CHAPTER 5- Boom

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Not much happens in this chapter, but it's got some necessary background stuff...so yeah, it's pretty blah. Next chapter will be much more exciting! Promise! Don't forget to vote and comment!

Chapter 5- Boom

~Josh~

I'd never heard the tone of utter despair in Jake's voice before. It terrified me.

"What's gone Jake? What's wrong?!" My voice rose to a near-scream at the end. I felt like I was on fire; adrenaline pumped through my veins, making my heart race and my palms sweat.

"The..." He sank to his knees in the doorway, his eyes facing the room, but unseeing. "The..."

I held my breath, knowing there was nothing I could do but wait for him to reveal the news when he was able. Behind me the bacon started to smoke, forgotten in the pan as we all watched and waited for Jake to spit it out.

"The kitchen," he finally said, bowing his head in defeat.

"The...kitchen?" Laney asked, confusion overriding any sense of concern in her voice.

"All that food...gone. Just gone." Jake was shaking his head now, eyes closed and shoulders slumped.

No one made a further move to speak, so I walked over and knelt next to him on the floor. "Jake, you have to tell us what's going on. You're freaking us all out." My heart was still racing and I really was still worried, but I was beginning to have a suspicion...

He opened his eyes when I put my hand on his shoulder, gaze still unfocused as if he was only seeing what was going on inside his own head.

"It burned down. The whole kitchen. Poof! Gone in a flash of flambé gone wrong."

Understanding dawned and I reached up to shake him by the shoulders, forcing him to focus and look me in the eyes. "Hey! You need to focus! Was anyone hurt? Is the rest of the house o.k.?"

A single tear formed and fell down his cheek. "Just the kitchen. Oh GOD—" he shoved me away and surged to his feet. "The Girl Scout cookies! The pudding pops! The mother fucking Oreos! What am I going to do?! How am I going to survive? I'll starve! I won't make it past Tuesday!"

Just what I thought. Jake was being a drama queen again. Brad was the only one still showing any signs of concern, and I wasn't one hundred percent sure I wasn't misreading his expression as annoyance at the racket Jake was making. I sighed, decided it was better to just ignore him at this point and go help Sunny and Trip salvage the burning food.

When Jake stopped his theatrics long enough to realize no one was paying attention to him anymore, he stomped over to the kitchen in a huff.

"Hey! Do none of you have a heart? Does no one have an ounce of sympathy for me after my house literally just burned down? What is wrong with you people?" He looked genuinely indignant.

"You just said it was just your kitchen and no one was hurt," Trip stated, dishing the extra-crunchy bacon onto paper plates.

"Did you miss the part where I said all the food is gone? It's kind of a big deal!" Jake threw his hands in the air. "I'm homeless for the foreseeable future and I can't get even an ounce of sympathy from my supposed friends. You guys suck."

"Wait a minute. What do you mean you're homeless? Was the rest of the house on fire too?" I asked with renewed concern. Way to bury the lead, Jake.

"No, but we can't live there while they do the renovations. There's a hole in the house where the kitchen used to be and smoke damage on the ground floor."

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