A Greasy Romance

Chapter 1

     Jake Gonzolaz ate a lot.
     Every day at academic team practice, the coach would order pizza. Being teenagers, all of the students had quite hearty appetites, but Jake was quite possibly the worst (of course, Philip was actually the worst, but Jake was a close second). After practice had ended, Jake grabbed one of the extra pizzas and headed out the door.
     "Hey, Manuel!" Jake called, his voice muffled by the pizza he had already started to shove into his mouth. "I need a ride. Can you take me?"
     "Sure. Hop in," Manuel told him, opening the doors. "Don't get any crumbs on the seat, though." After a short drive, Manuel pulled into Jake's driveway.
     "Bye, Manny!" Jake called, getting out of the car and slamming the door behind him. As he stepped out, however, he fell, and the pizza flew from his hands. "No!" he screamed.
    He watched it fall upon the pavement and fold over itself, crumbs flying everywhere from the bottom of the pizza, which, as it tossed end over end toward the blacktop below, became the top, then the bottom again, before it finally met its doom upon the asphalt.
     Jake stared at the pizza, transfixed by its crumpled form lying on the pavement. "KYLE," he screamed, "I NEED YOUR HELP! MY PIZZA!"
     Kyle opened the front door and stuck his head out. "What did you do this time?"
     "My pizza," Jake said, pointing. "It's ruined. I'll have to throw it away." He looked as if he was about to cry.
     "Don't be ridiculous," Kyle scoffed. "It's perfectly fine." He crossed the lawn and scooped the pizza up from the pavement, nestling it back into its cardboard box before taking it up to his room and setting it absent-mindedly on his desk.
     Pizza saved, Kyle moved to his bed to continue working on his sudoku puzzle. Suddenly he heard a voice.
     "Thank you for saving me."
     Kyle looked up quickly. His door was closed; no one else was in the room.
     "Who was that?" he asked suspiciously, getting up and moving toward the door. He cracked it open, peering into the hallway. "Hello?"
     "Down here."
     He looked at his desk, and saw the pizza sitting up as if it were a person. It had a face, too, with eyes the color of pepperoni and thick lips of sausage.
     "I thought that Jake guy was going to throw me away," the pizza said.
     Kyle screamed.