Chapter 3: Plotting and Planning

The Monday after my brother's stupid sleepover, I was practically dozing off in the car on the way to school. Not only was I annoyed (the boys finished off my favorite cereal while I was sleeping on Saturday and no one thought to buy anymore), but I was exhausted. I had forgotten about my laundry until late Sunday night so I was up until one in the morning doing it, only to wake up three hours later to get ready for school. I guess you can say that this weekend sucked...big time.

"Are you okay?" my brother asked as the car jerked to a stop.

"No, I'm tired and hungry," I replied snappily.

"Go to sleep, I'll wake you up when we get to school," my brother instructed and he didn't have to tell me twice. So about an hour later, I was awoken with a shake of my shoulder. I got out of the car with a frown as I rubbed my eyes, grateful I didn't have time to put on makeup this morning or else it'd be wrecked. I followed my brother toward the school, only stopping when I saw his friends gathered around Holden's car. An opened box of donuts was sitting on the hood of the car and I felt my stomach growl in hunger. I grabbed a chocolate frosted donut and raised it to my mouth.

"I bought those," Axel informed me and I looked at him carelessly before biting down, sighing as I chewed it. "That'll be a dollar."

"I guess we're even since you decided to eat all of my cereal," I replied as I basically inhaled another bite of the sweet treat.

"Did I?" he asked. He knows he did because it's his favorite cereal, too! I glared at him, earning a satisfied smirk in response. Turning with a grumpy look on my face, I walked towards the school, intent on going to my locker before finding my friends. I accomplished one of the two tasks. I found my friends before I even reached the hall where my locker remained. The bell rang and I was already so close to my first period class that I didn't want to risk being late. I stepped into Chemistry without my textbook or my notebook. Two seconds after I entered, Mr. Porter's loud voice made it clear that this will be our first official class and we'll be needing both of those things. I guess we're finished covering the syllabus and rules of the lab.

The seating chart was still displayed on the board and I sighed in discontent when I remembered that I sat alone. Now I won't be able to share a book with someone. Axel walked into the classroom and approached Mr. Porter, probably to get his textbook seeing as he wasn't here the day they were handed out. Taking note of the seating chart, he pointed at it and shook his head, quietly conversing with the teacher. A few seconds later, he glanced in my direction and nodded with a wry smile on his face.

Rather than walking past me to the back, Axel yanked out the seat beside me and sat down. He placed his textbook on the desk alongside his phone and I looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What are you doing?"

"I can't see from back there," he responded. "So I'm sitting up here."

"Where are your glasses?" I asked him.

"At my aunt's house," he retorted. And what are they doing there?

"And your contacts?" I inquired.

"Again, at my aunt's house," he replied. What are those doing there too?

Before I could reply, Mr. Porter stood in front of the class and began to talk. "Take out your textbooks and start reading the Intro to Chemistry. Also, take out your notebooks and prepare to take notes." I swore quietly under my breath, watching as Axel opened his textbook to the page titled Intro to Chemistry. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out his notebook.

Glancing at me briefly, Axel smirked. "Where's your textbook?"

"In my locker," I muttered.

"And your notebook?" he questioned.

"Again, in my locker," I informed him as I glanced in the opposite direction.

"That's a shame," he replied.

I sighed as I swallowed my dignity and looked at Axel, who was flipping through the pages. "Would you mind sharing your textbook with me?" I asked through gritted teeth. I watched as Mr. Porter walked around. This is our first grade- preparedness.

"What are the odds? I bring my textbook to class while Alexis the Brilliant forgets hers," he grinned triumphantly.

"The only reason you have yours is because you just got it today," I snapped.

"Maybe you would've had time to get yours had you not gone and stole one of my donuts," he replied, earning a glare.

"Quite frankly, I don't regret eating that donut," I retorted. Even if it made me leave all of my stuff.

"Alexis," Mr. Porter's voice sounded from the front of the class. I quickly turned my attention to him. "Where's your textbook?"

"In my locker," I told him sheepishly.

"Why is it in your locker?" he inquired and I suddenly became aware of all of the eyes staring at me, and all of those eyes had textbooks ready to be read right on their tables.

"Because I came late to school and didn't have time to retrieve it," I replied quietly. My face was burning and I suddenly wished I would've gone to my locker and come five minutes late to class. We're not allowed out of class in first period, probably because of the thirty minute leisure time from the moment the school doors open to the second the first bell rings. They probably assume we do everything we need to during that time.

He turned his attention to the boy beside me after glancing at the seating chart. "Axel, would you mind sharing your textbook with Alexis?" he inquired.

"No, I would not," Axel responded, pretending to be a kind, caring student as he slid his textbook between the both of us. If I thought I was going to hate this class before, I was right...so, so right.

+++

Aside from Chemistry, I only have one other class with Axel and that's English. As far as the rest of my classes go, the majority of them are free of Dylan's friends, aside from the twins, Miles, and Demetri, who all make short appearances throughout the day, but I already knew that. When I arrived at lunch, I saw my friends sitting at our table and I walked over, dropping down tiredly.

"You looked so happy in Chemistry," Oliver joked as he sipped his milk.

"I'm never leaving my Chemistry book in my locker ever again," I grunted.

"Your brother's throwing a party this weekend?" Camilla asked.

"Is he?" I responded as I glanced back at my brother's table. "I mean, this is news to me."

"We can go, right?" Camilla asked and I shrugged.

"Sure, I don't even know what's going on," I replied.

"Well, I heard that there's a party at your house this Friday night and it's open invite," Sid explained. "It's to kick off the school year."

I sighed when I remembered the conversation I had with Dylan. "Our parents are going away this weekend for their anniversary," I sighed.

"Well, I'm there," Camilla grinned widely.

"Yeah, me too," Sidney admitted as she ate a mini tomato.

"I don't know..." Oliver trailed. "I'm not a big fan of parties."

"I doubt it's going to be that wild," I told Oliver.

"Really?" he inquired dubiously.

"Yeah, it's probably just going to be a few people from the sports teams and some girls," I explained. "Nothing too huge- my brother knows better than that."

"Okay," Oliver nodded. "Then I guess I'll go."

As the day droned on, I found myself hearing more and more about Dylan's exciting party. According to students, the summer was boring and aside from one or two bonfires and one house party, there wasn't much happening. When I reached the car, I looked at Dylan with a quirked eyebrow.

"What?" he asked curiously as he got into the driver's seat.

"Well, I mean, it's all around school," I blurted. "You're hosting a party this weekend?"

"No, no, no," my brother shook his head. "We're hosting a party this weekend."

"No, we're not. You are. Don't drag me into this," I told my brother.

"You said you'd help set up," my brother reminded me.

"Yeah, after you threatened to tell mom and dad that I snuck out of the house!" I retorted.

"Well, you're helping whether you like it or not," he replied. When he saw my glare, he sighed. "You just have to put away the valuables in mom and dad's room and help move some furniture. Nothing big."

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're lucky I don't tell mom and dad."

"Yeah, we both know you won't do that," he snorted.

"Do I still get car rights?" I grinned.

"Yeah, just tell me when you want them," he retorted.

+++

Forks against plates sounded throughout the dining room as my mom smiled at me and Dylan. "So as you guys may or may not know, our anniversary is coming up." She smiled at our father and I wanted to gag. Too lovey-dovey.

"What are you guys doing for it?" Dylan inquired as if he didn't already know.

"Well, we trust you guys so we've decided to drive up to your grandparent's cabin for a few days," my mom explained. We listened to her phone conversation the other day when she was home, stopping right after she informed her friend of this information. We didn't want to know anything that might be happening in that cabin. We still go there sometimes during the summer.

"That's nice," my brother nodded and I could tell he was mentally high-fiving himself.

"We're leaving on Friday morning and we'll be home by Monday morning," my father cut in. "And we trust you two won't do anything wild, but just in case something happens, we have the neighbor, Ms. Cooke watching you guys."

I could tell Dylan's plan had found it's first, but definitely not last, obstacle- Ms. Cooke, our old, feeble neighbor who always makes everything her business. You can bet that she'll stop by every hour and at one point, she'll start a conversation about tea or cats that'll last two hours, and sometimes more. Dylan slowly nodded.

"Why Ms. Cooke? Why not Danielle?" I asked. Danielle is the daughter of our other neighbor. She's cool and very lenient. We just have to give her a heads up about anything that's going to happen and she'll turn a blind eye. I'm not quite sure why my parents thought it was a good idea to let her watch us when they went away last time though because she's only 6 years older than us. It's not like anything bad happened but she's a college student and she's a pretty hard partier, according to her parents.

"Because Danielle returned to college," my mom replied.

"But Ms. Cooke likes to talk for hours..." I trailed and my mom sighed.

"I know, but she's got a new cat recently so maybe that'll keep her away," my mom expressed.

I stared at the potatoes on my plate and sighed, giving my brother a side glance. Once dinner ended and my father had to head to work, my brother and I remained downstairs doing dishes while my mom headed to her room. "What now, genius?" I asked.

Dylan paced around the kitchen with a soapy sponge in his right hand. "We can't cancel. I mean, everyone knows that it's happening. We just have to keep Ms. Cooke away from us for a few hours." As he whipped around, suds flew across the room. I walked over with the drying rag and wiped it off the wall.

"Maybe we can drop her off at a bingo hall," I laughed.

"That's not a bad idea," my brother responded.

"What bingo hall do you know that closes at one in the morning? Can she even stay up until then?" I responded.

"Well we need to slip under the radar, and we can't do that with our 80 year old neighbor breathing down our necks," my brother sighed.

"Does she have any grandkids?" I asked.

"I don't know, maybe," my brother sighed.

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there," I told my brother. "Who's getting what?" I asked.

"Axel and Holden are getting soda; Miles is getting chips; the twins are bringing their speakers, Demetrious is bringing some food, Colton is bringing plastic cups and plates," my brother listed.

"Who's going to risk having their phone stolen for music?" I snorted.

"Bluetooth," my brother responded and I nodded. Hopefully it doesn't glitch or there are going to be a lot of unhappy people.

"I'm locking my bedroom and mom and dad's. What are you doing with yours?" I asked and he stared at the floor so I just wrinkled my nose. "Never mind, I didn't ask."

+++

On Wednesday, my brother had his friends over, like always, and Isaac came upstairs while I was making food in the kitchen. "What are you making?" he asked me.

"Macaroni," I replied.

"I never would've guessed you have a thing for blonds," he announced as I reached into the fridge.

"What?" I asked, shocked that he'd said it so bluntly. He rested his arms on the fridge door top and stared down at me.

"Holden, he's blond," Isaac responded and I practically broke my arm trying to get up. I swore loudly as I held my shoulder, looking up at Isaac.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him as I grabbed a Dr. Pepper from the fridge, trying to play it off like I had no idea what he was going on about. I'm going to kill Axel.

"I'm not judging you. I just want to know why it couldn't have been me. I mean, I have brown hair, yeah, but I'm a nice guy," Isaac expressed.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about," I told him and he stared off into the distance.

"How long?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, actually becoming lost.

"It's okay," he responded. "I'll get over it."

Before I could question him further, he walked towards the basement, calling down to everyone. "She doesn't want to speak on the subject but I can personally confirm her feelings. On a side note she is a cheater; I repeat she is a cheater."

"What are you talking about?" I called after him as he closed the basement door. A few moments later, when I was scooping my macaroni into a bowl while contemplating whether or not I should go down there and drag Axel outside and beat him with a broom, the devil himself stepped into the kitchen.

"I thought you'd be gone," he muttered.

"What'd you tell them?" I hissed.

"Nothing," he responded with a smirk as he walked towards the fridge. I moved from my place in front of the stove to stand behind him with crossed arms. "What?"

"You told them that I like Holden?" I asked.

"So you admit it?" he questioned.

"No!" I responded. Curse me, curse Camilla, curse Sidney, and most of all, curse stupid Axel for eavesdropping. "They know? All of them?" Oh my gosh, what if Holden thinks I'm some creep now? "Even Holden?"

"Yeah, every single person in that basement knows," he explained.

I dragged my hands down my face before sighing. "This makes everything awkward now. Thank you, Axel."

He ventured toward the basement door. "No problem. Anything else you want me to tell them?"

"No," I snapped.

He opened the basement door, making sure everyone could hear him. "You want to go on a date with Holden, Lex? I'll see what I can do."

"No!" I screeched. "I don't!"

The basement door slammed and I was left standing in the middle of the kitchen with cold macaroni, a red face, and a lukewarm soda.

+++

The week continued on and before I knew it, my parents were preparing to leave for their trip. "Before you guys go, can you tell Ms. Cooke that we're going to have some friends over? We don't want her thinking we're throwing a party because she sees the guys coming inside," my brother asked our mom.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll tell her," my mom responded.

It wasn't until my mom went to sleep on Thursday night that I realized she wasn't going to say anything to Ms. Cooke. Maybe we can use this to our advantage. Maybe Ms. Cooke will call our parents and tell them there's a party and she'll just assume it's our friends. And if she asks about the music, I'll just say Dylan was playing his music loud which is nothing new. That makes sense, right?

I sighed when I arrived at school and it seemed as if everyone was talking about the party. I approached my friends, who were at my locker, and glared when I heard them discussing what they were going to wear. I began fiddling with the lock, taking my chemistry book and shoving it in my bag. "I think I'm going to wear that floral blouse I bought last week, but I'm not sure. What are you wearing?" Sidney asked Cam.

"I'm probably going to wear a flannel shirt and some jeans," Cam responded and Sidney sighed.

"I don't know. I want to wear something cute but what if I stain it?" she asked. "What are you going to wear Oliver?"

"Clothes," our only male friend replied.

"What? You didn't plan it out yet?" they asked.

"No, I'm going to go home, take a nap, wake up, maybe shower, and then get ready," he replied. "I don't even want to go."

"You heard Lex, it's not even a big party," Sid responded.

"Everyone's talking about it!" Oliver replied.

"It's not going to be a big party, right, Lex?" Camilla asked, in an attempt to prove Oliver wrong.

"Well, I'm not going to lie, it has gotten a lot bigger this past week," I told them.

"Lex!" Camilla remarked. "You're supposed to side with us."

"I'm not going to force Oliver to come so he can sit there and be uncomfortable," I told my two friends.

"But we want him to come," Sid responded and I looked at Oliver.

"Knowing that it's not so small now, do you still want to come?" I asked and he shrugged.

"I don't know. I'll think about it," he responded. The first bell rang and Sid and Camilla stuck their tongues out at us while we prepared to walk in the opposite direction.

"So what? You're thinking about coming? Or are you just saying that to make them happy?" I inquired as we headed towards Chemistry.

"I'm going," he told me as we approached the class. Before we could get in, Axel slipped inside the room and slammed the door shut, effectively locking it and annoying me. I glared at him, tapping the door as the sound of the late bell greeted my ears.

"You're late," Mr. Porter announced as he opened the door.

"No, we were here on time. Axel just slammed the door in our faces," I informed Mr. Porter, who looked at Oliver.

"Is it true?" he asked and Oliver nodded.

"Axel, did you slam the door on these two students?" Mr. Porter asked and Axel looked up innocently.

"I didn't see them there," Axel explained.

"Bull—!" I started but Oliver covered my mouth.

"Don't react, that's what he wants," my friend whispered. I pulled his hand from my mouth, glaring at Axel.

"He's a piece of—," I started but Mr. Porter cut me off this time.

"Take your seats," he insisted and I slowly walked towards my seat next to Axel. "And I hope you have your textbook, Alexis."

+++

When school ended, I found myself needing to pick up a few things. I reached the car, where Dylan and his friends were standing, clearing up some last minute plans. I waited for them to stop talking before butting in with my question. "Can we stop at the store on the way home?" I asked.

"No, I have to start setting up. I can't afford to waste any time at the store," my brother replied, earning a cold glare. I didn't bother telling him that it'll only take a minute.

"I'm going to the store if you'd like to ride with me," Holden spoke from the other side of the truck.

This is the first time we've actually spoke since Wednesday, when that idiot Axel told my secret. I did have a crush on Holden, but not anymore. I'm sure he'd be able to tell if I had a crush on him. In the few months that I liked him in eighth grade, I couldn't even speak to him without stuttering and stumbling over my words. It was that bad, but now I can converse with him freely. Well, not now, since whenever I even look at Holden, everyone laughs or nudges me. In fact, before I could even tell him I would ride with him, all of my brother's friends began to coo like the idiots they were. I went for a nod instead, staring down at the trunk of the car.

"Thanks, Holden," I responded before my eyes fell on Axel, who was staring at me triumphantly. A few moments after clarifications were made; Holden looked at me and nodded towards his car.

"Why is he allowed to spend time with her?" Isaac asked my brother, who glared at him.

"Because Holden isn't a creep, that's why," Dylan responded.

Holden made his way towards the car a few spots down. I followed, only to notice that Axel was trailing us, too. "Where are you going?" I asked snappily.

"To the store with you guys," Axel responded. "Sorry to interrupt your date."

I glared at him, looking away. "Shut up, Axel."

"How long have you liked him?" he inquired, earning a simple glare in response. "Well, it's not like I expected an answer. It's been a while though, yeah? I'm not quite sure how I didn't notice before. I guess it's because, since middle school, you've always liked nerdy boys, and Holden isn't a nerd."

"I have not," I snarled. Okay, maybe I happen to have a thing for boys with glasses and braces. But I'm pretty sure all girls like intelligent guys. I just happen to like guys who lead the math team and are two classes ahead of their grade.

"Henry Davies?" he asked. "Remember him? Seventh grade? Glasses? Braces? Talked with a lisp? Brought packed lunch to school? Was a mathlete?" Rather than pronouncing the letter S normally, he lisped it as if mocking Henry.

"Shut up! That was one time," I hissed, accidentally lisping the S as well. He laughed loudly when he noticed and I groaned, putting my head in my hands.

"And Matthew Whitney? In eighth grade?" he asked once he recovered from his laughter. I looked at the ground. "You remember him, right?"

"Yeah," I grunted. Matthew Whitney was my first, and last, kiss. It was short and awkward and he didn't take the rubber bands from out of his braces, so when he tried to open his mouth wide enough to kiss me, it practically slammed shut on my tongue, so that was that. I didn't even like him. In fact, I liked Holden at the time but Matthew asked me to go to the dance and it was Axel who convinced me to go with him. He even hinted that I had a (nonexistent) crush on Matt. Axel was also the idiot who left us alone after saying something like, 'I'll leave you two to it' and Matthew just assumed I wanted to kiss him. I felt bad so I pity kissed him. "I remember Matthew."

"Wasn't your tongue bleeding after the dance because of him?" Axel asked, laughing. I crossed my arms.

"Yeah," I responded.

We reached Holden's car and Axel pushed me towards the front seat. When I tried to slip towards the back, he only pushed me in the direction of the front. I grunted and opened the door, sitting in the passenger's seat. I glanced at Holden as he buckled his seatbelt and sighed, looking out the window instead.

I mean, to anyone with eyes, it is obvious why I formed a crush on Holden Peterson all those years back. His dirty blond hair and green eyes would cause any girl to swoon. Not to mention his tall stature and boyish smile. The braces are a plus, and I can only imagine what his grin will look like without them. But not only is he physically attractive, but he's smart, he's sweet, he's a gentleman, and he's respectful. If that's not everything great in a guy, then I don't know what is. But I'm over him. I guess after eighth grade, I realized it was never going to happen so I gave up.

I never told anyone about my crush except for my diary. I didn't tell Axel, even though he was my best friend at the time. He was close to Holden and I didn't want him to try anything that would risk my dignity, such as what he did with Matthew. But as months passed on, my feelings slowly wore off. They're nonexistent now and I haven't even thought about him in a romantic way since then. The only good thing about the surfacing rumors of my old crush is that it gets me out of being called "jealous" every ten minutes by Axel and friends. Besides, at least Holden's a decent enough guy who won't make fun of me.

"Which store are we going to?" Axel queried as he sat forward in the seat between us.

Axel, on the other hand, is the opposite of a perfect guy. Don't get me wrong, he's not ugly, but his appearance doesn't reflect his personality. He's a jerk- always has been, always will be. He looks innocent and like a genuinely nice guy. Those descriptive terms could never be more wrong. His eyes are light brown and they're pretty big. His eyebrows are pretty neat for a guy who doesn't get them done. His nose is slightly crooked from the time his face met a football at full speed in ninth grade. His hair is getting to be too long and if we were still as close as we were, I'd probably tug at it and tell him to get it cut. His mouth, I guess, is a nice mouth. His lips are full and his teeth are naturally straight. He's never had braces. He wears contacts but that's only because he thinks his eyes look way too big with glasses. I think they look fine. In fact, I like how he looks with glasses.

His attitude has always been a huge turn off. He says what he means and he means what he says. He's not one to beat around the bush. He's also one to finish what he starts, which up until this point, proves to be true. There were never really any secrets between us, which is something I appreciated. It was a bit hard to go shopping with him though because if he didn't think something looked nice on me, he'd tell me. But he was also just a nice person, at least to me he was. He'd defend me whenever guys got out of line and he'd try to help me whenever I had a crush on someone. He was extremely nice when he wanted to be. But now I know how other people see him. I was once on the inside looking out but now I'm on the outside looking in, and it's not a nice view. I know it doesn't seem like it now and sometimes I forget that just four months ago, he was surprising me with candy whenever I seemed upset. Now he's making rude comments whenever he gets the opportunity and he'd probably laugh if someone hit me or said something disrespectful to me. Luckily no one does because if he laughed at that, it'd probably make me want to puke from shock. It'd just help me realize how much distance has come between us within these four months.

"Why are you staring at me?" he inquired and I scoffed, looking away.

"Just thinking about how stupid you are," I informed him, quickly saving myself from the embarrassment of admitting I'm mentally assessing him.

"Okay," he replied.

"Does it hurt?" I inquired when I probably shouldn't have. I just don't want to give him enough time to think because the theories he'd come up with if he could just sit and analyze my behaviors are crazy. "You know, to be that stupid?"

"Does it hurt to be such a jealous—?" he responded.

"You guys bicker so much," Holden cut in before any hurtful words could be expressed.

"She started it," Axel blurted. "Come to think of it, she always does."

"Do not," I responded.

"Do too," he replied.

"Your presence just makes me want to argue," I told him.

"You know, there's a word for that," Axel blurted. Coming closer to my face, he narrowed his eyes. "Jealous."

I reached my hand up and shoved his face away, shrieking when his tongue licked my palm. I held my arm out, shoving it in front of Holden. "He licked me!"

Axel was dying of laughter in the backseat while Holden tried his best not to swerve in the road. "I have hand sanitizer in the glove box," he told me calmly. Using my clean hand, I reached in the box, digging around like a madman until I grabbed the small bottle of cleanser. Dumping about half of it into my gross, wet hand, I rubbed my hands together ignoring the burning sensation it created when entering my paper cut from earlier.

Axel didn't stop laughing until we arrived at the store, where I got out of the car, taking my book bag with me. I led the way into the store, attempting to go off to get my items on my own. "Where are you going?" Axel asked.

"To get the things I need," I retorted before heading towards the feminine product aisle. I know, I probably shouldn't be doing this, not with Axel and Holden breathing down my neck, but I need them and I won't be able to get them these next few days. I examined the array, grabbing the ones I usually get, or at least my mom does. I tried to cover them as much as possible as I made my way to the register. I had to wait behind a grown woman who was buying baby food. Placing my items on the conveyor belt, I waited awkwardly, praying Axel and Holden didn't decide to finish shopping any time soon.

"There she is!" I heard Holden announce and I internally cringed. "What'd you get?"

As they bounded up behind me with several packs of soda in a carriage, they glanced at my items on the belt and I sighed, growing red in the face. I glanced at the two of them and they both avoided my gaze, staring at the wall ahead of us. I wanted to snort but I also felt as if things were too awkward to make any noises. When the lady ahead of us finally finished ringing up, I watched as the prices appeared on the screen ahead of me. As I took out my money, to pay I heard Axel mutter, "Why are they so expensive?"

"Tell me about it," I muttered without thinking.

I waited patiently beside the register with my bag while the two guys rang up. Halfway through their purchase, Holden handed me the keys to his car. "Do you think you can bring the car around?"

I stared at him as I accepted the keys. "Really? You're going to trust me with your car?" I asked.

"Should I not?" he inquired, assessing my face.

"No, I mean, I have my license. It's just that..." I trailed. "Never mind, I'll be right back."

"You've just made a really bad decision," Axel informed Holden as I walked away.

"Yeah, it feels that way," he muttered.

I entered the parking lot, approaching Holden's car as I twirled the keys around my finger. I got into the vehicle, starting it up. I began backing out of the spot once I made sure the coast was clear. I brought the car to the doors in which the guys would be exiting with a grin on my lips. Not a scratch on it.

"Wow, she didn't die," Axel stated as he exited the store, following Holden.

"Did you want me to?" I asked as I got out of the car to help load the trunk.

"No," Axel answered shortly before lifting the bags from the carriage.

"Thanks?" I responded as I stared at his back.

+++

By the time we got home, mostly all of the furniture in the living room was against the wall. The couches were covered in plastic and all of the kitchen cabinets were closed off with the childproof ties. The area rug normally in the living room was rolled up and shoved downstairs in the basement. It was my job to remove all of the valuables from both rooms and place them in my parent's room, so I got started with that, going back and forth tiresomely.

Once I finished, I dropped down on the couch, only to listen as a weird nose emerged from the cushions. It sounded oddly like a fart and most of the guys snorted. "How ladylike," Axel noted and I narrowed my eyes at him. If I could muster up a fart, I would and then I'd sit on him and let it rip.

"Help us set up the table," Dylan called from the kitchen. I got up from the couch, approaching the kitchen. My brother had several large plastics bowls filled with chips. I began putting them on the dining room table, followed by a few of the guys. Isaac was carrying a bowl of chips and suddenly he tripped, allowing the bowl of cheese doodles to fly across the room.

"Nice going, Isaac, now we don't have any cheese doodles!" Colton announced.

Isaac, who lay crumpled on the floor like a dead body, looked up from his position on the hardwood, and frowned. "I almost hit my face on the table and you're yelling at me?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, I like cheese doodles," Colton announced as he grabbed the broom from the closet. He placed it in front of Isaac. "You're on sweeping duty, don't mess it up."

Isaac stood up and saluted Colton. "I'm on it," he announced. As I was fixing the bowls on the table, he clipped my ankle with the broom and I lifted my foot. "Sorry, did I sweep you off your feet?"

"Isaac!" Dylan snapped from the kitchen.

"Sorry," Isaac muttered before holding up his hand with his three middle fingers down so only his thumb and pinkie were up. Placing it towards his face, he winked and mouthed the words 'call me.'

"No, Isaac, I'm not going to call you," I announced loudly. In lightning speed, a half filled water bottle launched at Isaac, who dodged it.

Isaiah, the other twin, sighed. "Sometimes, I wonder why there are two of us," he muttered quietly.

"Me, too," Axel grumbled.

"I wonder why there's one of you," I retorted to Axel.

He threw a tortilla chip at me and I caught it in my mouth. He glared before going back to transporting bowls of chips to the dining room table. I sighed as I looked at my phone, noting the time. "I'm going to go change," I announced.

"I don't think anyone asked," Axel blurted.

"I'll go with you to make sure you don't hurt yourself," Isaac remarked and another water bottle flew his way, but this time, he caught it.