It was a nice, cool autumn day in the middle of October. Gunther was running behind me as I was skateboarding down the street towards the new skate park they just made. I was having fun doing awesome flips and grinding my board on random objects like mailboxes and rails. I was skateboarding down a ramp at an old house when I stopped. "Hey Gunther I've never seen this house before" I said turning to him and seeing him finally catch up to me.
"Neither have I Kick but it looks kinda scary...maybe we shouldn't go in there" he said huffing and puffing trying to catch his breath.
"I don't know Gunther it looks really cool! Let's go inside!"
"Go inside that's specifically what I said not to do! Bad things happen to people that go inside creepy old houses like that!"
"Oh nonsense those are just stupid stories told to scare you. Old houses aren't scary!"
"Well what if it's haunted?" he whined a little.
"I'm a daredevil I'm not afraid of anything. Let's go" I said leading him into the house. I could still hear his protests but I decided to ignore them. We walked into some big room that had a dusty chandelier and some old pieces of furniture. It was very dark and you could barely see right in front of your face. "We have to be careful since it's really dark in here...maybe we should've brought a flashlight" I said to him but he only nodded. I could tell he was frightened and I knew that the didn't like this kind of thing but since he was my best friend he went anyway. I led him farther into the house and noticed a tiny light coming from the room. I couldn't see who or what was holding the light but I could tell that whatever it was, it was taller than me. I inched closer to it trying to see what it was. Eventually got close enough to be able to see it but it shined the light in my eyes so I was almost blinded.
"Clarence? What are you doing here?" I heard a familiar voice ask.
"I was exploring this old house Kendall. What are you doing here?" I said narrowing my eyes at her.
"I live here!"
"What? Then why haven't I seen it before and why are the lights off? And why is it all dusty and creepy too?" I questioned.
"I don't know why you've never seen it before you pass it all the time. As for why the lights are off we lost power and I heard a noise coming from in there so I grabbed this flashlight to see who it was. It's dusty and creepy because the maid hasn't come this week yet" she said glaring at me "And you do realize that you entered my house without permission so I ask you to leave. Now!"
"I don't wanna be in your house anyway. I thought it was a haunted house that's why I came in here in the first place. Now that I know that it's your house it's just plain stupid" I turned on my heels but I noticed that Gunther wasn't standing behind me anymore. I turned back to Kendall and asked her "Have you seen Gunther? He was here when I came in."
"He wasn't with you when I saw you" she replied simply.
"Is your house haunted?" I asked her.
"Um...no why would it be?" she asked in her tone of superiority.
"Gunther! Gunther are you there?" I screamed walking back to where we had walked in. Much to my dismay he wasn't there and I didn't hear any answer. I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me something bad was going on and to leave but since I was a daredevil I ignored it. I walked back to where Kendall was standing and said "Either he disappeared or he left."
"Then why don't you try calling him?" she suggested clearly agitated that I was in the same building as she was. I picked up my phone and dialed his number it rang three times before someone picked up. Instead of it being Gunther however an evil voice spoke "Hello Clarence Buttowski. If you are looking for your friend he's here but you won't be able to find him. I've taken him. Oh and I'd better watch myself and protect that beautiful blonde Kendall Perkins..." I opened my mouth to protest protecting her when he continued talking "I know you don't like each other but you guys are all that you have and I'd watch my step especially since you can't get out of the house. AHAHAHAHAHA!" Then the line went dead. My eyes were widened I didn't want to say that I was scared so I was happy it was dark so she couldn't really see my face clearly.
"I think your house is haunted" I said simply. She just glared at me.
"It's not my fault that your stupid friend got himself kidnapped but some crazy person!" she screamed at me. I could hear the fear in her voice though as she pretended she was fine. There was a giant crash making both of us jump and she grabbed onto my arm. We both looked around trying to figure out the direction it came from and realized that it came from directly above us. We both looked at each other and realized that we were still holding onto each other. We jumped apart complaining about the other touching us. We were cut off my something falling through the floor. We saw that it was a skeleton and before I had time to think she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of the room and up a staircase. I turned around and saw the skeleton following us so we started running. I saw Kendall disappear and then I felt someone drag me into a room. I looked up to see that it was her.
"Where the heck are we?" I asked looking around the room seeing a bunch of girly things like posters of random pop-stars but then also seeing a ton of books and then even a soccer ball. "I didn't know you played soccer" I stated looking at a picture of her in a soccer uniform.
"You don't know a lot of things about me Clarence" she sneered. "Now hush while I think up a way to get rid of that thing" she said putting a finger up to my lips."
"Why do you get to come up with the plan?" I asked removing her hand from my mouth while glaring at her angrily.
"Because I'm the smart one and you're the reckless moron remember" she said with impatience. I gave her an incredulous look when she insinuated that I was stupid. I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Oh really you're the smart one? Ha more like the teacher's pet that only gets good grades because you kiss butt" I said my voice rising slightly.
"Oh yea and you're such a genius" she said rolling her eyes at me.
"I never said that but I'm surely not as stupid as you think I am."
"Yea keep telling yourself. If you were smart than you would land yourself in the hospital as many times as you have. How many times has it been this month...what 7 times?"
"Um...yea your point? And why do you know the exact number of times that I've been in the hospital? Are you stalking me?" I asked a little annoyed.
"Eww why would I want to stalk you? You're stupid, careless, reckless, moronic, arrogant, cocky, and obnoxious. Plus you're a stunt-crazed idiot."
"Oh and you're the most perfect person on the entire planet. I forgot about that..." I was going to continue my argument but there was a huge bang and the door fell down. I heard Kendall scream and I turned to see what was there. It was the skeleton again except this time he had a friend. A flesh-eating zombie. I started to run for the other door leaving her there because I still remembered our argument and felt that if she was so smart she'd find a way out herself but hearing her scream I grabbed her and carried her bridal style out of the room since it seemed like her legs didn't want to work. I threw down my skateboard and skated around her house until I found a small closet. I sat down let out a huge sigh of relief that we were safe.
"I thought for a minute there that you were going to leave me for those monsters" she said quietly. I looked up at her and she had an unreadable expression on her face.
"For a minute there so did I" I replied simply. She looked at me like I was the most horrible person.
"I can't believe that you'd be that heartless" she hissed at me. "And what are we supposed to do now that we're stuck in this closet?" she glared.
"Well you're smart figure something out Ms. Perfect" I glared back. It was dark but I could see the hatred in her eyes.
"I'm not...Clarence I don't think that it's a good idea for us to start fighting. If we both want to survive this we need to keep level heads and we need to work together." I just nodded at her since I knew she was right despite the fact that I hated to admit that she was. I was staring at her waiting for a plan since I couldn't figure out anything; just another thing she was right about. She was looking around trying to figure out where we were when she smiled. She grabbed a box from above and started pulling things out. They looked like brushes and stuff and I was curious about her plan until I realized what it had to deal with...makeup.
"Oh no. No no no no!" But I couldn't protest for long since she started to put it on my face. She grabbed her cell phone once she was done and a mirror and let me look. I saw that she made me look like a zombie. So this was her plan. To make us look like the enemy. I looked over at her but she was already on her way giving herself a monster makeover. She finished a little while later and I handed her the mirror so she could look at herself. "You know you did a good job" I said surprised at myself that I actually complimented her. She smiled her thanks and pulled me up as we exited the closet together. As we walked out we saw the zombie standing near us. He turned and looked at us ready to attack but relaxed when he saw that we were 'just like him.'
We started to walk up the stairs to see if Gunther was on a higher level when there was another giant crash. We turned in the direction where the crash was to the skeleton standing there holding a giant ax. We looked to see what had happened to realize that he had broke the chandelier that was in the room we were all in. He grinned evilly at us and then spoke "I know you are Kick and Kendall. You aren't fooling me with that guise. Come let me chop you up it'll be fun." His voice was eerie and sounded close to nails on a chalk board. Kendall was frozen in fear and I sighed because she said she was the one with the plan. I rolled my eyes at her and grabbed her arm yet again pulling her up the stairs. I didn't want to look back since I knew that he was still behind us. I ran down a hallway but realized that it was a dead end.
"Why the heck would you have an empty floor?" I screamed at Kendall but all she did was stare at me in horror.
"Get away from me you monster!" she screeched at me breaking our grip and trying to run only to see the skeleton. She screamed again and I sighed I looked around and saw a towel which I used to wipe off my face. When she turned around she saw that I was there and ran behind me to hide. "Kick what do we do?" she asked. I had never seen her so scared in my life. I was scared but I was a guy I had to pretend to be calm. I looked the skeleton in the eyes as if challenging him. He took the challenge and grabbed me in one hand and Kendall in the other. He walked us over to the wall next to us and suddenly a door magically appeared and he threw us in. I looked around and realized that we were in a room that looked exactly like my room.
I turned to Kendall and asked "Why do you have a magical room that looks exactly my room?"
"I can answer that" a voice said from the shadows. I suddenly recognized the voice; it was the voice from the phone call. "She has this room because I made it. This whole floor is fake you are just being fooled and you will never be able to get out." I looked over at Kendall and she looked like she wanted to say something but was fighting with herself over whether it was appropriate.
Finally she spoke "Kick...I want you to know...I don't actually hate you" my eyes widened at her confession but she continued "You're actually a good friend of mine even though we fight all the time. I didn't think it would end this way I thought you'd kill the both of us doing some crazy stunt not by some creepy monster." I stared at her in shock but I knew I had to say something in response.
"Kendall...I...I didn't know..." I said in awe but somehow I wasn't upset about it.
"OK we get it you both don't hate each other now shut up so I can kill the both of you" the voice from the phone call said. He stepped into the light and we saw the most hideous creature ever. It had green goo dripping everywhere as well as a misshapen head that looked roughly like and anvil. His arms were different sizes one being long and skinny and the other being short and stumpy. His legs were pure muscle and looked like he had metal infused in them. He had long nails on his hands and feet as well as razor sharp fangs that were dripping in what appeared to be blood. His eyes were blood red and beady. He had no nose but slits where it should have been as well as giant antennas shooting off his head that I assumed were how he heard things. Without even thinking I grabbed Kendall's hand and I could feel her shaking. I braced myself for whatever he was going to do as I saw him inching closer. I closed my eyes waiting for his worst but I didn't feel anything and instead heard another crash. I cautiously opened my eyes and the monster was on the ground and someone standing on top of him. That person was...
"GUNTHER!" I screamed in excitement because he was alright "What happened?"
"Well he had me tied up but I used my yodeling skills to break free. Turns out that monsters don't like yodeling" he smiled but then he smile turned into shock and confusion. "Oh no! NO no no no no!" he screamed "You guys are holding hands! That can only mean one thing!" I stopped and looked down finally processing the fact that I was holding her hand and Kendall looked at me.
"You can let go now Clarence" she said and I realized she was normal again. I slowly removed my hand and narrowed my eyes.
"Like I ever want to hold your hand Kendall" I said imitating her exact tone. We glared at each other but before we could even start our argument we found out that we had other troubles to deal with. The monster woke up and he wanted to do more damage. He ran at Gunther but Gunther wasn't afraid he stood there ready and when the monster was close enough he started to yodel. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen; a giant terrifying monster cowering in fear while shriveling up while my best friend yodeled at him. Pretty soon the monster just disappeared into dust. "Wow Gunther you were right!" I said in surprise. "Now how do we get out of here?" We all looked around but the lights started to turn on again and we realized that we were back downstairs in Kendall's living room.
"Oh Kendall! That's so wonderful you invited friends over!" we heard a lady saying walking in. "Why hello I'm Mrs. Perkins Kendall's mom and you must be...Clarence and...Gunther?" she said looking at the two of us. "She talks about you all the time Kick" Mrs. Perkins smiled. I looked over at Kendall but she had her back facing me so I couldn't tell what her facial expression was. "You guys are going to stay for dinner right?" her mom asked Gunther and I.
"I can't stay my parents would be very angry but Kick can definitely stay" Gunther said in a hurry smiling.
"Oh OK well it was nice to meet you Gunther and it's nice that you can stay Kick just make sure you call your parents and tell them alright" said Mrs. Perkins walking away leaving Kendall and I standing there.
I picked up my phone and dialed my house. "Hello...Mom?...yea it's me...I'm at Kendall's house...yes Mom...I got invited to stay for dinner...OK I love you too Mom...I'll see you later...OK bye." I hung up the phone and looked up to see Kendall staring at me with an unreadable expression. "So what should we do?" I asked her.
"Just so you know I don't actually want you here" she said turning to face me "I'm just not throwing you out since my mom wants you here."
"You act like I wanna be here" I hissed at her noticing her Mom walking back in the room.
"Why don't you too go upstairs to Kendall's room and do something up there?" Mrs. Perkins said ushering the two of us out of the room. Kendall and I walked back up the stairs to her room and when I looked in it, it was as if nothing had ever happened. I turned and looked at her but she was clearly just unhappy that I was there and to be honest I didn't want to be there anyway. How did I get dragged into staying at Kendall Perkins' house of all places? She turned and looked at me ready to say something but was cut off by a inhuman screech. We both looked up at the ceiling and realized that a harpy was sitting on her light fixture. She immediately dived towards us and Kendall and I barely got away before getting crushed. I looked at the harpy and saw that she had massive talons that could easily break our bones. I looked around trying to find a way out. I spotted the light fixture and grabbed Kendall. I jumped up swung on the light fixture and then got us out of the room. Kendall slammed her door closed and we both fell down against it in hopes to keep it closed.
"So how is it that your parents don't even realize that we could probably get killed?" I asked Kendall but she just frowned at me. I hinted something that was deeper than her parents being ignorant to what was happening but I wasn't sure what. Before I could ponder more there was another crash as the harpy slammed a hole in the door. We both got up and ran for it.
"Come back here my pretty Kendall. You will be put out of your misery just as soon as you let me catch you" the harpy said maniacally "Come on Kick you know you wanna just hand her over. You don't even like her. Plus it can save your life if you just let her go." I stopped and thought about it for a second but when I saw the pleading look on Kendall's face not to and I considered all we had already been through during the day. I sighed. As much as I hated Kendall she didn't deserve to die because of some crazy harpy. I tried to think of a way to get rid of the harpy. Before I could think of an idea the harpy lunged for Kendall but I got to her first by pushing her out of the way. The harpy was angry and instead of letting me go to pursue Kendall she took me and flew off to the next floor. She threw me down on the ground and went to claw me. I quickly jumped out of the way just in time as she hit the ground.
I prepared myself for what was coming knowing that this would probably be my end. I had never been a really religious person but at that moment I said a prayer so that I could survive. I saw the harpy flying at me when I opened my eyes. It was a foot in front of me before it fell to the ground. I looked around confused until I saw Kendall standing there and a makeshift spear in the harpy. My eyes widened at the realization that she had come back to save me. "After you sacrificed yourself like that did you really expect me to let you go?" she asked smiling slightly. I silently thanked heaven for answering me as I ran up to her and hugged her for the first time in my life.
"Thanks Kendall" I smiled back at her. We heard a shuffle to see the harpy trying to move before it jumped up ready to go with a vengeance.
"No! That's the one thing I can't stand!" the harpy screamed "Love! You Kick are supposed to emotionless! Stop this madness!" The harpy lunged for us. I looked at Kendall but she was just staring in shock. I suddenly had an idea, a completely crazy and maddening idea but I just hoped that it would work. I grabbed Kendall and I kissed her. I put everything I had into that kiss. I put every single good memory of Kendall and I into it. At first she was stiff, caught off guard but pretty soon she was kissing back with passion I didn't know was possible from her. I didn't know she was capable of feeling like this and I realized that it wasn't that bad kissing her. It was actually a little enjoyable. When I pulled away I smiled at her but the moment was killed by a horrifying screech from the harpy. She was turning into vapor before our eyes.
"I hope all this madness is over" Kendall said exactly what I was thinking and I nodded in agreement. The two of us walked downstairs back to her room and realized that everything again was unscathed. I looked at her in confusion and she gave me a similar look. We sat on her bed but she had a really sad expression.
"Clarence, Kendall it's time for dinner!" Mrs. Perkins called and we walked down to her dining room. We sat down at the table and were eating in quiet that was until Mr. Perkins spoke.
"You know Clarence it's nice to know that my daughter has friends. She normally doesn't have friends over. She's a really smart girl. I've heard some things about you from her" he said. I was genuinely afraid what he was going to say.
"Um...you did?" I asked trying to mask the fear in my voice. I was a daredevil after all fathers aren't supposed to scare me but somehow he did. I guess I felt that if he didn't like me he would pay someone to get rid of me and hide all of the evidence.
"Yes. She says you do...stunts...like riding down humongous hills and skateboarding down huge ramps." I nodded and he smiled at me. "Sounds like fun" and after that he turned back to his meal.
"Oh that sounds really dangerous!" her mother said with concern "Do you hurt yourself often?"
"Nah I'm pretty OK. The only time I really hurt myself is when someone messes up my stunt which doesn't happen...too...often" I looked at Kendall but she was looking at her mother.
"Oh well that's good!" she said turning back to her meal as well. When we were finished the maid came and took our dishes to clean up. "Clarence I think it's time for you to go home. And Kendall dear why don't you walk him home."
"Yes mother" Kendall replied leading me out. We walking in silence for a while until she asked "You want to know the real reason why I'm such a stuck-up know-it-all?" she asked tears glistening in her eyes. I couldn't speak but I nodded and she continued. "My parents are always out doing something since we're rich and daddy works all the time while mommy always goes to some important function. I barely ever see them. I feel like to make them love me I have to keep up this image of perfection. I get straight A's to show that I'm smart, I'm class president so I can show that I'm a good leader, and I constantly fight with you and act like I hate you because you're everything that I can't be" she looked away. "But the truth is I wish I could be like you Kick. You're carefree, happy, you live on the edge, able to take risks...awesome and I'm none of those things" she whispered the last part as her tears were a gentle stream.
"Kendall you proved to me on a few occasions that you were awesome" I said making her instantly look up at me. "You're an amazing dancer and you can pull off stunts too. Remember when our hands were stuck together? If Ronaldo didn't come in right then I would've told you that."
"But you hate me" she whispered hoarsely.
"I only hated you because you were everything I wasn't and you always hated me" I shrugged. To this she gave me a big hug.
"Thanks Kick. This means a lot" she pulled away and gave me a watery smile.
"Uh...so...do you wanna...you know..." I couldn't believe that I was asking her this "do you wanna go out with me?"
"Ye...yea I'd like that." I grabbed her hand and we walked down the street towards my house talking and laughing about our mini adventure. We passed Gunther's house and I noticed him smilingly slyly at us through his window before he closed the curtains. I shrugged it off making a mental note to talk to him later. I realized that Kendall and I had a lot more in common than I had ever realized and I was happy with my decision. She was smiling in a way that I had never seen her smile before and that made me happy.