Chapter 6 - Packed Sardines
"Is everyone ready to play Sardines?" AJ asked, standing up on the bed enthusiastically. Everyone screamed and shouted.
"Alright, let's go, then! Everyone find a partner," Aly said. Zack instantly grabbed on to Aly's arm and Cody did the same with AJ. The girls held no arguments; they just smiled. Maxx and Maddie partnered up, and then Tapeworm and Esteban.
"Muriel, do you wanna play?" Cody asked thoughtfully.
"Nah, I'm too old and fat to fit in a little cramped closet. I'm gonna sit in the living room and relax with my feet up. Does anyone wanna rub my bunyan?" she asked, putting her left foot on the table and taking off her shoe. Everyone looked at her disgustedly and then they all turned away simaltaneously.
"So who's hiding first?" Maddie asked. Zack and AJ's group raised their hands.
"Okay, each person pick a number one through ten. Whoever's closest to the number in my head gets to hide first," Maddie said.
Everyone nodded their heads and Maddie got a number in her head.
"Okay," she said, pointing to Zack, "Zack. What's your number?"
"Five."
"Alyson?"
"Four."
"AJ?"
"Nine."
"And... Cody."
"Eight."
"Okay, it was ten. AJ wins, your group gets to go first," Maddie said.
AJ and Cody high-fived. "Okay, you guys, go outside the door and wait until Muriel comes to get you," AJ said. Some people nodded their heads and went outside the door. AJ and Cody grabbed hands and went upstairs.
"Where should we hide?" Cody whispered.
"Ooh! There's a huge plant upstairs in a corner that almost covers a quarter of the wall. Let's hide there, it's perfect!" AJ whispered.
"Great!" Cody exclaimed. "You know, you're perfect."
AJ smiled and kissed him on the cheek again. He grinned widely.
"Alright, I'll send them in," Muriel said, walking downstairs to get some people.
She opened the door and said, "Alright, two people can come in."
Maddie and Maxx nodded their heads at each other and headed in to the dark three-floor suite.
"Wow, it's creepy in here," Maddie said, looking around, wide-eyed and frightened.
"Oh, come on. It is NOT scary in here. I've seen bathrooms creepier than this."
Maddie gave her a dirty look. Maxx stuck out her tongue in response and Maddie rolled her eyes.
"Hey, let's look down here really good first. I have a feeling that they might be down here," Maddie said.
"Okay," Maxx agreed. They both nodded their heads and went into one of the many bathrooms.
Then Muriel sent in two more people. This time it was Zack and Alyson.
"Let's look upstairs," Aly said.
"Which upstairs? Second or third floor?" Zack asked.
"Second."
"Okay, sounds good," he said, clutching her hand tightly and running upstairs.
"Alright, last group," Muriel said, hobbling over to the couch as Esteban and Tapeworm walked in. "Oh, my aching feet!" she complained, sitting down on the couch and propping her feet up on the coffee table.
"Where should we go?" Esteban asked Tapeworm.
"Let's go to the third floor. I don't think that anyone's gone up there yet," Tapeworm said. Esteban nodded his head and they both headed up to the third floor.
About ten minutes later, Aly and Zack found AJ and Cody.
"Hey guys, great hiding place!" Zack whispered.
"Thanks!" AJ said.
"Shh! Come on, hurry, I think someone's coming!" Cody said. Aly and Zack hurriedly hid behind the plant just in time before Maddie and Maxx came upstairs.
"Maxx, did you hear something?" Maddie asked. They instantly stopped moving and looked around the dark room.
"Yeah, I think so," Maxx replied. They both started looking around again and then went into the bathroom.
"I think we're the only ones left," Maddie said, sounding frightened.
"Yeah, I know," Maxx said. "They're somewhere up here."
"How do you know?" Maddie said, furrowing her brow.
"Because," Maxx said matter-of-factly, "I saw Alyson and Zack walk in here and they disappeared."
"Oh," Maddie said. "That makes sense."
They continued to walk around, looking under beds and in closets, and then walked back in the room where Aly, AJ, Cody, and Zack were secretly hiding.
"Okay, they've got to be in here somewhere," Maddie said. "We've looked everywhere up here besides this room."
"Yeah, let's check this room really well," Maxx said, looking under the nearest bed. Maddie joined in and looked in the closet that was across from the bed. Then she looked behind the TV stand.
"Nothing," Maddie said.
"Same here," Maxx said. Then Maddie looked behind the plant to see four pale faces look up at her and she screamed in fear.
Maxx looked at her and ran over to her. "What? What?"
Maddie smiled. I found them," she said.
"Are you the last group?" Aly whispered.
"I think so," Maddie said.
"Oh no, wait!" Zack whispered. "Tapeworm and Esteban haven't found us yet!"
"Oh yeah!" AJ said. "Okay, everyone get into the plant. Go, go, go!" she said, pointing to the plant and touching everybody's back as they filed in. When everybody was in she got into it as well.
Meanwhile, down on the very bottom floor, Tapeworm and Esteban were beginning to get worried. "Hey, where is everybody?" Tapeworm asked no one in particular.
"I don't know, but everyone else disappeared already," Esteban said in his foreign accent. "Oh... I am scared!" he said, grabbing onto Tapeworm's arm.
"Oh, come on," Tapeworm said, shaking him off of his arm, "Let's ask Muriel for a hint." Then he walked into the living room quickly.
"Muriel, can you give us a hint? We can't find them anywhere!" Tapeworm said.
"They're on the very top floor," Muriel said, walking over to the snack cabinet. There was nothing there. "Oh, poo," she said, wobbling over to the couch again.
"Let's go!" Esteban said, grabbing Tapeworm's arm and running with him upstairs.
"Let's look in here," Esteban whispered, slowly walking into the room where everyone was secretly hiding.
"Alright," Tapeworm said, looking in the closet and then under the bed. Esteban looked behind the TV stand and saw nothing.
"This is the last place in here," Tapeworm said, pointing to the plant. He looked behind it and everyone jumped up instantly and screamed. Tapeworm screamed and Esteban ran out of the room and into the bext bedroom and hid under the covers of one of the beds.
Alyson, AJ, Cody, Maddie, Maxx, and Zack all doubled over with laughter and Tapeworm smirked. He ran into the bedroom and uncovered Esteban, making him scream even more.
"Relax, Esteban, it's me, Tapeworm," he said. Esteban looked up with his frightened eyes and got out of the bed slowly.
"Who was that?" Esteban asked as everyone else came into the room.
"It was all of us," Zack said. "We scared you."
"You sure did," Esteban said, grabbing his heart as if he was going to die of fright. "Please don't do that ever again."
"Okay, we promise," Cody said, smiling. Everyone else nodded.
"Sorry, Esteban. Sorry, Tapeworm," AJ said. Everybody else nodded as if to say the same thing.
"Okay, let's head downstairs now," Alyson said. Everyone nodded and headed downstairs.
"It's about time you slowpokes found them," Muriel said, standing up to stretch. "You two are horrible at this game."
Tapeworm and Esteban looked at Aly and AJ and rolled their eyes. They laughed.
"So, now what are we gonna do?" Maddie asked.
"What time is it?" AJ asked. Cody pressed a button on his watch and it lit up. "12."
"Wow... seems later than that," Aly said. AJ and Maxx nodded their heads in agreement.
"Let's just go downstairs and listen to music and watch TV or something," Tapeworm said. "Maybe watch a movie with popcorn and some snacks?"
"Yeah, that sounds good," Zack said.
"Does that sound good to everybody?" AJ asked, looking at everyone. Everybody nodded their heads. "Great, then let's go." Everyone started heading downstairs to the living room then.
Maddie, Alyson, and Amanda grabbed the couch, Maddie sitting in the middle, Zack and Maxx grabbed the beanbags that were in the middle of the floor, and Esteban, Muriel, and Tapeworm grabbed the other couch. Then Zack crawled to the movie chest that was built in to the TV stand and looked at the movies.
"Let's watch a funny movie," AJ said.
"Yeah," everyone said in unison.
"Okay, how about..." he said, scanning his eyes back and forth several times, "Dr. Dolittle?"
"That's good, everybody else agree?" Alyson asked, looking at everybody. They all nodded their heads, smiling.
"Alright then," Zack said, popping the movie into the VCR.
End of Chapter 6
Review, please! Hope you liked it! I worked hard on it!