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Nova

“You better get out there,”Mara says as she races past me to pick up an order. “More people just came in.”

“I thought we were closing.” I wipe the sweat off my forehead as I watch Mara load up a tray with plates of food from under the warmer.

“Lenny said we’re staying open late.”

“How late?”

“Midnight. Maybe later.” She comes up next me, supporting the tray on her shoulder. “That haunted house down the street keeps bringing people in and Lenny doesn’t want to miss out on the sales.” She races back out to the dining area.

It’s Halloween and high school kids have been filling the place up all night, making a mess and laughing as they watch me clean it up. They’re such jerks. I’m in high school too, but I wouldn’t purposely throw food all over the place just so someone else would have to clean it up.

Grabbing a rag and the plastic bin I use for dishes, I take a deep calming breath and walk out to the dining area.

“Shit,” I mutter. The place looks like a tornado tore through it. Chairs are turned on their side. There’s a spilled milkshake making a trail across the floor. A piece of wilted lettuce is stuck to one of the light fixtures. And I’m pretty sure I just saw a hamburger bun fly across the room.

My break was only ten minutes. How could it get this bad in such a short amount of time?

A guy walks by me with a torn shirt and fake blood all over his face. Almost everyone here is wearing a costume. Most of the guys are either zombies or athletes and the girls are witches, fairies, or whatever costume includes a skirt that barely covers their ass. And then there’s all the props. Before my break, I got hit with a fake sword on my way to a table.

“What the—” I stumble back as something wet and hard smacks against my face. Looking down where it landed, I see a giant pickle, like the kind they sell at the fair. Someone must’ve brought it because the diner only has pickle slices.

“Oh my God, you hit that girl!” a voice shrieks. It’s followed by an outburst of laughter.

“You okay?” Mara says, coming up to me, holding a now empty tray.

“I’m fine,” I say, looking past her to see who threw the pickle. I can’t tell. The place is too crowded, every table overflowing with costumed people who look drunk, high, or both. “Where the hell is Lenny?”

“He went to get more burgers. We ran out.”

“Then tell Don to get out here and deal with this shit.”

“He can’t. He can barely keep up with the orders.”

“Why is it so busy tonight? That haunted house has been open for weeks.”

“Yeah, but tonight it’s free. You’re supposed to leave a donation for the food bank, but I doubt anyone here did. I gotta go. Orders are backing up.” She races to the kitchen.

Two waitresses called in sick tonight, along with one of the cooks. They must’ve known it’d be crazy and decided not to show up. With three people out, we’d be shorthanded on a normal night, but tonight? It’s not even possible to keep up. I’ve been running around nonstop since I got here and the place is still a mess.

“Miss!” a girl yells over the noise. So many people are talking and screaming, it sounds like a sports stadium. “Hey! Could you clean this up?”

I look around and see a girl attempting to stand up in a booth as she waves at me. She’s got long, wavy red hair swept to one side, and is wearing a white button-up shirt that’s been tied in a knot just under her boobs, leaving her midriff exposed.

Taking another deep calming breath, I make my way over to her table. I quickly get to work cleaning up the mess they made, keeping my head down, not wanting to interact with them.

As I’m gathering the dirty dishes, one of the guys says, “You want one?”

I glance up and see a guy with spiky blond hair and a nose ring offering me a giant pickle, like the kind that just hit my face.

“I’ll pass,” I mutter as I stack dirty dishes in the bin.

“You don’t like it?” the guy says, waving the pickle in my face.

I don’t answer as I get out my rag and wipe the table.

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