I only own Sarah. This is part one! Enjoy


Today wasn't a good day for Amanda Faith. That morning she woke up late, barely had time to grab her lunch and almost missed the bus. Then during recess, she was pushed into a huge puddle of mud and lost her bow. Now she was just arriving home with Chris of all people by her side. She wasn't in the mood.

The car door slammed behind her and she heard it resounded by Chris stepping out as she ran up and into her home. "Hey 'manda." She heard her oldest brother Zach smile to her when she shoved past him violently and treaded up the stairs. Usually she'd never be rude to anyone like that, but, hey. Friday the 13th was never the best of days for her.

In her room at last, she stripped her clothes and changed into something nice and warm and cozy. That immediately put her at ease. With a brush in hand, she undid her pigtails and brushed her hair out until it was silky. She didn't even bother trying to get her hair back up. Once she got her bearings and was more or less herself, she headed down stairs to face another dinner with the jerk known as Christian.

So far, she's had three dinners with him all thanks to her dad. I mean, she loved her daddy and all, but he was an idiot and a sadist for doing that to her. He of all people should know what it's like.

"Hey Piggy, where'd you run off to?" Chris sneered at her once she entered the living room and immediately Amanda's hands balled into fists.

Despite it all, she managed to smile at him and said, "Just cleaning up."

"Such an impossible task for you, isn't it?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Phil snapped and Amanda Faith just knew Chris was about to get an earful. So naturally, she plopped down on the couch to get the best seat. "That's my sister you're talking to! I may not like her very much, and what you're saying may be a little true, but that doesn't mean I'll stand for it! Don't mess with my family, got it runt?"

Phillip plopped down on the floor and turned to watch TV. He was nearly out of breath from that rant. Huh. He seems to be getting out of shape. Might as well make up for it now. "AND ANOTHER THING!" The dark haired Shortman jumped up and glared at the intruder, er, guest. "What the heck is with this channel? Zach, the idiot, gave you the remote to pull an Amanda and be nice, but I guess he made a mistake because what you chose sucks. Like you. 'Cuz you suck." A sound intruded his speech then and he turned to the TV set with eyes as big as saucers. "Oooo! Casablanca!"

He scuttled to in front of the set and out of no where pulled out a stuffed elephant and hugged it to his chest. His legs were pulled to him and he squealed. Yeah that's right. The great Phillip Robert Craig Shortman squealed over an old romance movie.

As can be expected, Zachary "Brow" Shortman had pulled out his iPod touch and was snapping picture after picture of blackmail. Not that Phil noticed, of course. I mean, Casablanca was on! C'mon!

"So…." Chris managed weakly. I mean, after that explosion how else could the 8 year old respond?

"So." Amanda's reply was curt. She did not want to talk to him. She didn't even want to be in the same hemisphere as him.

"Well, Piggy—"

"Stop calling me that." With her arms crossed and glare set, the older generation would have seen a mini-Helga and would've had a heart attack. But this generation was used to it and Chris opened his mouth to argue.

"Supper!" Helga pounced into the room and looked at everyone sort of shocked. Her daughter and the guest were nearly head to head, her spazzoid son was sitting in front of the TV like a mental patient, and her oldest was upside down on the arm chair texting. Ham, bless his soul, was up stairs. "Um…"

"Coming!" Everyone snapped. Helga blinked. And then blinked again.

With a set face, she said, "No. Now." With a swivel, she turned back into the kitchen to grab the plates. "And help me set up now, too!"

It took a minute to get everyone rolling, especially Phil. Poor kid was so attached to the TV, it was sad. But finally, every one was seated. "So—" Helga started to say when the phone started ringing.

An annoyed look crossed her face as she got up from her seat and went to get the phone. A moment later, the blonde strode into the room and chucked the phone at Phil. It hit him right in the forehead and almost landed in his mashed potatoes. Grumbling, he glared at his mother who just smiled at him politely and then took her seat.

"Hello?" He sighed into the phone and then almost immediately brightened. "Sarah!" Apparently, the female had said something that made Phillip slump against the seat for a moment and grumble, "I don't know… Somebody." He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, alright, whatever. But I'm going to have to call you back. I'm eating." Pause. "Yeah, yeah. You're sorry. I get it. Bye." Pause. "Bye." Smile. "Goodbye, Sarah. Yeah, love ya too." With a final twirl of the eyes, Phil went to put the phone away.

"I'm going to assume that was Sarah." Zach said somberly, and to his credit, he didn't laugh at all. Phil reentered the room and shot Zach a 'spare me' look.

"Was… that you're girlfriend?" Chris asked hesitantly. If that psycho actually had somebody then, maybe he wasn't as horrible as he seemed to be. Unless if she was like him, too. Then there'd be a problem. But instead of either accepting it or denying it, Phil's face scrunched up like he swallowed something sour, and then he made a disgusted sound.

Phil threw his fork on to his plate with a clang and he jumped up so fast that his chair fell. "What! That is insanely disgusting! Girls are horrible, evil, mindless creatures who are of no use to humanity! Except to enslave men and produce eating/crying/pooping machines. I. Hate. Girls." With that last growl, the short Shortman leaned and picked up his chair. Once that action was done, he quickly and quietly sat back down and shoveled food into his mouth.

Everyone was quiet for a minute; they were all used to his actions for the most part. But suddenly, an 8 year old voice broke the silence.

"So, you're gay then?"