Chapter 14

"Well hey you two." Karen teased as Richard and I walked down the steps together. Well, she and Wally both were giving us teasing glances. Victor was pigging out at the dining table.

"Hey." Richard nonchalantly opened the fridge and grabbed an apple. He chomped into it, juice spilling out.

"Where are the little monsters?" I sneered, leaning up against the wall. Karen smirked.

"They're in the basement, playing with Nerf guns." My eyes went wide. Why would you give Timmy Tantrum a gun of any kind?

"Where the hell did they get Nerf guns?" I screamed, swinging open the basement door and trotting down the stairs.

"One of them brought some. Is that a crime Officer Rachel?" scoffed Karen. I rolled my eyes.

The sight I walked in on was pure hell. There were Nerf darts everywhere, muddy tracks all over the carpet, chocolate streaks on the walls, and sleeping kids. Yup; no way around a grounding now. My eyes went wide and I choked.

"WHAT THE HECK!? GET UP!" I screamed. They jolted and shot up, staring at me.

"What crawled up your butt Rachel?" asked Melvin, putting a hand on her hip. She was definitely an eight year old version of me. That's when I developed most of my hard edge.

"What did you do to my basement you little monsters?! Why can't you just stay still?" I exploded, running into the linen closet in the basement. I grabbed the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser® that Mom kept for emergencies and threw it into Timmy's arms. I ran upstairs grabbed some club soda from the refrigerator and a rag from the bathroom. I ran back into the basement and threw them into Melvin's arms. \

"Why are you working us like your servants Rachel?" Melvin sneered, tossing the rag back to me. I pressed my lips into a fine line and stared at her.

"You don't give me that Melvin. You guys messed this up, so you guys will clean it up." I tossed it back at her and she caught it with a grimace on her face. I watched as the scrubbed at the walls and at the carpets.

"It won't come off Rachel." Melvin quipped as she started to scrub harder. I rolled my eyes and walked upstairs. I might as well spend my last few hours of freedom with my friends. I smiled as I opened the door and saw a red faced Richard, and smirking Victor, Karen, and Wally.

"Heard 'bout your little make-out session Rach." Victor leered, grinning as he did. I frowned and walked over to their location.

"And?" Victor rolled his eyes as he went back to the fridge.

"So girl, you want to go to the mall later on? There's a sale at Victoria's Secret™ on bras." I knew she said that for the guys to drool. And indeed they did. I think I heard Wally pant a little bit.

"No thanks. I've got to babysit the monsters until the lovebirds get back," I coughed. "and who knows when that'll be?"

"So? Bring 'em with us." Bring those little brats in public with us? That's just asking for trouble.

"How do you say no?" I said, my voice oozing sarcasm. I tapped a finger on my cheek multiple times for emphasis. Karen just simply rolled her eyes.

"Just have the guys watch them." I held in my laughter as I looked over to the guys. They were currently immersed in an arm wrestling contest in which Victor was crushing Wally.

"Them?" I pointed over to them as Karen nodded.

"Yes 'them'. Haven't you seen Victor with Yasmin? He's great with kids and the other can just be the observers." That was true. Victor had been the chief babysitter when we had to babysit Karen's little twelve year old sister.

"I trust Victor…." I trailed off, staring at Richard. I couldn't believe that was what I'd been making out with an hour ago. It still felt tingly and that was sad. Very sad.

"Hey girl! Pay attention!" She snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"We've got school tomorrow, right?" My voice was frantic as I remembered Kitten's little rumors stunt.

"Yeah…tomorrow's Tuesday. Duh." She rolled her eyes and took out her iPhone.

"Oh. Well I kind of lost track." I just remembered about the whole drug bust shenanigan. Where we even going to school this week? If we were, where were we going? We certainly couldn't go to our school since the FBI was still checking for clues and whatever.

"Do we even have school, though? Since the whole drug bust shit?" I figured we didn't, but I was usually wrong.

"I have no idea." But hoped we did. I wanted to see Kitten and confront her about this.

"I dunno. So no mall then? She sounded disappointed, but I nodded. I had work today anyways. It was unbelievable that the one day I have off during the entire week I had to work. Thanks for nothing America!

"Well, I've got to work and I've got these kids to deal with. Hopefully they'll be gone by then." I just wish their parents would come to pick them up. Or that my mom would come home, even though I may be grounded for forever.

"Hello baby!" I guess the universe loves/hates me, because in walked my mother and Lawrence walked in. His arm was around her waist and she was leaning into his chest. They were soaking wet and looked like they'd just reenacted a scene from The Notebook or something. It was a disgusting thought.

"Hey mom; I've got school tomorrow. Better turn in." I trotted up the stairs, stopping half way and pivoting to my friends. They were just awkwardly swaying about, looking at my mom and Lawrence.

"Oh, sweethearts; there's a severe thunderstorm warning. I wouldn't want you driving around in this weather." My mother had that oh-your-friends-are-here-now-I'll-be-the-world's-s weetest-mom fake octave on.

"So we're staying over?" I smiled as I looked at them and nodded.

"Yes dearie. Go get comfortable. Can I see you Rachel?" I knew my mom had to crack sometime. As my friends trotted up the stairs towards my room, she grabbed me and went out to the patio. Luckily we've got an all-weather canopy out there and a few tables, so it was our favorite place to talk. I took a seat and just listened to the rain for a little bit. The rain was the best part of living in Gotham, well, a little bit outside of Gotham. It was the best place to meditate.

"Why'd you bring me out here, Mom?" I asked, giving her a confused look. My mother usually never went out during the rain.

"Well…tonight…Lawrence asked me to marry him."

So...yeah. That's the chapter. By the way, I'm hosting a contest. It'll be Rob/Rae and stuff like that. I'll have more details in the next chapter. Review and Favorite. Grammar Nazis and Flamers welcome.