Undercover Star

♪ Sixteen ♪

I had never seen so much spaghetti in my entire life. There were five large bowls filled to the brim heating along a twenty-foot table. The buffet of noddles was closed off with a mountain of dinner rolls. I just hoped we wouldn't run out of Parmesan cheese.

"I think everything's ready," Summer told us, smiling.

She thanked the group of volunteers who cooked the spaghetti. They all thanked her in return, and began to clean up their area.

I glanced out a window and see rain coming down in buckets. I hoped the weather wouldn't deter people from coming to eat.

"Don't worry," Summer said, as if reading my mind. "The rain never stops anyone."

I nodded and hoped she was right. I would've hated to see it all go to waste.

Marie came over and handed me an apron. "For handing out food," she explained as I slipped it over my head.

Nancy came over to us and handed each of us a hairnet. I frowned at the accessory before slipping it over my head. I didn't think it would do much good, other than make me look like a school lunch lady.

Summer was in a fit of giggles when I turned to her. She tried to hold it in, but to no avail. "Sorry, Jesse. you just look so different."

"Thanks," I grumbled, looking down at my outfit.

"It's not done yet," Marie said, amused. She handed me a pair of yellow latex gloves.

I added the gloves to my already hideous appearance. Luckily, everyone else looked the same as I did.

"Man your stations!" William called out suddenly. I looked at the clock. We had three minutes until the dinner started.

I walked over to the table and stood behind a pot of noodles. I couldn't mess up handing out spoonfuls of spaghetti. At least, that was my train of thought at the time.

Summer was to my left at a pot of tomato sauce. She grinned at me before pulling something out from under the table. When I saw what it was, I wasn't quick enough to react, and she got yet another ugly picture of me on that cursed camera.

"Not again," I groaned.

She smirked. "I just had to. Don't you want to remember this day?"

"Not that way!" I complained, trying not to laugh.

She was about to reply when the doors opened and an elderly couple walked through. They looked around and admired our decorations before starting a the beginning of the table.

Marie spent a good five minutes talking to them as they gathered plates and utensils.

When they finally walked over to me, I was ready to serve them.

"Some noodles for you both?" I asked, and they nodded politely.

I scooped a pile on each of their plates, and they thanked me gratefully. They went to Summer next and added some sauce.

"Whew, that went better than expected," I said when they were out of earshot.

"You did great," Summer said.

A steady flow of people followed the couple. I was surprised at how many people had come already. They all sat in the same general area of the hall. They talked together and seemed like a big group of friends.

While watching them, I hadn't noticed a middle aged woman walk up to my noodling station. She smiled, but looked a little impatient. She held up her plate, and on her arm she had a bracelet with a dangling bird charm.