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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2008 21:31:09 GMT -5
Yay! I have a NaNo all planned out this year! And I'm going to try to actually start tomorrow (which might be hard, considering we're all going to see Phantom of the Opera)! Yeah, I'm attempting to do the impossible. I'm going to try to write a reality show. And don't ask me how, but this idea spawned from Lord of the Flies, one of the books we read in English. I just find reality shows to be perfect character studies for people who are thrown into uncontrollable situations. Fun, fun! Eight teens with harsh upbringings, tough emotional backgrounds, and some psychological problems, are brought together and put into a house. They will have no contact with any adults over the course of the month of February (NOT on a leap year), which is 28 days. They will often be given tasks and extra rules to test their skills and abilities under pressure. Cameras will be hidden throughout the house, but are only on during filming hours, so many things happen when the cameras are off. At the end, the group of eight votes for the person they like most, who wins $1,000, but the real prize is taking away valuable life experiences and gaining the knowledge to correct a tough psychological situation or relationship. Age: 14
Hair/eye color: Red/green
Height: Medium
Siblings: 2 younger sisters
Parents: Mom & dad
5 Adjectives: On-task, clean, controlling, bossy, planning-ahead
Status: Amber is currently acting as basic leader of the group. She is always on top of someone if they don't do chores, and wants to make sure life is structured and clean. She currently dislikes Kevin and Jenn, and is good friends with Nicole. She does not have a known crush on anyone yet. Age: 14
Hair/eye color: Dirty Blonde/Brown
Height: Tall
Siblings: 1 older sister
Parents: Mom & dad
5 Adjectives: Observant, friendly, critical, competitive, guilty
Status: Henry hasn't taken too much of a front seat yet. He likes to hang out with almost everyone in the group, and often floats around, striking up conversations with different members of the household. He currently dislikes Jenn, and is good friends with Mike, Will, Amber and Nicole. He does not have a known crush on anyone yet. Age: 13
Hair/eye color: Brown/blue
Height: VERY small
Siblings: 1 older brother, 1 older sister, 2 younger brother and 3 younger sisters
Parents: Mom & dad
5 Adjectives: Critical, sensitive, rash, abrasive, attentive
Status: Jenn does hang out with many of the people in the household, but she has earned a reputation for taking things too seriously and insulting other housemates. She is found to be very clingy to those she has befriended. She currently dislikes Amber, and is good friends with no one. She has a crush on and is going out with Mike. Age: 16
Hair/eye color: Black/brown
Height: Tall
Siblings: None
Parents: Mom
5 Adjectives: Quiet, disrespectful, stubborn, antisocial, messy
Status: Kevin has not connected with any of his housemates on the simple premise that he is older than them and therefore should not interact with them. He has developed a philosophy that he doesn't have to listen to Amber and do chores. He currently dislikes Amber, and is good friends with no one. He has a crush on Nicole. Age: 15
Hair/eye color: Blonde/Hazel
Height: Medium
Siblings: 1 younger brother
Parents: Mom & dad
5 Adjectives: Smart, quiet, self-conscious, comforting, peaceful
Status: Lily is also a backseat driver in the group. She enjoys spending time alone in her room, reading from a seemingly endless supply of books she has. Sometimes she spends time with the other teens, but she doesn't talk much. She struggles with self-image. She currently dislikes no one, and is good friends with no one. She does not have a known crush on anyone yet. Age: 14
Hair/eye color: Brown/brown
Height: Tall
Siblings: Three older brothers
Parents: Mom & dad
5 Adjectives: Easygoing, athletic, agreeable, nonjudgemental, moral
Status: Mike is one of the more vocal members of the group, and has made friends with many of the group's members. He is often found playing cards with Will, and hopes to do things outside if things ever warm up. He currently dislikes no one, and is good friends with Will and Henry. He has a crush on (?) and is going out with Jenn. Age: 14
Hair/eye color: Brown/blue
Height: Medium
Siblings: 1 younger brother
Parents: Mom & dad
5 Adjectives: Optimistic, advantageous, friendly, spiteful, emotional
Status: Being the only African-American of the group (even if she is only half), she initially feels left out and is quiet, but she comes into her own very soon and becomes an active participant in the group. She has befriended many of the group, and uses Kevin's crush on her to her advantage. She currently dislikes Jenn, and is good friends with Amber and Henry. She does not have a known crush on anyone. Age: 15
Hair/eye color: Brown/blue
Height: Small
Siblings: One older brother {deceased}, one younger sister
5 Adjectives: Talkative, outgoing, brave, loving, NOT A MORNING PERSON
Status: He is one of the frontmen of the group, being the first one to talk and engage them as a whole. He comes out as a sort of leader in the group, not in the actual leading sense. He has practically befriended everyone, and enjoys doing leisurely things like drawing comics. He currently dislikes no one, and is good friends with Amber, Mike and Henry. He does not have a known crush on anyone. I've already planned half the plotline out (and I really don't like to plan beyond that until I get into it, so there's room for change), so I'm ready to begin! Whoot! Edit: I'm going to add character summaries. There are eight characters in the whole book (save for the annoying adult that shows up at the beginning and the people in the videos), and they are all MCs. Having eight MCs is hard, but I have 28 chapters to focus on them and ONLY them.  Word Log: Day 1 -- 1,770 Day 2 -- 7,000 Day 3 -- 7,000 Day 4 -- 11,800 Day 5 -- |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2008 11:44:07 GMT -5
I finished off the first chapter today. Hopefully I can get a second done and a third started today as well. It was raining. Hard. Typically, rain is not the way one would like to start a life-altering journey. Then again, some of them didn’t particularly want to undergo such an ordeal.
Seven teenagers took shelter under an ornately designed gazebo, silent and watching the rain fall down around them. One girl, with striking red hair, shivered, but the others just waited, unmoving.
To the relief of all of them, a car pulled up into the driveway of a relatively big, white house. Almost immediately after the car stopped, a younger-looking teenager stepped out, obviously enthused. He quickly strolled to the back of the car as the trunk popped open. “Ungh,” he grunted as he pulled a huge piece of luggage out and onto the damp pavement.
One of the girls under the gazebo snorted, but the others remained silent. The boy out in the rain turned towards the rest of the teenagers. “Hey everybody! Be there in a sec! I just got, well, you know, this.” He attempted to lift up the gigantic suitcase, but failed miserably.
Eventually, the young boy reached the gazebo. “What’s up? The name’s Will.” He stuck his hand out to one of the girls in front of him, who was considerably taller than he was, and when she didn’t return the favor, he simply patted her shoulder. “Well, we’re all a talkative group, now aren’t we?”
Another boy looked over at Will with disdain. “We were instructed not to talk until we received further instructions,” the boy said.
“Oh. I never really was one to listen to other people. So, how is everyone? Ready to live in that house right there?” he asked.
“I guess so,” the girl with red hair responded. The others looked at her, astounded. “What? If he’s talking then I’m going to talk too!”
“Yeah, that makes sense, I guess,” another boy said, running a hand through his curly brown hair. “Yeah, I’m not so sure I want to do this anymore. That camera over there is really freaking me out.” He pointed to a group of people standing about 30 yards away, and a camera that was perpetually focused on the gazebo.
“Haha, it looks like we got someone with a little stage fright. There, there,” Will comforted, climbing up onto one of the small walls around the outside of the gazebo.
“I just want to get this over with,” another girl said. “The worst part about this whole thing is I’m shorter than all of you. Even you,” she whispered pointedly at Will.
All of a sudden everyone hushed up. They could see an adult figure approaching, which, to most of them, meant they were in trouble. One of them shivered in the rain as another slunk back behind the rest of the group.
“Hey everyone,” the adult said as he entered the already crowded gazebo. “I’m just here to tell you what you’re supposed to do next.”
“Cool,” Will said excitedly. Everyone else glared at him.
“Yes, it is. You guys may not realize it, but this is going to be a life-changing experience for you. There will be fights. There will be drama. We manufactured it that way,” the adult said quietly to himself. “But no matter what, the goal is that you take something away from it. We all hope that you are able to go home and say, I learned something from this experience.”
“As for the reason that I’m here,” the adult continued, “you are now allowed into the house. On the kitchen counter there will be an envelope that contains your initial rules. There are 8 separate bedrooms in the house, so you all can sleep on your own, which should be enjoyable.” He paused, but no one moved. “Off you go then.”
“Let’s go!” Will cheered, and he practically skipped out of the gazebo, motioning for the rest to follow him.
The red-haired girl smiled. “Alright, you heard the both of them, it looks like we have to go.” She began to walk out of the gazebo and up toward the house, followed by the rest of the teenagers.
Will was the first inside, and he slipped his shoes off at the welcome mat. “Home sweet home,” he whispered to himself as he hung a raincoat on the coat-rack. He bounded up the small set of stairs into a living area, which was connected to the kitchen.
The rest of them eventually caught up, gathering around the kitchen counter. They waited there, silently, as if something was going to happen.
“Well, who’s going to take the initiative?” Will inquired.
No one answered.
“Who’s reading the note?” he asked in simpler terms.
“I think we should all introduce ourselves first,” the short girl commented. “That way we’ll be able to talk to each other after the note is read.”
“Okay then,” the red-haired girl agreed. “I’m Amber. I’m 14.” She waved to the rest of the group.
“Well you already know I’m Will, so…I guess I’m Will?” Will sat down on a stool a few feet off from the counter.
“I’m Jenn,” the short girl said, imitating Amber’s wave in a joking manner.
“Um, I’m Henry,” another boy said. “Sorry for being so rude earlier, Will,” he added as an afterthought.
“My name’s Mike,” the boy with the curly brown hair said. “Nothing much else to it, I guess.”
The room was silent for a few more seconds.
“The rest of you have to say something about yourselves now. You can’t go through the whole thing without introducing yourselves.” Will stood up from his stool and looked at the silent three expectantly.
“Oh, well, I’m Lily. Hey.” Lily almost waved, but then stuck her hand back towards her head and began to play with her braid.
“I’m Nicole,” another girl with dirty blonde hair practically whispered. “I’m 14 too.”
The only one yet to speak was a tall boy, with jet-black hair and multiple tattoos on his arms and neck. Everyone looked at him, and, as he was obviously not used to a group of strangers staring at him, kept stubbornly silent.
“Fine then. One nameless person is not going to be detrimental to us right now,” Will pointed out. “Detrimental means harmful, to those of us who are vocabulary-challenged. Who’s going to read the note?”
“I will,” Amber volunteered, and she reached out to grab the note.
“I’m Kevin,” the tall boy with the tattoos said quietly.
“A little late now, Kevin,” Will said, smiling, “but welcome to the group.”
Amber struggled to open the note, but eventually the sticky clasp popped open. “Here we go,” she said, pulling a smaller piece of paper out of the envelope marked Reality Show. After skimming over it, Amber finally began. “It says, ‘Dear Teenagers, we would all like to welcome you to the house where you will be staying without adult contact for 28 days, the whole month of February. We want to remind you to be nice, because, at the end of the whole ordeal, all of you will vote for one person to win $1,000. Still, that’s a long way away. You all have 28 days to get to know each other, to get to live adult life (without parents) by doing multiple chores all by yourself, and to try and gain experience enough to get through all of your teenage problems. Good luck everyone. We just wanted to remind you that laundry should be done every four days, and that you all have to make food for yourselves. There will always be food stalked in the fridge, so don’t worry about going out to shop. Love, all of the producers.”
Mike nodded, making a face. “I’m impressed. I think you managed to do that in like, 3 breaths or something.”
“Haha, very funny,” Amber said, though Mike hadn’t intended it as a joke. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do chores-wise, as it says in the note. I propose we assign everyone chores via drawing papers from a hat.”
“Wow, big words there,” Will remarked. “And yeah, I think that’s a good idea. But do you mean, like, we’d do the same chore everyday? ‘Cause that sounds really boring.”
Amber shook her head. “No, we would make eight essential chores that need to be done whenever, and then we’d each draw from a hat which chore we’d do on which day. You know, so we all have one chore.”
“But what about laundry?” Henry pointed out. “The note said that it had to be done every four days.”
“Oh yeah. How about we all do laundry?” Amber looked around at the group, who didn’t respond. “Okay, I’ll take that as a yes.”
“We are definitely going to have to increase everyone’s people skills,” Will muttered to himself.
“Does that sound like a plan then?” Amber asked. This time there were a few affirmations. “Okay. What chores need to be done around here, then?”
“Well there’s cooking,” Mike said. “And cleaning rooms, and dusting, and vacuuming…”
“Good, that’s a good start,” Amber complimented. Wait a second; I have to find some pen and paper here. And a hat or a bag or something.” After looking through the drawer in front of her, she left the kitchen to find an office.
“Well, that one’s intense,” Will remarked. Mike smiled.
“That’s not nice, talking about someone behind their back,” Nicole commented jokingly. “She’s just trying to help get things on track. Besides, no one in this group even talks. At least she has the drive to try and bring us together.”
“No one in this group talks? Speak for yourself,” Will said.
“Found it! Found it!” Amber’s voice sounded from across the hall. “And, just so you know, I can hear everything you’re saying. Thank you Nicole.”
Amber returned to the kitchen and began writing things down. “What did you say again, um…Mike?”
“Yup.”
“You said cooking, cleaning, dusting, vacuuming – was there something else?” She continued writing things down. “I’m going to add the fact that everyone has to do laundry, if y’all don’t mind.”
“Y’all? You don’t have a southern accent,” Henry noted.
“It doesn’t matter. We need more chores! Come on guys! Oh, I know! Washing the dishes. And do you think someone should cook all day? I think cooking should be specified. Like cooking dinner. Everyone should make their own breakfast and lunch.”
“Great. If I cook I’m going to burn the house down.” Will scoffed and began wandering around the kitchen.
“How do you know that? You’ve never tried it before, right?”
They continued on like this for another twenty minutes, the main contributors to the discussion being Will and Amber, with occasional side comments from the rest of the group. Eventually they had it all decided: which chores were to be done on which day.
Will looked out the window across the room and then at the clock. “Wow, it’s already 6:30. It’s almost dark outside. Was I really that late?”
“Yes,” the rest of the group responded, practically in unison.
“So I guess we should all go choose our rooms. After all, that’s where we’re going to be staying for the next 28 days,” Amber reminded everyone.
Most of them began to go up the staircase right outside the kitchen, luggage forgotten downstairs, but Amber and Nicole stayed behind to collect their things. “So, how is this for you? Why did you want to do this whole thing?” Amber asked out of the blue.
Nicole looked at Amber in surprise, but then focused back on dragging her suitcases. “I don’t know. When I saw the opportunity, I thought it would be a good way to make friends. And, you know, to prove to my parents that I can achieve something. That $1,000 doesn’t sound too bad either.”
“So what do you think about everyone here? I’m sure we all got some pretty strong first impressions.” Amber was about to start her way up the stairs, but thought better of it. “How about we go into the living room and have a chat on the couch?”
“Yeah, I actually did get some pretty big first impressions,” Nicole responded, sitting down on the couch and setting her luggage beside her. “That Kevin kid really scares me, actually. He’s got all those tattoos and how old is he? Like, 16? He doesn’t even talk, and I think I caught him staring at me a couple of times. Ugh.” She shuddered. “What about you?”
“Yeah, I didn’t get a good vibe off Kevin, but you know, he could turn out to be really nice and we don’t even know that he is. The kid that seemed kind of off to me was Henry.”
“Henry?” Nicole seemed very surprised at this. “I love Henry! He’s so cute! And he was so nice to Will…”
“Oh God, Will. He’s definitely someone to watch out for. He’s like…I don’t know…a five year-old on sugar high? I wonder if he actually, you know, sleeps at night. Maybe he expends so much energy during the day…but you know, I kind of like him. At least he talks a lot, so I’m not the only one.”
“Yeah.” Nicole turned her attention to the huge windows that were lined up neatly on the other side of the room. They looked out to a huge lake, which she could barely see through the darkness. The rain was still pouring down steadily outside, and she studied the individual drops that ran down the glass panes.
“Nicole. Nicole, what’s wrong?” Amber lifted her hand up and wiped something off her friend’s face.
“What?” Nicole felt her face and took a sharp gasp. “Oh my God, I’m crying. Why am I crying?”
There were a few seconds of silence, where the two of them stared at each other. Nicole’s eyes were tearing up, and the water welled up in small pools at the bottom of her eyes. Amber’s exotic green eyes were studying Nicole’s face carefully, trying to figure out what was going on. And then, all of a sudden, both of them began laughing. Neither of them really knew what happened, but for some reason, it was incredibly funny to the both of them. As the rain tapped on the windows and roof of the house, Nicole and Amber’s echoing laughs traveled up the stairs and to the six other teenagers.
“You hear that?” Will asked Mike. Both of them were in rooms right next to each other, and Mike was currently visiting in with Will. “They’re laughing. Probably talking about us, no doubt.”
Mike studied his hand, as they were playing an intense game of poker. “I’ll take one. Yeah, they’re definitely talking about us. Too bad they got the worst rooms in the house.”
“Not necessarily. It’s all about opinion.” Will took a card from the top of the deck and slid it across the bed to his friend. “But wasn’t Nicole the one that chastised us for talking about people behind their backs? Oh well. You know, Lily’s really the only shy girl around here. I wonder what’s going on with her.”
“Two pair,” Mike said, showing a pair of 9s and a pair of 3s. “Yeah, she is really quiet. Jenn’s just right for me. Not too quiet, but not too loud. I kind of like her.”
“Two pair, but yours beats mine.” Will lay down a pair of 8s and a pair of 7s. “Jenn seems a bit too obnoxious for my tastes, but that might just be me. Oh well. Seeing as we’re going to be living with her for the next four weeks, I guess I ought to get used to it.”
Amber and Nicole eventually made it up the stairs, and the rest of the night was pretty uneventful. After taking their dinners, most of the kids went their separate ways for the rest of the night. The last light – Amber’s – went out at 11:45.
However, as the clock struck midnight, there was one teen still awake. Making sure that no one was still stirring, she walked down the huge hall of bedrooms and found the bathroom hidden at the end of the corridor. Being as silent as possible, she opened the door and walked in, a long blonde braid that she had never undone trailing behind her.
She walked up to the sink, which was in front of a mirror. She turned the water on and splashed a little on to her face. “Ah,” she sighed, rubbing a green, fluffy towel up to her sullen face.
After this whole process, she dragged out a small stool from under the sink and stood on it to get a full view of herself in the mirror. There she was, the same old girl that had left home, and her mouth turned into a straight line. She put her hands on her belly and began squeezing tentatively, pulling outwards and frowning even more.
The girl shook her head, hopped off of the stool and put it under the sink. After wiping her eyes, she turned the light off, exited the bathroom, and went back to bed. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2008 21:53:12 GMT -5
I actually did finish the second chapter today, which makes me very happy. This is the longest chapter I've ever written in any book, clocking in at about 7 and a half pages on Word. I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm definitely not starting a 3rd chapter tonight. But if I think about it, 10k words will be about 3 chapters, which means that in 15 chapters, I'll have reached 50,000. Yay! It was 8:15 in the morning when Will was aroused by a knock on the door. His eyes opened very quickly, but he soon closed them again, groaning and rolling over due to the sunlight streaming through his open window.
The knock sounded again, louder this time, and Will barely put his voice together to shout, “Go away,” into his pillow.
There were a few seconds of blissful silence before there was another set of knocks, louder than the first two. Will rolled over and glared at the door, even though it would do nothing to the originators of the knocking. “Someone is dying today,” he muttered to himself, picking up a pillow from behind his head and hurling it at the door. It made a relatively loud bang, and then slumped down in front of the door, taking a rather depressing position.
The silence lasted a bit longer this time – about twenty seconds – when, of all things, a deafening knock came at the door. A very feral and frightening noise emanated from the drowsy teen’s throat as he leapt out of bed and approached the door. After throwing the pillow to the back of the room, Will had a short staring contest with the door, bearing his eyes into the doorknob. He could hear two of the others giggling with each other behind the door, and after upturning his lips in a distorted smile, opened the door.
“WHAT?”
Amber and Mike, who were right in front of the doorknob, stood silently and blinked at the hulking monster of a sleepyhead. Knowing what was good for them, they darted away from the door and down the stairs.
“Stupid people,” Will mumbled, reentering his room.
But, since he was up, he figured he might as well ready himself for the day. Will walked up to his dresser and pulled open one of the drawers, only to realize that he hadn’t unpacked his clothes the day before. “Right,” he groaned to himself, kneeling next to his suitcase and opening up one of the layers. In a stupor, he pulled out an outfit that would suffice for the day.
After getting dressed, he thought it would be best to get some food in him. Maybe it would give him more energy.
Somehow he made it down the stairs, only to hear Amber’s voice wafting out from the kitchen. “So then, I took Nee-Nee, and she was practically clawing at me, and I put her in the closet with me, so she couldn’t run away.”
“Wow, it must have like, tried to kill you in there,” Nicole remarked.
“Yeah, it was kind of like Will when we – oh, hello there, Mr. Sleepy. You need some caffeine. Badly.” Will grunted and walked over to the refrigerator.
“What happened anyway? It was all quiet until Will up and woke the neighbors.” Henry rubbed his eyes as Will opened the refrigerator.
“They must be tinkled,” Jenn concluded.
Will closed the refrigerator and opened the freezer. “Amber and Mike learned a little lesson about my sleeping habits. It’s very unwise to wake me up before 9:30 if it’s not an emergency. Like, if my room is on fire you’re allowed to wake me up at 8:15. Ah, just what I was looking for.” He pulled out a gallon of vanilla-chocolate swirl ice cream.
“Will, it’s 8:30 in the morning, not at night. Why are you having desert so soon?” Amber got up from her chair and swiped the ice cream carton out of Will’s hands. “It’s really unhealthy.”
“I’m sorry, mother, but weren’t you the one who said I needed caffeine?” Will left the ice cream carton in Amber’s hands and instead opened drawers and cabinets in search of a spoon and bowl.
Everyone in the kitchen stared at Will as Lily and Kevin simultaneously entered. “There is no caffeine in ice cream,” Mike pointed out.
“Yeah, sugar, caffeine, whatever lets you sleep at night. Oh, the gang’s all here.” Will picked the shiniest spoon from the utensils drawer. “Now for the bowl…”
“Okay, most of us are done with breakfast. Everyone who has a morning chore needs to do their morning chore. And, if I consult the chart…that would be Kevin, me and Henry.” Amber smiled.
Henry walked up to the chart and nodded. Kevin slumped down into a seat at the far end of the table, obviously not interested in the announcement. “This is our first full day in the house! Aren’t you guys at least a little bit excited?” Amber ran a hand through her hair and set the chart back down against the wall, leaving the ice cream unguarded. Will quickly scooped it up and filled his newfound bowl with a couple of scoops.
“She really is my mom,” Will thought aloud.
“Now, everyone, we really have to get moving. I don’t care if I sound like your mom – in fact, I find that a complimentary statement. I know that if we all do chores it’ll give us a sense of responsibility. Besides, we’re on TV, remember? That means everyone will see a messy house and think we’re messy people, and in turn think that our parents are messy people, which is entirely possible, but we don’t want to come off that way.” Amber looked at every single person, except Henry, who was leaving to clean up the barely messy living room. “Do you understand me? Kevin?”
The tall boy looked at the refrigerator and then got up. “I’m 16. You’re 14.” He walked over to where Will was standing. “How old are you?”
Will looked up, a big glop of ice cream sitting in his mouth. “15,” he managed to say coherently.
“At least a couple of us are older than you,” he pointed out, opening the refrigerator and pulling out a carton of milk. “I’m going up to my room,” he announced, and, milk in hand, he walked up the stairs.
The room was silent for a couple of seconds.
“Wow,” Nicole said, and she set off for the living room.
“Okay, I don’t know what that was all about, but we have to do the chores, okay? Does that sound so hard?”
Some of them shook their heads half-heartedly, and the others just sat there, eating their breakfast. After a few minutes of light conversation, Will and Mike left to go play some blackjack. Amber stayed in the kitchen, head in hands, sitting at the table and figuring out what was wrong.
“Are you okay?” Lilly asked, being the only one left in the kitchen.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just a little stressed. It’s reminding me of home right now. Just when I thought I had escaped.” Amber shook her head and looked at Henry, who had stopped cleaning and was talking to Nicole on the couch. “I don’t know…I thought that other teens would want to look good in a public light, you know? Kind of like peer pressure, but less harmful.”
Lilly frowned and looked down at the lower half of her body. “I know what you mean.”
Amber shook her head again, and then pulled a strand of hair out from her scalp. She studied it for a couple of seconds, moving it around in the grasp of her fingers. “At home…well, I have a couple of younger siblings, and they always called me Mommy and Miss Bossy and things of that nature. I don’t know why I’m so controlling…I guess it’s because I just want everything to go smoothly. I’m really sorry I’m venting on you, Lily, I just need someone I can talk to, and Nicole’s a bit distracted right now.”
Lily smiled. “I can be a little bossy to my brother too. It’s okay, though. We all know you have good intentions. I think most of us look up a little to you, too. I’ll do my chores today, don’t worry. I never minded washing dishes that much.”
“Thanks. You’re a good comforter, did you know that? I hope you know that.” Amber left Lilly alone in the kitchen to go sit down with Henry and Nicole.
The rest of the morning went by pretty slowly. There wasn’t much to do in the house, except for the schoolwork they had all been assigned. There were a few complaints about it, but each of them knew that, in order not to get kicked off, they had to complete a certain amount by the end of each day.
Nothing really happened until Amber walked into the bathroom at the end of the hallway. She was about to sit down on the toilet until she realized that there were little droplets of moisture on the seat.
A deafening scream rang through the house.
“WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON TO USE THIS BATHROOM?” she shrieked across the hallway, and, unfazed by all of the cacophony, Kevin walked out of his room.
“Me. Is there a problem?” Kevin was smiling, an obvious malicious intent behind his blandly happy face.
“You know the rules mister, especially when you’re living in a house with girls. If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat! Have you even done your chores yet?” the infuriated girl demanded.
“Didn’t I already tell you? I’m 16. You’re 14. I don’t have to do chores because you freakin’ tell me to.” Kevin walked back into his room.
“Oh you are not getting away that easily,” Amber screamed, and followed Kevin into his room. Immediately, she noticed that it was a huge mess already. The bed was left heavily unmade, and there were various snacks that littered the floor. She could see a little speck of toothpaste on one of the sheets and cringed. “Look, I don’t care how messy you keep your room, but please, for our sakes, clean the bathroom. And do your chores. I have to go pee, and I am NOT going pee on a toilet covered with your…urine!”
“I’m sorry – I just felt the urge to mark my territory.” Kevin smiled.
“You are so disgusting!” Amber was about to pick up a pillow that was lying on the floor next to her foot, but soon thought better of it. “You know what? One of these days, I am coming into this room with a clean-up crew and sterilizing your room. I want to see you downstairs sweeping in fifteen minutes. Do you hear me? That’s how long it should take you to clean the bathroom.” Amber left in a flurry of small comments and slammed the door shut.
“That went better than I thought,” Kevin mumbled to himself, cocking his head sideways and jumping, back-first, onto the bed.
Amber continued storming as she stomped down the stairs and into the half-clean living room, where Henry and Nicole were still having a conversation.
“I just think that animal cruelty is the saddest form of cruelty out there. When I think of human cruelty, which is also horrible, I think, well at least humans can kind of fight back, or hold on to a shred of hope that they’ll escape or something, but animals, they’re just there getting tortured, and…uggh.” Henry made a face that somewhat resembled throwing up, and Nicole laughed.
Nicole looked over at Amber, who was visibly exasperated. “What’s wrong, Mommy Dearest?” she asked the already angered teenager.
“Kevin is disgusting. He peed on the toilet seat and just – just left it there. And to think I almost sat on it!” Amber shuddered.
“He was just marking his territory,” Henry said, laughing.
“That’s what he said!” Amber shouted. “I am just utterly disgusted. I have to say, I am just utterly…ugh, this is absurd. I have to go to the bathroom down here, and I also need to convince, or maybe even force this kid to do simple chores.”
“We could also let him sit around and do nothing and one of us would have to do an extra chore every day. I don’t think it’s that big a deal, considering doing an extra chore takes absolutely no energy compared to trying to make him do something.” Nicole shrugged. “But, if you’re so persistent about it, I can go talk to him. I have a feeling he’ll be more apt to listen to me, unfortunately. He is a real pig.” Nicole waved goodbye to Henry and started up the stairs.
“I’m going to the bathroom. Be back in a couple of minutes.” Amber stepped out of the living room and into the hallway, leaving Henry alone with his cleaning supplies, to finish up his duty.
“God, I never knew teenage life would be so structured. There’s nothing to do around here except chores and homework. We can’t even leave this house for 27 days. Why am I talking to himself?” The boy took a wet rag and wiped down the almost clean couch. “And why am I cleaning this room? Did Amber just make me do this because there aren’t enough chores to do? This is pointless.”
The incessant rambling continued on for a few more minutes, until Amber returned, a lesser sense of urgency in her aura. “I feel much better now. Where did Nicole go?”
“She went up to talk to Kevin, remember?” Henry finished wiping off the central table. “There, done! Now can I go do something else?”
Amber frowned. “I guess so. Do you get the feeling that there’s not enough to do around here?”
Henry just rolled his eyes. “I’m going up to talk to Mike and Will.” He was just about to leave when Nicole came running down the stairs, eyes wide and arms held out to her sides.
“You will never believe this, but I got Kevin to clean the bathroom, and he’s actually coming down to sweep in like two minutes.” She was smiling as if she had accomplished something monumental. “I cannot believe I just stood up to that huge, insane person and made him do something!”
“Be proud of yourself, girl,” Henry said as he high-fived her.
“Wait, he listened to you and not me? What did you do that I didn’t?” Amber sat down on the couch and put her right leg up over her left.
“He just has a little crush on me, that’s all. I think that I inadvertently, kind of, accidentally, you know, flirted with him.” Nicole tried to look as innocent as possible, putting her finger up to her chin and crossing her legs.
“Oh come on! That’s leading him on. That’s not very nice,” Amber said, half-giggling.
“Shh, sh, he’s coming down! He’s coming down,” Nicole said in a hushed voice. The three of them watched the stairs as Kevin came down, broom and dustpan in hand. Henry had to hold in laughter, seeing the tattooed teenager ready to sweep.
“Hey ladies,” he greeted them, waving specifically to Nicole. She smiled and waved back.
After their little exchange, Kevin walked into a different part of the house that hadn’t been explored too much, and presumably took up his morning chore.
“That was really weird,” Amber admitted. The three of them sat down on the couch and looked out the window. The lake was visible now, and they could also see a pretty big hill of grass that lead up to the body of water. Right at the edge closest to them was a garden that was pretty much dead, and to the left side there was a very old swing set.
“Okay, I’m going upstairs now,” Henry announced. It was only a matter of seconds until he reached Will’s room. Mike and Will were already there, concentrating fully on playing more cards.
“Hello everyone,” Henry said, sitting down on the bed. “Who’s winning?”
“Me, by four points,” Mike said. “Hit me,” soon followed, and then, “Stick with 20.”
“Oh, Henry, did you hear? Mike said yes when Jenn asked him out.” Will nodded. “It’s really true.”
Henry looked confused at the abrupt news. “Wait a second…Jenn asked you out? Like, on a date, even though we’re not allowed to leave the house for any purpose unless we want to get kicked out?” He laughed.
“Well, just, you know, in the general sense that we’re together,” Mike corrected.
“And you said yes to going out? You barely know her.” Henry frowned, analyzing the situation.
“Well, it was my gut instinct. I just had a feeling, you know? I like her, not in the crush kind of way, but I know she’s a really cool person.” Mike shrugged as Will groaned in disappointment. “Aw, too bad. You went bust. That puts me five points ahead of—”
“Shut up, B****!”
The room went silent, and Mike turned pale. “Is that the person I had a feeling about?” he asked, and Henry nodded, a wry smile forming on his face.
“Well, at least we know she’s loud enough to round up the kids for dinner time,” Will noted. “Speaking of which, I have to make dinner tonight! The last time I cooked something was eight years ago, and it was making pancakes with my dad where he did all of the flipping and I just poured in the batter! You guys do realize you’re all doomed, right?”
The other two weren’t listening, however, as they rose from the bed and carefully treaded down the stairs. They could hear some more insults being thrown in the living room.
“You’ve got to think about everyone as a collective group, not just yourself, you know? We all have to contribute if we want this thing to work.” It was Amber, and she was gesturing to the kitchen. “That chart is basically what we have to go on right now. If something doesn’t work it, it’s subject to change, but really, just try it. Don’t you think it’s better if we all do one thing than if some of us do everything?”
“Kevin didn’t have to do anything!” Jenn retorted, stomping her foot on the ground. “Why don’t you confront him about it? Is it because he’s too scary for you? Or are you afraid he won’t [do the deed] with you? You w****!”
Mike ran down the stairs. “Jenn, you have got to calm down. Don’t call Amber a—”
“Mike!” Jenn ran over to her supposed boyfriend and hugged him tightly around the waste. “I knew you would come to protect me. Go tell her what an ugly w**** she is.”
“No! She’s not. And she’s right too. You have to do your chores. I know it sounds like life at home, but they really are important, you know? We’re lucky to be given this opportunity, so we’re going to have to, you know, compromise?” Mike looked over at Henry confusedly, but Henry nodded reassuringly. “See, we’ve just got to give and take, that’s all.”
Jenn sighed and put on a pout. “Fine. Stupid dusting doesn’t even need to be done around here.” Despite her qualms, Jenn left the four teens to themselves as she went to find a duster.
“Mike, I just have to say, your gut is horrible,” Henry told him, coming down the staircase fully. “That has got to be the worst personality pick I have every seen.”
“Seriously, what is wrong with her? All I did was remind her that she needed to do dusting and within seconds I’m a b****!” Amber sat down on the couch. “Can’t a mother get some respect up in here?”
The rest of the day went by with little incident. The sky darkened, and the teens eventually tired out. Jenn and Kevin kept to themselves, but the six others sat down in the living room and decided to turn on the TV. Friends was on, so they decided to watch that.
“I love this show!” Henry exclaimed. “Ross is the best.”
“What are you talking about? Monica is way cooler than Ross. She’s the cool sibling.” Amber glared at Henry, very defensive of her favorite character.
“I kind of like Rachel the best,” Nicole said sheepishly, not wanting to get on anyone’s nerves.
“Joey!” Mike got strange looks from most of the group. “What? He may be stupid, but he’s good with the ladies. And he’s funny when he’s stupid.”
The rest of them looked expectantly at Lily and Will. “Well Phoebe’s cool. She’s quirky and all that,” Lily practically whispered.
“Wow. All of you managed to be wrong in completely different ways. Chandler is the king of all of the Friends characters. Without Chandler, the show would be nothing.” Will stood up triumphantly, and began imitating the dance that Chandler often did when successful.
“Oh, Will, don’t you have to make our dinner?” Amber asked. “Shoo. Go cook for us.”
Will’s eyes widened. “Right…yeah, I’m kind of with reservations when it comes to cooking.”
“Just do your best, Will. You, like Jenn and Kevin, aren’t getting out of chores on the first day,” Amber said. “Do I need to push you then? Get cooking. I left a recipe for you to try, and it’s really easy to follow. Don’t worry about it.”
But Will definitely worried about it. He slowly made his way into the kitchen, soon finding the recipe tacked to the refrigerator door. “Okay…turn on the stove to low and begin heating a large-sized pan. Large-sized pan…found one!” He pulled out a fairly big pan from the rack at the side of the kitchen. Okay, so turn the stove on low and start heating the pan.” He put the pan on one of the sections and somehow managed to turn the knob on the low setting.
“Next, put ¼ tablespoon of vegetable oil in the pan. Vegetable oil would be in a pantry, right? Not in a refrigerator?” He walked over to the pantry, located conveniently on the other end of the kitchen, and found vegetable oil rather quickly. “Tablespoon, tablespoon.” He rooted through a couple of drawers before coming upon the highly elusive measuring tool. “One quarter,” he said to himself as he measured it out exactly.
Putting the vegetable oil in the pan was an entirely different story, unfortunately. As it hit the searing surface of the pan, it simmered, which caused Will to jerk back instinctively. He had little control over his limbs as he did so, and his arm accidentally nudged the heat knob on the stove to its highest. The vegetable oil, in response to the spontaneous heat, leapt up in a barrel of flames. “The kitchen is on fire,” Will whispered incredulously to himself. “The kitchen is up in FLAMES!”
Everyone came running to the kitchen. The five teenagers who were watching Friends arrived first, just in time to watch Will fumble with a pan to try and fill it with water. “No, Will! That’s just going to make steam! It’s going to set off the fire alarm! That’ll ruin the whole no contact with adults thing!” Amber shouted.
Kevin and Jenn were the last two to arrive, Jenn’s mouth open wide, Kevin’s formed into an amused smile. Jenn, being clingy, rushed over to Mike’s side and grabbed onto his arm.
Amber shook her head and ran over to assist Will. “Just turn off the heat!” she screamed, reaching over to the stove – which was almost ablaze itself by this point – and turning the knob as far left as it could possibly go.
The fire died down instantly, leaving the teens with a singed pan and a little bit of smoke wafting through the kitchen. Amber began wheezing, taking deep breaths and then spluttering them out again. Henry looked at Mike worriedly, and Nicole rushed forward to see if Amber was okay.
The eight of them stood there, amazed that they were so near to setting a house on fire. They were astounded that in just one instant things can go wrong. One mistake can lead to definite disaster.
Amber continued coughing for another minute, barely able to breathe. Nicole patted her on the back, looking to the rest of the group for help. Lily and Henry stepped forward to console Will and help Amber breathe again. Soon the whole group, save for Kevin, who stood on the sidelines, was working in bringing Amber and Will back to mental and physical help.
Finally Amber stopped coughing. She seemed like she was trying to get her head together as she ran a hand through her hair and breathed deeply. She pushed the rest of the teens away so that she could get a clear look at Will.
“You,” she started pointedly at the teenage boy, coughing a little and taking another breath, “you are never, and I mean never, cooking in this household again.” |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2008 18:19:16 GMT -5
I finished Day Three yesterday but it was late at night and I was following the election so I didn't have time to put it up yet. Here it is! I'm also going to keep a word log on the first page since the website word count hasn't worked for me in the past. The numbers stared straight at her, poignant and precise. She looked down at her feet in discomfort, the cold surface of the scale sending shivers up her spine and into her arms. She took another look at the mirror, reaching back to smooth out her braid.
She was dissatisfied.
153 was far too much for a 15-year-old girl, at a height of 5 feet and 3 inches, to weigh. She knew it wasn’t muscle – it was just all that fat accumulated from days of sitting around in trees and yards reading and doing nothing else. Despite how much tennis she played during the week, nothing seemed to work. She would be active, and more active, and listen to her father’s words of encouragement, but then there’d be those days where she just wanted to go away to another place, and she would stay stationary on Earth. And those were the days that she wished she could just get rid of.
But there they were, the three digits that spelled out her immanent obesity. No matter how she tried to skew it, Lily could not manage to make it seem like there was a way that it was healthy, or normal. And when she looked in the mirror, she knew that it wasn’t okay. It wasn’t okay with her, or her father, or anyone living in the house with her.
Her stomach rumbled. It was almost lunch time, and she was really hungry, having only eaten a breakfast of a few strawberries. She stepped off of the scale and let the cool, smooth feel of the tile wash over her soles. “Hunger,” she mumbled to herself, clutching her stomach as if wounded in an intense battle.
As she was about to walk out, however, she had second thoughts. She brought her hand from her stomach to her braid and started stroking intently, as if it would somehow help her think better. A lock of blonde hair fell to the floor. “On second thought, maybe starving myself wouldn’t be such a bad idea. It’ll just make dinner all the more enjoyable.”
She walked up to the mirror again and stared into it. After adjusting one of her contacts a little, she smiled. She could begin to see the weight decrease already.
As she was walking out of the bathroom, she could hear something approaching quickly to the left of her. She turned her head to see Will and Mike hurdling towards the other end of the hallway, and with a scream, stepped back in time to feel the wind of their wake blow into her frightened face.
“Sorry Lily, but this is important business. We just saw a mouse!” Will shouted to the back of him. There was a plastic purple bowl wedged in his right armpit as he sprinted behind Mike.
“It’s in the closet. It just weaseled under the door,” Mike informed his friend. “Now, here’s what I say we do. I say we open the door and put some cheese in the bowl, and the little mouse will crawl into it unsuspectingly and then we’ll flip the bowl over. It’s never going to get away.”
Amber barreled up the stairs. “Did someone say there’s a mouse living with us?”
Will looked at Mike worriedly, but somehow managed to muster the courage to nod in affirmation. “It just got into the closet there, but we’ve figured out away to catch it, and it probably hasn’t been around enough to get into the fridge and eat—“
“You are telling me that there is a MOUSE in this HOUSE! NICOLE, GET YOUR BUTT UP HERE! WE ARE CATCHING THIS MOUSE!”
Nicole ran up the stairs, her ebony skin shining in the early afternoon sunlight. Henry innocently followed, a piece of slightly aged cheese in hand. “Here, we can use this to lure it out, and then we’ll strike.”
“No, that’s not going to be good enough. We need either a trap or an extremely complicated mechanism to catch this thing, because if we just use a bowl, it’s going to run around under the bowl. Besides, where are we going to put it once we get it into the bowl. How are we going to transport it? Would we put one bowl on top of the other, or would the mouse be able to squeeze its way out, or what? I know that this is hard to comprehend, guys, but mice are trickier and smaller and harder to control than you think!” Amber started breathing heavily, staring at the crack under the closet door. “I propose that a couple people search through the house for traps, so we can kill the darn thing and not have to deal with it anymore. As for the rest of us, let’s try and get it under the bowl for the time being so that we can trap it later. Otherwise, it’s just going to be hanging out in the closet all day, and before we know it, it’s going to chew through an electrical wire and BOOM, there goes our power. Are we all in agreement?”
The rest of the group simply stared at Amber as Jenn came running up the stairs. “I heard everything, and I think Mike and I should go get the traps, hehehe.” She smiled, braces shining, as she grabbed Mike by the arms and attempted to drag him down the stairs.
“No thank you, Jenn, I would really rather stay here and try to trap it,” Mike politely refused.
“Oh come on, hubby, let’s just go get some traps.”
“Hubby?” Henry started laughing.
“Look, we cannot argue right now. Jenn, take someone else to get the traps – hell, I’ll go with you. We just need to get things done right now.” Amber began to walk down the stairs, flipping her hair behind her and motioning for Jenn to follow her.
“But I want Mike to come with me! If Mike doesn’t go, then I’m not going. And then nothing will get done, blah, blah, like you said whatever.” Jenn firmly planted her feet into the ground and crossed her arms. “So there.”
“Whatever. Do we have any volunteers for the retrieval of the traps?” Amber asked, looking at the rest of the group.
“I’ll go!” Henry volunteered. “I don’t want to be hanging around you guys if you get all fighting again.” He began to walk down the stairs, lobbing the cheese at Will, who fumbled with it clumsily.
“Alright then, I’ll go too,” Mike said, quickly catching up to Henry.
“Wait a second! Mike, I thought you said you didn’t want to go! And now you do want to go?” Jenn clung to her boyfriend’s arm, almost causing his fall down the stairs. “If Mike’s going, I’m going with him!”
“Enough! Mike, Henry, you’re going to get the traps. Jenn, you’re staying here! Is it possible for this house to get anything done, or are we all forever doomed to a perpetual state of non-accomplishment?” Amber could hear Jenn begin to complain, but put a strong hand over her mouth. “Henry, Mike, go, before she pees her pants and has a fit.”
Henry rolled his eyes and Mike rushed down the stairs, almost slipping on his socks.
“Okay, now that we’ve cleared that up, I think we can start attacking the mouse here. Who wants to open the cl—OW! OW! JENN, WHAT IS YOUR FREAKING PROBLEM?” Amber quickly pulled her hand from Jenn’s mouth, holding onto her index finger. “I can’t believe you just bit me! What are you, cannibal?”
“It’s lunch and I was hungry,” Jenn said, putting her hands on her waist. “Besides, I like the taste of lady dog any time of day.”
Amber walked up to Jenn, the anger in her gait, and put her face within inches of Jenn’s. “Listen, lady, we are trying to catch a mouse here, you know, a real one, but that doesn’t mean you’re free of all charges. I know that there’s more than one mouse in this house, and I am determined – not even determined, but at all costs – going to catch you. Do you understand me? You are going to be so miserable you’ll regret ever having tasted this lady dog.”
Lily’s eyes widened as she stared at the closet. “Guys. Guys.”
“Okay, Amber, I’m really scared now. I think I’m going to go pee my pants. Or maybe I can pee all over the toilet seat like your friend Kevin!” She reached her hand out and then began to move her leg, but couldn’t see the opportunity to dole out pain. “And by the way, I can figure out all of your secrets. And once I do, I’ll be sure that everyone in the house knows them. Do you understand?”
“GUYS! The mouse is halfway down the hall!” Lily put her hand over her mouth, but then brought it back down to her side. “I don’t think I’ve screamed that loud in my entire life.
“What, the mouse is down the – MIKE, HENRY, THE MOUSE IS DOWN THE FREAKING HALL SO YOU’D BETTER HURRY UP AND FREAKING LOCATE THOSE TRAPS! Jenn, you’re staying here…I’m afraid the mouse will come to your aid, seeing as you’re one of it. Will, Lily, Nicole, come with me. We’re going to trap this thing before it eats through all of our food.” Amber shoved Jenn into the closet before taking off, other teens in tow, down the hall.
“She is so going to get it,” Jenn said to herself, rubbing her shoulder. She looked to the right of her, noticing a sign that she’d never really seen before. “Diary Room? What the hell’s a diary room?” she asked aloud.
Overwhelming curiosity taking over her emotions, Jenn opened the door and walked inside.
She could see that it was almost all black, save for a single light shining down on a chair covered in tacky blue velvet. A lone camera shined down on the chair as well. “Is this some sort of confessional? Why didn’t anyone tell us about this? Oh my god, I bet the room is soundproofed. Oh, oh, here’s the on switch to the camera.”
She walked up to a big red button and pressed it tentatively.
“Hello? Hello, is this on?” Jenn stared blankly into the camera’s lens. “I’m Jenn Liebowitz, and I’m 13 years old. I am officially the youngest teen on Reality Show, and so far, things haven’t exactly been going my way. I have the densest boyfriend ever, and he’s like, a year older than me. I don’t know…do they get stupider as they get older? And then there’s Amber, who’s a complete control-freak and a b**** rolled up in one. Will’s okay, and I kind of like Henry when he’s not being obnoxious. Kevin is a total sketch. I think he would be the kind of person who would, like, stalk someone and r*** someone at night or something. Yeah, creepy. Nicole looks like she’s on drugs or something, and she is way too emotional. I think she was homesick on the first day or something. And Lily, darn, is that girl part elephant or something? She’s not fat, but she’s ginormous.”
Jenn studied the room carefully. “How do you turn this thing off? Do you, like, press the red button again or something?” She walked up to the camera and pressed the red button. The electronic sound that signified power slowly came to a halt, and she breathed deeply. “Wow, I feel so much better now that I got that off my chest. I wonder where Mikey is. Poor Mikey, had to go find those traps without me.”
After a quick hair fix and ear scratch, Jenn exited the Diary Room. “Mikey! Mikey, honey, where did you scamper off to?” She skipped down the hall and could hear voices echoing down the stairway. “Mikey! I’m coming to you Mikey, I’m coming to you!”
She flung herself downstairs and into a scene. All of the teens, save for Kevin, who was probably locked in his room doing something totally irrelevant, were congregated around the trapped mouse. They had laid a sticky trap down on the ground and were ready to lift up the bowl so that the mouse would finally meet its maker.
“Wait, we’re not actually killing the mouse, are we?” Nicole asked, putting her hand down on the bowl.
“I don’t think so,” Amber reassured her. “It’s just a sticky trap. That means it can’t move until we let it move. Okay, boys, you know the plan. As soon as we lift the bowl up, we have to back away as slowly as possible. That way, the mouse won’t run away from us. You got that?”
“Affirmative,” Will replied, crouching down and staring into the mouse’s back.
Amber laughed. “Affirmative? You sound like a soldier talking into his walky-talky thing. Okay, soldier Roger that. Commence operations,” she commanded, trying to make her voice sound faded in imitation of a long-distance chat.
“1, 2, 3,” Will and Mike whispered, quickly lifting the bowl over the mouse’s head and beginning to regress back into the kitchen.
The mouse was more quickly trapped than anyone expected. As soon as it got out of the bowl, it lunged for the piece of cheese stuck to the trap. In a matter of seconds, it had become entangled in the adhesive and was unable to move. “Aha, operation successful!” Amber cheered.
“Now we’re going to unstick it outside, right Amber?” Nicole inquired, walking up to the trap worriedly.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Amber picked up the trap and everyone followed her outside. They were out near the lake, and the clouds had broken temporarily to allow the afternoon sunlight to shine down on the ground. Dewdrops glistened on the grass as the teens traveled toward the bottom of the big hill. Will and Lily shivered, not wearing the appropriate clothing for the trip outdoors.
“I say we name the lake Lake Mouse. You know, for the mouse.” Henry smiled charmingly. “We can’t live near a lake and not name it, right?”
Amber struggled with the trap. “The mouse isn’t coming off. Guys, can you help me with this? The mouse won’t come off!” She carefully handed the trap over to Will, who began prying at the trapped creature with all of his might. “It’s actually kind of nice out today. Why don’t we do something outside?”
“Soccer!” Henry shouted. “I played soccer at school this year, and our team did really well. Second in the region, which is pretty amazing for a school that really sucks at sports.”
“You want to play soccer, guys?” Amber asked.
“Do you mind if I referee this one? I was never any good at soccer anyway.” Lily stood to the side of the rest of the group, picking at her braid once again. “I think I know the rules well enough. Kenny plays – my little brother, Kenny – plays enough soccer that I would know the rules.”
“Is everyone else going to play, then?” Amber asked again.
There were five affirmations across the board.
“I’ll go find a soccer ball,” Mike volunteered. “I thought I found one in the shed when I was exploring yesterday.”
Jenn smirked. “I’ll go with you.” She walked up and leaned into Mike’s ear. “Maybe we can do naughty things, hehehe.”
“Or we can find a soccer ball,” Mike said, looking forlornly at Will, who was still attempting to free the mouse from its cruel fate.
“I swear Amber, this thing isn’t going to budge. It’s just going to have to stay here until it dies.” Will looked over at Nicole, his face shot with sorrow. “I’m sorry Nicole, I really am. If it makes you feel any better, there are still a lot of mice out there that, you know, aren’t dead.”
“Wait, it’s really going to die? That’s horrible!” Nicole looked around at the group, who didn’t seem to care as much as she did. “You people, insensitive! You insensitive people!”
“I’m sorry for seeming so callous. Here.” Will slung his arm around Nicole as she sat down in the grass, running a hand through her hair. Amber blushed and bit her lip, but watched on as Will rubbed Nicole’s back and comforted her. “It’s just one mouse. Aren’t you happy knowing that at least it didn’t die by neck-snapping?”
“Yeah, so it can die a slow and painful death by starvation,” Nicole retorted, looking out at the lake. “Lake Mouse…more like Lake Deadmouse.”
“Hey, you know, that has a much better ring to it!” Henry smiled. “Okay, I officially coronate this lake as Lake Deadmouse!”
Nicole laughed. “There, does that make you feel better?” Will asked.
“Found one! Thank God, I thought she was going to smother me with kisses and try to take my pants off.” Mike and Jenn returned to the group, kicking an already dirtied soccer ball in front of them. “Now lets set the goals and pick the teams. I’m ready to start this thing.”
“I’m only playing if Mikey and I are on the same team,” Jenn told everyone. “And if I don’t play, that makes the numbers uneven.”
“If Jenn doesn’t play, I could sub in for her,” Lily offered. “I don’t mind playing…I just don’t want to be a burden to anyone. I guess if it’s uneven though, I would be helping if I played.”
“That settles it then. We can actually pick teams fairly instead of Jenn trying to control us. Again.” Amber shot a dirty look at the youngest of the group. “See those two tall trees over there? In between those should be a goal. And between that rock and the rightmost pole of the swing set should be a goal too. There will be three people on each team. Only the goalkeeper is allowed to touch the ball with his or her hands. I say Lily divides us into fair teams, so that there are no biased picks.”
Lily looked surprised that she was put on the spot so suddenly. “Um…should I do it now?”
“Well I don’t know about you, but I was under the impression that we were starting the game soon, so yeah.” Henry put his hands on his hips and put a foot on top of the now stationary soccer ball. Amber smacked him. “Ow!”
“I guess equal would be the best guy with two girls and then the worst two guys with the best girl. Does anyone else play soccer for their school?”
“I did this year. Unfortunately our team didn’t do just as well as Henry’s did.” Nicole smiled. “I was MVP though. Had the best stats of all of ‘em, and I was midfielder, which is kind of like the all-around position in soccer.”
Lily nodded. “That would make it Nicole, Mike and Will on one team and Henry, Amber and Jenn on another team. Oh wait, all of a sudden this doesn’t seem like a very good idea…how about we switch Jenn and Nicole. The sides may not be exactly even, but, well, we don’t want Jenn clawing anyone’s eyes out yet.”
Jenn skipped over and clung to Mike once again. “Thank you Lily. Maybe you’re not so bad, I guess.”
“Well we have to eat lunch eventually, so how about the first team to two goals wins. And then if we want to play another game after we eat with an actual time limit, then we can.” Amber began heading to one side of the field. “Henry and Nicole, we have some strategizing to do.”
“I guess we should put Nicole in the front, since she was an offensive player. Henry, would you take the honor of goalie?”
Henry gave Amber an intense glare and growled.
“Well then, I shall be taking the honor of goalie. Make sure you two pass to each other and stuff. And score those goals fast, since I’m really hungry.”
The three of them could see Will set up as goalie on the other side of the field, and Jenn latch on to Mike’s hand as they walked up to the middle of the field.
“First to two goals wins then. Since Henry’s team seems to have more skill, I guess we’ll let Jenn and Mike start out with the ball.” Lily held up her hand as Mike dribbled the ball back to his side.
“I’m going to pass it to you, and then you can pass it back to me, okay Jenn? Do you understand the plan?” Mike played with the ball at his feet.
“We’d better beat the sl**ty pants off of Amber, do you hear me? She is not going to beat me at a stupid game of soccer.”
“Begin!” Lily shouted.
Mike passed to Jenn as he said he would, but instead of adeptly receiving the ball and kicking it back, Jenn fumbled over it, tumbling to the ground and letting Nicole snake her way in and pry the ball from Jenn’s persistent feet. “Go down!” she commanded, dribbling down the field toward the practically defenseless Will.
When Henry was not but five feet away from the goal, Nicole passed the ball to him. Using the forward momentum already put on it, Henry spiked it past Will’s feat and soaring through the trees.
“YES! GOAL NUMBER ONE FOR MY TEAMMMMMMM!” Henry jumped onto a hilly part of the grass and let out a howl, braying with his throat as well as taking a wolf-like posture in his arms and standing.
“Competitive?” Will asked jokingly.
“Very much so,” Henry answered with a very violent tint in his eyes. “Have fun getting scored on again.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to let her win? I swear to God I told you not to let her win. You are the worst boyfriend in the world.” Jenn walked over to Mike and hit him in the arm as the field was reset for the next play.
“I’m sorry, but you were the one who tripped over the ball,” Mike recalled.
“Yeah, and whose pass was it that made me trip again? If I remember correctly, it was yours. So you’d better pass it better to me, or, better yet, I’ll pass it to you. I’m not fighting about this anymore, I’m just not. Just let me pass you the ball, and maybe you can do something right for once.” Jenn sighed and waited for Lily’s commencement signal.
“Begin!” she screamed again, and Jenn kicked the ball a few feet away from Mike.
“Go get it, moron!” she screamed after him.
The athlete did manage to recover it before Henry could reach it, and was soon squared off against his opponent. Henry faked him out a couple of times, and Mike found himself cornered. “Jenn, here, take it!” He lobbed a pass over her way.
This time she did fairly okay with it, and managed to get it relatively close to Amber before attempting to shoot and missing by a considerable margin. Amber ran after it, scooping it up and dishing it out to Nicole.
“Wait a second! You are so not allowed to use your hands in soccer. I know you aren’t, other wise I would just pick it up and throw it at Mike!” Jenn ran over to Nicole and tried to get her to stop.
“Goalies can pick it up, Jenn. That’s the point of being a goalie,” Mike informed her.
“Oh,” Jenn said, and stopped to let Nicole pass her and move down the field.
“No! No, keep defending her! That way she can’t score on us!” Mike ran down the field to try and intercept Henry, even though he knew that it was basically too late for him.
“Oh no! No, they can’t score!” Jenn sprinted after Nicole, attempting to gain on her as much as she possibly could. Surprisingly enough, as Nicole closed in on the goal, Jenn was close to knocking her down. Nicole reared back to kick the ball into the goal, but Jenn managed to distract her, screaming, “AUGH!” before the kick even found its way off the ground.
Will deflected it easily, but it landed in the feet of Henry, who looped around and prepared to shoot it once more.
“Mike, you are the worst boyfriend. Ever.”
Henry’s ball went straight through Will’s legs, and he leapt up into the air, punching upwards of his head. “THAT IS GOAL NUMBER TWO AND THAT IS A WRAP!” he screamed, landing on the ground.
“Lunchtime then,” Amber concluded, walking from her post at the goal. “Sorry you couldn’t beat the sl**ty pants off of me, Jenn,” she apologized, smiling.
“Well then maybe you’ll pull them off tonight. Voluntarily. For Will.” Jenn was practically breathing down Amber’s next.
They were silent for a second, and Jenn, smiling as if she had won the argument, was about to back away when Amber stepped backwards. Jenn’s face crumpled into a manifestation of pain. “Owww.”
“See you later, Jenn,” Amber whispered. |
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