Chapter 1
Carlos was already seated at the kitchen table, with a big grin on his face. He was rocking back and fourth with excitement. Logan brought his book they had been assigned to read, and sat down next to him. Carlos' rocking back and fourth was making the table shake. "Carlos, would you calm down? I'm trying to read my book," Logan complained.
"Book, smook! It's Fish Stick Friday, and that's all that matters!" Carlos argued. Logan rolled his eyes, and tried to focus on the book. Carlos looked toward the oven, and squinted trying to see how much time was left. Mrs. Knight, who was squeezing chocolate syrup into the glasses of milk, noticed his squinting.
"Five minutes." She said.
"Ugh!" Carlos exclaimed, and he slammed his fist on the table.
"Hey, if I could make them cook faster I would! Would you text Kendall and James or something and tell them to get up here?"
Logan's head popped up from his book, and said, "Oh, that won't do any good. They've been trying to get the attention of the new girl all day. It's quite entertaining, to be honest."
"What's her name?"
"Alicia. She's supposedly a singer or something. I honestly don't get the big deal…" Logan wondered. Carlos stopped jerking back and fourth.
"Have you seen her? I mean…her eyes are like…like…" Carlos eyed the chocolate milk, "like chocolate! And that hair! It's so…so…fluffy! I wonder if it's as soft as it looks…"
"Why don't you go touch it? That'll impress her." Logan joked.
"Like I said. It's Fish stick Friday, and nothing can tear me away from this table until I get my fish sticks!"
"Three minutes." Mrs. Knight said. She was dividing the tater tots into six even portions, when the door suddenly burst open.
"I mean, let's be honest here, Kendall! Unless she's legally blind, she's gonna pick me over you!" James looked like he had just run a marathon. Kendall's looked as red as a tomato. Carlos and Logan just watched, awaiting a fight or something interesting to happen. Mrs. Knight was picking up the tater tots that the sudden slam of the door made her drop.
"But, I did more push-ups than you!" Kendall said, looking smug.
"Sweating buckets isn't impressive, Kendall." James laughed.
"At least I didn't stop half-way through to fix my hair!" Kendall yelled.
"My hair looks good. Yours is a mess. Messy hair is also not impressive."
"You know what else isn't impressive? Your…"
"HEY! ENOUGH!" Mrs. Knight yelled.
James and Kendall sat down at the same time, making a loud thud noise. They just stared at each other from across the table. It must have been the fish stick fumes that calmed them down, Mrs. Knight thought.
Katie had snuck out of her room to get in on the fun. She sat in the chair next to Carlos. "What'd I miss?" She whispered to Carlos.
"Well apparently they had a contest to see who was the strongest by doing
push-ups…" Carlos explained.
"Is that why they look like death?" giggled Katie.
Katie thought this drama was almost better than when Kendall and Jo were having issues a few months ago. Jett had finally won over Jo, and Jo broke up with Kendall about two weeks ago. Katie was surprised he had bounced back so quickly.
The buzzer on the timer went off. The thought of fish sticks made Kendall and James relax even more. Mrs. Knight finished putting all the plates together to ensure the yelling wouldn't start again. She passed them out to the boys, and they quickly began chowing down. For about two minutes it was quiet except for the sound of chewing and Carlos' occasionally "mmmm's". Katie decided to break the silence, "So. How was everyone's day?" She said sweetly, trying to avoid the yelling as well.
"Great." "Fine." Kendall and James said at the same time. They were doing the freaky staring thing again.
"You know what James?" Kendall said. Everyone braced themselves. James and Kendall had both eaten all their food already. Carlos was eating slowly, savoring ever bite. Logan was quietly eating. "She's not that great. You can have her."
"Really?" James' eyes lit up. Kendall shook his head. "Thanks Kendall. You finally see what your up against."
"Sure. Oh, hey look! I'm finished! So I'm just gonna…" Kendall was running towards the door. Everyone looked at James, who looking at his reflection in a spoon. Obviously, he didn't realize what Kendall had just done.
"Wait a second…" Now James was out the door, too. " You get back here Kendall! You hear me? She is mine!"
