Accepted under the mentorship of your idol and the world's hottest chef Gordon Ramsay, you must prove your skill and determination through competing in Hell's Kitchen- A month long cooking contest versus fifteen other fierce contestants and difficul...
Cleaning the kitchens is easy for us nowadays, we've gotten so used to it. Once we finish cleaning up everyone's mess, we head into the dorms and find our hi-vis yellow vests waiting for us on the beds.
I put on a plain white t-shirt and some old jeans before examining the vest. There's a black trident on the back and the letters "HK" on either side of the trident. It looks kinda cool, you know, for a construction worker's outfit.
"I've never been to Universal Studios, I would have liked to have gone..." Red says wistfully.
"Me too, Red," Gina mumbles from the side of her bed where she's pulling on her vest.
We finish getting dressed then head down to the entrance of Hell's Kitchen where our sleek SUV awaits to bring us to the next part of our punishment. The blue team has already left long ago to their prize, and I wonder if Gordon has gone with them. I know he won't be out here helping us clean trash, that much is for sure.
We load into the SUV and it takes off towards the highway.
After a thirty minute drive, we pull up to the side of the busy road. No one is there to open the door for us this time, so Gina opens it herself and hops out. We follow her, and I grab the stack of trash picker tools and a big case of large plastic bags from off the seat beside me.
The driver of the SUV– the same man who'd driven us to Hell's Kitchen in the first place– gathers our attention. I vaguely recall his name as being something like Paul.
"Ladies, you will be cleaning up this side of the road from this point aaaallll the way down to that street sign." He points off into the distance towards a minuscule blue dot that I can only presume is the sign he's talking about.
"Since you all don't have a phone, I'll be in the SUV waiting on you to finish. Be fast and thorough, alright? I don't want to be here all day," he asserts.
HE doesn't want to be here all day?! Sure, but we want to spend our time here rather than enjoying a day out at Universal Studios. I huff and try to stop myself from rolling my eyes as I take a trash picker and a large bag and get to work seeking out trash.
Unfortunately, finding trash is incredibly easy. The people of Cali seemingly love to toss their half-eaten sandwiches, sticky cups, and even rancid baby diapers out the windows of their cars.
Gina, Red, Taylor, and I all try to keep formation and work together moving in a diagonal line from the side of the road, picking up trash along the way. Bella decides that she's going to 'help' by trailing behind and picking up whatever small pieces of trash we'd missed, which doesn't amount to much but small candy wrappers and paper scraps.
When I come across a condom in my path, I purposefully skip over it and wait with my ears perked.
"EWWW, oh my GOD!" Bella shrieks.
A wide grin spreads across my face as the other women turn around to look at Bella. I try to hide my smirk before I turn around to look at her as well.
"Someone threw a fucking condom out here! Augh!" she grimaces as she holds the condom away from herself with the trash picker. She moves it in a wide arc until it reaches her garbage bag and drops it in.
Small pleasures like this help me pass the time in the grueling heat of California in July.
When we're halfway to the blue sign and directly underneath an overpass, Paul's SUV pulls up next to us. He gets out and distributes water bottles and bologna sandwiches.
"Keep up your strength ladies, you still have a ways to go!" he teases as he finishes handing out our meager lunch.
We sit on the concrete slope under the overpass and begin eating our sandwiches.
"Who do you think will be the next out?" Gina asks, starting up a conversation.
Red finishes her bite of sandwich. "I think that it's gonna be Dave next. He seems to be falling behind."
Bella snaps her head up from her sandwich.
"It can't be Dave," she says quickly.
I raise my eyebrows. "Why can't it be?"
Bella bites her knuckle between her teeth and her eyes drift around the circle of women.
"Because..." she stops herself, then sighs.
"Because I'm pregnant."
We sit in stunned silence. None of us continue to eat our sandwiches, we all just look at Bella with shock.
"Are you sure?" Taylor asks, leaning towards Bella and putting one hand on her leg.
Bella gives a barely noticeable nod.
"I know how it felt the first time I was pregnant. This feels the same. I'm definitely pregnant. I haven't told him yet," she mumbles. "I wouldn't have been such a flirt had I known, now he doesn't want to talk to me and I feel like I should at least tell him..."
Wait, Bella has a kid?
"If you want, I can try to talk to him," Taylor offers, giving Bella a concerned look.
Bella looks up at Taylor. "Would you? I can't seem to get him to let me talk to him. I'm so lost as to what to do. I didn't expect anything like this to happen." She groans before dropping her head.
"Bella," I start. "You have a kid? How old are they? What's their name?"
"She's three and her name is Becca. My–" she hesitates before continuing, "My mom takes care of her for me. I wasn't ready to be a mom and I still don't think that I am. I can never seem to get a man to want to stay with me for longer than a few months. I think a year is my record," she says, raising her head meekly.
Well, maybe men would want to stay with you if you were loyal for more than five minutes, I find myself thinking. I recall how sorry for Dave that I've felt as I watched Bella flirt with any man who looked at her, and I can only imagine how he might have felt. Polyamory is one thing, but incessant flirting when your partner has not given you permission is an entirely different thing.
Still, I feel sorry for her, even after all that she's said and done. The situation she's in with Dave is not one I'd ever hope to be in.
"I'm so sorry I've been such a huge bitch, guys." Bella sniffles. "I don't know why I'm like this, it doesn't help anyone."
"It's OK, Bella." Red scoots over to Bella and wraps her arm around her shoulder. Bella leans into Red and a single tear rolls down her cheek.
"Yeah, Bells. It's trash under the overpass, baby. I forgive you." Gina says, waving her sandwich in the air.
We'd never been all too friendly to Bella. She's always been nasty to us, so we'd tried our best to block her out. Besides, she'd spent much more time with the boys than with any of us. But now it seems like she could really use some female comfort, and we try to help her stay calm in the face of this unexpected turn of events.
We eventually finish our sandwiches. Red holds out her hand to Bella and helps her up from her seated position. Bella gives a grateful smile to her. Maybe she isn't all that bad.
We finish cleaning the highway, and this time I don't feel as bothered with the fact that Bella has taken the easy job of following behind us. She has a lot to think about, and leaving her to her thoughts will hopefully give her some time to consider her situation.
Paul pulls up his SUV and we all load into it, exhausted after a long day in the sun. The colors of the sunset tinge the clouds as we travel on our way back to Hell's Kitchen. For the first time, the red team feels united.
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