He slowly stands up and walks over until he stands a few feet away from me and Alessandro.
"What work can a girl like you do? I doubt you can even lift a hammer! With your pretty face and soft skin, you belong in the kitchen, girl!" He exclaims in Spanish, and all the other guys around the area let out chuckles. Alessandro's face, along with a few others, go dark, as they remember what I did last time to prove myself. I give him a look to let him know I will not be violent this time unless someone touches me, and he slightly relaxes.
I pick up one of the heavier hammers and set it upon my shoulder.
"Well, where do I start, wise guy?" The guy lets out a laugh before showing me a row of nails needed to be hammered into a set of wooden beams. He holds one of the beams steady and calls another guy a little older than him to hold the other. They smirk at me and I just smirk back. Then I hand him the hammer.
"You do the first few, since a girl like me certainly won't know how to do this work," I tell him, and he smirks at me. While he beckons at another guy to come and hold up the other beam, I take hold of it easily and steady it. He stares for a second before chuckles are heard around the clearing. Then he positions the hammer and starts thunk-thunking in the nails. It takes him two, sometimes three hits to get one nail into the correct position. When he's done half of the nails, he switches places with me, smirking.
"Beat that, little girl!" He says, while Belle and Caspian watch with confused faces. I quickly take place at the first nail and swing the hammer expertly, positioning it perfectly and hitting it with the exact amount of strength to get it in just right. I finish the rest of the nails in the row in less than a minute before handing the hammer back to the guy.
"How's that for a girl's strength?" I ask him, smirking. Shocked, he silently grabs the hammer. I turn around and notice a few of the younger guys staring at me before Alessandro smacks them on their heads.
"I-I'm sorry, miss, may I know your name?" He asks, slightly stuttering.
"Vivienne," I tell him, "May I know the name of the one who dared to underestimate me?"
"Javier," He says, a little wounded.
"Well," I clap, gathering everyone's attention, "What are you waiting for? Let's get to work!" The men scramble up and get working while Alessandro claps my shoulder and I head toward Belle and Caspian. After I explain what happened, they both nod.
"What are we supposed to do?" Caspian asks, a little annoyed. I pick up three large hammers.
"Help out, do hard labor. The more we help, the faster the house can be built," I say, handing them a hammer each, "Just go to Alessandro, he can explain what to do in English,"
We spend the rest of the day working and by the time the sun starts going down, the House is half-finished. Caspian drives me home and then takes himself and Belle home after we hand out the pizzas and water. I go straight to the shower, have a small dinner with Varun, then go directly to sleep.