Milo's Bucket List:

(TOP SECRET!)

(Yes, Sara, that goes for you too!)

1: Go a whole day without needing my body armor!

2: Watch an entire episode of Dr. Zone without being interrupted by power outages, or ferocious wild animals. Or asteroid warnings, or gas leaks, or burnt egg smell...

3: Go to the movies with Sara and not have the theater get smashed!

4: Not get a new scar all day!

5: Not break any bones, either...

6: Have fun with Melissa and Zack! Maybe doing normal things? Like playing with a ball that doesn't get punctured, or making a science project that doesn't explode?

7: Have a nice, quiet evening with my family.

8: Find out if Mr. Draco is really a vampire?

9: I don't think he is. He seems really nice! Not that vampires couldn't be nice, but it almost seems like he's too obvious to be one. Does that sound silly?

10: Um, that wasn't part of the list, was it? Back on track...

11: Get a good night's sleep.

12: Stop having scary dreams.

13: Maybe... even... have a day without Murphy's Law?

***

At best, when Milo Murphy woke up that morning, he was hoping for a great day.

Sure, he might've tripped on his way downstairs and sprained a wrist, and yes, maybe the supposedly-new box of cereal he opened for breakfast was already stale, and the brand new carton of milk in the fridge was somehow sour. But really, those were just inconveniences—nothing more, nothing less, and Milo had learned to always face these with a smile.

Besides, it was all made up for by the fact it was finally the weekend—so at last, after the school day was over, he was going to spend the whole rest of Friday with his friends.

"I'm going to hang out with Melissa!" he called up the stairs on his way out the front door. He couldn't help but grin—their plans for today would be an adventure for sure. "We're gonna meet Zack and show him our favorite places to go around town!"

"Tomorrow; if you have anything that needs to go, set it by the front door!" came his mother's muffled voice from somewhere in the house. Milo blinked in confusion, trying to figure out what she'd thought he'd said, but a voice from the living room interrupted his thoughts.

"Don't worry little bro, I'll tell her," Sara spoke up from where she was on the couch using her computer. The blonde girl smiled over at her brother, lifting up her laptop to recross her feet on the coffee table. "Have fun, and... try not to break anything? Bones or otherwise?"

Milo grinned, shrugging sheepishly as he opened the door.

"I'll see what I can do!" he promised vaguely yet optimistically, waving as he hurried outside. Sara's chuckles followed him out the door, and he smiled, shutting it carefully behind him.

Of course, the doorknob fell out when he did so, but he whistled a cheery tune to himself and managed to secure it back in.

On his way to Melissa's house, Milo pulled his backpack on tight and took a breath of the warm fall air. For a moment, he closed his eyes, just relishing in having such a nice, sunny day.

But if it was so sunny... why did it smell like rain?

He opened his eyes just in time to avoid tripping over a skateboard that had rolled onto the sidewalk, but as soon as he avoided that, he glanced upwards in uncertainty.

Sure enough, the sun was starting to fade behind thin patches of clouds, and a thick blanket of gray was beginning to creep towards it from the horizon.

The air smelled humid and cool, and as much as Milo usually enjoyed rain, he rubbed his tired eyes and had to sigh.

Well... so much for a nice day to show Zack around town.

***

After meeting Melissa at her place—and by 'meet' he meant 'show up soaking wet because it started pouring the moment he knocked on her door'—and getting a pair of umbrellas, the two friends decided to brave the few streets to their friend's house. Rain or not, and tired Milo or not, Melissa seemed determined to at least get their friends together to hang out for the day.

"What?" the redheaded girl teased, giving her friend a playful glare as she helped him unfold his stubborn rubber-framed umbrella. "The invincible Milo Murphy, stopped by a little rain?"

Milo, tired as he was, only knew to give her a lopsided grin, because he wasn't sure if he could explain to himself how he was feeling.

Apparently, not getting an answer only made Melissa a little concerned.

"...You okay, Milo?" she checked quietly, cocking an eyebrow as they headed off the porch with their umbrellas up. For a moment, the only sound to be heard was that of the heavy raindrops bouncing off their umbrellas.

"Oh—yeah, I'm fine," Milo quickly realized he had to reply, glancing away and laughing sheepishly. Melissa didn't look convinced, so he elaborated, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked. "I just had a big day yesterday. Got a new dent in my body armor!"

He pulled down his collar to show the well-padded green vest he wore under his yellow shirt, and though he tried to grin and blow off the subject with a laugh, it came out as a weak chuckle.

The padding was ripped all the way through, and the dent in his armor was deep. It was only like that in one spot, which would've been a relief—except that spot was right over his heart.

"Dang, Milo, what did you do?" Melissa asked, wide-eyed as she stared at the large gash in the supposedly-bulletproof vest. Suddenly self-conscious, Milo pulled his collar back up and looked away. When he didn't answer right away, Melissa seemed to know not to pry—so she punched him lightly on the shoulder and tried to get him to return her smile. "Yeah, I'll bet that was a big day. Glad you were wearing that thing."

He returned her smile with a slight grin, and he tried very hard to make sure it felt sincere. Somehow, it didn't seem to work.

"Me too," he replied with a chuckle, glancing away into the street.

The drizzling rain filled the silence between them, and the two old friends walked together without saying another word.

***

"Hey Zack, we're here!" Melissa called through the front door of their friend's house. The rain had only increased since they started the walk over—even though they stood on the covered porch, water still dripped off their umbrellas and clothes.

The door swung open, and Zack Underwood blinked, looking a bit surprised to see them.

"Are we still walking around town in this?" he asked incredulously, sticking his head out the door to stare up at the stormy sky. "It looks like it's really coming down. We're still going?"

Melissa chuckled and rolled her eyes, shaking the water off her umbrella before folding it up. Droplets splattered faintly on the porch, staining the pale concrete beneath them a dark bluish-gray.

"Nope, field trip's been canceled," she replied, and Zack stepped out of the way to let the pair inside. Milo tried fruitlessly several times to get his umbrella to fold, so eventually he grabbed the entirety of it in a big bear hug and forced it to stay down long enough for him to fasten its velcro strap.

This done, Milo smiled at his friend and stepped inside onto the welcome mat, though only after shoving the still-wet umbrella in his backpack and trying to wring out his clothes.

"I think somebody was hoping for a sunny day," Melissa teased, glaring playfully at Milo. "I checked the weather yesterday, and this was not in the forecast. Freak thunderstorms have an excited Milo written all over them."

Milo chuckled sheepishly, sticking his hand in his pockets and looking away guiltily. "Yeah..." he admitted, trying not to look too put out by the thought. He had wanted it to be sunny, so Murphy's law dictated that it would rain. It was just the usual—he knew better than to be sad about things like this. So he wasn't going to be.

Still, he felt relieved when Zack came to his rescue.

"Nah, that was nice of you, Milo," Zack assured him, motioning for them to come into the foyer. Milo now noticed that the floor was lined with cardboard boxes—moving boxes, most likely, since all of them were labeled with marker, open, and nearly overflowing with household items. "We can probably hang out here or something. Come on in; sorry about the mess."

"Still moving in?" Melissa inquired, raising an eyebrow at the clutter and mostly-bare white walls. She set her black umbrella up against the wall by the door before following them.

Zack chuckled in embarrassment. "Yeah, kinda. We've all been pretty busy lately; didn't really... get around to unpacking."

The trio filtered into the living room, Melissa curiously admiring the house and Milo feeling a tiny bit guilty about the irregular trail of water droplets he was leaving on the wooden floor. Zack's easygoing father, Mr. Underwood, was seated on a long green sofa, furrowing his eyebrows as he fiddled with a TV remote control which had apparently stopped working.

"Hi, Mr. Underwood!" Milo greeted, deciding to put on his usual cheery disposition until he didn't need to pretend anymore. That always worked if nothing else did, right? He could act. Improvisation had always been one of his best talents.

Zack's father looked up from the remote, raising his eyebrows in a friendly greeting. "Oh, hey, you three. Got rained out of your field trip, eh?"

"Why does everyone keep calling it a field trip?" Zack asked no one in particular, looking a bit exasperated. "We are just finally going to go see places around here without it being part of school. I don't think that counts as a field trip."

Melissa only smirked at his annoyance, but Milo offered him an eager smile.

"We could call it an educational expedition, if you prefer!" he suggested earnestly, tugging at his soggy backpack straps. Zack rolled his eyes, apparently realizing that his argument was in vain, and Mr. Underwood chuckled.

"Just... be careful where you step around here," the burly man added as an afterthought, and Milo found himself on the receiving end of a slightly concerned look. He nodded quickly, about to reply that he'd be as careful as he could be, but Mr. Underwood continued with a faint smile. "And sorry about the mess. Eileen started work at the hospital the week we got here, and I don't have a clue where she wanted most of this stuff to go. This place is still a bit of a disaster zone."

"Don't worry, Mr. Underwood," Milo replied with a grin. "We'll be careful!"

"And believe me, we've seen disaster zones before," added Melissa with a wry smirk. "They're way worse than this. Anything that doesn't call for hazmat boots is safe enough in my book."

Mr. Underwood chuckled and shook his head, though Milo guessed from his expression that he was still a little unsure what to think. Zack tapped his friends on the shoulder, motioning for them to follow him.

"C'mon guys, I can show you my room," he suggested, tilting his head toward the hall. Milo and Melissa exchanged looks, before nodding curiously at their friend.

"Lead the way!" Milo agreed, making sure his smile looked as enthusiastic as it usually would. It must've worked—Zack didn't seem to notice anything strange about it, judging by the way he smiled briefly back and turned to head into the hall.

Melissa followed, but Milo thought he saw her shoot him a slightly concerned look. He could've been seeing things, though, since she was soon striking up conversation with Zack again.

Milo brought up the rear, glancing around the simple white hallway and feeling slightly glad that there weren't many things decorating the house yet. Pictures, mirrors, and clocks usually fell off the walls around him, and he didn't want to break anything in his friend's new home—unintentional though it would be.

But as they headed up the stairs, Milo noticed that there was one picture on the wall.

He paused mid-stride to look at it. It was a family portrait of a much younger Zack and his parents, all seated in front of a dusty blue backdrop and smiling in relaxed, earnest contentment.

Seeing people smile had always lifted Milo's mood, so he gazed at the happy family contentedly—until the snap of a wire could be heard and the picture plummeted toward the ground.

Milo did manage to snatch it hurriedly out of the air, but even as he set the picture gently on the floor, he sighed and continued up the stairs.

A distinctly high-pitched chink met his ears, and he looked down in concern to see a spiderweb crack in the picture's glass. The zigzagging white threads spread all the way across the frame for a fleeting moment... but then the glass fell to pieces, leaving most of it in a pile on the floor.

Milo bit his lip guiltily and tried to keep climbing the steps, but the picture only served to remind him of the thought that had been bothering him ever since last night.

All I ever do is break things.

***

"Oh, and y'might wanna watch out; Dad was painting up here," Zack warned his friends as they reached the upstairs hallway. It was a somewhat short hall, with grayish-green carpeting and painting supplies spread out everywhere. Picture frames and what looked like a bathroom mirror had been leaned up against the walls, each on its way to eventually being hung up.

It was then, by some strange twist of fate, that Murphy's law kicked in—in a very peculiar fashion.

First, Zack sidestepped a large ladder and ducked into his room.

Next, Melissa did the same thing, glancing down to carefully avoid knocking into the mirror by her feet.

Then, Milo tried to copy them—and that was probably a mistake.

In his eagerness to follow, he slipped on some of the painter's plastic that was lining the floor, which sent him spinning and tumbling backwards under the ladder rather than around.

"Ooh, bad luck!" Melissa started to tease as he stumbled under the ladder, but out of the corner of his eye, Milo saw her grin disappear as he tripped again and fell.

Milo closed his eyes tight and tried to pull his heavy backpack out in front of him to break his fall—but it and all his weight still hit the mirror, shattering it.

On top of that, his backpack came open, and out flew his still-wet umbrella—which soared across the hallway, popped back open when it bounced, and nearly hit a fluffy black cat that had evidently been standing there.

The cat yowled and ran off, leaving Zack and Melissa to stare in surprise—and Milo to carefully prop himself up on top of his backpack.

For a moment, all three kids blinked incredulously.

"Did... you just simultaneously do every unlucky thing I can think of off the top of my head?" Melissa asked in disbelief, staring down at her surprised friend.

Milo, after carefully picking himself up off of the damage, examined his arms for cuts.

"I... guess so?" he replied, shrugging slightly as he looked his arms over. The idea of luck had never bothered him much—all it was was silly superstition.

Though, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion—there weren't any cuts.

When do I not get cut on broken glass?

"Wait, you have a black cat?" Melissa then asked Zack, looking almost more incredulous than she had before. "Seriously? A ladder, mirror, umbrella, and then a black cat?"

Zack rolled his eyes. "Yes, I have a black cat. His name is Smokey and he's probably hiding under the bed now. You're aware that this is Friday the thirteenth, right? It kinda makes sense that all that would happen to Milo today."

"It's the thirteenth?" Melissa repeated blankly, eyebrows furrowed up in bewilderment. "I thought it was like, the tenth."

Zack gave her an unimpressed yet still mildly baffled look. "How do you remember the birthdays of all the presidents and yet completely forget the current date?" he asked incredulously.

Melissa flashed him an innocent grin. "I'm talented and good-looking?"

Zack rolled his eyes upward and only snickered in reply, shaking his head as he turned away. Melissa chuckled also, raising her eyebrows as high as they would go.

"I'm not hearing any denial..." she teased, leaning over to elbow him playfully. Zack dodged, rolling his eyes again.

"Fine, okay. You're talented at forgetting stuff."

"And? C'mon, five bucks says you can't tell me I'm pretty."

"Whatever, you're pretty. Hand over the five bucks."

"Dangit. But thank you."

Milo, still lost in thought, wasn't really registering their banter. He examined his hands, in case he'd caught them on a glass shard when he landed, but they were perfectly fine.

"Hey, guys? Did I get cut on that glass?" he asked, bewildered, as he held his arms at different angles to try to see every inch of them. He touched his neck and face to see if anything stung... but nothing did.

"You would know, dude," was Zack's mildly confused reply, though Melissa stepped up to look Milo over.

"Hang on, turn around," she instructed, holding his arm up to check it. "Nope, nope... and nope. Nothing I can see," she concluded, shrugging and letting go of his arm. She grinned at her friend, raising an eyebrow in pleasant surprise. "Wow, that's a new one. Sure got off lucky on that, eh Milo?"

Milo blinked a few more times, thoroughly perplexed.

"I guess so, but... I always get cut when I fall through glass." Milo picked his backpack up, carefully shook off the remaining glass pieces, and put it back on. "Oh! And I'm sorry about your mirror, Zack. I'll sweep it up."

"Nah, don't worry about it," Zack replied, opening a nearby closet door and rummaging for a broom. He found one with a dustpan and quickly swept up largest glass pieces, taking them to the bathroom to be put in the trash. "That was just an extra mirror. Can one of you fold up the plastic it broke on, though? I'll need to vacuum it better later."

"Sure," Melissa replied before Milo could volunteer, bending down to fold the plastic sheet.

Milo retrieved his umbrella, which indeed had come open inside the house—something that he'd always heard was supposed to be bad luck.

He tried to fold it up again, and to his surprise, his usually-stiff, nonconductive rubber umbrella folded up perfectly in his hands.

That shouldn't have been weird, but Milo could only blink in surprise, because it was. That umbrella never folded up well.

"C'mon, let's go see what interesting stuff Zack has in his room," suggested Melissa, smirking slightly as she tilted her head toward the bedroom they stood in front of. "I bet it's a bunch of video games, laundry, and Lumberzacks memorabilia. And more laundry."

"I wasn't expecting us all to get rained into coming in here!" Zack tried to defend himself, looking embarrassed as he followed her inside.

Milo trailed after them, still a bit bewildered, but after a moment of thought, he decided that maybe not getting hurt on the mirror was just a happy coincidence.

That would be a logical deduction... except for the fact that Murphy's law didn't usually allow for happy coincidences.

He must've zoned out for a moment, because the next thing he realized was that Zack was looking out the nearest window in confusion.

"Hey, guys?" Zack asked, sounding somewhere between confused and surprised. "Wasn't it raining a second ago?"

"No, it was pouring, as my wet socks will gladly tell you, why?" was Melissa's mildly sarcastic answer from where she studied a Lumberzacks Quad-State Tour news article framed on the wall.

Zack motioned outside, eyebrows still raised in sheer bewilderment. "Uh... because it's perfectly sunny out now?"

Milo and Melissa looked out the window past their friend in confusion, then surprise. Sure enough, where a thick layer of bluish-black storm clouds had been only minutes earlier, there was now a cheery blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds.

"Cool, so we can go show you around, after all!" Melissa observed, although her blue eyes brightened slightly with mischief. She narrowed her eyes playfully at her friend. "Right, Zack? That'll be way better than you showing us your laundry collection."

Zack buried his face in his hands and groaned. "I didn't know you guys were coming. I've been busy. It's not always this messy."

Snickering proudly to herself, Melissa smirked and headed back out into the hallway. "Guess your bad luck turned into good luck, huh Milo?" she called over her shoulder, with Zack following her in mild annoyance.

Something in that sentence made Milo stop and think very hard.

"Bad luck into good luck..." he muttered, gears turning in his head. Bad luck... plus Murphy's law... equals...

A lightbulb clicked on.

No way, no way!

"Guys!" Milo exclaimed, rushing out after his friends, eyes wide with eager excitement. Zack and Melissa jumped, looking a bit startled by their friend's sudden appearance, but he apologetically hurried past them and galloped down the stairs. "Change of plans again, sorry! Meet me at my house!"

He leapt off the last three steps—with no mishap, he couldn't help but notice with a growing feeling of glee in his stomach—and flew out the door.

***

After a very hard run trying to catch up with their homebound friend, Melissa and Zack trudged raggedly up the Murphy's front steps.

"How did you even get here this fast?" Melissa groaned to Milo, panting for air as she and Zack spotted their excited friend in the doorway. The rain had left the air humid—humid and cool, at least, but in Melissa's opinion, much humidity of any sort didn't make for great running weather. "It should not be physically possible to run that fast and still look so excited."

"'How did you guys get here so fast?' would be my question," Milo answered with a quick grin, before whirling around and dashing inside his house.

Zack wasn't very out of breath, Melissa noted with slight envy, but at least he was nice enough to step up and hold the door open for her. Though, judging by the slightly nervous smile he gave her, he probably knew she wasn't incredibly pleased with either of her friends' unfair athletic skills.

Melissa dragged herself through the doorway, mumbling a tired 'thanks' to Zack as she glared after her other friend. "We ran, Milo, because you totally do not get to leave us hanging like that and then make us slowly walk over here."

"Fair enough!" called Milo's voice from somewhere in the house. Probably upstairs—the hurried thump-thump-thump of running feet could be heard through the ceiling above them.

Out of the corner of her eye, Melissa saw Zack looking around in confusion while she worked to finish catching her breath.

"Do you have any idea what this is about?" he asked her, dark eyebrows furrowed in uncertainty. If there was one thing Melissa had learned about Zack in the month or so they'd been friends, it was that he wasn't quite as at home not knowing all the details as she and Milo were.

Taking one last deep breath, Melissa straightened up and stretched out her sore back, before giving Zack a cryptic shrug. "Eh, he gets like this sometimes," she replied vaguely. "Suddenly coming back here. One time it was because Sara texted that a Dr. Zone movie was gonna be coming out in like... three years or something; one time it was because his dad was in the hospital in a coma... it really depends."

"Oh." A concerned look crossed Zack's face as he glanced up the Murphys' staircase. "...Do you think everything's okay?"

"This time?" Melissa chuckled. "Oh yeah. He's smiling. I bet you five bucks that he's mildly anxious at the moment, but will be better than fine."

"And I bet you five bucks that I'm going to lose that weirdly specific bet, so we're even," replied Zack, rolling his eyes upward.

Melissa's eyes widened in surprise, then very slight desperation. "You—you can't bet that you're gonna lose a bet!"

Zack was clearly trying to keep an unaffected poker face, but it was easy to see that he was holding back a grin. "I just did."

"That is so cheating," Melissa grumbled reluctantly, heaving a good-natured sigh.

"Hey, you two!" greeted Sara, noticing them upon walking in from the other room. Her well-worn, scratch-and-dent laptop was tucked under her arm, and she looked very confused. "Do you know what's up with Milo?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in her usual very mild confusion. "He ran in here asking for Dad and saying something about Great-Great-Grandpa Murray."

"I... do not have a clue," replied Zack with an apologetic shrug. "Sorry. Isn't you guys' dad still at work, though?"

"I tried telling him that," Sara muttered, shaking her head with a good-natured sigh. "I love my bro and all, but yeesh, he's a goofy handful. Good luck with that kid!"

The blonde teenager chuckled, giving the two a brief wave before heading down the hall toward the kitchen.

That comment made Melissa frown, glancing pensively at the carpet beneath them.

"Good luck..." she muttered to herself, getting the familiar feeling that she was hot on the trail of Milo's train of thought. "Hm..."

Zack glanced at her in confusion, but before he could ask any questions, Milo's slightly muffled voice came down from upstairs.

"Guys, up here!" he called, voice echoing faintly down the stairs.

"We're coming, Milo!" Melissa hollered back, before observing the slightly steep flight of stairs in annoyance. "Ugh. You go first, O tireless football player."

Zack rolled his eyes and started up the steps, though Milo's voice came again.

"Ha, that explains why Mom never hears me right," Milo's muffled voice laughed. "It sounded like you asked what's for dinner!"

Zack chuckled, but Melissa just leaned tiredly on the railing as she pulled herself up after him. She didn't really need the handrail—it was more of a lazy convenience than anything else—so when it occurred to her that it could probably quite easily pull out of the wall, she quickly let go and finished jogging up the stairs the normal way.

The handrail seemed sturdy, though. Unusual, considering a Murphy had just run past it.

The pair reached Milo's room—a fairly plain, boyish space decorated with hazard signs, pictures of firefighters, and family photos. Inside, rummaging through the desk under his bunk bed, was Milo, accompanied by a short yellow dog.

"G'boy, Diogee," Milo mumbled absentmindedly, hurriedly flipping through a pile of papers he'd evidently pulled out of a drawer. Diogee watched his boy curiously for a moment, before giving a small yawn and curling up on the floor for a nap. Just as soon as he'd curled up, he sprawled out flat on his side, one ear flopped over his face and his tongue lolling out. A few faint snores could be heard, and Melissa rolled her eyes.

Melissa and Zack walked up behind Milo, and Melissa got the feeling that she wasn't the only one who was getting very curious about what Milo had apparently discovered. Sure enough, Zack shoved his hands in his pockets, lowering his eyebrows at the back of Milo's head.

"Okay, dude. We ran all the way over here because you wanted us to. What's the big deal?"

Instead of answering right away, like Melissa and Zack had been expecting, Milo quickly set down the papers he'd been holding and turned around.

Milo was usually pretty at ease for a kid. His life was anything but relaxing, and yet somehow, he managed to be calm and cheerful about almost everything that came his way.

But the expression on Milo's face caught his friends off-guard.

He looked confused, and surprised, and hesitant—like his thoughts had caught up to him, and he didn't know what to think.

"I think my curse went away," was his only blank answer.

Zack and Melissa stared for a moment, not really registering this.

But then, they both did double-takes.

"What?!"

***

"Okay, but I'm just saying that technically, laws can't have exceptions."

Milo, Melissa, and Zack all stood in Milo's room, debating over the possibilities behind their friend's latest discovery. Milo looked too preoccupied to answer—instead, he was walking anxiously around the room, opening and closing his closet door, picking up and setting down his radio, and pushing gently on the window glass... but nothing was happening.

Melissa frowned, cocking an eyebrow at her best friend.

"If your family is supposed to be attached to a particular scientific law, then it should always work," she explained slowly, as if trying to capture his attention. It didn't seem to do so, but she continued nonetheless.

"If it suddenly isn't working, it wasn't a law, and we've been calling it the wrong thing this whole time. That means it was a theory, actually. Ooh! How about 'the Murphy theory'?"

"I..." was about the most it seemed Milo could say. Though today hadn't been much in terms of adventure or mishap, the mere idea that there was an actual chance to live a life without constant danger and inconvenience was probably a bit of a shock to a Murphy boy. "...I don't know."

"What?" Melissa asked, eyebrow still raised—though a bit more in concern this time. "I think 'the Murphy theory' sounds pretty cool. It's not exactly something you'd want to be a law, is it?"

"Wait wait wait, back up," instructed Zack, who was apparently still trying to process the situation. It was understandable—not every day are you told that the embodiment of Murphy's law himself is suddenly free of all his problems. "So, Milo. You think your family curse thing is gone? Like, completely?" he asked, clearly incredulous. "How do you even know?"

"Well..." began Milo, who slowly dragged himself out of his thoughts and was regaining a bit of his signature cheeriness. It wasn't quite all there—his friends had both noticed that it'd been partly missing all day—but it was definitely coming back. "I doubt it's gone for good, but at least for right now! For one, nothing bad has happened since... y'know, all that bad stuff with the ladder and the mirror!"

"So?" replied Zack, still clearly a bit skeptical. "Nothing bad happened the day we were standing in line for that Dr. Zone movie. ...Most of the time. Couldn't it just be—I don't know, like that?"

"Did you not see him just push on the window?" Melissa asked, raising an eyebrow. Zack rolled his eyes, but before he could try a different answer, Milo broke in.

"That's what I would've thought, too," Milo answered Zack, nodding vigorously to show he knew what he'd meant. "But I remembered a bedtime story my dad used to tell me!"

He rushed to his desk to pick up the pile of slightly crumpled papers once again, and a small, hopeful grin grew on his face as he scanned the top page. "I wrote it down when I first heard it so I wouldn't forget!"

Zack and Melissa hurried beside him to read the papers he held... or at least try to. The sentences sprawled messily across the page were in red crayon, and some of the letters were backward, while some of the words were very misspelled.

"And you first heard this story when you were... five?" asked Zack, eyebrow raised. Milo flipped through the pages, grinning fondly at his old writing.

"Yep!" was his simple reply, seeming satisfied that all the papers were in order. He turned to spread them out on his desk—and it did not go unnoticed that no random wind blew in to scatter the papers away. "Well, I think I'd just turned six. But yeah, pretty close!"

"Brings back memories, huh Milo?" Melissa noted with a small smile. Milo laughed—his regular, honestly happy laugh—and nodded at the thought.

"Sure does!" he replied, picking up what his friends assumed to be the first page of the story. He paused, however, and turned to Melissa with a fond sparkle in his eyes. "Hey, remember when we first met each other?"

Melissa grinned, but Zack didn't have the patience for such distractions.

"Hey guys? While I'm sure I'd love to hear how you two met, can we do that later? Murphy's law just broke, apparently, and I can't read Milo's six-year-old handwriting!"

"Well, technically, it's seven years old now, since I'm thirteen!" Milo corrected with a proud grin. His friends just looked at him for a minute, and Milo paused and blinked, before realization dawned in his eyes. "Oh, right. Okay. I know what you meant."

"Gr... ate, grate gr... grampa Murray..." Melissa leaned over and tried to read aloud, eyes narrowed as she stumbled over words. Milo's eyes brightened—had they been dim before?—and he grinned, helping her out.

"Great-Great-Grandpa Murray Murphy," Milo began proudly, making a few definite corrections to the written sentence, "once went a whole day without Murphy's law! He woke up on at midnight on Friday the thirteenth of May in 1927, and accidentally fell down the stairs and under a ladder. He landed on a black cat, broke a mirror and a window, and smashed a whole box of Lucky Charms cereal!"

Melissa raised an eyebrow at Milo. "Lucky Charms? Really? In 1927?"

Milo grinned, a bit mysteriously, and shrugged. "Sara says that that part of the story proves the existence of time travel," he explained, flipping over the page. "...That, or I was just really hungry when I wrote this down. Could be either. Anyways, Grandpa Murray, once he got up and apologized to the cat, tried to fix the window. And it worked! So he went on to fix the mirror and put the ladder back up—and sweep up the cereal. Then he realized that even though he'd fallen down the stairs and broken a bunch of glass, he wasn't hurt."

Zack still looked a bit dubious, but Melissa's eyes widened with realization, and she poked Milo in the arm. "And you didn't get hurt on the mirror earlier, either!"

Milo nodded, beaming. "Exactly! And so throughout the rest of the day, Murray Murphy started to realize that Murphy's law had stopped. The End," he announced proudly, before squinting slightly to read one more character. "...Question mark. Heh, I was mysterious back then!"

"Wow," remarked Zack, looking a little bewildered. "That's... a really long story for a six-year-old to be writing down."

"Oh, Sara taught me how to write stories!" Milo answered with a grin, putting the papers back together. He opened a desk drawer with his foot, then leaned over and set the stack inside. "We always had a lot of fun writing together when we were little."

Melissa's mind, unlike those of her friends, was on a more logical track at the moment. "Okay, but wait," she began, eyebrows furrowed as she rocked back on her heels. "Your great-great-grandpa did a whole bunch of unlucky stuff and somehow stopped Murphy's law?"

"Yeah, why does that even work?" added Zack, still frowning.

Milo crouched down to pet Diogee, who was still sound asleep on the floor. "Well, my dad always said that he figured it had something to do with double bad luck canceling itself out," he answered with a puzzled shrug, looking up at them. He straightened back up, tugging his backpack higher on his shoulders. "But he also said nobody really knew. Murphy's law came back, though," he added. He gave a thin smile, chuckling lightly as he looked at the floor. "Always seems to!"

"So even if you somehow did do a bunch of stuff like that, and ended up not having Murphy's law follow you around for a while... how long is a while?" Zack wondered, glancing around the room. All evidence certainly seemed to point to the lack of a Murphy boy in the area—every decoration hung neatly and stayed on the wall, Diogee snored loudly from his spot on the carpet, and no tree limbs were crashing through the window unexpectedly. "How did your ancestor get the curse back, if he got rid of it?"

Milo bit his lip, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. "Hm... I don't remember if Dad said," he replied. "Heh, that's kinda why I wanted to ask him about the story. Murray unbroke the curse somehow, I do know that. Maybe it's because he fixed the mirror and walked back under the ladder?"

"Hey Milo? You can go to the china shop now, if you want," Melissa suggested with a teasing grin. "What are we standing around here for? Don't you want to show us all the places you got banned from for breaking things? I bet we can go inside them again now!"

Milo's eyes lit up in a way that was almost humorous to his friends. "Oh, yeah!" he exclaimed, pleasantly surprised by the idea. "The china shop! The antique store! The House of Glass in the novelty district downtown!" He laughed, turning to his friends with a wide grin. "Ha, I totally forgot! There's so many places I always wanted to see someday!"

Melissa laughed and tilted her head toward the door, sticking her hands in her jacket pockets and leading the way out. "Come on then, slowpokes. Zack's probably not gonna show himself around town!"

Milo laughed in excitement and hurried through the doorway after her, though Zack still looked uncertain, and followed more slowly.

"But one more thing," Zack began, dark eyes clouded with confusion. "Milo, if you knew all this time that there was a way to get rid of Murphy's law... why didn't you do it a long time ago? No offense," he added quickly, holding up his hands.

Milo had bounded ahead of Melissa and was bouncing down the staircase—his feet never slipping—but he grabbed the railing and swung himself around to smile up at Zack.

"Dad, his dad, and my great-grandfather have all tried it before," Milo explained, hoisting his backpack up on one shoulder from where it'd slipped down. "But it didn't work for them! My dad thinks that's Murphy's law—none of us can do it on purpose, or else it won't work. It has to be by accident, apparently," he guessed with a simple shrug.

Melissa chuckled and tried to cut around him at the base of the stairs, and as if that was his cue, Milo laughed, sounding genuinely happy, and raced to beat her to the door.

***

There was only a couple hours of daylight left, but the rest of that day amazed Milo.

True to his word, their first stop was the china shop—and although a store full of small assortments of ceramic dishes and figurines wasn't quite as cool as Milo had been hoping for, he still was astounded by how close he could walk to the delicate glass shelves without them collapsing in on themselves.

(He did accidentally brush one shelf with his heavy backpack, which did fall out of its frame and break a bunch of things on the shelf below... but that was only a non-disastrous mistake on his part. Besides, when he apologized sincerely to the clerk, and all three of them offered to help pay for the damage, the man simply shook his head and waved them off, requesting only that they stay out of his store.)

(Milo still felt guilty, but something about the entire situation made him want to laugh—he was probably the only Murphy in history to be banned from a store without Murphy's law being involved.)

The three friends made a round of all the places they wanted to see in town—from the Hall of Glass and Flynn-Fletcher Antiques, to Milo and Melissa's favorite ice cream shop—and eventually ended up cutting across the edge of the park, laughing and talking as they made their way towards home.

"I'm glad we got to show you around after all, Zack," Milo commented, tilting his head and offering his friend a grin. "It'll be really fun to get to hang out with you around here more!"

"Yeah," Melissa agreed, smirking dryly at Zack. "Although, usually it's a little bit more of an adventure."

Milo looked away and laughed, grinning sheepishly as the trio stepped off the bicycle path and into the grassy area by the woods that lead toward home. It had been a long day, sure—but being able to relax his guard for once in his life made him forget that he was ever tired. "I'll say! One time we tried to go out for ice cream, and we got attacked by polar bears!"

Melissa and Zack laughed at the thought, trailing beside their friend in the warm fall air. It was truly a perfect evening for a walk through the park—

—At least, until Milo noticed something he'd never seen before.

"Oh, look!" remarked Milo, stopping for a moment to bend down in the grass. There, in the midst of the soft green lawn, was a small patch of clover—and in the center of that, bright and tall, grew a large four-leafed clover.

Milo's face lit up, and he stared down at it in sheer wonder. "Wow! A real, live four-leaf clover!" he exclaimed, dropping to his knees to examine it better. "Guys, look at this! A four-leafed clover!"

"Has he ever seen one of those before?" Zack asked Melissa under his breath, looking on with amusement at how amazed Milo was by the tiny plant. Melissa raised an eyebrow and shook her head wryly, what do you think? written clearly into her expression.

"Not that I know of," she mumbled in reply, watching Milo with fondness in her eyes. She smirked slightly, folding her arms to lean back and grin at her friend. "Hey, Milo!" she exclaimed, eyes glittering when he looked up and grinned at her. "It's your lucky day, isn't it? Pick it!"

Milo's grin grew wider, and he reached down and carefully plucked the clover from its stem.

And as if he'd turned on a switch, the events of the day began to take a very specific course.

The sky, which must've been still filled with moisture from the earlier rainstorm, suddenly began to paint a giant rainbow over their heads. The trio noticed it at the same time, and looked up at the growing stream of colors in surprise.

"Wow..." Milo remarked, staring up at it in amazement. "Cool! A rainbow! I hardly ever get to see those!"

He just so happened to take a sideways step and look down after that—and by his foot lay a small trinket, a furry rabbit's foot on a golden clasp.

Immediately intrigued, Milo picked it up.

"Huh..." he mumbled, turning it over in his hand. The movement adjusted his line of vision just slightly, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught the shining flash of something metal.

It was a brightly polished penny, with Abraham Lincoln's picture facing upward.

And across town, in Milo's bedroom, Diogee's head shot up, his eyes concerned.

***

"Wow, a penny!" Milo remarked, eyes wide with interest. He bent down and picked it up, admiring the way its polished surface shone in the golden light of the sinking sun. "Heads-up!"

Immediately, Melissa and Zack crouched into a slightly defensive position, heads whipping around to try to see a source of danger. There were no incoming objects, however, and Milo laughed sheepishly.

"Oh no, sorry," he apologized, holding up the copper coin for his friends to see. "I meant the penny was lying heads-up! I think that's supposed to be lucky, too."

Melissa and Zack watched their friend for a moment... before Melissa slowly frowned.

"Milo, I'm getting the feeling something's gonna come chase us," she said slowly, glancing around in concern. "Not sure why... but I'm betting we're gonna be surrounded by something."

"I am not making bets against you anymore," Zack replied, crossing his arms and shooting her a look.

Melissa snorted and opened her mouth to reply, but that's when low snarling started up from the woods behind them.

***

"They must be doing fence repair at the wolf preserve again!" reasoned Milo, staying as calm as a person could be with a large pack of clearly angry wolves snapping at them while filtering out from the forest. Zack made a noise akin to a small shriek, and Melissa backed up a few paces and stared, looking only mostly surprised.

Milo slowly backed up also, absentmindedly spreading his arms out and keeping his friends behind him. "They try to put up a secondary fence while they're working, but it usually falls over," he explained, voice conversational. He hadn't been expecting wolves—but it paid to speak in a friendly tone of voice around animals; it tended not to upset them. Well... at least I still know what do! "They don't stick around long enough to secure it very well."

"I can see why!" yelped Zack, very obviously hovering between cowering and trying to look brave. A huge brown wolf raised its hackles and growled at him, causing him to squeak in fear and decide on cowering.

The wolves snarled as they weaved around each other, sniffing the air and eyeing Milo's rabbit foot hungrily. Zack, Melissa, and Milo all noticed this in the same moment, and looked down at the speckled brown paw.

"Milo, give it to them!" Melissa urged, eyes unusually wide. "I've got a science project due on Monday! I can't get my right hand bitten again; it makes it impossible to work!"

"We're surrounded by wolves, and that's what you're concerned about?!" complained Zack, his voice high-pitched and strained.

Milo's eyes widened at the idea, and with a sheepish laugh, he quickly tossed the rabbit's foot to the wolves.

"There you go!" he exclaimed, grinning awkwardly at the snarling pack. The wolf in the front snapped the little foot out of the air and swallowed it in one gulp—leaving it and the rest of the pack to continue growling at the three kids.

"That worked well," Melissa remarked dryly, glaring half-heartedly at her friend. "Okay, any other ideas?"

Milo looked around—and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a familiar yellow blur. An idea clicked in his brain, and he swiftly reached in his backpack and dug around. He latched onto a plastic jar and pulled it out, hurriedly unscrewing the lid.

"Like my dad always says—" Milo began cheerfully, before getting cut off by Melissa.

"Milo!" she interrupted, rolling her eyes upward with a mixture of fear and annoyance. "Tell us later!"

"—A peanut butter dog distraction is the best dog distraction!" Milo finished anyway, grinning as he knelt down and trained his eyes on the nearby bushes. "Diogee, come!"

Out of the bushes leapt the gallant blur of Diogee, landing heroically in front of the three children. He bent low and growled at the wolves, though his tail wagged a bit as Milo gave him a quick pat on the head.

"Here boy, take this!" he exclaimed, holding the open jar of peanut butter out to the dog. Diogee grabbed it, still glaring at the wolf pack. "Good boy! Take 'em away!"

With a small, albeit muffled growl of determination, Diogee clenched the jar between his teeth and took off, sprinting right through the middle of the wolves. Snapping their jaws and yelping in surprise, the wolves whirled around each other for a moment, trying to locate the source of the delicious smell—until Diogee suddenly emerged from the back of the pack, barking faintly in the back of his throat.

The wolves started barking too—sparse, harsh barks of anger and hunger, and every one of them turned around and began to chase the smaller dog into the woods.

For a moment, the three friends stood still, watching the mass of bristly tails and loud snarling disappear into the forest.

Then, Milo laughed in relief, turning to make sure his friends were alright. "Wow, that was a close one!" he remarked, taking a moment to calm his adrenaline-filled nerves. The wolves wouldn't be back—not with Diogee leading them away. "You guys okay?"

"Mostly confused," answered Melissa, slowly shaking her head and brushing herself off. She looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed. "That was definitely Murphy's law. What happened?"

"Yeah, and what about Diogee? Is he going to be okay?" Zack asked, gazing off into the woods in concern. He still looked somewhat shaken, though he was certainly getting better at staying calm through his adventures with Milo.

"I told you, wolves love peanut butter!" Milo replied, grinning at Zack. "Oh yeah. Diogee knows how to keep ahead of wolves. He'll take the peanut butter back to the wolf preserve until the workers get the fence put back up."

Then, he turned to Melissa, who had subconsciously taken a single step to the side and put her foot down a hidden rabbit hole. She grimaced and pulled it out, standing on one foot to rub her sore ankle. "Yep, definitely Murphy's law, Milo," she commented with a dry chuckle, glancing up at him with curiosity in her eyes. "Did you un-break the curse somehow?"

Milo paused to think. "Well..." he began thoughtfully, rubbing his chin and glancing up at the sky. The sun was beginning to sink lower, now, though it still shone brightly—and the gray mass of storm clouds still loomed in the east, looking suspiciously like it was coming back. "I reversed the curse by accidentally doing a bunch of unlucky things," he recalled, though he still put 'unlucky' in air quotes. "Do you think I put it back to normal by accidentally doing a bunch of lucky things?"

"That'd kinda make sense," Zack agreed with a shrug, walking over to join them. He accidentally stepped in Melissa's rabbit hole, however, and gave a surprised grimace just as she had done. It didn't seem to hurt him, considering how he shook his head and chuckled in relief. "Wow, I got used to you not living in your cyclone of calamity really quickly," he noted with a grin. "I did not expect that wolf pack."

The three friends chuckled quietly, content to just stand together for a long minute. Though they were fully alert now, adrenaline still pumping through their veins, there was a feeling of peacefulness washing over them, one that could only be found when together with your true best friends.

"Well," Melissa finally chuckled, glancing over at Milo to give him a wry, apologetic smile. "Guess that's the end of that. Sorry, Milo," she apologized, glancing downward at the grass. This confused Milo a little bit—was it because she encouraged him to pick the clover? He would've done it anyway, and he knew he'd always have to go back to his unpredictable life eventually. "...I know having a normal day must be a pretty once-in-a-lifetime thing for you."

Milo only laughed, looking upward to see that on the edge of the bright blue sky, the storm clouds were beginning to roll in again. But this time, he didn't mind—and because nothing could ruin his day, he doubted anything would.

"Are you kidding?" he replied with an honest smile, spinning around to walk carefully backwards, so to face his friends. Melissa and Zack looked up at him curiously, so he continued, grinning brighter. "I... might've wondered what a normal day would be like sometimes, yeah. But that doesn't mean I would wanna live like that. The worst and the best thing about Murphy's law is that it's so unpredictable! Every single day is a brand new adventure!"

Melissa smiled fondly at her friend, and Zack joined her, pushing his hands in his pockets and smirking dryly at him.

"Always expect the unexpected, huh?" Zack offered, not being able to help breaking into a smile at his friend's relentless happiness.

"Yeah!" Milo laughed, basking in the feeling of the warm sun on his face. He turned to face his best friends, putting his back to the setting sun. The light cast a golden glow all around him, making him look as though he himself radiated warmth and sunshine. "That too, but..."

He grinned, brown eyes sparkling and dancing with the prospect of a world full of adventure.

"...Especially expect the exceptional!"

***

I don't care, it could rain

All it wants on my parade

Because when life gives me lemons

I make lemonade

***

A/N: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT EXTENDED CONTEST DEADLINE, @FANFIC! Wow, I tried rushing to finish this by the original deadline date, but I didn't quite make it. That extension was a lifesaver! XD

(Also, a note to judges of the contest: I'm 98.8% sure this story lines up with the contest rules, but I have a little bit of a hard time plotting a story based on contest premises sometimes, so I'm very sorry if it doesn't completely! I think it does, but I wasn't quite able to picture what the rules were implying the story should look like. If for any reason this doesn't qualify to be judged, that isn't a problem with me! Sorry about that!)

And now a note to the Milo Murphy's Law fandom: Hi guys! I had a very long author's note I was going to use to introduce myself, but I'll save that for a oneshot book I'll be posting soon. (I have 43 drafts for it right now, so it'll be happening!) In the meantime, hope you enjoyed this! Sorry if it wasn't the best—IT WAS THEIR IDEA! *points at @fanfic and runs*

This may go under much-needed editing, revision, and minor addition later, but for now, here you guys go! I am so glad I finally finished this! Really, I'm doing a happy dance to celebrate. Deadlines are stressful sometimes, even if you secretly work better when hurrying to finish at the last minute. XD

I'd love to know what you thought, and if there were any parts you liked or thought I could do better with. (If your answer is the whole thing, don't worry, I know. One thing at a time! XD) Reads, votes, and miscellaneous comments on the weather are all super appreciated!

Thanks for reading!