Chapter Twenty Five- Spring Break Pt.2
"Morning" The Jacksons greeted as McFly, Busted, Gen, and Jacqui stumbled into the kitchen the next morning.
"How are you so perky in the morning?" Matt grumbled as he sat down at the kitchen table that was filled with scrambled eggs, potatoes, fruit, cinnamon rolls, vegemite, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, and biscuits. There were pitchers of apple, grape, and orange juice on the table. There was also a pot of boiling water on the stove just in case someone wanted coffee, hot chocolate, or apple cider. "And how do you make so much stuff?"
"I guess it's just our way of saying that you're welcome in our house" Noah shrugged as he placed the plates on the table.
"Go ahead and sit, we're almost done." Julius added and then grabbed some keys from the cupboard. "Unfortunately, I have a college visit to go to. I'll be back later guys, have fun."
"Bye Julius" Sydney called back.
"What time did you guys wake up?" Tom asked as he brushed his hair out of his eyes and yawned.
"What time is it now?" Rhuben asked as she turned away from the pantry and placed jelly on the table.
"About 11:00" Tom replied.
"Then I've been up for six hours, they've been up for four hours" Riley replied as she sat down at the table and her siblings joined her.
"Dang girl, how can you wake up that early?" James asked, his eyes widening in shock. Riley shrugged and smirked.
"Whatever, as long as can eat" Dougie said and reached for a sausage. Patrick slapped his hand away.
"Not yet" he said and shot a small glare at him. "We have to say grace first. Everybody join hands." He took Riley's and Dougie's hand in his. Glancing at each other, the others took each other's hands and then closed their eyes.
"We fold our hands and softly say, thank you for our food today, amen" The Jacksons said in unison and let go, reaching for the juice.
"That's it?" Danny asked.
"Short, sweet, and to the point" Noah joked in reply.
"So, what are we doing today?" Jacqui asked.
"You guys can choose," Rhuben replied. "There are lots of things to do. You can go to the Outback, You can go snorkeling or go to the beach pretty much, you can go mountain biking, sight seeing, shopping, kite flying, zorbing, archery, dune cycling, learn how to throw a boomerang, learn how to play the didgeridoo, you name it."
"I want to go to the zoo!" Sydney said loudly.
"You're not the guest, it's not your choice" Noah said gently and handed him a bowl of potatoes.
"Well, we've gone to the beach a lot back home, so why don't we check out what an Australian mall is like, its got to be different" Charlie suggested.
"What's the date?" Riley asked suddenly.
"It's…April the 13, which means we have a week to go shopping for someone's birthday" Gen said and mussed Noah's hair teasingly. "So, what do you guys want to for your birthday?"
"How old are you turning?" James asked them.
"Thirteen" Patrick and Noah replied proudly.
"Oh, you're finally going to be teenagers, which means that you can date" Danny said and grinned.
"Yeah, I can't wait!" Patrick added and then glanced at Riley and Rhuben, who were staring pointedly at him and he coughed. "To treat them with respect and kindness that Danny doesn't."
"Good boy" Rhuben grinned as Danny rolled his eyes.
"So we're going to the mall, we can go as soon as you're all done eating. Since there's a lot of us, we'll take a bus, we can walk to the beach later." Riley said, confirming the plans.
"Right" Rhuben agreed.
"Hey, what's this?" Dougie asked as he pointed to a brown spread with his knife.
"Oh, that's Vegemite" Sydney replied and Rhuben jumped up from her seat and grabbed her digital camera from the counter. He smiled when he saw that she changed it to 'Video Camera' mode.
"What is it exactly?" Dougie asked as he lifted it out of the packet with his knife and examined it closely.
"It's a spread, its really good" Riley replied. "You should all try it."
"I don't know you might be trying to poison us" Harry said as Dougie handed him the brown spread and stared at the bit that was on his knife.
"Now why would we do a thing like that?" Patrick asked in a innocent way that made him seem fake. "I am shocked and ashamed that you would even think that we would do that."
"I wonder why" James said dryly as he inspected the brown spread.
"Does everybody have some?" Sydney asked, standing on his knees in his chair, his eyes wide with anticipation.
"Yeah" was the reply.
"Ok, go ahead and try it" Riley said and leaned over to Rhuben. "You're getting this on tape, right?"
"Oh yeah" Rhuben grinned in reply, trying not to laugh.
At the same time, McFly, Busted, Gen, and Jacqui took a bite of the spread that was on their knives, and at the same time they spit it out. The Jacksons howled with laughter as they raced to drink juice, to wash out their mouths.
"Ugh, that stuff is disgusting!" Gen cried, wiping off her mouth with a napkin.
"How do you eat that ruddy stuff?" Charlie asked after downing a glass of grape juice.
"We didn't say that we ate it" Noah pointed out, his cheeks beet red from laughing so hard.
"Yeah, but you said it was good" Tom replied, his eyes wide.
"I didn't say that we thought it was good." Rhuben pointed out and she and Riley high-fived each other.
"You guys are evil" Matt muttered.
"That's what a lot of people think" Rhuben commented and turned on the radio, bobbing her head to the music that poured out of the radio. "Oh, I love this song!"
"What is it?" Jacqui asked, wiping her tongue on a napkin, so it came out sounding like 'at is eh'?
"It's Over by Default" Rhuben replied.
"No, it's by Nickleback" Matt contradicted her.
"No, it's Default"
"Nickleback"
"Default!"
"Nickleback!"
"Knock it off; I'm trying to eat here!" Dougie said through a mouthful of food. Sydney sighed and grabbed his laptop from underneath the table and booted it up. The others continued eating, Matt and Rhuben glaring at each other, as they waited for Sydney to give them the answer.
"It wouldn't make much of a difference to you, mate" Tom said as he rolled his eyes.
"The song It's Over was originally made by Default, and then covered by Nickleback, but since they both sound alike, fans often get them mistaken for each other." Sydney replied and closed the lid wit ha little click.
"Ha! Told ya!" Rhuben cried triumphantly.
"Whatever, let us know when you guys are done, we'll go down to the mall in the afternoon after your stomachs are settled" Riley said as she got up from the table.
"You hardly ate anything" James pointed out.
"Oh, I don't eat big breakfasts back home, a cinnamon bun and scrambled eggs and potatoes are all I need for a breakfast" she replied and placed her plate in the sink. "What do you think, should we make Julius do the dishes as soon as he gets home?"
"Totally!" Patrick and Noah agreed, grinning like fools. Riley nodded in agreement and looked at the stack of mail that was on the counter. Her face clouded when she saw a large envelope. "Another college letter?"
"Yep" she replied with a sigh and left the kitchen.
"What's wrong with a college letter?" Gen asked.
"We don't like to talk about it" Rhuben replied stiffly, also getting up. "So yeah, like Riley said we're going to the mall in the afternoon, so you all have plenty of time to take showers and stuff."
Patrick, Noah, and Sydney got up and left the kitchen soon after their sisters did.
"What's up with them?" Gen asked in a concerned tone.
"I don't know, what's up with those two rooms we can't go into?" Jacqui shot back.
"We'll find out when they want to tell us, other then that we can sneak in when they're not here and check it our ourselves." Harry replied mysetiously.
"You're going to completely invade their privacy just to know what's in that room?" Charlie asked.
"Are you not going to help?"
"Of course I'm going to help, but it would be nice if you felt a little bit guilty."
"I'll feel guilty if we get caught."
"You mean when you get caught" Tom corrected.
"Sydney, hurry up!"
"Coming!" Sydney shouted back, jumping at the sudden noise. He quickly placed the picture of his parents on their wedding day, back on the dresser and jumped of the large bed. He closed and locked it behind him before hurrying down the stairs to where the others were waiting by the front door.
"What were you doing?" Noah asked him as he helped him put on his shoes and tie them.
"Oh, I was feeding With really quickly" he lied, avoiding everyone's gaze.
"All right, let's go" Rhuben said and grabbed a set of keys and ushered everybody out of the house. "The bus stop isn't that far from here, and the mall is like twenty minuets away."
"So James, how's your guys' music going?" Tom asked as they walked down the sidewalk.
"It's going great, we're in the middle of putting out our next cd" Matt replied and nodded enthusiastically. "Do you have a laser tag in the mall?"
"Yep" Noah replied with a nod.
"Awesome, we're so going there!" Matt declared.
"Sure, but I doubt you'll beat Rhu's and my score" Riley replied and smirked.
"I bet I can!" Matt shot back.
"Bet you can't!" Riley and Rhuben replied in unison.
"That's not good" Gen laughed.
"What's not good?" Tom asked, turning to look at her.
"Riley and Rhuben get waaaaaaay too competitive" Gen replied as she rolled her eyes. "Its gets annoying after a while. Don't get me wrong, I love to play laser tag, but it's the fact that if they lose they won't stop playing until they win."
"Well, when they do that, we could go walking through the mall, like a date?" Tom asked her, Gen couldn't help but let a happy smile form on her face.
"That'd be cool" she said and beamed. Tom smiled back and took her hand in his, if anything, Gen's smile got wider.
"Way ta go, Gens, you've got yourself a boyfriend!" Jacqui said loudly, jumping onto Tom's back, causing him to jump in fear.
"Who's her boyfriend?" Danny asked, instantly wanting to know.
"Tom" Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney replied in unison.
"Was it that obvious?" Tom asked in embarrassment as he rubbed his neck.
"It was very obvious, mateage" Charlie replied.
"Mateage?" Sydney asked, wrinkling his nose.
"Yeah, he likes to add 'age' to almost everything he says, its kind of stupid" Matt said as he shook his head and put his arm around Charlie's shoulders. "But we decided to let him into the band anyway.
"Gee, thanks" Charlie said as he rolled his eyes.
"Hey, it wasn't that 'age' thing that made us first notice you, it was also your caterpillar eyebrows" James said, causing everybody to laugh as they got on the bus.
"So, this is the mall" Sydney said as he spread his arms wide of the three floor mall.
"This is definitely a mall!" Jacqui said as she looked around. "Ooh, they have the new Avril Lavigne CD!"
"Where?" Tom cried, Jacqui grabbed his arm and the two ran to the nearest FYE.
"Laser Tag now, or after we go shopping a little bit?" Rhuben asked Matt.
"Wait, how are we going to pay for this stuff, we don't have Australian money" Danny said suddenly. Rhuben playfully hit him on the forehead.
"It's called a Credit Card, dude, come with me and I'll show you how to spend it" she said and laughed.
"Like a date?" Danny asked, a hopeful look coming on his face.
"Wow, he really jumped back from Madison, fast" Harry said as he shook his head and headed towards FYE, Gen going with him.
"Keep dreaming" Rhuben said and she started to walk towards a GameStop.
"Where are you guys going to go?" Riley asked Dougie, Charlie, James, and Matt.
"I don't know" Dougie shrugged in reply. "Where are you going?"
"Where ever they are" Riley replied, pointing to her brothers who were looking around with wide eyes. "Which pretty much means that the first place we're going to go to is-"
"SWEET FACTORY!" Sydney shouted and sprinted across the mall to the candy shop. Patrick and Noah were close after him, shouting at the top of their lungs.
"There"
"Nah, I'm going to go to the GameStop and see what I can get for our game system at home." Charlie replied.
"Yeah, we'll come with you" James nodded and he, Dougie, and Matt followed Riley to the candy shop. Riley sighed as she watched her brothers run around, asking Matt what kind of candy they should get. "Penny for them?"
"Nah, I'm just thinking about stuff" Riley replied and gave a small smile. "But thanks for asking."
"Anytime" James replied and went to look at the candy too.
"What was that about?" Dougie asked from beside her. Riley crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against a bin of Gummy Bears.
"He just wanted to know what I was thinking about"
"What are you thinking about?" Dougie asked with a teasing grin. "Besides me, I mean."
"Be serious" Riley said, nudging his shoulder with her own.
"I am" Dougie replied and took a deep breath. "Listen, there's something that I've been needing to tell you. You see, I-"
"Dude, let's get to laser tag already!" Matt interrupted, his hands twitching in anticipation. "I mean, they already have their candy." He said motioning to Patrick, Noah, and Sydney, who were carrying large bags of Sour Patch kids and Sour Gummy Worms.
"Hold on a second" Riley replied and then turned back to Dougie. "What were you saying?"
"Nothing, never mind" he replied.
"Kay, just let me get everybody else" Riley said and flipped open her cell phone.
"Eat artificial light Jay!" Rhuben cried as she shot his chest plate with her laser tag gun.
"DAMN!" Matt shouted as he had to wait to restart.
"DON'T SAY FORBIDDEN WORDS!" Sydney shouted from somewhere.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha" Rhuben laughed manically as she raced away to hide before anyone else could shoot her. She slowly crept along the dark wall, trying to see if she could shoot anybody else.
"Try not to keep your back turned!" Jacqui said and shot her in the back.
"Dammit, Jacqui, why don't you just go make out with Harry!" Rhuben shouted after her as Jacqui ran away.
"I will as soon as you admit that you like Danny!" Jacqui shouted back.
"What?"
Rhuben turned around and saw that Danny was about to shoot her, but his finger was hanging loosely on the trigger.
"Forget what she just said," Rhuben said quickly as she went to walk by him. "She's on crack or something, she just spurts out things that aren't true."
"Rhu, we have to talk about this" Danny said as he grabbed her arm.
"We're in the middle of a game here!" Rhuben snapped back.
"I want to know where I stand with you" Danny replied seriously. "Am I your friend or what?"
"Right now, you're my enemy" Rhuben said and shot him in the chest before running away.
A/N: Here's a longer chapter for you guys. So, out of the things that Rhuben suggested, what do you want to see them do?