14

Junior groggily sat up and rubbed his eyes. He felt hot from being in his sleeping bag for so long. He looked up at the chef, who had woken him up. "Is it time to get up yet?"

"Yes, Junior." Chef PeePee replied.

"Look here dude!" Joseph called. The ginger looked in his direction. "I caught you guys dinner!" He held up the squirrel. Junior visibly winced, but still gave the boy a thumbs up.

"We'd have to cook it first, you know that, right?" Chef PeePee told Joseph.

"Eh, maybe, maybe not." He said, shrugging.

Junior stood up, and rolled up his sleeping bag. He put it in the bag with his other belongings. "Well, what do we do now?"

"We're going to get going." Chef PeePee responded. "We have to stay out of sight as best as we can. If I say to run or hide, you do as I say, alright?" Junior nodded. The chef took out his map with the path drawn on it. He took a look at it and pointed in a direction. He started walking, and both Junior and Joseph followed.

"You're coming too, Joseph?" Junior asked, noticing that the green-hatted boy had a bag with him as well.

"Of course, dude! I don't have anything to go back to, besides school. But I don't think they'll care if I'm gone." He replied, shrugging. It was sad to hear, but it was pretty much true. The only person who ever talked to Joseph besides Junior was Cody and Toad and Jeffy on occasion, and they weren't as close as they both were with Junior.

Junior wondered if Cody knew that he was missing. He's a nerd, so he probably watched the news and saw the announcement. He didn't know if he was getting any calls either, since he'd left his phone. Hopefully Cody would be okay without him. Junior knew that he had the Pineapple girl, at least when she got home from vacation, so he'd have one friend.

Junior also thought of Jeffy. He missed him too. They weren't as close to each other as Junior was to Joseph or Cody, but they were good friends who loved getting into mischief. Junior wondered if Jeffy missed him back. He normally had an Idgaf attitude, but Junior also knew he had a soft side.

"What town are we going to next, Chef PeePee?" Junior asked the Chef.

"Brent, I think. We have to walk through this whole town first though." The chef replied. Junior groaned at the thought of another long walk. He knew he had to, but the thought was so tedious it bummed the ginger out.

"Don't worry dude, it'll go fast. It does for me when I walk to your house if I can't get a ride." Joseph reassured him. "You guys wanna listen to music?"

"Sure!" Junior beamed.

"Just keep it quiet. We don't want to draw too much attention." Chef PeePee told the boys.

"Don't worry, I got earbuds." Joseph replied, pulling out a pair of off-brand airpods. "I traded my shoes for them to some kid, then ran before he realized they were fake."

Junior took one of the earbuds. "You better play some good stuff." He said.

"Trust me, I have the best music taste." Joseph said.

Chef PeePee and the boys walked along a calm, nearly empty road, before reaching a small part of the town with stores all over. Luckily, most of them were closed, which meant less people were around. The boys stared into the windows of the passing shops, especially the toy stores. The three passed a few random people walking, which freaked the chef out. Luckily most weren't paying attention to anything but their phones and the path ahead.

The blue sky faded to an orange-red color as the sun dropped. The surrounding air got cooler, which felt nice on the boy's skin. Chef PeePee was even able to leave his sleeves down without dying of a heat stroke. They all walked through the area, along another calm road, then into another area with stores and shops similar but different to the last one.

"Do we have any water left?" Junior asked.

"Not much..." the chef replied. "You think you could fill these up in the gas station, Joseph?"

"Of course!" Joseph said. He got a few empty bottles from Chef PeePee and Junior and went inside the nearest gas station.

"They won't find us if we stand near the station for a little bit, right?" Junior asked.

"Hopefully not, unless someone is watching and turns us in." The chef said. "But it's almost the night shift, and I'd bet the worker in there is some teen who's too tired to care."

"You're probably right." Junior said. "Did you ever work anywhere before working for my dad?"

"Well... not really. I walked a few dogs and babysat a few kids when I was younger for extra money, but not much else. The orphanage are the ones who paid for me to go to culinary school, so I was fine there." The chef explained.

"Really? Huh, I figured you worked somewhere else before my dad." Junior said. "I guess I never asked before."

"There's a lot you don't know about me." Chef PeePee said, shrugging. "Even though I know basically everything about you."

"Nuh uh! Not everything!"

"Your full name is Justin Braxton Reynolds Jr, you're 12 years old, your birthday is September 28th, you're 5'6 and a half, you're skittish around cotton balls, Macaroni and Cheese is your favorite food, you love Thomas, your favorite show of all time is Doofy the dragon even though you don't like to admit it in public, you wet the bed until you were-" Chef PeePee said, going on and on about everything he knew about Junior.

"Okay! I get it!" Junior exclaimed, stopping Chef PeePee from embarrassing him more. "I guess you do. You have known me since I was 2 or 3..."

"Exactly. Ever since you'd sit in your high chair and beg for Mac and cheese all the time." Chef PeePee remarked.

"Yeah, yeah." Junior said. "When's Joseph coming back out?"

"Hopefully soon. I'm getting impatient." The chef responded. He and the boy then saw a green figure exiting the door with the bottles filled with water, and a pack of gum. "Speak of the devil...."

"Sorry I took so long guys. They said I had to buy something to use their bathroom, so I bought some gum. Want some?" Joseph Apologized, before offering the two some juicy fruit.

"I guess." Chef PeePee replied, taking a stick of the tasty but short-lasting gum. "Now, let's get going. We've been in the open too long." He took a swig of water, and started down the sidewalk, the two boys in tow.