A/N all of you must hate me for not updating any of my stories :( I feel bad, my computer went crazy on me and stopped working, but it works now so Im back! Now onto the story!

Disclaimer:Don't own anything except for Stella and some of the little extra scenes and what not :)

Stella's thoughts

Chapter 4

About an hour after the whole Mama Ronzoni fiasco, I was on the verge of losing my mind - why, you may ask?

Well, for the past hour, I'd been staring out the window of the kids bedroom at the yard and lake in front of me,wanting nothing more than to go outside and enjoy the weekend the right way.

Problem was, I was - for some weird reason - too chicken to actually do it.

So, I stayed inside, and silently observed what the others were doing.

I started with Greg, Keith and Andre - yet again, they were shooting things and chopping people up with chainsaws.

I rolled my eyes, and moved on to Donna- she was sprawled out on the bed, watching High School Musical on a travel DVD player.

As for Charlie, she was watching the boys playing their game from the side with this zombie-ish sort of look on her face.

I looked out the window again, then down at the clothes I was wearing - a white racerback tank, a dark-blue plaid button-down, a beat-up pair of shorts, and a pair of equally beat-up navy-blue Chuck Taylor low-tops - clothes
practically made for running around outside.

I couldn't take it anymore. I wasn't about to sit around and waste my entire Fourth of July weekend inside.

So, I made my way towards the door.

Just before I left though, I turned to Charlie. "Hey Charlie, I'm heading outside. Wanna come with me?"

She shook her head, not really bothering to take her eyes off of the TV screen.

"I'll stay in here, Stella," she said flatly, then went back to
watching the boys play that stupid game.

Wow, some friend you are, Charlie.

I sighed, shook my head, and headed for the front porch. The moment I stepped through the front door, I was hit with a wave of fresh air; it smelled AWESOME, like maple trees and sunshine and earth. I LOVED IT.

All of a sudden, a wheezy, choky kind of cough that reminded me of a turkey snapped me out of my thoughts.

Alarmed, I looked around, trying to figure out where the coughing was coming from.

It seemed to be coming from where Lenny, Marcus, Rob, Kurt and Eric were sitting.

Oh god, PLEASE tell me it wasn't one of them making that noise.
When the coughing started again, I noted that none of them had doubled over in their lawn chairs.

I sighed in relief, thankful that it wasn't them.

I saw Marcus tilt his head to one side. "Lamansoff, what's up with your dog? It sounds like Steven Hawking or something..."

One of my eyebrows shot up. A DOG was making the turkey noise?

Curious, I ran down to the guys to see what was going on. Sure enough, there was a dog was sitting in front of them, coughing like a turkey in all its glory.

I shook my head; dogs didn't make sounds like that unless they were choking. Maybe it was choking on something. But then, how come the guys were just sitting there?

I looked at Eric with a bewildered look on my face. "Is your dog okay? What's he doing?"

"Oh, Curly's fine. He's just barking at whatever runs by," he shrugged
nonchalantly.

"Uh...is he supposed to sound like that when he barks?"

Eric nodded. "Unfortunately, yeah."

I shook my head. Weirdest barking I've ever heard...

"What happened to him?" I asked Eric.

"Curly had his vocal cords clipped," he explained. "Neighbor filed a
complaint, and it was either clip the cords or put Curly down."

Kurt looked at the dog, and snorted. "Wrong choice."

"Hey, he's part of the family, you know!"

Lenny chuckled. "Oh yeah, imagine when a burglar comes over - he must run in terror. Wow, what's that turkey doing in the house?"

I rolled my eyes.

Oish, real mature, guys.

While the guys segued into another conversation - one that I preferred NOT to join, thank you

I sat down next to Curly, and absent-mindedly ran my hand over his back as I stared at the lake in front of me.

It really was beautiful, the kind of beautiful that you'd find in a movie; the water was deep blue, and sunlight glimmered over it, making the water look like there was liquid glass floating on top of it.

The sky hanging over it was a couple shades lighter, and it was dotted with big fat clouds and flocks of birds soaring across them.

Days and places like these were what really made summer so great.

Really, they made it EXTREMELY hard for me to stay inside and do nothing.

Speaking of staying inside and doing nothing, I could hear Greg and Keith
shooting things from the bedroom.

From what I could gather, they were doing some sort of tag-team deathmatch.

They were doing a "good" job, too - the game had declared "CHAINSAW MASSACRE, FIFTY POINTS!" and made it sound like a good thing to get one of those.

The hand that wasn't petting Curly curled into a fist. Those boys really were insufferable.

Lenny must've thought so, too, as he commented, "Why are they still inside?

Why don't they come outside and enjoy the lake or the woods?"

Eric hummed in agreement. "There wasn't a time of day that we WEREN'T outside. We were NEVER inside." He turned slightly in his lawn chair to look at
me.

"I'll be honest, I'm a little surprised to see you out here, Stella."

I shrugged. "I don't like being inside that much. I like being able to run
around and get dirty," I half-smiled.

"Wait a sec, I thought you lived in Manhattan," Marcus frowned.

"So? Living in the city didn't stop me from going to Central Park everyday."

"You could teach my kids a lesson there, Stella." Lenny shook his head, and hoisted himself out of his chair. "I can't take this anymore! Stella, c'mon -you're coming with me."

Oh, this should be good.

We walked into the house, and headed for the kids' room.

When we were by the door, Lenny looked at me, and quietly told me that I was going to unplug the TV, and then he was gonna haul the boys out. After that, it was my job to get the girls out.

I grinned impishly. This was gonna be VERY good.

I slipped through the door, and stepped in front of the TV for a second.

Keith and Andre growled. "Dude, Stella, get outta the way! I can't see!" Andre snapped peevishly.

Cripe, the house could be on fire and you'd all still be focused on this dumb game.

I smiled sweetly at him, then continued walking towards the outlet the TV was plugged into. I then bent over, and grasped the plug in my hand tightly.

As soon as I did, Greg noticed, and glared dangerously at me. "Stella, don't you DARE."

I blinked, unfazed by the dark look on his face. "Haul butt outside Feder, and I won't unplug your precious TV."

Keith growled again, only louder this time. "You unplug the TV, and you're really gonna get it."

I ignored Keith's masked threat, and shook my head. "I'm not budging. I don't CARE if I piss you off, Keith - you're short, unimportant, and too attached to the stupid game. Now, outside before I kill the TV." Keith shook his head.

"See Greg? I TOLD you the chick was bad news, bro."

"Yeah man, she doesn't respect our needs, either," Andre added.

I glared at Andre, and subconsciously balled my hands up into fists. "Don't push it, buddy."

"Whatever Stella," Keith sighed impatiently. "Let go of the plug and get back in the kitchen."

Oh, HE DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!

That did it. Without hesitating, I yanked the plug out of the outlet, and shut the game and TV down.

"STELLA!" Keith shouted.

Greg looked like he was ready to kill me. "My high score!"

I smirked, and twirled the plug in my hand. "What can I say? You boys were being difficult."

Keith looked like he was ready to hit me, but luckily, Lenny came in and threw him and his older brother over his shoulders before he could.

"That's it! No more video games, no more cell phones, no more texting!" he declared as he marched outside with me following closely behind.

"Just from now on, while we're here, stay outside and play!" He then unceremoniously dropped Greg and Keith on the ground, and stooped over to catch his breath for a moment.

I know, Lenny. Your kids' egos way a TON.

Keith and Greg were looking at Lenny like he'd just gunned down a puppy.

"W-What are we supposed to do?" Greg whined.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh my god, do what normal people do and run around! DUH!"

Lenny was equally frustrated. "Just play like normal kids! C'mon, move it!"Lenny's eyes suddenly glimmered. "Hey, where's Becky?"

While he ran and the other two with kids ran off to grab the rest of the kids,

Greg stared at me coldly. "Wow, nice going Stella."

I snorted. "Hey Greg, do the words "BITE ME" mean anything to you?"

"Oh, shut up!"

Before I could counter with something snappy, Lenny, Eric and Kurt were crowding me, Greg and Keith together with the other kids, then shoving us towards the woods. As we were being cattle-prodded off to god-knows-where,

Charlie came up beside me with a nervous frown on her face. "What are we doing?" she whispered into my ear.

"Dunno, but I'm a little scared now."

We'd been walking for a grand total of five minutes when it started getting
hot out.

Not wanting to deal with the button-down anymore, I peeled it off, tied it around my waist, and wore the tank top.

Greg had done the same with his sweater, but he'd also taken to whining and complaining like a two-year old.

"My feet hurt!" he groused.

"Oh, suck it up, Princess! We've only been walking for five minutes!"

Greg shook his head. "We've only been walking for five minutes!" he said mockingly in a borderline-falsetto voice.

"Real mature, Greg."

"Real mature, Greg," he repeated in the high voice again.

Ooh, if he does that one more time, I'm gonna clock him.

Thankfully, Greg stopped, and we continued walking.

Even better, Kurt took my mind off of Greg and how dweeby he was acting by telling us about the stuff he and the others used to do when they were kids.

"Greg, when we were kids, your dad used to talk us into doing the craziest stuff." He chuckled. "I remember one time, we got shower curtains, tied 'em to shopping carts and went shopping cart sailing."

"Wait, how did you guys steer?" Andre asked in confusion.

"We didn't," Eric answered with a grin.

My eyebrows furrowed. "Alright, so then how did you stop?"

"You just smashed into something. That was the fun part!" Lenny told us like it was common knowledge.

I laughed. "That explains SO much."

Marcus chuckled. "We used to shoot bottle rockets at each other - you'd always go for the guy's face 'cause you wanted to blind him."

I looked at Marcus weirdly. "Demented much?"

Lenny shot Marcus a you-know-better look. "Okay, no. Let's not do that."

Marcus nodded, and quickly slashed his hands across his neck. "Yeah kids, let's not do that. Erase, reboot."

Well now, look at the big brain on Marcus.

Lenny stopped to pick up a stick, then placed it in a tree horizontally.

"Look, you guys can make a tree fort. I'll help you get started."

I clicked my tongue. "Looks more like an owl perch, if you ask me," I
commented.

Lenny shrugged. "Hey, it's a start."

Eric smiled thoughtfully. "You know Stella, Rob lived in one of these for a year."

We all turned to Rob, looking for more detail. His face darkened slightly.

"My dad took away my roller-skates," he said in a low voice

"Uh-oh, Vietnam flashback!"

For that, Marcus got the death glare from Rob.

All of a sudden, Lenny exclaimed, "Wait a minute, are you kidding me?"

Greg glanced at his dad funny. "What?"

He didn't give us an answer; he just started running towards something with this look of pure glee on his face.

Curious, we all followed.

Seconds later, we stopped at a tree overlooking the lake. A rope hung from one of the branches.

This is what Lenny was so excited about? I shook my head. Pretty
neanderthal form of entertainment.

Looking around at the other adults, I was quick to notice that they all had the same joyful smile on their faces. Eric, I swear to god, he looked like he'd died and gone to heaven, he was so happy.

"Rope on a tree, baby!" he cheered.
"You know what that means?"

"We get to hang ourselves?" Charlie piped up, her voice oozing sarcasm.

"I'll go first!" Greg announced.

"By all means, Greg, go right ahead!" I then shoved him towards the rope.

Lenny groaned. "Nobody's hanging themselves!" He stared at us incredulously, and motioned to the rope and the lake. "I mean, you see a rope and a lake and that doesn't make you wanna go nuts?"

Greg shook his head. "No."

I nodded in agreement. "For once in my life, I'm actually gonna agree with Greg."

He laughed when I said that, and turned to me with a smirk on his face. "Look at that - we actually agreed on something," he said playfully.

I batted him on the arm, and giggled.

Whoa, wait a sec - since when do I giggle?

Just then, the sound of the adults cheering and egging Eric on snapped me back into the real world, and I watched as he made a beeline for the rope.

"Who wants to see a double flip?" he asked everyone as he clambered onto a rock with the rope in his hands.

Our response to the question was a loud whoop.

We quickly got behind the rock, and watched and cheered as Eric leapt off the rock and flew over the lake.

"Drop! Drop! Drop!" we yelled at him as he swung through the air.

Watching him though, it suddenly became clear that he wasn't gonna let go of the rope.

Eric chickened out when he saw how high he was swinging, and clung to the rope like his life depended on it.

Our cries of "Drop! Drop! Drop!" now changed to "Let go! Let go! Let go!"

"I can't let go! I'm too scared!" Eric yelled in response.

A split-second after the words left his mouth, he faceplanted into a tree trunk - one wince - let go of the rope, hit the ground - two winces - and somersaulted into a cluster of bushes.

I leaned forward to get a good look at Eric, and I bit my lip when I saw him sprawled on the ground like roadkill.

Ouch.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Keith had this look of absolute ecstasy on his face."That...was...AWESOME!"

Right at that moment, Eric stood up, shrieking and howling and clutching his leg. "OH MY GOD, THE BONE'S STICKING OUT!" he yelled, his voice cracking and squeaking a couple times.

We all glanced down at his leg - sure enough, his thighbone seemed to be sticking out of his leg.

Disgusted, I clapped a hand over my mouth, and forced myself not to retch right then and there.

And that's when Eric started laughing. His belly shook as he cackled and showed us his "broken bone" - a Y-shaped stick.

My jaw dropped. "DUDE! NOT COOL!"

Eric only laughed harder, and pointed at me. "Oh Stella, I got you big time!"

I stuck my tongue out at him, and tried to get my nerves under control.

I scowled; nothing ticked me off more than when people did stuff like that. I hated having the crap scared outta me on purpose; this was no exception.

All of a sudden, Becky pointed at something close to where Eric had landed.

"Daddy!" she cried. "That bird is hurt!"

I looked over at where she was pointing, and to my surprise (and slight horror, for that matter), there was a mourning dove with a gimpy wing.

Holy crap, I can't believe that bird's not dead after getting squashed by
Eric.

"Oh my god, I'll get a shoebox!"

I immediately ran down to the dove, and crouched beside it.

"Pretty lucky, for a bird," I muttered to myself as I went to untie my button-down from around my waist.

Just as I was about to undo the knot, I felt a hand on my forearm - Greg's hand, to be exact. I felt a small shiver zip down my spine.

"Here," he said before untying his sweater from around his waist and handing it to me. "Use mine."

I nodded silently in thanks, then I placed the sweater under the bird, and lifted it up as Lenny came down with the shoebox.

I quickly carried the bird over to him, and gently deposited it into the box.

As soon as it was inside, me, Lenny, Greg and the others hurried back to the house.

When we got back, Eric's wife Sally greeted us at the door; Lenny gave her a run-down of what had happened, then handed the shoebox off to her.

As soon as she had it, Sally took the box into another room and told us that she was gonna reset the bird's wing.

My brows knit together. "Not to sound rude or anything, but do you know what you're doing?"

"Of course, honey. Now don't you worry - I'll make sure our friend's okay."

Then, she disappeared from sight, and left us to do our own thing.

I really do hope that woman knows what she's doing.

I felt a tug on my arm. I looked to my left and down, and came face-to-face with Becky.

She looked up at me with a worried glint in her eyes. "Stella, the birdie IS gonna be okay, right?"

Honestly, I had no idea what was gonna happen to that bird - for all I knew, its wing could be permanently busted. For Becky's sake though, I assumed that it would be fine.

I smiled lightly at her. "Yeah Becky, the birdie's gonna be okay."

"Promise?"

"Promise." I squeezed her shoulders gently. "Hey, do you like High School
Musical?" She nodded.

"Well, I think Donna's watching it right now...do you wanna join her?"

A smile broke out on Becky's face. She nodded happily, then ran off to find Donna.

Once she was gone, I made my way back to the kids' bedroom, too drained to really do anything else now.

When I walked in, I found Greg lying stomach down on the bed, silently flipping through TV channels.

He must've heard me, because he glanced at me, and (unlike the icy glare and order to go away that I'd been expecting) gave me the "hello" nod.

Whoa...Greg's not acting like a twit. THAT'S new.

I sent him a one-sided smile, and made my way over to the bed. "I see you plugged the TV back in," I noted as I laid down next to him in the same manner.

"Yep."

I looked at the TV screen. "Anything good on?"

Greg shook his head. "So far, no - just a bunch of lifetime movies and bad cartoons."

He stopped channel-surfing for a moment. "What was up with you and my sister out there?"

"She just wanted to know if the bird was gonna be alright," I told him quietly. "I told her it would be fine, then that Donna was watching High School Musical, and suggested that she go watch it with her."

"Did she actually do what she was told?"

"Um...yeah, she did," I said cautiously, suddenly feeling like I was walking on eggshells for some reason. "Took off to go find Donna as soon as I mentioned she had HSM."

Greg just breathed out through his nose, and rested his chin in his hands.

"Lucky you. Becky never listens to me or Keithie when we tell her to do something." He closed his eyes, and shook his head. "She's such a brat..."

I shrugged passively. "You're only saying that 'cause she's your sister." I sent him an easy-going smirk. "And you know, she might not act like such a brat if you act nicer to her."

"Touché."

There was a long beat of silence between us. Greg went back to
channel-surfing, and I watched as show after show flashed by in the blink of an eye.

After a couple minutes, Greg tapped me on the shoulder.

When I turned to look at him, he stuck his hand out and offered me a soft half-smile.

"Friends?"

I blinked. Me, Stella Connelly, friends with Greg Feder... I figured it
couldn't hurt.

I grasped his hand. "Yeah, I guess."

He grinned. "Awesome," he said before crawling to the edge of the bed, and
scooping up two PS3 controllers. He tossed one to me. "You wanna play?"

I laughed. "I'm good. I don't wanna get addicted to it like you did."

"Relax, you won't."

Why not?

I hesitantly picked up the controller, and turned it on. "What game were you
playing, exactly?"

"Gears of War. Why?"

I bit my lip. "I dunno...I hear the gameplay gets pretty gory," I said
uneasily.

"Aw, c'mon, please?" Greg then proceeded to give me his version of the
bambi-eyed look.

Damn, he's got me.

"FINE, I'll play with you, but promise me you'll never make that face again,"
I teased. "It's not a good look for you, Feder."

"Hey, I'll have you know I've been perfecting this look for YEARS."

"I'm sure you have..."

He rolled his eyes, then smiled at me impishly. "Watch and learn, Stella. I'm
about to rock your world with this baby."

*Charlie's POV*

Charlie and Andre were walking to the kitchen to grab a snack.

The two were walking past the kids room when they heard laughing come from inside. Curious,Charlie stop walking, and peeked into the bedroom.

Greg and Stella were lying side-by-side, playing video games, and for once, they weren't fighting over something pointless. Charlie's jaw practically dropped to the floor.

"Andre!" she hissed to her brother.

"C'mere, look!"

With his hands up in the air, Andre silently crept over to where his sister was standing, and looked briefly at the two on the bed.

He looked at Charlie, and shrugged passively. "Eh, so? It's nothing special."

For that, he was backhanded on the arm by Charlie.

"It's something special!" she whispered back in a snappish voice. "It's adorable, and it's about time they started having fun!"

"Okay, okay! I get it! It's sweet!" He rubbed the area where Charlie had
smacked him tenderly. "Can we get something to eat now, please? I'm hungry."

"No, forget that! Lets get outta here!" Charlie said before she started dragging Andre away from the kids room and back down the hall.

As she did, she silently pumped her fist. Things were suddenly in her favor now.

Getting them together is gonna be easier than I thought.

A/N So do you hate me? I hope not! Cause I love you guys! Only three, well four chapters now, and twenty four reviews! That's awesome! I can't take all the credit though I want to say thanks to phoenixfire53 for beta-ing this story! Reviews are love:)