and pumpkin makes five.

With ten days until payday your character discovers they are overdrawn

Brads head bent over the bowl; his long stringy hair flopping forward tantalizingly close to the gloop he was staring at. The spoon continued to stir slowly, suddenly stopping, he reached for the sugar bowl to fight the ants for a few grains and groaned.
“Empty again.” Sighing with resolve gulped the last few mouthfuls down with a grimace.
“Porridge is so much better with honey drizzled over the top. Can’t remember the last time we had honey.”

He looked up and flicked his hair out of his eyes. “We going shopping today? Theres nothing to eat and I am sick of porridge and pot noodles.”
Skye took a sip of her coffee. “Yeah, ok, I’ll grab the kitty and we’ll catch the bus together.”
She reached for the jar on top of the fridge and was concerned with the weightlessness of it. Bringing it down to eye level she saw that it was stuffed with IOU notes.
“Damn Grant. He never pays his way.” She fumed looking over the lid towards his bedroom.
“We are going to have to get rid of him.”
“Turf him out now and we will never see any of the money.”
Skyes face clouded as she turned away. Cousin or no, he was starting to irritate her and the other flatmates and she was sick of defending him.
“ Student payments don’t come in for another ten days. What the hell are we going to do?”
Skye stared hard at the closed door into Grants room , her focus disturbed by a loud clunk on the table beside her.

“Hey look what my little vine just grew!” Angies sweating and beaming face shone with the excitement only shared by those who have produced their own food on small plots.
Brad flicked his hair. “I hate pumpkin – its only fit for cows.”
Skye shot a withering glare at Brad. “Hang on a min – thanks Angie that’s great news - set it down over near the sink. We need a house meeting. I’ll go and push Grant out of bed.”
She knocked on his door and gingerly opening half expecting an unnamed blond to be sprawled over the dark sheets, legs intertwined with his. Skye was almost disappointed when she saw he was alone.

“House Meeting – and you are in the dog house, So get the hell out of bed.”
A groan from the lump in the bed inspired her to creep closer.
“Come on Grant I am serious – get out of bed. You’ve got to stop nicking the kitty money – we need it to buy food. None of us have any till payday.”
Another grunt and the naked Grant got out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen.
“Get a cover on it will ya Grant. None of us are impressed.” Angie flung a bathtowel at him.
He snatched the thrown towel and neatly wrapped it round his slim hips. Grants hand sought the packet of cigarettes and he automatically lit one,,sucking deeply he blew the smoke out, “So whats up?” he drawled.

Skye glared at him and thrust the IOUs at him.

“This is the third time this semester Grant. Only this time we are out of food and no-one has a razoo till payday.”
He sat at the bench and stared at each flat mates face. “Serious?”
They nodded in unison. Brad rummaged through the pantry and pulled out a few odd tins and packets. “This is all we have till payday.”
Angies grinning face pushed in “You are forgetting my pumpkin.”
Grant blew smoke in her direction. “You don’t have a steak growing out there on a vine do you Angie?”

She gave him a withering look and gathered some of the precious stock around her.
“We can stretch what we have here and I know we can find some loose change here somewhere to buy duck bread.”
“Huh?”
“Bakers usually sell a huge bag of day old bread products for pittance.”
She looked around at the faces.

“What? My mum was single and I had two older hungry brothers. You get to know these things. Duck bread is perfectly edible if not a bit stale and you sometimes get a iced or a cream bun in the bottom!”
“And the pumpkin?”
“With what we have I can make pumpkin scones, soup, curried pumpkin and pumpkin patties. When we get the duck bread I can make a pumpkin pie and bread and butter pudding too. We can scout around the student canteen and the mall food hall for sugar sachets and sauce. We’ll be right!”

Grant shook his head slowly and looked at Angie. “You’re wasting your time in Physics, Angie. You’d make an awesome wife.”
She blushed and picked up the pumpkin. “Unless you are offering …..and I will say no anyway, I’ll stick with the geeks and science. But I won’t graduate if I starve to death – so get to scouting everyone!”