Summary:

Typical Drake & Josh storyline. Drake and Josh plan to go to a concert where a famous singer will be, but get sidetracked when a mysterious box addressed to Walter shows up and Meghan's pranks take over. Drake also must deal with an annoying girl (who says everything with a "w") from his class, that also shows signs she has a crush on him. When he & Josh go to the concert, something terrible happens.

Disclaimer:

to the tune of "Over The Rainbow" Somewhere, over the rainbow, disclaimers die, and Drake and Josh will belong to me, not Nick, which makes me sigh. Somewhere I'll make some money and buy the rights, and then this can be an epi, and the show will soar and reach new heights. LOL.

Note to Readers:

Get ready to read the longest chapter in the history of the world. ROFL, just kidding. But it is the longest chapter I've ever written. And hopefully the best written and most meaningful. Please read and review if you can, I know it took me long enough o get it done and posted, but I think it's all good. Bye now!

Story: "Party in a Box"

Chapter: "Soccer on the Brain"; Eleven

Written By: Ginger

Extras:
Italics in "quotation marks" symbolize thoughts of Drake's.

Italic Bold paragraphs are flashbacks.

Italic, Bold, and Underlined "he"s refer to the mysterious man.

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"Hello?" Drake repeated quickly, almost stumbling over his words. A click was heard on the line and it went dead. "Oh no…" Drake said, sitting down the phone and backing a few steps away. "Uh oh—what?" Josh questioned hastily, hurrying up behind his brother. Drake turned, looking at Josh and he crossed his arms, frowning and sighing jadedly: "I don't think he took you seriously when you told him to back off of me." "What? Why? Did he say something to you?" his step brother said, looking suddenly indignant. "Oh, no! But he just did the same thing as earlier—you know, call me, wait a few seconds and then—" "Wait a minute," Josh said, looking down at the phone and clicking the caller ID button: "That was mom's phone." "Well why would she just hang up on me? She's not like—oh no…" Josh spoke up: "Oh no what?" "What if… what if he's like got mom and dad? Or mom? Or—" "Drake, that's insane. That's like so silly! He's not that powerful. He's just scared you so bad that he's got you all messed up, whoever he is." Drake's brother stopped him.

Drake smiled because of Josh's understanding that he shouldn't question him anymore about the guy: "Yeah, man, you're right. Maybe I just—"

The phone began to ring.

"There." Josh replied, smiling and crossing his arms: "See?" Drake leaned over to check the caller ID again, before answering. When he did, he nodded: "It's her again… I guess." With a quick, tired breath in, he reached out and snatched up the phone, holding it to his ear. "…Mom?"

"Drake! Hey, sorry, my phone signal cut off." "Oh, okay! I'm just glad… it's you!" "Really? Is something the matter?" Audrey laughed. "Um… no, no I'm—we're fine! So, why'd you call?" Drake asked, trying to carefully avoid the subject. "Oh, we're almost home. Just wanted to let you know we ought to be there in like three minutes. Oh, and I hope you aren't stuffing down chips or chocolate or anything, because we're bringing home Inside Out Burger food. So don't. Hear me, Drake?" Audrey said. Josh who heard her from a few feet away, pointed toward the phone and nodded parentally. Drake rolled his eyes and turned his back toward his brother, holding the phone closer to his ear: "Yeah, okay. If you say I shouldn't, I won't, Mom." "Good. Well, I'll see you at home, honey. Tell Josh not to eat anything either, okay?" "Okay mom. I'm sure he won't. And I won't either. Bye." Drake replied, hanging up.

He sighed and shrugged to himself, walking over to the couch and sitting down, grabbing up the half-empty bag of potato chips off of the smooth coffee table top, reaching a hand inside the bag. "Heyy!" Josh exclaimed, running over to the other side of the room where his brother was: "Get—you—hand—out—of—those—CHIPS!" He rushed over and swiped the plastic and foil bag from his brother and closed it, throwing it across the expanse of the room, through the kitchen window in to the kitchen. "Mom said not to eat those! Are you deaf?" he exclaimed, turning around to face his very disobedient brother.

When he spotted Drake, he gasped. He sat there, with a large evil grin, holding up a single, huge potato chip. Josh bit his lip as he locked glanced with his brother at the chip and then he threw his arm out suddenly, trying to catch the chip before his brother could have time to consume it.

He was surprised that he actually caught it and he held tightly to it, trying to scramble away and in to the kitchen to the trash can. But Drake grabbed him first. "UH, UH! GIVE ME THE CHIP!" "I'm THROWIN' AWAY THE CHIP! Now let me go!" Josh yelped in a very 'Josh-ish' way, as his brother clung to his arm. "No! Give me the—"

The door knob jingled and Drake let go of Josh, but instead of continuing his plan of running to the kitchen, he stood still. "Hey, boys!" Walter said, walking in with Meghan and Audrey behind him. When Audrey took a few steps inside and looked up at the boys, she suddenly looked angry and she crossed her arms, glaring at Josh: "Josh, I TOLD you no junk food until after dinner!"

Josh frowned, looking over at the chip that he held in his hand. "Aww geez…" Then he looked up at his mother with a surprised look: "But--but Drake was--and then, then I tried to get the--and I…" He sighed and hung his head, throwing the chip away from himself and shooting a glare at Drake before looking back his mom with a tired, annoyed look: "I'm so sorry."

"Okay, fine. Come on and help me get the dishes out." his step mother ordered him in to the kitchen: "And Drake--pick up that chip, for goodness sakes!" As Josh and Audrey walked in to the other room through the swinging door, Drake rolled his eyes and sighed, walking over to where the food lay on the carpet. Picking it up, he looked at it before holding it up and taking a bite out of it. Shrugging, he chucked it down with a contented smile. When he turned, Walter and Meghan were staring at him with their mouths open. "Gross boy!" Meghan muttered, disgustedly. "What!" Drake replied, bending his brow. Meghan and her step father both rolled their eyes also, and said simultaneously: "Nothing."

"…Okay." Drake said, wincing in slightly annoyed confusement: "So, how did the thing go? At school… or where ever it was?" "It went wonderful! It was so nice of you to let Meghan borrow your costume make up kit!" Walter said, smiling. "Oh well you're welcome." Drake grinned. "Wait!" he exclaimed, suddenly dropping his happy composure in to a displeased and surprised frown: "I didn't--" "Doesn't she just look so cute in her stage make up! Everyone kept saying what a little angel she was in it!" Audrey spoke, leaning through the window and adding her bit to this puzzled conversation. "Yeah… she looks like an 'angel'…" Drake said, then muttering under his breath: "Or from somewhere a little further down." He glared at his little sister who was looking at him with an innocent syrupy-sweet look for a moment and then looked up: "Sorry, I gott'a go umm… to help Josh and Mom. Bye, Meghan." Drake began to walk through the swing door but looked back in time to see Meghan grinning evilly and waving in a mocking way.

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As Drake and Josh were getting ready for bed in their room that night at one thirty, they were both glad it was a Saturday the next day. If it had been a day in the week, Drake would have certainly had to go back to school. He was psychically well enough to go to school. He wasn't really that sure of being mentally and psychologically ready to go back yet, but no one seemed to care about that. Of course, Josh was really was the only one that knew the depth of Drake's problems. He had even seen him cry. Twice. And he was very, very worried over his brother and his well being with this "stalker", but yet he was afraid to mention it to anyone on account of hurting his step brother worse and causing him even more hard and heart aching problems.

"But anyway," Drake thought to himself as he combed his auburn brown hair in the mirror and waited for Josh to finish brushing his teeth: "Maybe Josh really did scare him with his threat. Perhaps he'll really, actually give up and leave me alone for once! I guess maybe this thing isn't so much a huge problem as I thought it was."

The two brothers began to make each other's beds once again and Drake sighed aloud, looking dreadingly at Josh's bed to which he'd been ridden for a whole week and a half. Josh, whom had just finished making up the opposite bed and who heard his brother's weary sigh, looked up and called Drake's attention: "Hey, bro!" "Huh?" Drake muttered, snapping his head up and crossing his arms, still holding that far away look in his eyes. "Umm… well, you've made a lot of progress today. I mean, you came downstairs, made it down the stairs, ran around, got me in trouble--" "Your point?" Drake snapped, raising a brow. "Um, yeah beside the point," Josh murmured so quickly he could barely get the words out fast enough, closing his eyes and opening them again: "Well, I was kind of thinking, you could make a… move… you know?" he finished, motioning from the despised bed to Drake's old one. "You're--serious!" Drake yelped, happily. "I won't tell mom if you won't!" Josh said, shrugging: "'Cause I mean, it's been like a--"

Drake interrupted him by running across the room and flying up the ladder, taking the rungs three at a time, flinging himself in to it. "Oh! My lovely bed! I love you, my beautiful, marvelous… painful bed." Drake murmured in to his pillow, grabbing his middle from habit, but not caring if he had a bit of pain, now. Josh laughed sitting down on his own bed and saying: "Well, goodnight Drake. Enjoy your… bedness." with a comical wrinkle of his eyes as he then leaned over to turn off the light. Drake made no reply and Josh knew that he was already almost asleep. But then, about ten seconds later, Drake managed to moan in a hushed voice: "Divine bed." Josh chuckled and rolled his eyes in the dark, muttering a: "'Night Drake."

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Drake was dreaming deeply about being on some unknown stage, shaking his brunette mane of hair to the music, rocking out on his cherry red, signed guitar and thousands of hot girls screaming that they loved him to the top of their lungs, shrieking when he would stop and pick up a towel to wipe to perspiration from his brow and each one trying to out scream the others as they clamored around close to the foot lights of the stage.

Suddenly an alien, unwanted sound ripped through his pleasant dreams and he sat up in his bed, still half way asleep. He stood up, and took two steps in to the pitch black darkness. A scream made Josh bolt awake and he jumped up, turning on the small light over his bed. Drake was lying on the floor, his leg entangled in one of the rungs of the bed's ladder. "Drake!" Josh scolded, running over to him as he raised himself up in to a sitting position: "What the--!" "Sorry Josh. I… forgot I wasn't in your bed. So I just… stepped off of the edge." Drake muttered, trying to get up and hoping the usual fire in his ribs would soon leave him. "Why the heck is your cell ringing now! Tell me it isn't 'psycho stalker' in the middle of the night. It's freaking… 3:20am!" Josh moaned.

"Let's hope not." Drake mumbled, scrounging around in his gig back pack for the highly irritating article in question. Finally finding it, he answered: "Hello?" Again, all he heard was silence. Heavy breathing. And then, with that, the line went dead. Drake closed his eyes in aggravation and slowly hung up the call. "Oh crap."

"It's him again, isn't it?" Josh said in a quiet tone with a hint of brotherly frustration. "Yeah. It was him. I thought he was going to move on to somebody else when he didn't call earlier. But apparently, that suspicion was unfounded." Drake answered, ID-ing the call. "Fancy words!" Josh chuckled. "Josh, this is seriously, no time to be making fun of my speech." Drake growled. "Oh… sure! Sorry!" Josh said, biting his lip in slight fear of his step brother: "So… where was the call from? Another pay phone?" "…No!" Drake said, with a puzzled look scribbled on his face in the dim light: "It's a real number! 1-404-210-2192-95." "Woah. That's weird! Maybe you can block it and figure out who he is!" Josh commentated. "I will! But I know who he is…"

Josh paused, feeling the pressure in this uncomfortable moment and then said: "We'll have to look it up tomorrow. The phone number, I mean." "Yeah. Good idea." Drake nodded, closing his cellular phone: "I'm sorry for waking you up. I just didn't exactly know where I was… sleeping in your bed for like 10 days." Josh smiled and shook his head: "No, it's okay. It just scared me. I had been this like terrible dream about that dude and then when I heard you screaming--well it kind'a freaked me out." "You were having a nightmare on account of me?" Drake asked. "Yeah. I know I must be a completely pitiful wuss, but I was just so worried that I…" his sentence trailed off in to the dead silence of the night. "You were scared when you heard me scream?" Drake said, with a slightly un-believing shock on his face. "Yeah, man. You're my bro!" Josh said, blushing and looking down and back up with a little embarrassment. "Thanks Josh." Drake said, leaning forward and giving his brother a quick, thankful hug.

Josh hugged him back and they both stepped back, grinning and turning to get in to their separate beds, glad that they were still there for each other and that everything was at least somewhat returning to normal. Drake was feeling a ton better, he was up and about, and best of all-- they had their own beds back!

But something was still weighing down upon Drake's mind as he slid between the warm bed covers and laid his head wearily on his soft pillow. It was something Josh had said. That part about his being worried and scared for Drake. The teenager didn't understand why, but that thought kept rolling over and over in his brain.

"He said he was having bad dreams because of me. And he was worried. Because of me. Perhaps I'm actually causing more pain for him by not telling him about this? Am I really causing somebody else pain?" He didn't care too much for that thought. He certainly didn't want to hurt somebody else. And maybe he really had been thinking about himself more than other people. He hadn't thought he was. But now he didn't see anything with clarity anymore. Everything was so hard and complicated. He didn't really know what to do about this predicament, but he knew that perhaps soon he'd find the answers. The answers to everything. The answers to his childhood questions. The questions that still haunted his mind like undying ghosts from the past. Yes. He wanted those answers, now.

Sighing, he rubbed his cheek against the silky soft cotton pillow case and closed his eyes, letting dark overtake them and curling up under the comforter snugly. It'd be okay. And somehow he'd find a way to make it okay. He was sure of it.

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Drake's eyes blinked open and he lay staring at the ceiling. The room was relatively dim, and Drake knew that it must only be six thirty or seven. He didn't really understand why he was awake. Usually he was very lazy and if he could, he would have slept until around three or four in the afternoon. But now he didn't even feel tired. He sighed, feeling the bruises on his arm and his leg from falling off of his bed the night before.

He came out of his contemplation and sat up on his elbows, looking across the room and finding Josh not in his bed. "What time is it, anyway?" Drake looked over at his clock on his tiny bedside table. It said that it was sixty forty five. He frowned, dropping back down in to his soft sheets and pillows. He wanted to sleep some more--and awful lot more--but he couldn't seem to drift back under its influence. He moaned, annoyed, and buried his face in his pillow. He had a nagging feeling of urgency, a feeling that something was wrong. He wondered if this is why he couldn't go back to sleep. He also wondered why he felt this way, and why Josh was up and out of bed so early on a Saturday.

He finally give up on trying go to sleep and he got up out of his bed, jumping down to the floor on which he'd stumbled last night, but wishing he had taken the ladder instead when the pain in his joints began to throb. He shook it off and went to brush his teeth quickly. He didn't really care for brushing his teeth, or anything else. He had always been the little disobedient child when he was little.

He finished the daunting task and look up in the mirror, grimacing. His hair was all messed up from being in bed. Or, that is, he thought it was messed up. To anyone else it would have looked fine, but Drake being a perfectionist in this area, would have it no other way than of course, perfect.

He quickly scooped up the brush off of the counter and ran it through his hair, but frowning suddenly when he tried to pull the brush away from his head. It was stuck! He pulled hard, but he looked up close in the mirror and spotted the problem-- purply pink goop was stuck in it and therefore it was firmly glued to his silky brown locks. "I like your new hairstyle." Meghan's voice laughed from the doorway. Drake made his eyes narrow in to tiny slits and he growled, turning from the mirror and letting go of the object, letting it stick by itself to his head as he ran after his demonic sister, down the hall.

She shrieked as they ran down the stairs and he kept reaching out, trying to catch her within his grasp. "MEGHAN PARKER, YOU'RE GOING TO PAY WITH YOUR LITTLE EVIL LIFE FOR THIS!" her brother shouted after her, reaching out and trying to grab her own long, straight brown hair when they ran full speed in to the living room from the hall.

Suddenly Walter grabbed Meghan in front of Drake and a pair of hands clutched his shoulders tightly, as both his step-father and the unseen person behind Drake spoke: "DRAKE! MEGHAN!" Drake plucked the hands from his shoulders and spun around, catching Josh in his view. He ignored him and turned to his father: "DAD, Meghan put some stupid purple gunk in to my hair brush and now I can't get the darned thing off of my head!" Drake yelled, trying with both hand to pry the problematic brush from his hair. "Drake, I'm sure Meghan didn't do that. You need to stop being so accusatory. Now what's this about the brush?" Walter said. "It's--stuck!" Drake exclaimed, disgustedly pointing to the article sticking out from his head. "Well, for goodness sakes, get upstairs and get in the shower and get it out. Don't bother you're mother with this ridiculous bickering. She's on the verge of having a mental breakdown right now! Have some compassion for her!" Walter said in an annoyed and hushed tone, pushing Drake and Josh back toward the stairs. As the brothers began to climb the steps toward their room upstairs, they heard Walter tell Meghan to go play in her room. Then, right before Drake stepped in to he and his brother's room, he barely heard Audrey's cracking voice say: "I can't believe he's gone-- just like that! Just... gone."

Drake took a few more slow steps in to his bedroom, wearing a frown when he couldn't hear any thing else. What did his mother mean? Who's gone? Did someone die? Who! The questions never seemed to stop spinning in Drake's head, even as he stepped in to the hot water of the shower and began the rough and tedious journey of pulling the brush and his brunette mop apart. In fact, being alone like this with out any interruptions made him think about it even harder! What in the world was his mother speaking about? There was certainly something going on this cloudy, early morning other than Meghan's stupid pranks. Something distressing, too, apparently. But what it was, was the question. The highly unanswered question.

Drake hurried to get the brush from his hair and get out from the shower, though the warm water was very cozy and comforting, because he was now nearly dieing to know what all the fuss and fret and tension in the house was about.

"Hey! Josh!" Drake said, catching his brother's sleeve as he walked past him in the downstairs hall, after Drake had dressed, dried his hair and come down: "Wait up! What's happened?" Josh swerved back around and took a long look at his brother: "Oh! Hey Drake. Umm... what do you mean?" "Now Josh, don't mess with me! I know that you know exactly what I'm talking about. What's wrong with Mom?" Drake said, gripping Josh's arm a little tighter, emphasizing his need to know the answer. Josh sighed and looked at Drake's questioning, deep brown eyes for a serious moment before speaking: "...Do you want to know, really?" "Of course I do! I'm so worried that I'm almost shaking! Now, tell!"

"Well... seems your great Uncle Gavin died unexpectedly last night. Mom is really upset. She told me he had been so kind to her. I'm sorry. Did you know him?" Josh answered soberly. "Great Uncle Gavin? No. I never knew him. But I've heard of him so much it feels that I almost knew him. That's... terrible." Drake said slowly, cupping a hand over his chin and bottom lip. He wasn't so upset to actually cry. Josh had expected him to cry, only from the fact that he had seen his brother cry so much about lesser things than death, lately. But Drake just frowned deeply and seemed to be in an almost hypnotic thought process. "Why didn't Dad tell me when I came downstairs earlier?" he asked, almost making Josh just because he suddenly came out of the still silence that he had been so deeply in only a moment ago. "Well... it wasn't really that much of an opportune time, was it? You with a gooey brush sticking out of your hair, trying to maim Meghan." he replied, causing Drake to bring a tiny hint of a smile at the corners of his lips. "Yeah. That wasn't exactly the right time, I guess." On a darker, more serious note, Drake said: "...Should I go see Mom?"

Before his step brother could manage to bring the words from his lips, their father appeared quickly beside the two boys. "Drake, Josh," his voice was quieter: "I believe your mother wants to see you for a minute about funeral arrangements." Turning to Drake, his step father questioned him gently: "Do you know about your Un--" "Yeah, dad. I know already. Tell mom we'll be right there in like just a second." Drake nodded, replying quickly so Walter didn't have to finish the slightly depressing sentence. "Okay, son. Thanks." the grown man said, patting the shoulder or each son and winking re-assuringly before stepping through the door way of the hall in to the living room. "Josh... what do I say to her? She's gonn'a be so upset and sad! I don't know how to deal with that." Drake said in a slightly worried and anxious whisper as they both walked slowly toward the living room, where their mother and father waited. "Just say what your heart feels. If you're sorry for her, say so. And by the way... hugs aren't bad either." Josh nodded. "Believe me, of all people, you've taught me that well, Josh." Drake said, slipping his brother a little smile and a squeeze of the arm before they rounded the corner and came in to the room.

"Hey... Mom?" Drake said, in a voice that he hardly knew he had. It was full of sweetness and soft compassion. He walked by himself over to the couch and Audrey brushed a tear away to turn and look at him: "Yes, Drake?" He stared at her for a moment, wondering what in the world he could say to her. Finally he shook his head at himself and bent, dropping on to the couch beside her and throwing his sore arms around her neck, with a kind hug. He held her tight and he said: "It'll be okay. Really it will." He wondered to himself how he had managed to say those words in such a certain and confidant tone, when he himself hardly even believed them. He really didn't know if it would be "okay" or not. And what if it wasn't? He shook off his once again building thoughts, to bring his mind back to his mother. She was hugging him hard and he knew that she was only holding back tears for his sake.

The mother and son finally parted the embrace and he patted her shoulder with a little smile: "Don't worry mom. I'm here for you. And Josh is too. Aren't we, Josh?" Reaching out, he caught his brother's arm and brought him also closer to the couch. "Of course we are, Mom." "Thank you, boys. You don't know what that means to me. It just means so much that I can't even describe. But I need you to do something for me. I need your help more now, than anytime else, Drake. And you too Josh. Your father and I are going to fly over to Colorado for the funeral in about three hours. We'll be gone until late tomorrow night. Maybe midnight or later. But I want you two boys to help me out by watching Meghan until we get back and taking her to soccer practice today. Okay?" Drake and Josh exchanged quick, uncontrollable glances of uneasy indecision.

"Is it a deal, boys?" Walter asked, after a moment. With one more glance of dread between the brothers, they both nodded and Drake replied: "Yeah, dad. It's a deal." "Thank you both so, so very much. That's a tremendous help. I'm leaving a notepad on the front of the refrigerator that says when Meghan is supposed to be where and that lists all the numbers that you two can reach us at, just incase anything goes wrong." "Good, because we'll definitely be needing those..." Josh muttered under his breath, where only Drake could hear. Drake nodded slightly in reply to his step brother and then said: "Hey, Mom, do you need anything else? Because until you leave, I have nothing to do." "No, Drake. I'm fine. Just you and your brother go on upstairs and hang out until we have to leave. I'll be okay." Audrey replied, with a forced smile. "Sure, Mom." Josh and Drake nodded simultaneously and they smiled, pausing for a moment before running off up the stairs, to their room. They were nearly bursting at the seams to talk to each other about this plague that they'd been assigned-- taking care of Meghan for almost forty hours straight. This very thought was frightening to both of them and they knew that unless they we VERY, very careful, they'd be in for a painful night of agony and pranks.

"Can you believe that Meghan is staying here!" Drake exclaimed, first, after closing their door tightly behind them. "Can you believe we have to "take care of her"!" Josh yelped, crossing his arms and staring at Drake. "No! I can't! And this is just great. We can't say no to watching her! Mom would be like totally upset and probably burst in to hysterics or something!" his step brother answered with a look of disgusted anxiety drawn in to his deeply furrow brow. "Just think—like forty hours of being alone with… Meghan." Josh said in a deep voice, staring in to space with a frightened glare. "How are we like going to survive that long of supposedly "taking care" of her?" Drake questioned worriedly. "We're gonn'a need somebody to take care'a us!" Josh whined, in a tired and agitated tone.

"Oh boy… this day is going to be interesting." Drake sighed, shaking his head and sitting on the couch: "And I have a feeling that the purple gunk in my brush wasn't the only thing on the menu today. It was only the beginning."

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Josh and his brother stood at the edge of the front door. The time was around nine o'clock and the skies were misted with dewy gray rain clouds. "Are you sure you have everything?" Josh asked, setting a bag down on the gravelly cement walkway. "Yes, I'm almost positive. I packed everything, I think." Audrey said, seeming a bit flustered. Just as Walter went to put the bags in the car, a bit of sunlight splinted through the clouds over head. "Oh, good. Atleast the sun is coming out. Then you can still take Meghan to soccer practice." Audrey commented, looking up with a tiny bit of a smile, at the sun drifting through the sky. "Yeah…" Drake murmured, trying to sound optimistic, which was one of the few things he wasn't good at, at all. "Maybe your plane rid will be a nicer one too, now that the sun's out a little." Josh replied, kindly. "Yes, hopefully it will be." their mother nodded, and Walter re-joined the tiny group. "Honey, we had better go—we have to be on that plane at exactly 10:35, and with traffic and the checking before we get to board, we haven't much time." he said, taking her arm and beginning to drag her along. "Oh, wait Walter!" she said, turning to the boys one more time: "Tell Meghan that I said goodbye and tell her not to worry, that we'll both be back when she wake up the day after tomorrow." Drake and Josh nodded, slowly, barely being able to hold back their deep grimaces from their lips.

"Well, Goodbye Drake, dear." she said, kissing his cheek and then turned toward Josh: "Goodbye, Josh, sweetheart." "Take care boys!" Walter said, dragging Audrey off and waving to them as they got in to the car.

And with that, they were gone. Drake and Josh sighed at the same time and both turned to walk back through the door way, in to the almost empty house. Drake stepped toward the couch and sat down, leaning back deeply in to the seat. "So… their gone. Where do you think Meghan is?" Josh asked, sitting beside his brother. "I don't know… probably planning some crazy scheme to use on us, like usual." Drake said, sitting up and turning the tv off. Both boys sat still and listened for a moment, trying to hear what Meghan was doing, but their efforts were pointless—everything was completely silent.

"Maybe we should go check? I mean, what if she's like—" "You go check. But if I were you, I'd leave her alone. If she is planning something and she catches you snooping, we'll both be in even more danger." Drake replied, shaking his head and getting up to go in to the kitchen for a snack.

After a few minutes, Drake came back and sat down, with a bag of "Bugles" and a soft drink. "Drake, what if Meghan really will behave this time?" Josh asked quietly. "Ha! Are you kidding me?" Drake laughed, throwing a handful of crispy chips in to his mouth and gulping them down. "Yeah… I guess we had better expect the worse then." Josh shuddered, sinking lower in to the couch's puffy pillows. Suddenly they both tensed up and glanced at each other when a sound came from the opposite side of the room. "Hey, boobs…" Meghan exclaimed from the doorway of the hall, making them turn around to look at her.

"…So, Mom and Dad gone?" she said, walking toward the couch as a slithery, evil smile slipped to her lips and her eyes filled with wicked amusement. "Umm… yeah. They just left a few minutes ago." Drake answered, slowly, with a skeptical look on his face, expecting her to do something any moment now. But instead of doing anything, she sat on the couch, between them and picked up the remote, turning on the tv. Drake and Josh traded amazed and shocked, gaping mouthed frowns, and they both stood to their feet and walked away, not wanting to antagonize her in to doing anything that they could help.

Drake and his brother were in their room, later, waiting for Meghan to pounce at any moment. But nothing ever came. Josh opened his desk drawer to get out a pencil, but no ink or toothpaste squirted at him. Drake sat down in the computer chair and was surprised when he stood up and realized that he wasn't stuck to it.

"Say, Drake… she still hasn't done anything!" Josh said after a while, as he sat at the computer and Drake lay down on the couch, strumming away leisurely at his red fender Stratocaster guitar. "Yeah, I know." He nodded, thinking for a moment before continuing on: "Maybe you were right—I mean, maybe Meghan really can be fairly… good!" Josh shook his head: "It's amazing." "Yeah! She's always been so evil… even when she was little. Once when she was 5, she put worms in—" "I get the picture." Josh interrupted. "Well, anyway, perhaps she finally got tired of being bad!" "Yeah—Who knew!" Drake's step brother laughed, shrugging. "Well… I guess maybe this retaining thirty seven and a half hours won't be so bad after all!" Drake said, glancing at his watch. Josh paused for a moment then shuddered violently: "Meghan being good! Ehh! That's just… wrong." "But nice!" his brother cut in. "Amen, brotha!" he nodded, raising a hand quickly.

"HEYY!" Meghan's voice yelled through the walkie-talkie: "Yo, spazzes!" Drake and his brother ran over and Drake picked it up, clicking the "talk" button. "Quit yelling! What is it, Meghan?" "I want you down here NOW." she growled. "Why?" Josh said, with a superior chuckle. "BECAUSE YOU FREAKS ARE MAKING ME MAD! I want you down here to get me ice cream and a soda and I want you down here NOW." "Why should we do--" "Get. Down. Here. Now." she growled in one of her most frightening tones. "Fine!" Drake said in to the microphone, smirking and rolling his eyes, grabbing Josh and dragging his along, down the hall and down the flight of stairs, in to the living room.

"You beckoned, your highness?" Josh said, sarcastically when they reached Meghan's side as she lay back on the couch. "Yeah. I want you to get me--" Drake interrupted her quickly: "We both heard you already. But why should we have to do what ever you want?" "Because I said so!" she said, matter-of-factly. "Oh, and that suddenly makes us obligated to be your obedient slaves?" Drake replied to her, sarcastically. "Drake… just wondering about something. Do you happen to remember what I did to you when Mom and Dad went to LA for the weekend?" Drake paused and then dropped his slightly flippant attitude: "…What's your point?" "My point, Mister Parker, is simply this," she said, grabbing his arm and wrenching it backward: "That I can be very painful if I want to. I hope your tiny brain can retain that much information." "Oww! Oww, Meghan! Oww let me go!" Drake gasped, trying to pull his arm from the highly uncomfortable position. "Okay, Drake." Meghan said with a sassy slant in her words, yanking his arm with one last jerk and then letting him go, crossing her arms.

Josh was staring in silent amazement, with his mouth hanging open in a gape. A quiet minute passed after Drake began rubbing his sore arm and Meghan then let a proud, slimy smile glide on to her face: "Ice cream, please." Drake moaned in aggravation and he and Josh walked in to the kitchen.

"How did she ever get like that?" Josh exclaimed, shaking his head in awe. "Let's just say she has a certain… gift." Drake nodded back in reply, as he took the ice cream carton out from the freezer. "I kind of noticed." Josh chuckled for a second: "But man, how the heck are we going to manage her for a whole other day and a half?" "Good question. It ticks me off so bad that she gets away with almost anything and yet we get in trouble for the slightest thing! It's so unfair! And angering!" Drake answered. Josh sighed, nodding: "Now you know what it feels like to be me." Drake rolled his eyes in annoyance and said: "That's beside the point. We have to figure out some way to get through this next thirty seven hours with out her killing us first." "I know. I'm just about sick of little Miss "Precious" trying to make our lives miserable." his brother thought aloud.

"You know how we're going to do it?" Drake said, forming a evilly sly smile of his own. "No, how!" Josh gasped, turning to looked at him fully. "Sneakily." "Sneakily?" "Yeah. I mean wait… is that a word?" Drake said, stopping to think this over. "Well, I think it might be. But I know "sneaky" and "sneaking" are words but--" Drake shook himself out of it, interrupting his brother: "Anyway, we're going to prank her… but only in a way that can be explained as "an accident"." "Accident? Ooooh! I see! Josh likey!…" the other brother nodded, narrowing his eyes.

"Here, Meghan. I hope you like your stupid ice cream." Drake said with irritation in his voice, as he played along with his own plan. "I'm sure I will, boob." she remarked back, glaring and taking the bowl. Drake and Josh stepped quickly back in to the kitchen. "Watch this, Josh… she'll start yelling any moment now." Drake chuckled, waiting for only a moment before they both heard it.

"AHHH! DRAKE! JOSH!" she screamed, louder than ever. "DRAKE--JOSH--GET IN HERE NOW!" Drake and Josh had to suppress the laughter and hide their deep smiles, composing themselves before stepping in to the living room. "What's the matter?" "What is it?" the two boys asked, both pasting the faux worried look on their expressions as they ran up to the couch. "Okay. Which of you idiots put barbeque sauce in my ice cream!" she barked in a deep, earth-shattering tone. "What!" Drake exclaimed, "Barbeque sauce?" "Yes, moron, that is what I said." she snarled. "I guess I must have accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle out of the 'fridge when I went to get the chocolate topping! I was talking to Josh and I just didn't realize--" The very angry girl interrupted him with out one inkling of shame: "You had better pray on your knees that it was an accident, Drake Parker. Do you hear me!" "I didn't mean to." Drake shrugged, innocently. She grabbed the bowl off of the coffee table top and stomped to the kitchen. Josh and his brother could hear the hugely loud clang of the plastic bowl hitting the steel sink as she threw it in and stomped back out from the tiny room. "I'm going to my room." she growled, pausing to wave a finger in the air: "And if either of you nuts cases try to get in up there, you're dead. Remember that and remember it with every fiber of each of your pathetic little beings." With that morbid thought she left them and was gone.

Drake and Josh treasured that tiny victory for the rest of the afternoon and couldn't even stop for five minutes hardly, with out starting to talk about it again, once more. They laughed about it and sat around watching tv and eating junk food until around four pm. Then it happened.

Drake was sitting with his step brother, leisurely as they both watched a re-run of "Millionaire" and chewed on a few pieces of black licorice from Drake's infamous candy stash. They were reveling in the thought of actually having been able to pull a effective prank on the un prank able. Though small as putting Barbeque sauce in her ice cream was, it was something they both felt very proud of. Drake took his eyes away from the television set just long enough to glance at Josh and remark on the "obvious" answer of the question that the contestant was supposed to be answering. But when he was half way through his sentence, he suddenly stopped speaking, flinging a hand to the top of his head quickly and wearing a surprised face. "Josh… am I loosing it?" he asked quickly. "Well, I don't know! Why?" his brother quipped. "Well… what I mean is, would I be considered insane if I suddenly keep feeling drops of water plopping down on my head?" "Umm… probably I would say… yes." Josh laughed, but then abruptly cutting it out with a look of startled shock: "Or I'm loosing it too!"

They looked over at each other and then simultaneously bending back to stare up at the ceiling. When they saw what was there to behold them, they both gasped, their chins nearly dropping to the floor. Both brothers scrambled up from the couch and jumped across the room and through the hall, up the stairs. "Meghan! What have you done!" Drake shouted as the two reached the bathroom.

Water was over-flowing out of the already full bath-tub and sinking through the flimsy calk in between the tile on the floor, now covered in half an inch of water. "MEGHAN!" they both shouted. She came from her room and when she got to the edge of the bathroom, she just glared at them: "Now why did you guys do that! There's going to even be water downstairs, now!" "You know good and well that we had nothing to do with this, you little--" She once again cut Josh off with a devious smirk: "I'd turn off the water if I were you."

Both boys eyes got big and they almost tripped over each other on the slippery floor, ask the both darted for the faucet. After their feat of controlling the faucet was completed, Meghan looked at them after a silent moment and said: "I'd get some paper towels, If I were you." "Well if you were me, you'd want to put your hands around your neck!" Drake snapped, with a deeply annoyed tone, making her scurry from the doorway. "You know, she's right… we're definitely gonn'a be needing some paper towels and--" Drake glared at Josh, making his halt his words. "Don't talk." his brother replied slowly, grabbing a towel from the counter and throwing it to the floor in disgust and stepping on it to soak up the liquid. But he didn't need to step on it-- the instant it hit the floor, it was filled with water.

"Megh-AN!" Drake's highly agitated voice screamed. She slowly walked back in to the room with an evil smile, but dropped it before she stepped inside. "What?" "Get some paper towels, PRONTO!" Drake said. "Why should I do that?" she frowned. "Because if you don't I'm going to get the scissors and show you how I style hair!" Drake exclaimed, with the scariest face Meghan had ever seen him make. She ran out of the room to get paper towels, but not because she was afraid of him. Just so that she could save up his trust. Then later she'd pull something big.

A minute or two later, she appeared in the door way once more: "Here." Drake watched as she threw two paper towels in to the standing water on the floor, making them instantly sopping wet. Drake let out a growl and Josh restrained him from coming after her. "Thanks, Meghan." Josh replied with a bit of sarcasm: "Be useful and tell me what time it is." She rolled her eyes and looked down at her watch, clicking a tiny button. "Time is precisely four fifteen and forty five seconds." the automated, digital voice spoke. Drake and Josh looked at each other in confusion for a moment and then looked back at the watch, shrugging after a little while. They began to both soak up the water on the floor with towels, but the suddenly Drake gasped and looked up, jumping up from the floor: "Did you say four fifteen!" Meghan glared at him and said with deep sarcasm in her voice: "No, my watch said it, ya' boob." "Whatever! Josh, go down and look at the notepad on the refrigerator and see what time Meghan has to be at soccer!" he exclaimed, turning to his brother. "Okay!" Josh said, standing up slowly and walking from the room. "RUN!" Drake yelled. "Runnin'!" Josh gasped, taking off down the stairs.

"Drake! Drake!" Josh screamed a few minutes later running full speed up those same steps. "What!" Drake exclaimed, jumping up from the floor and running out in to the hall. "Drake!" Josh panted, bending down for a moment to catch his breath as he reached his brother. "Josh, what? What!" Drake repeated, grabbing his brother by the shoulders, frantically. "We have to be there at four forty five!" Josh gasped. "What!" he yelped, his eyes growing big. "FOUR FORTY FIVE!" the brother said, loudly, but barely getting it out before a shrill, blood-chilling scream shattered through the air and Drake took off back toward the bathroom.

Josh followed and when the two reached the doorway, they moaned. Meghan had fallen in to the still-full bathtub and was soaking wet from head to toe. Not to mention that her heavy impact in the water when she fell, caused a water fall to rush over the edge of the tub and drench the almost-dry floor fully. The two brothers stood still, just staring with wide-open mouths.

"Ugh…" Meghan moaned with a cracking voice: "Get me out of here, guys!" Josh and Drake rushed over and yanked her out of the bathtub and they pushed her in to her room: "Dry off and get in to your soccer uniform, quick, Meghan." Drake said, grabbing Josh and yanking him in to the hall. Before Josh stepped in to the bathroom, he paused in the door way and looked back at Drake with a confused frown: "Drake?" "Yeah?" "Did she just call us 'guys'?" Drake sighed and pushed his brother through the door and left him to go down stairs to get the mop and a few bath towels.

He grabbed the items and was running through the living room, about to slip in to the hall and up the stairs, but he quickly stopped in his tracks at the sound of the phone ringing. "Oh no…" he moaned, turning on his heel and hurrying over to the ringing object. He set down the towels and the mop that he had, on the table and picked up the phone: "…Hello?"

"Hey, Dwake! It's Wynn." came the unexpected answer. "Oh, no, no, no…" Drake murmured. "You say something, dear?" Lyn asked. "What--! Um, no… I said--nothing. What did you call me?" Drake said in reply, quickly. "Dear. Why? Is there a probwem with that?" she replied in a syrupy sweet tone. "Umm… look, I really--" Drake began to make his excuse to leave, but she cut him off: "Oh, Dwake…" she paused to giggle girlishly and then went on: "I know what your twying to say… I wike you too. A wot. And if you wike me wike I wike you… then how abowt--"

"DRAAAAAKE!" Josh's voice yelled helplessly to the top of his lungs. Drake, without thinking, and being incredibly happy to have an excuse to get off of the phone, hung up and raced up the stairs. "DRAAAKE! AAHH! DRAKE!" his brother shouted loudly. Running in the general direction of the screaming and other noises, Drake reached Meghan's room and threw open the door to find Josh tied to the bar in her closet. Looking over at her, he rushed in to the room and over to Josh and began to un-tie him: "Meghan, this is no time to be tying Josh to your closet! You can do it later when we have time!"

Josh glared ask Drake ripped his bonds loose, and exclaimed: "Drake!" "What time is it?" Drake gasped, tired from running up the stairs. "Four twenty seven!" Josh yelped in reply after looking at his watch. "Crap! Come on, Meghan!" Josh's brother said, reaching out and grabbing her arm, dragging her down the hall and stairs, with the other brother not far behind. "Um, Drake!" Meghan exclaimed, ripping her arm from her brother: "Hel-lo!" "What!" came the exasperated reply. "My hair is WET!" Meghan exclaimed. "So?" "So it's not dry!" she complained, rolling her eyes as Drake snatched up his car keys and wallet from the table. "Deal with it!" he said, shrugging and pulling her and her step brother across the living room and out the garage door.

He jumped over in the driver's seat and hardly waited for anyone to get buckled in to their seats before squealing out of the cement drive-way. "Dude, Drake, PLEASE be careful driving. I don't want you in another wreck and now even Meghan's in the car." Josh warned, watching the speedometer rise quickly past sixty miles an hour. "Man, it's okay! I got it all under control." Drake said, settling down in his seat. "Well, good… because we have to be there in ten minutes." Josh added. Just then, his teenage brother's cell phone began to ring. "Oh, great." Drake muttered, closing his eyes for a split second and then grabbing up the phone.

"Yeah?" he spoke in to it, wearily. "Hi, Drake. How's my guy feeling today?" "Anita? Hi! I'm so glad it's you. I'm alright. I'd be… better if you were here." "Oh, boy!" Josh moaned, slapping his forehead in annoyance at Drake's manner. "Be quiet, spaz." Drake whispered to Josh. This made Meghan laugh and she scuffed up her brother's hair from behind him: "Good boy." "She's taught you well, hasn't she?" Josh said to Drake with narrowed eyes. "HUSH!" Meghan hissed, giving his seat a swift kick, making him moan an "Oww".

"Of course I miss you… I haven't seen you in almost five days!" Drake smiled. "…And?" Josh said underneath his breath. "Aww, no. You're sweet." Drake's step brother bit his lip and crossed his arms, trying with all his might to restrain himself from acting out in irritation. Of all the times to be flirting it up with his girlfriend, Drake picked NOW! When they had to be at soccer practice in like five minutes!

"Me? Oh, I'm not really doing anything right now. Aww… really? …Well--" Josh couldn't hold it back any longer. He grabbed Drake's cell from his ear and before his brother could react, he held it to his own and said: "Well, Drake's got to go, BYE!" And with that, he hung up.

"Josh! WHY DID--" "Turn left, boob!" Meghan exclaimed, also treating Drake to an ample kick in the seat. He stopped his yelling and turned the left so quick that the tired squealed. "Gosh, Drake, what is your problem! You're driving like that could get us all killed or--" "I don't need a lecture, Josh!" Drake muttered, turning again in to the San Diego Park's parking lot, near the playing field.

Forty-five minutes later, Drake and Josh were still sitting on the bleachers, watching Meghan practice with the rest of the team. "Uhh…" Drake shivered, wrapping his light jacket tighter around himself: "Is this ever going to end?" "Aww, Drake, don't be such a complainer. It will only last maybe fifteen or twenty more minutes and then you can go back home and continue on… stuffing your face with potato chips or whatever you do." Drake mumbled a groan under his breath and then hunched over, drawing the coat tighter around his body: "Okay, fine, Mr. Video Games, we're even! …Weirdo. If I ever stopped 'stuff my face', that'd be the day you'd start working out, which apparently will never happen!"

And suddenly, from almost no where, a soccer ball came flying and with a loud "smack", it plowed right in to Drake's head, knocking his backwards, off the seat and back on to the bleacher's floor behind him. "HAHA! Serves you right, Mr. Patata Head!" Josh replied, "And next time why don't ya just—" He suddenly flew back and like Drake, landed on the ground between the seats as another soccer ball rolled around beside him. Drake let out a some what injured but amused laugh and said: "Who's laughin' now, Super Mario?"

Before Josh could reply with a growl, the laughter of a familiar young girl's voice filled the air. Both boys stood up and looked at each other, muttering a "Meghan!" The girl tilted her head briefly to the side in a taunting manner and then ran back off to finish practice. "Why in the world did we EVER think Meghan would be good, again!" Josh asked quickly. "I don't even want to think about it. I guess she's just evil to the core." "And bad ta the bone." Josh sang in a deep, sing-song tone. "Yeah. Fish gott'a swim, birds gott'a fly. And Meghan's gott'a… be Meghan and torment us until we die." Drake sighed, crossing his arms and resuming his seat on the bench. "A-men." Josh nodded, sitting down beside his brother and then whispering to him: "And Lo'd help us for the rest of the day and a half alone with her."