5

Chef PeePee made sure to shut the car door quietly and cautiously, not wanting Bowser to hear. The chef hoped he was still watching Charleyyy or was distracted enough to not notice him.

He gently turned the front door knob open. After seeing the coast was clear, he stepped inside and made his way to the kitchen. He sighed with relief as he realized he was safe.

The chef thought of what he would do the rest of the morning. Thankfully, there wasn't too much to clean since Junior didn't really make any mess the previous day. Sure, there were Jeffy's messes, but Marvin actually had the human decency to get some of them taken care of.

Chef PeePee was cleaning up Jeffy's broken plate and poptart from breakfast when he heard Bowser coming downstairs. He took a breath of preparation and turned to face his boss.

“CHEF PEEPEE!!!” The man shouted, despite Chef PeePee already making eye contact with him.

“What Bowser?!” Chef PeePee asked, annoyed. He already felt like going back to bed.

“What have you been doing all morning?” Bowser questioned. Chef PeePee knew that Bowser was on to him. He had to think of a lie and quickly. Luckily, spending years in Bowser's domain has taught him to think fast.

“I've been cleaning, like always.” The chef told Bowser with a straight face.

“Really? Then where were you earlier when I called for you like 6 times?! I could've died, Chef PeePee!!” Bowser yelled. One of the many things Chef PeePee hated about Bowser is how dramatic he is. He shook off the need to roll his eyes and quickly thought of another excuse.

“I was probably in the bathroom! What did you even want?!” Chef PeePee asked angrily.

“No you weren't! I checked every bathroom! And I wanted to make sure Junior got on the bus!” Bowser explained. “Did you take him to school?! I thought I heard a car leave!!”

Shit, Chef PeePee thought to himself. He couldn't own up to it, Bowser would be pissed and probably, no, definitely beat him and Junior.

“I mean… I did go to the… the store earlier. We ran out of milk.” Chef PeePee stuttered out. Bowser stared at him for a moment before grabbing the chef's shoulders and shaking him repeatedly.

“LIES! TELL ME THE TRUTH CHEF PEEPEE!! TELL ME!!!” Bowser shouted in the chef's face. He dug his sharp nails into the chef's shoulders, trying to get an answer out of him.

“OKAY! OKAY! I DROVE HIM TO SCHOOL!!! AT LEAST HE'S THERE, RIGHT?!” Chef PeePee shouted back, shoving Bowser's hands off of him. Bowser scoffed loudly in rage before backhanding the poor chef.

“DONT YOU RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME, SLAVE!” Bowser yelled. The chef fell to the floor, and his boss took the opportunity to kick him in the groin. The chef yelped in pain. “AND HOW DARE YOU LIE TO ME!”

“I lied because I knew you'd react like this!” Chef PeePee exclaimed, inching himself away from the man above him.

“WELL THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT!” Bowser retorted before picking up the chef by his shirt collar and slamming him against the wall, just like the previous morning. “THIS IS YOUR FAULT!” He continued slamming the man against the wall until they both heard the doorbell ring. Bowser scoffed before dropping the chef and answering the door.

“Hello sir!” A nerdy and acne-covered man in a flannel said. “I have a doordash order for Marvin Wilfred. Are you him?”

“No, hold on.” Bowser sighed before calling for Marvin. The red-shirted man jogged down the stairs.

“I'm here!” Marvin exclaimed, out of breath. Bowser decided to make his exit, not wanting Marvin to see what he was just doing. Marvin got his food, paid the dasher, then shut the door, and called for Rose. While all this was happening, Chef PeePee sat up against the wall, trying to keep consciousness. He knew he was going to need a lot more pain medicine.

Marvin and Rose hadn't noticed him either. They went to the dining room to eat their food, which was some breakfast from McDonald's, and left Chef PeePee there. Though the chef was in disbelief that they hadn't seen him, he was also relieved that they had shown up since it made Bowser leave him alone.

Chef PeePee stood up and leaned against the wall to keep himself from falling. The pounding pain in his body made him want to curl up in a ball and cry, but he just couldn't. He's endured so much that he couldn't break now. Instead, he went to the bathroom to see if there was any more powerful aspirin or something that would help.

While in the bathroom, the thought of escaping returned to his mind. At first, the thought had only brought fear and doubt, but now he realized the benefits it had, the biggest one being he and Junior would be away from the monster that is their boss/dad.

Fernando Strongbottom couldn't think of the last time he'd not lived with Bowser. He'd been working for him since he was around 22 years old. He could hardly remember how they even met. All he remembered is that he went to Bowser's house and became his personal chef in return for somewhere to stay.

He didn't have the energy to try and remember anything. The day had barely started, and he was already exhausted. He decided to focus on cleaning, then take a nap after lunchtime. He got his broom and dustpan from the kitchen and started work for the day.

~~meanwhile, with Junior~~

“And that class, is how high the person who made the abbreviations of the elements of the periodic table was. Now, let's get onto history. Today we're going to be talking about the Hawaiians, specifically this strong-ass motherfucker called Kamehameha the first. Now, this isn't that thing from the anime, he's a king and…” Jackie Chu went on and on about random topics all his students were forced to learn. Junior was almost falling asleep in his seat. All he had to entertain himself was a worksheet he was given for math, a pencil to doodle on that worksheet, and his own thoughts.

“This is so boring, dude.” Joseph whispered to Junior, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“I know, right? Why do we even need to know this stuff?” Junior mumbled back. “It's not like they're gonna ask me what the density of Iron is at a job interview.”

“Well Junior, you'd need to know the density of Iron if you wanted to be something like a chemist or a scientist.” Cody said matter-of-factly.

“You really think I'm going to be a scientist when I get older?” Junior asked doubtedly.

“You think the sun is a planet-”

“Because it is.” Junior interrupted.

“-It's not.” Cody corrected. “And your science grade is a C-, so, no, I don't really think so.” 

“It's the highest grade I have besides art and history.” Junior said.

“Even attendance, dude?” Joseph asked.

“By like a mile, I think I have a D for it. Let me check.” Junior told him, before pulling out his phone.

“Then some guy fell on him with a Saber tooth thing, and- HEY! JUNIOR! PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY! THIS IS LEARNING TIME!” Jackie Chu shouted, making everyone face him, then Junior. Junior mumbled a dry ‘sorry’, before putting his phone back in his desk. “As I was saying, someone fell on him, then he died and then…”

“Can't believe I have to wait to check my grades. Anyways, I'm pretty sure I have a D.” Junior said, turning back around to his friends.

“Oh, I know you have a D, Junior.” Cody said in a weird way. Joseph rolled his eyes, before throwing his pencil at Cody.

“You're so weird, Cody.” Junior said, probably for the 1000th time during his friendship with the nerd.

“Seriously though, Junior, you have been missing a lot of school. Is there something going on?” Cody asked, changing his pervy expression for a serious one.

“Yeah dude, no one misses that much school, not even Jeffy!” Joseph added.

“I wish I missed as much school as Junior, but my daddy's a bitch.” Jeffy said, popping in for that second before going back into his own little world of drawing on his desk with a sharpie.

“Relax guys, I'm fine. I've just been getting sick and stuff. Or I don't wake up in time.” Junior said.

“Alright dude, I believe you.” Joseph said. Cody on the other hand didn’t believe him, but he decided to just leave him alone for now.

“And that's why Kamehameha the first is a real motherfucker. Why, look at the time, It's lunchtime everybody! Get your lunches out while I go to see if ling-ling has my egg rolls ready yet.” The teacher told them, before leaving all of them unattended like a good teacher.

“WOOOO LUNCHTIME!!!” Junior and Joseph shouted in unison.