"$2000!"

"And 30 cents."

Emily peered over Gustavo to see the bill he held in his hands, verifying the boys did indeed break $2000.30 worth of things. The culprits sat on the couch in front of Emily and her superiors, and Bitters stood besides them, less than happy.

They were competing in a "world cup" so they say.

"They destroyed the Palm Woods' computerized registration system, two lamps, three vases, and my pants," Bitters told Gustavo, pointing out the marinara sauce stains on his pants.

"But I won the Palm Woods 500 world cup!" Carlos said, holding up his massive, homemade trophy, with a strainer on top.

"Is that a strainer?" Emily asked, judging the item that caused this problem.

Kelly scribbled numbers down before ripping a check and handing it to Bitters, who gingerly walked off with his money.

"Well, guess that settles it," Kendall said, him and his friends standing to leave.

"No because I'm sick and tired of you dogs breaking stuff!" Gustavo yelled.

The boys shrugged, overlapping each other in defense.

"The hole in the wall?" Emily reminded them. The boys swung the circular hanging chair in the studio back, with Carlos in it, and let it crash through the walls. The boys grimaced.

"Our control box?" Emily listed, going back to the time she tried to show them the final cut of Famous and Kendall smacked James' smoothie out of his hands. Kendall shrugged.

"Oh! The golf cart?" The girl said. It was her first time writing a check for damages. Kelly and Gustavo figured they couldn't keep track of everything and gave Emily full permission to pay off any accidents they caused at the Palm Woods.

Giving apologetic smiles, "Okay, so we do put a little wear and tear on things from time to time," Kendall admitted.

"But that's showbiz, right?" James retorted.

"Wrong, and it's time you take responsibility for your actions by paying me back my $2000!" Gustavo screamed, walking back into the studio, Kelly following.

Emily shook her head, "And 30 cents!" before following them as well, despite the boys protests.

"Isn't there a cheaper way to learn responsibility? Like a goldfish," Logan said, hopefully.

"Look, Griffin's cracking down on us for overspending," Emily told them.

"And Gustavo's right. This has got to stop," Kelly mentioned.

"Oh, and until you pay me back you will not dip a toe into your beloved Palm Woods pool," The man said, turning to his piano and playing a three chord, sinister melody.

"You cannot keep us away from the world's greatest pool!" Carlos told him.

"No, but Freight Train can."

Freight Train appeared behind the boys, wearing a lifeguard outfit and holding a clipboard. "You guys are on my "no swim" list," he said.

As Kelly and Gustavo fist bumped, Emily nodded in approval, "Love the look, dude!"

"Thanks, Emily," Freight Train smiled.

"Gustavo, $2,000?" Kendall cried. "That's $500 a piece."

"Kendall is good with math," Kelly gasped, sarcastically. "Well I guess you guys are just gonna have to get jobs."

The boys gasped in fear. "In fact, one of you can work off your debt for me right here at Rocque Records," Gustavo mentioned. "Who wants to be my production assistant's assistant?"

Emily gasped, smiling. She'd always wanted an assistant. Having to constantly get Gustavo his coffee without any for herself was breaking her heart every time.

Everyone took one big step back, except for the oblivious Carlos and his trophy.

"Carlos it is," Gustavo said, making Emily clap to herself. "Rest of you go get jobs and get me my money!"

As the boys ran out of the studio, Emily stepped up to Carlos, playfully shook his hand and walked him out into the lobby.

"Don't worry. It pays really well. You'll be in the pool before the others in no time," she assured him, leading the now at ease boy into Gustavo's office.

She took out her notepad and crashed on the couch, thinking of a possible new song.

Time and time went by, before Carlos happily walked out, giving her an energetic wave on his wave to the kitchen, which she kindly returned, happy for Carlos to be here more than the others.

Suddenly she heard the boy scream and come running out of the kitchen. Before she could stop him and calm him down, he had already turn the corner and most likely hid somewhere, and realized she couldn't be bothered to care.

***

By time Emily had forgotten about Carlos' episode, he came out, a perfect cup of coffee in hand to deliver to Gustavo.

Despite walking in calmly, he spirited out and back towards the kitchen, panicking. Emily swung her legs over, off the arm of the couch, set her notes down and hesitantly walked in the direction he ran.

Hearing Carlos scream behind the kitchen door, Emily knocked, "Carlos?" She slowly opened it, floods of foam and coffee smells pouring out onto her shoes. She slammed to door closed behind her, seeing the prototype coffee maker was spa-zing out. "What did you do?" She asked, her voice wavering.

"I'm making coffee!" He told her, assuringly. "There has to be a way to shut this off!"

"Unplug it!" She said, pushing the toaster out of the way, as her and his body collided at the counter to unplug the device. Hearing its robotic voice shut down, they both sighed heavily in relief.

"Switching to reserve power," the CAL said, before repeating "more foam," over and over.

"What?" The two teens screamed.

Carlos screamed, "No, no, no, no," over as he approached the machine, hitting it a few times.

"Self defense mode activated."

A violent pressure of foam shot out from the coffee maker, directly at Carlos's chest. He backed up, trying to block himself as Emily gripped his shoulders and held him in place as her shield. He backed up until they were both stuck in the corner, still under attack.

"I just wanna go to the pool!"

***

The foam levels got to waist high before Emily and Carlos devised a new plan and evacuated the kitchen. Carlos found his helmet, and a hockey stick and Emily a baseball bat. As the two ran down the hallway back to destroy the machine and pay the consequences, Kelly stood in shock at the two.

"Hey, Kelly!" Carlos said, chipper.

Emily ran backwards, holding her hands out in defense, "Don't worry, I'm handling this!"

Carlos and Emily looked at each other, nodded, before the girl opened the door, a mountain of foam ready to leak out.

"You cannot stop me, Carlos. Humans are futile."

The two shared one more look, taking a deep breath, before both diving into the mess.

Hearing a horrified scream, Emily popped her now soaked head out, "Stop screaming!"

"No, no!" Carlos interjected, "I'm just making coffee!" He assured Kelly.

Emily stumbled her way out of the mess to Kelly, Carlos following. "Look that new coffee machine is out of control, we can't shut it off. And under different circumstances, I would be in heaven," Emily commented, dreaming of consuming that much coffee.

"I will cover the Earth with foam. Bow to my foamy powers!"

"See?" Emily pointed out, hearing the intensity.

"We have to destroy it!" Carlos told Kelly, desperate.

She turned to the both of them, "No, Gustavo said you can't beak anything else," she reminded them.

"Kelly is dumb. Emily is weak."

"What?" Emily, demanded, angry.

"What did he just say?" Kelly asked, offended.

"You heard me, cupcake."

Carlos, knowing that was too far, looked at each girl on either side of him, "Oh, it's on!" As the three of them, Kelly carrying a music stand, charged into the kitchen, all furiously smashing the machine.

"I was just- ow- kidding! Can't you- ow- take a joke? Tell the blender I love her."

Seeing he was dead, the three sighed, walking out of the kitchen, all gasping from inhaling the foam.

"I'll call a cleaning crew before Gustavo finds out," Kelly said.

"Yeah."

"Thanks, Kelly," Emily said.

"By the way, do I get a lunch break?"

***

"Don't get it on my clothes," Emily warned.

"Don't scuff my helmet," Carlos retorted.

Emily stood over the bathroom sink, hair in the bowl, as Carlos washed the foam out of it. Upside down, Emily was cleaning his beloved helmet,

The two had already wiped off all they could from their clothes, and found James' emergency blowdryer and dried all they could.

When Carlos had finished, Emily whipped her hair back, letting the water ring out into the towel she had draped over her shoulders. Carlos, excitedly, put his helmet back on his head.

"Today was kind of fun," He admitted, watching his friend towel dry her wet hair.

"Oh, yeah. If you forget about the evil coffee machine," she said sarcastically.

Carlos rolled his eyes, opening the door for her. Exiting the bathroom, they saw their friends had returned and Gustavo was in the lobby. Carlos ripped the towel out of her hands and threw it in the bathroom, shutting the door.

The two presented false smiles, pretending nothing happened, going to stand with the group.

The boys took notice of their friends dirty clothes and wet hair. "What happened?" Logan asked.

Carlos whacked him on the back of the head, and Emily held a finger to her lips, "Shh!"

Gustavo finished counting cash, "1000," he said, surprised, looking to Logan and Kendall.

"Plus, my $500 from my modeling job," James boasted, handing him the cash.

Kelly tore a check, "Plus Carlos' paycheck."

"That's $2000," Gustavo mumbled.

"You get paid $500 a day?" Carlos gasped, all the boys turning to Emily. She sheepishly shrugged.

"Oh, and 30 cents," Kendall said, cheekily, dropping the coins into Gustavo's hand.

"I have to say I'm very impressed. I hope you guys have learned your lesson," Gustavo told them.

"Lesson learned," they all said.

"You're free to swim," Freight Train said, crossing their names off his list.

As the boys broke out in celebration, they started walking out when an angry mob-like crowd stomped down the hallway. The boys scurried back.

Bitters was first in line to complain, "Who is paying my bill for palm woods towels, soap and a fine from the city for running an illegal day care center?"

Emily, eyes wide, look over to Kendall and Logan.

"Here is the bill for foam clean up and new pitch forks," a maintenance man said, handing Gustavo a bill.

"And this coffee machine was a Sanyoy prototype that costs $8000!" Another man screamed, holding up the broken pieces of CAL.

Carlos and Emily turned to each other, grimacing.

"And who is paying this bill for James' wardrobe and styling?" A stylish questioned.

James looked down, giving Katie a harsh look.

"I might of mentioned Gustavo is paying for everything," the girl answered.

Kelly added up the numbers. "Which adds up to a grand total of $14,089."

Emily's hand flew to her mouth in shock as Gustavo started shaking.

"Which is a small price to pay for such a valuable lesson," Kendall interjected, hoping to defuse the situation.

Thinking he was about to snap, Emily stepped back. Instead Gustavo crossed in front of the massive group, pacing. "You know what this is great. No, no this is good. I mean, who needs a lesson in responsibility? Let's just break more stuff!" The man walked up to Carlos and stole the bat out of his hands that Emily used to break CAL.

Nervous, Emily gripped Logan's shoulder, who stood on the other side of her. "I mean, how about this lamp, huh? That'd be fun, right?" He swung the bat, smashing the lamp. Emily squeezed her eyes shut. "Oh, this is fun! How about this vase? Ooh, this vase is too new. Let's hit this vase."

Shards of glass and broken flowers swung in the groups direction, people jumping back.

"And while we're at it, why don't we just bust up my whole studio? I mean, it's just money! Right?" He screamed, officially losing it as he tore through the glass panes behind the couch.

Suddenly, Griffin and his team appeared through the now smashed window. "Gustavo, what did I tell you about breaking things?"

Frozen, "I didn't break anything."

"You have a bat in your hand."

Gustavo disposed of the bat, throwing it away, which only broke more things. "Okay. So, we may put a little wear and tear on things from time to time," He nervously said, reciting what Kendall told him this morning.

"But that's show biz, right?" Kelly asked.

"No, it's time you take responsibility for your actions. By paying me back $14,089."

The whole team groaned, as Emily pointed to herself, silently mouthing "Me?"

***

A car wash was Griffin's big idea. In front of the Palm Woods, Gustavo and Kelly held big signs advertising, as the teens, in swimsuits, washed Griffin's car.

"Be sure to buff out the rims. I want them to shine like a pirate's boot," Griffin happily told the boys, tossing Kendall the keys before going to sit down and read a magazine while he waited.

"It's not the pool, but it's wet," Kendall said, optimistically.

Not amused, James threw a wet rag onto Kendall.

Busting through the doors, Emily ran out wearing jean shorts and a bikini top. "Sorry, sorry, I'm here," she rambled, kicking off her shoes and grabbing a wet towel to start washing the hood.

All the boys each stared at her, stuttering.

"Oh my god," she rolled her eyes, realizing the boys weren't expecting her to wear a swimsuit. She took the hose from Logan, "Why are you guys wearing shirts? We're gonna get wet," she said, clenching the handle and shooting the water out into Logan's face before turning to the others.

As the boys screamed and ducked, Emily laughed, before a downpour of water came over her head, turning to see Carlos with an empty bucket.

She had started a war.

***

So I'm updating so much because you know, quarantine. But I've actually shown some symptoms, so I've been living in my room for two days, bored. I'm waiting to see if I get a fever or if it's bad allergies.

Hope you enjoyed!