The Order of the Slice

Chapter 1

Luigi tossed the pizza, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead. It has to be perfect. he thought.

"Woah! Luigi chill out!" Thomas yelled. Luigi didn't care. He needed this pizza to be perfect, his life depended on it.

"What do you think?" he asked, showing off his work.

"I think... It looks like tossed dough." Thomas replied.

"Thomas..." Luigi shook his head. Thomas didn't understand how important this was. Of course he didn't, why had Luigi thought otherwise? "I should start over." He said. Now that he was looking at it, it looked misshapen. Thomas came to where Luigi was hunched over and patted him on the back.

"It looks good," He assured him "I'd eat that pizza in a heartbeat, if it weren't drenched in your sweat." Thomas teased.

Luigi eyes darted back to the pizza. "That was a joke, right?" He asked.

"Luigi why are you so stressed out? It's just a pizza."

He's right. Luigi reminded himself. "You're right," Luigi said, trying to muster a smile. "You're absolutely right." He gave the dough to Thomas and risked a peek at the tables. Three huge men stood at table four. They all had gold chains with little slices of pizza at the end around they're necks. Luigi almost wet himself. They were here. One of the men spotted Luigi and beckoned him to sit with them. Luigi turned to the nearest worker. "Cheryl can you cover for me?" He left before she could answer, trotting over and taking a seat at the table. They sat in silence for a moment. Luigi's heart pounded in his ears, until one of the men spoke up.

"I must admit this is a nice place to meet." The man said. He had a scar that started on his forehead and ended on his eyelid.

"Well-I-uh-I work here," Luigi managed. He didn't know what to do. "Would you-um- like a pizza?" He asked" I just tossed one, it'll be ready soon." All three of them had their gazes pinned on Luigi.

"You know why we're here Luigi," The biggest man said. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

Luigi swallowed. "I-I know, I'm sorry I'll have it soon I promise." Luigi said. The smallest man growled.

"Do we look like children to you?" He asked. Luigi shook his head quickly. Someone called out to Luigi from the kitchen.

"Luigi get in here! Cheryl isn't going to do you're work for you!"

Relief flooded Luigi as he stood from his chair. "Sorry that's my boss." He said, walking toward the kitchen. Thomas was waiting for him in the doorway.

"What was that about?" Thomas asked.

You don't want to know. Luigi thought grimly. "Nothing!" he said instead. Thomas raised an eyebrow.

"You must think I'm an idiot if you expect me to believe that." he said. Luigi considered his options. If he told Thomas the truth he would slap Luigi on the back head and tell him he was crazy. If he lied... Thomas would see right through him and demand the truth. Luigi decided to cut out the middleman and tell him the truth.

"They were members of a secret pizza society," Luigi said. Thomas just stared at him. "What?" Luigi asked.

"You're an idiot." Thomas said, he turned to walk away.

''Thomas! I'm telling the truth!" Luigi shouted, but Thomas was already gone. He spotted Cheryl looking at him. "You believe me right?" He asked. She nodded. Luigi's eyes widened. "W-wait you do?"

"Of course," She said. "Why wouldn't I?"

Luigi stared at her, incredulous. "So what happened with this... Pizza Society?" She asked. Luigi glanced at the tables and let out a relieved breath. They were gone. It was safe to tell her.

"I-I was in the middle of my late night jog in the park, and found these-these people all standing in a circle. I got closer to see what was happening and saw they were training a-a tiny dog in a pizza costume."

She nodded. "And?" She asked. Luigi thought it was kind of weird how easily she was believing all this, but continued anyway.

"I got pretty weirded out and started backing away and then I stepped on something, I looked down and saw that I stepped on-on a pizza. They all turned towards me and started screaming. I-I didn't know what was happening. They were all yelling and screaming stuff like 'He stepped on the holy one!' and 'He killed our cheesy king!' I- it was really weird,"

Cheryl's eyes were wide. "So-uh- now I owe them a hundred and fifteen pizzas. That's weird right?" He was expecting her to agree with him, but instead she just whispered.

"You killed him?"

"What?"

"Why?"

"I-it was a pizza!" he yelled. The other chefs turned to them. "Sorry," He whispered. Then once the chefs went back to what they were doing he continued. "Anyways I-I can't make that many pizzas, I have to get out of here."

Cheryl narrowed her eyes and said "I see."

"See what?"

"You were planning on running away from us."

She untucked a gold chain from under her uniform. It had a little slice of pizza on the end.

Oh no.