*Written from Malcolm's POV*

'Don't push me!'

'Don't push me, and I won't push you.'

'No, don't push me first and I won't push you back!'

'Well don't push me first, then I won't push you back and you won't push me back and then I won't push you.'

Reese frowned slightly; he was probably trying to figure out what he'd just said. We'd just finished school for the week. The weekend was finally here! I think Reese had a build up of aggression, or boredom, or both because he wouldn't stop pushing me all the way home. Dewey was rambling non-stop about his day at school. He only stopped because Reese got mad and pushed him over, too.

'Don't push him!' I exclaimed.

'Oh, Shut up genius!' Reese replied, getting angry again.

'Ow! Don't push me!'

'Don't push me and I won't push you!'

'What?! I didn't even push you - ow! Quit pushing me!'

'Well don't push me first!'

'I didn't touch you, you brainless idiot!'

So I was glad, obviously, to finally get home. Reese chased Dewey straight into the backyard, because Dewey had thrown a rock at him. It was actually kinda cool seeing how mad Reese got, and hearing old loud Dewey screamed, but it was a relief to finally get away from them both. I could hear the vacuum cleaner buzzing softly in one of the bedrooms as I opened the front door. It was probably Mom again. She'd been completely obsessed with cleaning lately. So obsessed, in fact, that it was a little scary. She'd told Dewey that that vacuum cleaner would eat him if he got in the way while she was cleaning. I mean, normally its funny getting Dewey freaked out monsters and stuff, but it was just weird coming from Mom.

I threw my backpack casually onto the couch in the lounge, half-expecting Mom to tell me off for throwing it there, but she was still vacuuming in another room. The backdoor burst suddenly open with a huge bang, and Reese came waltzing inside. He still looked angry, but happier now that he had taken his anger out on somebody smaller than he was. Dewey stumbled in just as Reese kicked his dirty shoes off, looking scared and a lot dirtier than he had been a few minutes before.

'Where's Mom?" Reese demanded. He was already into the food, he had a packet of potato chips in his hands.

'Cleaning,' I replied shortly, and I sat down on the couch.

'What? Again? Ah!'

Reese jumped slightly as he opened his packet of chips too hard. In less than a second, there was a pile of crumbling potato chips at his feet.

'Damn it! Not again!'

Then he shrugged, crouched down and began eating the chips off the floor.

'That disgusting!' Said Dewey, and he plonked down on the couch next to me.

'Shut up pip squeak,' Reese replied angrily, spraying chips everywhere as he spoke.

'You know, Moms not gonna be happy that you spilled chips all over the floor.'

I told him. I don't know why I was warning him, I usually loved seeing Reese getting in trouble, but Mom was so freaked out about dirt lately, that she's probably punish us all.

'Well she's still cleaning, isnt she? So if I just eat really fast, then she'll never know what happened!'

'And what about the crumbs?'

Reese shrugged again. 'I'll lick them off.'

That was something to would have loved to see; Reese licking the carpet. But it seemed that wasn't gonna happen.

There were a few minutes of silence as Reese crunched on the chips on the floor, and Dewey examined a bruise on his elbow before the noise of the vacuum cleaner died away, and we could hear footsteps heading toward the lounge. Reese franticly shoved chips into his mouth. I couldn't help but laugh at how stupid he looked, but he needn't have bothered because the person who appeared in the doorway wasn't Mom - it was a young girl.

Reese choked. I starred. Dewey squealed.

'Who're you?'

I asked, maybe a little harshly than I meant. But you couldn't blame me, really. A complete stranger, sorry, I mean a strange girl had just walked into our living room, dragging the vacuum cleaner behind her and wearing a bandana to protect her hair, which was light brown and fell just past her shoulders. She had really nice green eyes too, and she was pretty tall. Well, a few inches taller then me anyway. The girl rolled her eyes as she examined us all, then started packing up the vacuum cleaner.

'I'm Madison Taylor.'

She shortly, still fiddling with the cleaner.

'Your Mom hired me to clean your - uh - house, while she's at work.'

It seemed she was having trouble rolling up the power cord.

'Ah! What is with this stupid vacuum cleaner?' She exclaimed, angrily after a few minutes. 'I mean I know its old and everything, but you'd think it would at least pack up properly!'

I jumped to my feet at once. In still had no idea why Madison was in our house but, being the genius I am, I decided to show help her with the vacuum cleaner and prove just how smart I was. First impressions are extremely important, you know!

'Here, I'll do it for you. There's a trick to getting it to work.'

I hard hardly walked two paces, however, when I was knocked over by Reese. He rushed over besides Madison, kicked the cleaner hard and watched the power cord ravel up. He grinned at Madison. It seemed that he was also thinking along the lines of first impressions, and how best to impress this girl. Madison, on the other hand, looked highly unimpressed. She had just spotted the pile of chips on the floor, and I'm sure I heard her mutter the word 'pigs' before she started unpacking the vacuum cleaner again.