"Oh good, you're both here." Aunt Prue said.
"What's up?" Aunt Piper asked her.
"Okay, well, I have good news. Andy got a promotion." she told them a little excitedly.
"Honey, that's great" mom said.
"Yea it is, and his boss is letting us use his condo next week as congratulations. So can you guys watch the kids while we're gone?" she asked.
"Uh, yea that sounds fine to me. What about you Pheebs?" Aunt Piper said.
"Oh no. I was supposed to ask you guys to watch our kids the week after next, because Cole is taking me to Paris for our anniversary. Umm, it's okay I'll see if we can go the week after." She said.
"No, you guys shouldn't reschedule your trip. Andy and I don't have to go." Aunt Prue told her.
"No, you should both go." Aunt Piper said. "Prue, I'm not letting you skip celebrating Andy's promotion. He's been working toward it for two years. And Phoebe I'm not letting you reschedule your anniversary in Paris either." Aunt Piper told them.
"Piper we both can't go and leave you with all fifteen kids. Especially not when Leo is in Australia with another charge." Mom said to her.
"Don't worry about me. The older kids can help out. You're both going and I don't want to hear another word about it." Aunt Piper said.
"Are you sure?" Aunt Prue asked her.
"Of course I'm sure, everything will be fine." Aunt Piper replied. At dinner that night Mom and Aunt Prue explained to us what was going on the week after next.
"That means I expect all of you to be on your best behavior, and if any of you give your Aunt Piper a hard time while we're gone you'll be grounded so long you'll forget what the mall looks like. I mean it." Mom said.
"Catie, Tommy, the same goes for you." Aunt Prue added. So, we all promised not to cause any trouble while they were gone. The next week and a half was a little hectic with Mom, Dad, Aunt Prue, and Uncle Andy all getting ready for their trips.
On Sunday I was helping Mom with some last minute packing because their plane was leaving at 6 o' clock. Aunt Prue and Uncle Andy had already left at 10 that morning.
"Hey, Mom." I said.
"Yea?" she said as she walked in from the other room.
"Okay, I know I'm supposed to stay home and help Aunt Piper this week but…"
"Maggie!" mom interrupted me, having already anticipated my protest at having to give up my plans for the week. "I'm not having this argument with you again. You can put your plans aside for one week to help out here at home while we're out of town." she said sternly.
"I know, I know." I sighed. "But mom, the house is gonna be crazy with you and dad, and Aunt Prue and Uncle Andy all gone at the same time." I blurted out, despite the fact that I knew mom would really mad that I was continuing to argue with her.
"Maggie! That is exactly my point! The house is going to be crazy. That's why we need you to help while we're gone. It's only one week. I mean it, do not argue with me anymore!" she said getting extremely pissed at this point, so I finally stopped arguing.
"Phoebe" Dad called up the stairs.
"Yea?" she answered.
"It's 5:15, we have to leave for the airport in 20 minutes." He said.
"Don't worry, I'm almost ready. I'll be down in a sec." she said.
Twenty minutes later they were heading out the door. Mom had already hugged everyone in the house and she was about to do it again. Then Dad said "Come on Phoebe, we have a flight to catch" he reminded her.
"Okay let's go." She said. As she was going out the door she called "Bye. I love you. Be good. Don't get into any trouble."
The next day, Monday, I was sitting in History when I heard someone whispering my name. "Pssst Maggie," I looked around to see who was calling me. It was my friend Maria. Once she caught my attention, she passed me a note. It said; 'Me and Clara r ditching at lunch. r u in?'
I had to think about it for a minute. I knew if I got caught I would be dead when mom and dad found out, so obviously the only choice, other than not going, was not getting caught. I thought for a few more seconds, and then wrote;'Yea' I'm in, then passed it back to her. I met them in the hallway at lunch. Once I got there, we all left.
When we were out of the school I asked "so, what are we doing anyway?"
"Nothing in particular, we just thought it would be fun to ditch and go to the mall." Maria said,
"And you must have thought so too because you showed up." She continued with a smile.
"Yea I guess ditching did seem fun." I said.
We were sitting in the food court of the mall talking when Maria stopped and said in a panicked voice "Maggie, isn't that your aunt?" I just froze. I didn't want to turn around in case it was her, so I just sunk down in my seat a little.
Clara turned around, then said, "Uh oh. It's your Aunt Piper, we better get out of here before she sees us." We ducked down and crawled under a table. We waited for about10 minutes, and then Maria looked out from under the table but didn't see Aunt Piper anywhere.
"Okay, I think the coast is clear." She said, so we got up out from under the table. When I turned around I saw Aunt Piper at one of the food stands, but what was worse is she saw me. When she saw me she looked shocked, but her expression quickly changed to anger.