CHAPTER 1 (COOKING)
Smoke began filling the kitchen. It was too thick for me to see. I began coughing. The sprinklers began to turn on and alarm. Water began spewing everywhere.
"A-Anthea, you okay?" I could hear Danny say in between coughs.
"Oh. I'm fine Danny. Don't you worry. I just had a minor setback", I replied.
"I'll open the doors now so the smoke'll get out", Danny said and began opening the doors, letting the fresh breeze counter the smog that invaded the kitchen.
The smoke began to thin out a bit. I managed to stop coughing now. Fresh air once again entered the kitchen and the sprinklers stopped spewing water.
I was seriously wet, and so was Danny. The smoke finally cleared up by now.
Danny was laughing at me. "And you said you didn't need help".
I shrugged and smiled sheepishly. Yeah. I had to admit defeat and raise the white flag.
"Sorry. I thought I could do it on my own", I admitted.
"It's okay. No harm done".
I went back to the oven where the smoke came from and decided to see whatever creation I made.
I was baking chocolate crinkles for Danny today. I wanted to bake for him. I decided to bake it all by myself. But… As you can see… This disaster occurred.
I was still going to see though if my crinkles were edible.
I opened the oven, and looked at my crinkles. I had to fan away some smoke that came from it with my hand. I took out the tray and placed the batch of crinkles on the table.
Danny inched closer as well to see my creation. It… was better than what I had been expecting. I imagined the crinkles crawling around and growing teeth. They were just burnt.
"So… Um… You wanna try?" I asked Danny hesitantly.
Hm… Maybe I shouldn't let him. I'd probably only poison him.
He nodded. "Sure. I love anything that you cook".
I picked up one crinkle that was as black as charcoal. Well, that was exaggerated. It was pretty black though.
"Even a monster like this?" I chuckled.
He laughed as well. "Anthea, it's okay. I definitely wanna taste one of your crinkles".
Aw… he was simply too much.
I shrugged. "Suit yourself. Thanks a lot though. It means a lot to me".
And it did. I loved the way he supported me.
"No prob", he replied and picked up one crinkle and popped it into his mouth.
He began chewing it slowly. I observed his reaction. For a minute, I feared that he might choke or something.
He finally swallowed it after a few seconds.
"Hm… Not that bad, really. A little burnt, but pretty sweet", he grinned at me.
"Really?" I asked, surprised by his reaction.
"Yeah. I'm not lying to please you. Why don't you taste it as well?"
I took one crinkle and ate it. I chewed it slowly. Hm… Pretty good actually. It was a little burnt though. But aside from that, it was scrumptious.
"Hm… You're right". I said.
"See? Wait… What's this?" Danny said and held one crinkle in his hand. He dropped it on the tray and it made a large 'thump!' sound.
Man that was one hard crinkle!
I laughed. "Oops! I turned it into stone".
He laughed as well and placed his arm over my shoulder, grinning at me. "Nah. Anything you cook is delicious to me".
"Aw… Thanks Danny", I said and kissed him on the cheek. He was so sweet.
I noticed that he was wet now.
"Aw Danny… You're so wet now", I said as I saw him almost soaked.
He shrugged. "Nah. No biggie. I had fun anyway. What about you? You might catch a cold you know".
"Nah. I'm fine Danny. You don't really need to worry. In any case we'd better mop this place up".
I nodded. Jacob would probably explode if he saw this mess. He was always such a neat and well-organized guy. For him, everything goes according to plan. I guess that's why he's a successful architect now. I envy him. He was always good with drawing. I could barely even draw a cow.
I went to the closet room just outside the kitchen and got two mops. Danny took one and began mopping the floor. I began to mop as well. In ten minutes, the kitchen was back to normal. It was spic and span. Jacob wouldn't probably notice a thing.
We both sat on the high stools around the counter and began pondering what to do with the crinkles. Some crinkles were so hard; they could probably make my teeth fall apart.
Hm… How about a small food fight? I picked one crinkle and hurled it towards Danny.
I missed though because he dodged. The crinkle flew through the door.
"Hey! No fair! I was off-guard!" Danny chuckled.
I was laughing so hard as well. "Sorry. Why couldn't you take the hit? It would be way more fun if you did".
Danny chuckled and stuck out his tongue at me.
Suddenly, we heard someone clear his throat. I turned around and saw Jacob. He was holding the piece of crinkle that I just hurled at Danny. I smiled sheepishly as he leaned on the wall, crossed his arms and smiled at me.
And that was no good sign. Whenever he smiled like that, it meant a sermon was coming.
"Er… Sorry about that Jacob", I explained, my head bent down.
"I see", he nodded. "Mrs. Finster called. She said that she saw smoke coming from the house. Do you know anything?"
I gulped. I couldn't lie to Jacob. He'd know right away that I was lying.
"Okay Jacob. I… Had a little disaster with the crinkles. Everything's fine now though. Danny and I cleaned up the place."
At first, he looked at me sternly. Then he sighed and all the rigidness from his face disappeared. "Next time, be careful sis. Okay? You might get hurt. I'll get towels for you two. Wait a minute".
Then he walked away to get us some towels.
I gave out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness. I thought he got angry".
I was so nervous about his reaction. I wasn't expecting him to be so calm.
Danny patted my head gently. "He's nice you know. You shouldn't be so scared of him."
I nodded. He was right. Jacob's a nice guy, and that's why I love him.
Jacob finally appeared holding two blue towels. He tossed them to me and went back to his room.
"Thanks!" I called after him.
I handed one towel to Danny and he began drying his hair and then began drying his arms
I began toweling my hair. It would probably take a long time though, considering the length of my hair.
Danny suddenly stopped. "Here, let me help you dry off."
He took my towel and began drying my hair.
"Aw… Thanks Danny", I told him, thinking that what he did was sweet.
"It's not a problem Anthea", Danny replied.
After a few minutes, my hair was dry now. It's thanks to Danny. I felt pretty refreshed now. Danny seemed dry now too. Well, he was still a bit wet but he was dry enough.
"Danny, you want to change into another shirt or something? I'm sure Jacob has an extra one", I asked him.
He shook his head. "Nah. I'm fine. Really."
My phone rang. I grabbed it from the counter. "Hello?"
"Oh. Hi Anthea. It's me, Jenny", I heard Jenny say on the other line.
What was wrong? Why did she sound so depressed?
"Hi Jenny. What's wrong? Your voice sounds so sad.
"I called just to tell you about that. Anthea? Can we meet tomorrow at 9 am? At Ice Cream Monster? I want to talk to you. Jessica, Evangeline, Nicole and Pamela are coming too.
"Okay Jenny. I'll come. I promise."
"Thanks a lot".
After that, she hung up. She seemed crestfallen. She's been like that for weeks now. I wonder what's up with her.
"Jenny looks pretty bad for the past few weeks", Danny said.
So he must've noticed too.
I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It's not like her. She's going to tell us tomorrow why."
"Good idea. She needs your company."
"Why don't I call James?"
"Sure. She is Jenny's best friend."
I dialed James' number on my phone. I immediately flinched though because I heard shrieks of several girls.
"JAAAMMEESS!!! MARRY ME!!!"
"CHARLIE! CHARLIE! CHARLIE! COME BAAACK!!"
"MATT! YOU'RE SO FREAKIN' HOT!! CAN I RIP OFF YOUR SHIRT??"
Whoa! They must be at a concert.
I heard the door of a car shut and then I heard heavy breathing. It must be hard at times to have crazy girl fans.
"H-h-hello?" James said, out of breath.
"James? Hi! I'm sorry for disturbing you guys", I replied. Maybe I should've called later on.
"N-n-no. It's fine Anthea. Good thing you called. We missed you guys. We just came from our concert and these girls are totally outrageous."
"Outrageous?? They scare the hell out of me!!" Matt yelled.
I heard Charlie chuckle.
James laughed. "Matt nearly got his shirt ripped. That's why he's steaming now. Anyway, why did you call?"
"James, it's about Jenny."
"What about Jenny?"
"She feels absolutely depressed for the past few weeks".
I heard his phone suddenly drop with a loud thud. Then I could hear him pick it up quickly and fussing with it in his hands.
"WHAT?? Why?? What happened to Jenny?" he asked frantically.
Gosh. He did seem so worried. He was always like this whenever it was about Jenny.
"I don't know. She's going to talk to us tomorrow about it. I called you because you might cheer her up even just a bit. She's so sad", I explained to James.
"Aw… Jenny! I wish I could be there. But we're still headed for Canada for our next tour…" James replied glumly.
"It's alright James. Just call her. She'll feel better if you do. She might not look so glum once we meet at Ice Cream Monster".
"Okay. I'll do just that."
"Thanks James."
"Sure. I'd do anything for Jenny. Bye Anthea. Thanks for calling. Say hi to the guys over there for us."
The call ended there.
"James said hi by the way", I told Danny.
He smiled and nodded. "Okay. We miss him too. Harry especially."
I chuckled. "He really is a great guy. Jenny's lucky to have him."
"I know. He really is great."
"By the way, when's your competition in Spelling and Biology?"
Danny was competing once more. So it also meant that he'd be gone for a couple of weeks.
"I'll be gone for two weeks. The competition takes place in three weeks. I'll definitely call you everyday", he replied.
"Aw… Thanks. I'll call you too everyday."
Wow. Two whole weeks without Danny. I am so gonna miss him.
He approached me and hugged me tightly. "I'll miss you, and your crazy antics."
I laughed. "Whatever. I'll miss you too you goof."
He was so nice and it felt great to be wrapped by his arms. I really was going to miss him, even if it was only for two weeks. Still, I'm proud of him. He's a crazy genius.
"I love you", he whispered.
"I love you too", I replied.
Then he kissed me and I felt like in heaven.
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a minor setback"een nd alarm. water
