Café Q

Chapter Twenty

Three days have gone by and we've been doing our best to earn money to save Café Q. I took all of my tips and saved it up to protect this place. Toru refuses to show us the amount we need to earn, he says that it will worry us even more. We aren't really sure if he was holding out or doing us a favor. Each day is a roulette to not get discovered by Mrs. Cheryl.

"Pike!" I flinch lightly from the noise. We all looked over at Pike and saw him leave the booth. Winnie looked at me a bit worried what was about to happen next. I tried not to think about it and went back to serving the customers. More people have been coming in to have a final meal. Most of our regular customers have been spending more time here and gave us extra money in hopes it'll save the place.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder, I turned to see it was Pike. "Mrs. Cheryl found out, she's going to give back the building today after work" he told me before moving on to the next person. Was that it? Are supposed to hang our heads and officially tell everyone that we can't do anything about it? I'm not mad at Mrs. Cheryl, I understand she's struggling: trying to save money for her sister and running a café at the same time. There must be another way.

The rain was violent today, cold and strong. It was closing time but no one except for Mrs. Cheryl has left the building. Winnie and Pike said nothing this whole time as they stared at the rain. That's when I saw it, a familiar figure walk up to the café doors and started knocking on it. Everyone was freaked out by what they were doing here.

This person took down their hood and it was no other than Cindy. "What is she doing here?" Nobuo asked. "Hold on, she's good" I said as I walked over to the door and opened it. Cindy looked up at me and rushed inside. Everyone stared at her ready to attack if she made one foul move. "I-I came to save the café" she said as she grabbed three envelopes from her pockets. "It's too late" Jemmie said, looking back out the window. An idea popped into my head.

"Winnie, how far is your fathers company place?" I asked her.
"It's usually an hours drive" She answered.
"Did anyone bring a motorcycle today?"
"I did" Jemmie said, not sure what I was going at.
"Let me see the envelopes" I told Cindy. She gave them to me. I looked at them all three of it was for something different but helpful. One is for the café's debt, one is the medical bill, and the last one is for the supplies for café Q. "There is still one more chance to save Café Q" I told them, everyone looked up at me in confusion.

"Pike, Winnie, Clifton, and Rhett take this to the hospital" I handed an envelope to Pike. "Jemmie and I are going to stop Mrs. Cheryl" I said, everyone was starting to follow along. "Everyone else order the supplies we need" I set the last envelope on the table. "It has $5,000 dollars in it" Cindy says, happily contributing. "I hope this works" Ember said as she picked up the envelope.
"It better, this is our last chance" Nobuo said.

Everyone disperse except for me, Jemmie, and Cindy. "I just don't understand how you knew about all of this" Jemmie said to Cindy.
"My new friend, Lilac, told me all about it" Cindy answered. I grinned knowing exactly who she was talking about.
"What if we don't make it?" Jemmie looked back at me.
"Cindy get Lilac and I also what you to pick up these people" I raced into Mrs. Cheryl's office and grabbed a pen and paper. Using my phone I wrote down Jake, Lucas, and Teresa's phone number. With that information, I gave it to Cindy. "You are going to distract Mrs. Cheryl until we get their" I explained to her.

Cindy jumped up and said, "I'll use my helicopter." She put her hood back on before running off to wherever her helicopter is at. I smiled at how excited she got. There was a lot more to her then what meets the eyes. Now I have to deal with Jemmie. She grabbed the color of my shirt and made me look at her. "I don't understand why you are doing this, you're just going to leave" she said to me as she shot glares at me.
"I'm not turning this place into some kind of memory" I told her before pushing her off of me. "Now go get your stuff" I continued.