"Danny, I don't know."

"Come on, Russ, it's a great opportunity."

Rusty peered over his shoulder nervously, back towards the school. Lunch was almost over. They'd be missed soon.

"It's a great risk."

"You always liked risks." Danny said stubbornly. He clutched his notebook and stared into Rusty's eyes. "Come on, what are the odds we'd get caught?"

"Pretty big, considering us."

"Russ…"

"What?"

"Stop being so pessimistic."

Rusty took one more fleeting glance at the school and then nodded. "OK, let's go."

The two briskly left the school grounds, by way of a hole in the old chain-link fence. It wasn't far to Danny's house and they got there within minutes.

Russ noted with satisfaction that there was no car in the driveway.

"I told you she wouldn't be home." Danny gloated. He removed the emergency key from the gutter and opened the front door. "Come on in." he smirked.

Rusty followed his friend into the Ocean household and greeted the family's dog, Matthias. "Hey, how ya doing, Matty?"

The Corgi's stub tail wagged frantically as he jumped up, trying to get attention. Russ quickly patted the dog's head before following Danny into the kitchen.

On the table was their target - a large, perfectly golden, apple pie.

"Look at that thing." Rusty said, shaking his head in amazement. "How does she do that?"

"I dunno," Danny grinned, taking a knife and pie server from a drawer.

"More importantly, how'd you know she was going to?"

"She was cutting apples this morning." Danny answered matter-of-factly. He paused dramatically for a moment, knife hovering over the luscious crust, before he lowered the blade into it.

Rusty watched, mouth watering, as his friend removed two large slices, totaling half the pie, into two bowls.

"We can eat it on the way over to save time." Rusty suggested.

"But the dishes. . ." Danny protested.

"We can leave 'em by the fence and pick 'em up on the way home."

Danny nodded and the two headed for the door.

"Totally worth the risk."

"Totally." Russ licked his lips.