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Stoked - Butter with Your Popcorn 5

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CHAPTER 5 - LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES

Shortly after hearing about David's dilemma, Kelly sent out 911 pages to the senior staff and the groms, telling them of an emergency meeting in the staff locker room which they had to attend immediately. Within minutes, Reef, Fin, Broseph, Lo, Emma, Johnny and Ripper, along with groms Greg, Ash, Trevor, Bonnie and Sabrina, had all arrived in the locker room to see Kelly and David and find out what the meeting was about.

"Okay, guys," Kelly addressed the gathered staff. "You've probably heard by now about the old Big Wave Theatre in town being renovated and turned into the Paramount." Most of the staff nodded their heads in confirmation. "Good, I'm bringing it up because the Paramount's re-opening this Friday night to host a feature movie for the sci-fi convention this weekend."

While some of the staff began talking excitedly among themselves, Ripper asked, "So what's that got to do with us, love?"

"I'll let David explain about it 'cause he's the one who bought the theatre last fall and had it redone," Kelly said. "Okay David, they're all yours."

"I asked Kelly to get you all here because a couple of problems came to my attention just a few minutes ago," David said when he stepped up. "Those problems might not only affect the theatre re-opening, but the convention as well."

"So like Ripper said, what's it got to do with us?" Reef then spoke up.

"The first problem does," said David, who then explained about the phone call from one of his employees at the Paramount.

"Whoa, nast!" Broseph piped up, among the comments from the seniors and groms in reaction to the outcome of the theatre employees' pre-opening party.

"Pretty much," David agreed. "And with my second shift crew busy with their own plans on Friday, that leaves me with no one other than Kahuna and myself to staff the theatre when it re-opens."

"Kahuna's run the Big Wave all by himself before," Fin said. "How hard can that be?"

"It's a different ballgame when you got five theatres under one roof," David pointed out. "And that's what we got now that the Big Wave's been turned into the Paramount." That revelation caused another buzz among most of the staff.

"So where do we come in, then?" Ash wondered.

"I think I know," Lo said. "Kelly asked us here because David needs our help. He wants us to help staff the theatre for its re-opening on Friday."

"Right on the money, Lo," David confirmed.

"And why should I help?" Sabrina said in a snobbish tone.

"You wouldn't understand, Sabrina," Fin retorted. "But those of us who worked here last year do. David's been there to help lend a hand whenever one of us was in a jam, especially after what I went through last summer and what Lo had to deal with last Christmas. I think it's only fair that we return the favor and do a solid for him." Everyone else among the staff voiced their agreement with Fin's statement except for an unimpressed Sabrina, who said nothing.

"Sure wouldn't mind helpin' out at the movies," Greg said, "'specially if it means seein' a free movie in the bargain."

"Same here," Reef agreed, "now that we know Big Steel 2's coming to town for the convention!" That news, which came as a surprise to all the staff except Reef, Fin, Kelly and Sabrina, created yet another stir.

"I'm glad most of you've agreed to help out at the movies on Friday," David said, "but now that brings up the second problem."

"Do we want to know what that problem is?" a wary Trevor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Might as well know," David said. "Before I got the mass food poisoning call, I found out during a call to the film exchange to confirm my booking of Big Steel 2 that the booking was cancelled. I got a confusing message from the girl on duty at the office when I called, saying that my secretary had called on my behalf to cancel the movie by claiming I said the movie 'wasn't right' for the convention. The really bizarre part of this is that I don't even have a secretary."

Almost at once, the attention of all the seniors and all the other groms turned toward Sabrina, as though they immediately suspected her the moment they heard David's story. "What? What's everyone looking at me for?" Sabrina said, seemingly oblivious to why all eyes in the locker room were on her.

"So, that was you?" David said as he focused on Sabrina. "You're the one who posed as my 'secretary' while calling the film exchange?"

"And why do you think it was me?" Sabrina said with pretended offence, unwilling to accept responsibility for her prank.

"Come off it, blondie," Ash said. "We know you and your history with pranks against us. Who else could it be?"

"David and I figured it out when we checked his dialed calls history on his phone earlier," Kelly joined in. "David went for his surfing lesson at the hotel beach at about twenty after one this afternoon. About ten minutes later at 1:30, he came back to the lobby to get his phone because he realized he forgot it there. During the time he was gone, a call was placed to the film exchange on his phone at 1:21 - a call which he knows he didn't make. David also remembers seeing you in the lobby before he left and when he came back for his phone." After a pause, Kelly, still focused on Sabrina, then added, "Still want to deny what happened, Sabrina? If so, we can always go to the security camera footage from the lobby."

Realizing how much trouble she was in, Sabrina could only sit there sheepishly while everyone else glared angrily at her as David stepped up next. "Sabrina, you realize by what you did that you may have ruined both the science fiction convention and my theatre's re-opening on Friday?" he told the blonde girl, keeping cool but making his disappointment clear as he spoke. "Because of it, I'm going to have to deal with a lot of convention guests and other folks who'll be both unhappy and angry to hear the movie they came here to see won't be playing. Why would you pull a stunt like that in the first place?"

Sabrina was unwilling to admit the real reasons she pulled the prank - one, to cause some chaos with the convention because she thought science fiction was for nerds; and two, to get back at Kelly through David because she had her eyes on David before finding out that Kelly already had him. Knowing that Kelly would really be after her if she admitted to the second reason, Sabrina simply shrugged her shoulders and said half-heartedly, "I dunno."

"That's not much of an excuse," David said. "But I'll give you a chance to make it up to me by volunteering with the rest of the staff here to work at the Paramount on Friday when it re-opens."

"And if I don't want to?" Sabrina said.

"Not a good choice," David said with a shake of his head. "If you don't, I'll have to talk to your boss and you can explain to him why you thought you had to sabotage the sci-fi convention."

"You wouldn't!" a shocked Sabrina said with a gasp.

"Try me," David stated simply. "Besides, I think you'd rather have a free movie, free treats from the snack bar and getting paid for a night's work than a free trip to the unemployment office, don't you?"

Seeing that she had no choice but to take the better choice of the two David gave her, Sabrina caved. "Okay, fine, I'll do it," she said reluctantly, deciding to take working at the Paramount for the night rather than having to face Carter about the prank.

"Good call," David remarked with an approving nod. "Be at the Paramount with everyone else at six on Friday night. You get your uniform and there'll be a brief orientation, then we open the doors for the customers at 6:30." After that, a relieved Sabrina got up and left the locker room, followed by the rest of the excited groms and the seniors except for Kelly, who stayed behind with David.

"You did great there, David," a pleased Kelly said in praise of her boyfriend's handling of the situation as she entwined her right arm around David's left. "You dealt with it really well, especially with Sabrina. You handled her a lot better than I might've in your shoes - I'd probably have fired her on the spot or told Carter about her right away and let him deal with her."

"I have to deal with Trevor and his messups from time to time," David admitted, "so it's all about knowing how to handle them." Taking his iPhone out from his right jeans pocket, he then said to Kelly, "Speaking of handling issues, there's one I got to take care of."

As Kelly watched, David speed-dialed the film exchange and waited as the phone's dial tone sounded twice before someone answered. "Hi Denise, it's David Hughes again," he replied. "Sorry about that phone call earlier over Big Steel 2, I just found out it was someone playing a prank by pretending to be my secretary when she called you earlier. Yep, got it all straightened out. So anyway, I've got an idea for a replacement movie for Big Steel 2 for that sci-fi convention in Sunset Beach for Friday, and I'm wondering if you might have the movie I have in mind..."

****************************************************

In time, Friday night came and with it, the re-opening of the Paramount Theatre and the sci-fi convention's big event being held at the theatre. The seniors and the groms had all received their theatre staff uniforms, long-sleeved white work shirts with black bowties and black slacks (or, as Lo, Emma and Bonnie picked, black skirts), two days earlier and were all wearing them when they arrived at the Paramount at 6:00 as requested. After taking his pinch-hitting staff on a tour around the theatre to get them accustomed (including showing them Theatre Two, the original Big Wave Theatre, to show those who had been in there before how different it now looked), David started assigning his staff to their positions during a meeting in the theatre lobby.

"Fin, Ash, you two will staff the box office tonight," David began as he read off his assignment list. "Kelly, Lo, Emma and Bonnie, you have the snack bar. "Reef, Broseph, Johnny, Ripper, Greg and Trevor, I know you guys all want to usher in Theatre One because the feature movie for the convention tonight's playing there, but I can only have two ushers max in each theatre at any time, so..."

"Wait a minute, what about me?" Sabrina then piped up. "What do I have to do?"

"Let's see, hmm..." David said while checking his list. "Seems I don't have you assigned to any particular job here."

"Can I work the snack bar then?" Sabrina asked.

"Hold it right there," Kelly cut in. "I'm not putting you on snack bar detail with us."

"Why not?" Sabrina said.

"For starters, Bonnie's working with us and we know you don't get along with Bonnie," Kelly stated. "Last thing we need is for you to give her a hard time and cause a disruption while the rest of us try to work. Second, I don't trust you to handle getting the snacks and drinks for customers because who knows what you might do with a customer's order when they - or we - can't see what you're doing."

"Sorry, Sabrina," David said. "Guess the snack bar's out for you."

"How 'bout the box office then?" Sabrina asked next.

"Hmm, lemme think... No," Ash answered.

"How come?" Sabrina griped while crossing her arms.

"You know how to work a cash register?" Ash said.

"No," Sabrina said.

"That answers it then," David said. "The box office's no-go for you either."

"Can I help Kahuna up in the..." Sabrina started to say, but Kahuna cut her off.

"Sorry, dudette, no can do," Kahuna said, figuring Sabrina wanted to work in the projection room. "The digital projectors are brand-new and the bossman wouldn't want 'em goin' kaplooie in untrained hands."

"Well, I'm not gonna do washroom cleanup here like I do at the hotel!" Sabrina said.

"There's just ushering left," David pointed out. "It's either that or pushing mop in the washrooms. Take your pick."

Sabrina sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll be an usher," she said resignedly. "At least I get a free movie out of it."

"Right, then," David said, glad to finally assign Sabrina to something to keep her out of trouble. "You'll be ushering with Reef in Theatre One for the convention movie. Sound good, Reef?" When he got no answer, David looked up from his list. "Hold on, where's Reef?" he asked everyone present when he saw Reef was not there. "And where's Fin?" he added, noticing that Fin was also missing.

"Beats me, bra," Broseph said. "They kinda disappeared on us during the tour of the projection room."

"Well, now's not the time to pull a disappearing act," David said as he headed toward the theatre's supply room. "We open the doors in about five minutes and Fin's gotta man the box office." But when he opened the supply room door, David got a surprise when he found Reef and Fin making out inside. "Reef, Fin, what're you two doing in there?" he asked after a moment, interrupting their smooching session.

"Umm..." Reef said, needing to think fast. "Would you believe sampling some of the Twizzlers?" he said, holding up a length of licorice twist which he had been sharing with Fin, who grinned sheepishly with Reef as she held up some of her own.

David, who was leaning his right arm against the doorway, raised an eyebrow as he nodded. "Yeah, kinda figured that," he quipped. "Listen, could you do me a favor and grab that big bag of popcorn beside you on your way out and back to work?" Doing as asked, Reef grabbed the popcorn bag and took it with him as he and Fin left the supply room. "Thanks Reef, good job," David said as he closed the door and locked it.

After assigning Fin to help Ash at the box office and Reef to ushering with Sabrina in Theatre One, David opened the doors to the Paramount at 6:30 sharp to let in the first moviegoers the theatre had since the then-Big Wave was closed last September to begin the theatre's expansion. By quarter after seven, the first of the sci-fi convention guests began arriving from Surfer's Paradise in anticipation of the movie they had come to see, which was to begin at 7:45.

Just before the movie was set to begin, David stepped into Theatre One, the Paramount's main auditorium, to see that all 350 seats inside were packed with enthusiastic convention guests, most dressed up as their favorite sci-fi movie or TV characters, as they waited for the movie to start. "Alright, how's everyone doing tonight?" David, using a wireless microphone, addressed the crowd, who responded with cheers, as did usher Reef.

"Great," David replied, stoked to hear the positive response. "Thanks to everyone for coming here tonight, and welcome to the sci-fi convention's feature movie, as well as the re-opening of the Paramount Theatre!" As the moviegoers cheered again, he did not look forward to what he had to tell them, however. "Before we begin the movie though, I have a bit of bad news to break to all of you..."
Not long after David gets hit with the double whammy of finding out about the cancellation of the movie booking he made for the sci-fi convention (unaware at the time that Sabrina was behind it as a prank to sabotage the convention) and hearing that the staff who were supposed to work at the Big Wave/Paramount Theatre's re-opening had all come down with food poisoning following a pre-opening party, Kelly helps get her boyfriend back on track and recruits the Surfer's Paradise gang's help.

Fifth of seven chapters.

Previous chapters:

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four

Stoked © Fresh TV Inc. and Teletoon.

Original characters © :iconwhazzuppeeps:
© 2014 - 2024 WhazzupPeeps
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Paleo-Beast-Emperor's avatar
Sabrina gets busted and is reduced to usher? Nice work, David. Too bad 'bout what gon' happen next chapter. Hope Sabrina gets pelted by the moviegoers as punishment...