"Hedone High School," said the taxi driver, "Why are you coming here again?"

"I need to pick up a friend, Carl," I replied. "I'll be right back."

I got out and shut the door.

I'm here for A.E.D. Remember? I asked him if he could help me babysit my cousins.

Thankfully, he was waiting outside the main entrance.

"Oh my God, I'm so glad you agreed to this," I said randomly.

"You're welcome," he replied. I grabbed his hand and dragged him to the taxi.


NOTICE: FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN THROUGHOUT THIS AND THE NEXT CHAPTER(S), THE DELILAHxA.E.D RELATIONSHIP IS NON-EXISTENT! I WILL POP OPEN YOUR HEAD LIKE A ZIT IF YOU EVEN THINK OF FANART FOR DELILAHxA.E.D.


"Are we there yet, Carl?" .D complained.

"Give me a few more exits," he answered.

"So what's the deal, Dare?"

I sighed. "We're babysitting my three cousins, all girls and different ages, until about two in the morning. My aunt, their mom, has to go to a company party or something."

"Riiiight..." He sounded unconvinced.

"That's what she said."

"So the same taxi that drops us off is going to pick up your aunt and at (whatever time she comes back) that same taxi will drop us off at Hedone?"

"Yeah; I can walk," I replied.

"Well, yeah, but it's two in the morning. A lot of-"

"I got NightTiger on my side. Remember?"

"Oh yeah," he forgot about my powers for a second.

Wow, I can't believe that the boys temporarily forget I'm a shapeshifter. Am I that good at hiding it? Sweet!

"Kay, we're here," Carl muttered.

"Thanks," I said, giving him the money.

"Jeez it's cold," .D shivered a little.

".D, I'm wearing short sleeves; you're wearing a shirt and a leather jacket and you're still cold?"

"It's not a shirt, it's a tank top," he corrected.

"Well it looks like a shirt," I tilted my head.

"It used to be a shirt, but that was before Izm ripped the sleeves off."

We walked up to my family's porch. I rang the bell.

"Why would he rip off the sleeves?"

"You know how his vest has extra sleeves sewn onto them?"

"They're from your shirt?"

"He didn't even ask."

I chuckled, "I would do the same thing, too."

He looked at me funny.

"AND," I reminded him annoyingly, "NO SMOKING."

"I forgot to bring a lighter anyway," he shrugged.

I looked at him again. "You know, you have an amazingly unreadable poker face... But you're not lying."

My aunt opened the door. "Hi, Delilah!" she greeted, "Who is this?"

"This is A.E.D, he's a good friend of mine," I explained.

"A.E.D?" she wondered, playing with her short blonde hair, "What's your real name?"

"I'd rather not say that, ma'am," he replied.

"He's OK, Aunt Sandy," I wrapped my arm around his neck.

THIS IS FAKE! MY AUNT SEES THE ONLY EXCUSE TO BRING HIM IS IF HE'S MY... BOYFRIEND. I DO NOT LOVE A.E.D! YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THIS!

.D was weirded out, but he went with it, understanding my situation... *sob*

"OK; please come in, the girls have been dying to see you Delilah," my aunt let us in.

I heard a stampede coming from their bedrooms. "Lilac! Lilac! Lilac!" they shouted as they dog piled on me.

I looked at .D, desperately.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "They call you Lilac?"

The girls let me get up and dust myself off. "They could never pronounce 'Delilah', so they call me 'Lilac'."

"Lilac!" yelled the oldest one, Michelle, "Lookie what I made for you!"

She showed me a doodled picture of me holding hands with them, in crayons.

"It's beautiful, Michelle," I complimented.

The second youngest, Shiloh, and the third, Poppy, looked at .D. I guess Shiloh decided that she like him and latched onto his leg.

"I have to go now," my aunt called from the doorway, "I'll see you later! Nice to meet you A.E.D!"

He nodded.

"Girls," I said to them, "I want you to meet somebody." They all formed a line on their own, in front of .D. "This is A.E.D; can everyone say 'hi, .D'?"

"Hi DeeDee!" they said in unison.

"It's only-"

"I'm fine with it, Dare," he said.

".D, these are my cousins Michelle, five, Shiloh, three, and Poppy, two."

Michelle giggled a little.

"Hi girls," .D said.

"Hi!" Shiloh said again.

"Go ahead and play girls, I have to talk with .D for a minute," I said.

They all ran to their bedrooms for something (I don't remember).

"Anything I should know?" he asked me.

"Michelle isn't in school yet, and she's very playful and talkative. Shiloh likes to do whatever her sisters are doing and she's a little hazy on sentences. Poppy's a good girl and loves to crawl around instead of walk. She just turned two. She knows a few words, but she'd rather have a pacifier in her mouth. All of them are nice and they love to-"

"WATER GUN FIGHT!" Michelle charged at us with a super soaker thing and squirted us with water.

Our clothes were splashed on and our hair was soaked. .D's fang bangs were really droopy.

"Michelle!" I scolded, "No water guns in the house! Now promise me you won't do that again."

She dropped the gun onto the floor. "I'm sorry, Lilac. I won't never do it ever again!"

"Good girl," I said. "A.E.D, the towels are in the bathroom, second door to the left."

"I got it," he replied.

I took the water gun and put it on top of the television, where none of the girls could get it.

.D threw me a towel. I dried off my face and hair a little and plopped on the couch.

I sighed.

This will be a long night.