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Alex Benjamin Smith took aim and shot, watching the bullet whiz right past his target.

Dang it.

Aiming was always much easier said than done, especially considering that his right hand was deep within a chips packet, rummaging for the last few crumbs, while his left hand manned the game console. And to make matters worse, he wasn't even a left-hander.

"Alex, you missed him! Stop snacking and kill him before we both die!" Came a voice from beside him, unmistakably the high-pitched voice of his very best friend, William Morgan.

"Alright, alright. It's just so hard to aim."

"Well, maybe you should stop shoving chips into your mouth every five seconds. Sooner or later, your mom's going to realise that we stole all the chips in her pantry."

"Nah, don't worry, she won't even notice." Alex grinned victoriously, his final bullet having punctured the other player as the game ended and the pair were declared the winners.

"Whoo! Nice!" Will gave a cheer, high-fiving Alex, and then immediately covering his mouth, "Oops, do you think your parents heard? They'll probably kill us if they find out we've been gaming since before dawn."

Alex shrugged. His parents were pretty heavy sleepers. Though, if they found out that instead of sleeping on a school night, they had snuck around the house, wide awake, and played around throughout their sleepover, they would be dead meat.

And that was when the footsteps came.

Slow, padded sounds that presented themselves every few seconds, volume increasing decibel by decibel as they neared.

"Alex? William? Are you two awake?"

Alex knew that voice.

Mom.

Oh no. He stilled just as Will's eyes widened, realisation dawning upon them.

Alex's room was a mess, and with the candy wrappers and video games strewn across the carpeted floor, it was very obvious that the two had not been asleep all night.

Putting his index finger to his lips, Alex slowly rose from the cushion on the floor and began to silently and quickly—panic was slowly starting to settle into his skin—pick up the trash that lay around them, gesturing at Will to do the same.

The two ran about, clearing the room, and internally thanking the house renovator for suggesting the carpeted floors they were running across. Within seconds, they had gotten rid of the chips packets (all crushed into a corner of Alex's wardrobe) and put away the video game equipment as silently as possible (thank goodness they had been playing with headphones on), and jumped onto the bed, pulled the covers on and began their act.

It must have worked, for when Kate Smith entered the room, she surveyed the room for a bit before heading towards the bed to wake up the kids, seemingly having decided that all was good.

"Kids? Wake up. You've got to get ready for school." When they didn't budge, Kate shook them harder, pulling the blanket off of them. "Come on, you two. You don't want to be late on Will's last day."

Alex grudgingly got out of bed, rubbing his eyes like he had seen on TV. Will did the same, faking a yawn that sounded surprisingly realistic. Soon, Alex was yawning too, the exhaustion from playing around all night finally catching up to him. Today is going to be a very tiring day, He thought bitterly to himself.

While Alex and Will trudged off downstairs, Kate stood in her 10-year-old son's room for a while, smiling softly as she chuckled to herself. She grabbed the hidden candy wrappers and potato chip packets to throw them away, shaking her head. She would let it go this time, but only because it had been the last sleepover Alex could have with his best friend before Will moved away to go to Singapore.

Kate chucked the rubbish away in the trash can before heading downstairs to feed the two children chattering away in her living room.

Alex was sitting on the dining table with Will sitting opposite him. His jaw had just fallen and he was gaping at Will, who just smiled mysteriously. "Oh my god! You got it? When?" Alex peppered Will with questions about his new video game as his mom set their breakfast before them.

"My parents got it for my birthday," Will said, grinning. "And as a sort of moving away gift."

"Woah! And you're only telling me this now?!" Alex exclaimed, envisioning the new Zombiefier X video game in his head. He and Will already had plans to go over to Will's house after school that day and hang out one last time before Will left for Singapore so he couldn't wait until they could try out Will's new game.

"Ahhh, I can't wait for school to be over!" Alex let out an excited screech as his mother rolled her eyes, urging the boys to enter the car after they had finished breakfast so that she could drop them off at school. She smiled as she drove them, listening to the children talk excitedly about going over to Will's house and thinking secretly to herself that–yes!–she would finally get some much needed alone time.

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