Part 3: the bombshell detonates

The past few days had taken a quietly course.

The first day of summer vacations would start tomorrow and Lazlo was still bothered by his conscience...

Everyone sat at the kitchen table. While they were having breakfast, an awkward silence began to surround them.

Philip darted a glance at Lazlo who noticed it, but didn't look back.

He knew that it was suspicious, what made him even more nervous.

"RRRRING!" The doorbell suddenly rang. Lazlo jumped with fright. "I-I'll go!" He said, little short of shouting.

The three looked at each other. "That was... weird." Joana said with a confused expression on her face.

"Indeed." Mina agreed.

The door snapped shut again and he entered the kitchen. Mina and Joana stared at him as if he were an alien.

Lazlo felt caught. "Just some advertisement..." He said with low voice, embarrassed by his own behavior.

"Hey Ruby? Can I use your lappy again?" "Sure!" Ruby, a red-haired, green-blue-eyed, seventeen

year-old mongoose girl replied.

Patsy went into her cousins' bedroom and sat down on her bed with the laptop on her thighs.

"Damn!" She said to herself, he wasn't online. Patsy decided to write him a message.

Hey Lazlo :)

I just wanted to tell you that we won't visit you until Wednesday.

My cousins car is still under repair so...see you soon :)

She vented a sigh, put the laptop back to its usual place and left Ruby's bedroom.

It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the frightfully boredom drove her to watch TV.

She slumped on the brown sofa next to Gretchen who had a bag of chips in her left hand, the zapper in the right.

She was staring at the TV with her ordinary bored look.

It was silent for a few minutes. Only the background noises from the television and the crinkle of Gretchen's chips could be heard,

until Ruby came in.

"What's the use of this silence?" She wondered. "I like it." Nina, who was sitting in an armchair, reading one of her science-fiction books, replied.

The girl darted a blankly look at Nina. She sat down next to her cousin.

"So, did you write to your little buddy?" Ruby teased her. Patsy felt slightly fooled by her diction.

"Ya, but he wasn't online. I wrote him a message that I uhm...we will visit him on Wednesday." She answered with an undertone of tenseness.

"Have I already told you that your idea sucks?" Gretchen asked annoyed. "Can it!" Patsy hissed huffy. "She's not so wrong Patsy..", Nina interposed, "do you really think that's a good idea?"

"I can do what I want! Stay here if you don't like it!"

"Haha...sorry Patsy", Ruby interrupted their incipient tilt. "But I don't think uncle Joe would like to hear that coming from you."

"Uncle JOE? hahahahahaaa!" Gretchen blurted out. Nina also couldn't suppress a grin. "Yeah, but

he's not here right now, innit?!" Patsy said rudely, trying to ignore her friends' behavior.

"Just wanted to say that" her cousin replied, still a bit amused by Patsy's little meltdown.

In the meantime it was 2 am and Patsy was still broad awake. She had to think on what Nina and Ruby said.

It had always been one of her talents to build castles in the air.

And her father rejected all forms of contact with boys, even if it was nothing but a friendship.

Patsy remembered how he called Lazlo Casanova and she uttered a short chuckle.

But she also remembered how she had to lie to her him after he, or more precisely, she punished the

whole camp for... nothing.

Patsy didn't know what to make of all this.

She overruled her worries and turned over in her air mattress.

"No one can stop me this time." She thought with resolve.

The first day of summer vacations was born.

Mina waked up first. She wasn't very hungry, so she went into the living room to turn on the television.

The raccoon girl randomly noticed that the computer was still on and she decided to check her e-mails in place of watching TV.

When she moved the mouse, the first thing she saw was Dazebook. It was Lazlo's account.

But then a certain name caught her eyes...Patsy Smiles.

Without thinking she read the messaging history. And the further she read, the more her natural calmness vanished.

3...2...1: it was gone.

Mina abruptly stood up and tramped in the direction of Lazlo's room.

She tear opened the door and wrenched him his blanket. He awoke horrified.

"Mina! What the..." "Stand up!" She interrupted his muttering. The girl grabbed his wrist and trailed him behind her.

She stopped in front of the computer. Lazlo was frightened.

"WHO is this? And when were you planning on telling us about it?!" He gave a swallow. "I swear I wanted to tell you about it! But you gave me this look when I told you about Clam and Raj and when I found them and than I wrote with them and Patsy -..." He took a deep breathe, "...-added me and than I wrote with her and she wanted to pay me a visit with her friends and-" he took a second, but not so deep breathe, "she's

really just an old friend, there was an girl's camp across from my camp and I know her by this camp!"

Lazlo was out of breathe, hoping that Mina's reaction wouldn't be like the last one.

Philip and Joana were standing unnoticed in the door frame. They looked at each other for a while, than couldn't help laughing.

Maybe it was more likely because of the fact that Lazlo had gesticulated clothed with nothing but his boxer shorts.

Mina shortly looked behind and back to Lazlo. "Was that it?"She asked. "No!" He answered, still troubled.

She gave him a surprised look. "Clam and Raj will visit us tomorrow!...And stay here..."

"WHAT?!"

trouble trouble trouble xD

to be continued...