The boys chuckled and continued their radio commentary, showing Five how everything worked and even talking about her on the air just to get a reaction.

"Oh, by the way, Jack," Eugene said later in the day during another song. "I have an announcement to make."

"Oh?" Jack and Five pestered their friend for information, but he refused to answer their inquiries regarding the nature of the message. When the song died down, Eugene cleared his throat, and Five was unable to tell whether his face showed embarrassment or amusement.

"Great stuff there Jack."

"Why thanks Eugene," Jack said brightly. "You're not doing too bad yourself."

"Well, thanks," his partner replied cheerily. "All right. This is quick shout out to anyone who was in the quad this morning. I'm sorry for flashing you. I—I had an unfortunate trouser-related malfunction and, well, um… I'm sorry."

Jack and Five burst into laughter, and she hoped her somewhat-quiet snorts weren't being picked up by the microphone. "You flashed in the quad? You didn't tell me about that!"

"Because I knew you'd find it funny!" Eugene insisted, his face red but lit with a smile.

Jack was struggling to hold back laughter. "What happened?"

"Well I—I was trying to readjust my crutch—my crutch—while I was out walking, and, well, I—I hadn't had done my belt up properly and we—my—my—" He paused. "My pants fell down."

Jack and Five couldn't contain their amusement any longer and it rang through the microphone.

"Oh—" Eugene continued, fighting not to laugh himself. "Oh, sure, thanks. You're so supportive. Anyway, listeners, I'm sorry if you saw that. If not, let's forget I mentioned it. Here's a song."

It was a good thing Eugene switched the microphones off them, or Five's spasms of mirth would definitely have blasted over the radio.

As the days passed, Five began saving her rations and trading them in slowly for other items of food. As part of the rationing crew, no one questioned her, so she easily began collecting the items she needed. A little flour here, some cocoa there, a cup of sugar or two.

Five had everything she needed after about a week, and, one evening, she waited until everyone had gone to bed before sneaking back into the kitchens. This was strictly against the rules, and Five was perfectly aware of that, but she had to at least try to enact her plan. And if she were caught, she would simply tell the truth, as awkward as it might be.

Five knew this would be a pitiful attempt at baking. She had sneakily asked a fellow rationing crew member if he remembered any cake recipes as if she simply wanted to reminisce. He nostalgically recited one out loud, and she repeated it to herself about twenty times before she was relatively certain she could remember the gist of the process.

Whispering the recipe quietly to herself, Five began to mix the ingredients together in what she hoped was the proper format. The tiny oven in the kitchens she heated up to a minimal temperature in order not to waste energy, and she placed her tiny stretch of cake into the oven, wincing as the door squeaked noisily.

As the batter baked, Five sighed and started on the icing. She had no access to anything resembling ice cream; that was certainly not a luxury Abel had.

When the batter was done baking, Five retrieved it. She waited for what seemed like ages for it to cool, and then plopped the newly-made chocolate cake onto a spare plate. After piling on the few tablespoons of confectioners'-sugar icing she had managed to mix, Five spread the icing all over and rolled the cake up carefully, relieved that it only crumbled minimally.

She was done.

After quickly cleaning the kitchen, Five peeked outside the food storage area in trepidation; to her utter relief, a small light still shone from the comms tower. She wouldn't have to hide the cake in the residence halls until morning.

Five limped slowly, carrying the pitiful excuse for a roll cake and a fork across Abel toward the comms. Without hesitating, she entered the tower and stalked up the stairs, praying Janine, Eugene, and Jack were not here during this time of night.

Taking deep breath, Five knocked lightly on the door of the comms area. When a tousled, black-haired head opened the door and glanced out, Five's face broke into a smile.

"Hi, Sam," she said a little breathlessly, her face pink. "I—I have something for you."