Chapter Eleven
Sarah bit her lip as she scribbled something down on paper. "Hey, Nora!" she called behind her shoulder. "How many chocolate fountains do we want?" But it was Silas who answered, popping out of the pool that was shaped like a giant TV.
"We decided on one dark, three milk chocolate, remember?" "Oh, yeah" Sarah said as she erased something and checked off a box.
Marcus hesitated a moment before jumping off the diving board to say, "This is a surprise party, right?" Nora, who was drinking a soda while reading a book, rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Duh. We don't want him to know. That's why we've been playing pranks on him all week." Marcus scratched the top of his forehead. "Oh, yeah. I wondered why we did that."
Nora rolled her eyes again. "You are the stupidest brother ever." "Yes!!!" cheered Silas, and Marcus sprang off the diving board onto him. They disappeared under the water.
Sarah took off her sunglasses, stretched, and ran into the pool, yelling "PLATINUM-COATED EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL BULLET THINGY!!!"
Milo raised an eyebrow. She turned to look at him after she had resurfaced, and replied, "What? It's cooler than saying 'Cannonball.'"
Then there was a call from inside the Palace. "Kids, somebody's here asking for you." Sarah jumped out of the pool and yelled, "What do they look like?" "Well, there's a giant cart in the driveway with the words, 'Party Equipment Inc.' on it."
"That would be for me," Sarah answered. "Can you just sign my name on the clipboard thingy? Thanks, Mum." And with that she did another 'PLATINUM-COATED EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL BULLET THINGY' into the pool.
Meanwhile, a certain black-haired boy was just coming out of the Wizard Tower with a nod to the few people who were entering it. He turned onto a street and pulled out a little notebook. He bit his lip, and put it back in his pocket. Koran was on a mission.
He entered the Manuscriptorium with a set jaw. He grinned as he saw who was at the front desk. It was a kid around Koran's age, with dark brown, spiky hair, and blue eyes. His name was Myder. "Hey, Koran" Myder greeted him. "Whaddya need?" "Oh, I'm looking for a book on training dragons." "Why?" asked Myder, after jumping out of his seat and leading Koran into the back rooms. "Oh, my mentor's dragon's been a bit out of it for a while, and I'm getting into the Training of Animals stage in my training."
Koran had known Myder ever since he had become the Apprentice. They had gotten to be good friends, but since Myder was so busy all the time, the others hadn't met him yet. "Hey, I forgot to mention: one of the RRs was in here earlier." Koran started. "Who?" "Well, I don't know all their names, but he had black hair like you, but it was a lot shorter. He had green eyes. And hey, you're one of them now, right? I heard they're insane."
Koran loyally defended his friends. "They're not insane—well, not all of them. They're pretty cool. Its just Sarah who can be insane sometimes. And that was Milo who came in. What did he want?" "Oh, I think he wanted a chocolate Charm. He said he was going to turn those giant concrete blocks by the Palace into chocolate, seeing as nobody's ever going to use them. He also said he was gonna have a party, and that—oh, wait, never mind, we're here."
"Wait a mi—did he say when the party was?" persisted Koran as Myder grabbed a book that was green and growling. "Yeah, but I can't say" said Myder with a grin. "Oh come on!" Koran protested. "It's a surprise." "Hmmmph" he grumbled, and took the book. "Thanks, Myder." "Anytime, O Apprentice" said Cyder with a mock bow.
Koran decided to figure out when this party was and why he wasn't informed of it earlier. He was just walking down the way to the Palace when he turned a corner and ran right into someone.
"Ow! Good *&^%, Koran, what are you doing, walking into people like that?" growled Sarah as she pulled herself up. Koran raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware you were allowed to say that word." "Hey, since when have we followed the rules? Oh yeah, do you know where Rian is? I need to talk to him." "Ummm…no." "Dang." Suddenly, her phone rang.
She pulled it out, looked at the caller ID, and groaned. She out it to her ear and hissed, "This isn't a good time, Marcus. Shut up, shut up, he's right next to me! Yes, glad that finally got across." Then, louder, she said, "Call me back later." Then she quickly turned her phone off and shoved it in her pockets. "Stupid salesmen."
Koran rolled his eyes. Something was being hidden from him, and he thought it had something to do with a party.
"Whatever. I was going back to the Wizard Tower." "Oh, hey, would you do me a favor?" asked Sarah. Without waiting for a response, she handed him a folded slip of paper. "Just hand this to the guy at the store at the end of the street. Thanks."
As she took off back to the Palace, Koran found himself watching her. Feeling odd for a moment, he shook his head and walked into a wall.
Sarah snorted as she saw him run into the wall, and then kept sprinting to the Palace. It so ended up that she ran into Milo. "Geez, everyone is having coordination problems today. So, how'd it go?" Milo grinned. "He's gonna lead him into it. Smooth as silk." "Well, I ran into him back there"—Sarah pointed behind her—"and I think he's a little suspicious." Sarah shrugged. "Meh. It doesn't matter, too much."
Milo checked his watch and his eyebrows leapt like little jumping beans. "Holy FRICK, look at the time! The party starts at six and it's already 5:00! Let's MOVE!!"
Koran walked into the store called, "Karaoke Limited." Oh, yes, everyone, let's give Sarah a prize for subtlety.
He handed the paper to the guy at the front desk. "From the Heap family." The guy looked at it, nodded, and said, "The thing's out back, unless you want it delivered." "Um, delivered, please," said Koran. To his disappointment, the guy just nodded and bent back down over his work; obviously the address was on the paper. Koran left.
When he walked out, he bumped into someone. "Oof! Oh, hello Myder." "Yo, Koran, I was wondering if you'd like to go hang out at the arcade for a while. I heard from some kid that you were here and I have a ticket for 100 free tokens." Koran's eyes popped open and a wide grin split his face. "Where the HECK did you get that, man?" Myder smirked. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, my friend."
Rian was watching them from behind a bush. He nodded briefly, and then hissed into a walkie-talkie, "Nair to Sucram, Narok has left the building. All is going as planned, and Myder is putting up quite a good act." There was a crackle of static, and then a new voice came on. "How many times, Nair?! You call everyone their name backwards!" "Well, I'm sorry, but I don't know how to pronounce 'Redym', Sarah." "You just did!"
About 45-50 minutes later…
"Come on, Koran, one of your friends asked me to show you something because they were busy" said Myder, tugging Koran on the sleeve. Koran slurped his Mr. Pibb and burped. "Sure."
They ran to the Palace and Myder scratched his head as they entered one of the living rooms. "Huh, they said they'd be here. Let's go look." They headed off to look in all the different rooms.
Sarah checked her watch. "Okay, people" she said, turning to the giant crowd that had turned up: their 17-year-old cousins, their parents and Uncle Sep, all the RRs, of course, Rack, Rian, their friends, their cousins friends, all the friends of the friends, and a bunch of other various relatives. A band had also showed up: they had electric and acoustic guitar, drums, keyboard, synthesizer, base, a lead singer, and three backup singers who were playing three of the guitars.
Then Myder's head poked in. He winked, and whispered, "He's coming." Sarah nodded to Silas, who was up on the rafters ready to hook up the lights, and to Ryou, who was by the door. She turned off the lights. Milo was standing by a switch that would turn on the disco ball. Sarah rushed over to whisper to the band, "When he comes in, start playing something really party-ish and cool, kay?" The lead singer nodded and he handed out sheets of music.
Myder then walked in, saying loudly, "Come on, Koran, maybe they're in here." The black-haired boy entered and at that exact moment, Silas plugged the lights in, Milo flipped the switch, and everyone yelled, "WELCOME TO THE PACK!!"
Koran fell over in surprise. With another switch flip, the disco dance floor turned on, and the disco ball started spinning. The band struck up a good beat and when Koran got up, his jaw dropped in amazement. Once everyone had walked up and congratulated him, they started dancing or eating, or just chatting with friends. The band was singing in the background.
Why you gotta treat me like I'm a low down dirty
Climbin' up on thirty
Dress like a kid to make me feel young punk
And talk junk
You musta fell out of your bunk
And smacked your head
Or your face or somethin'
Koran had exactly 3.4 seconds to look around, before someone gave him a noogie.
I don't need nobody flyin' in my jet stream
Take the bus
Go on and get yourself your own dream
"Didn't think you'd ever make it this far" said Marcus with a grin. "Nobody else has" added Nora. Koran grinned back at the five RRs—no, the other five RRs. "Aw, guys, you didn't have to hire a band." Milo shrugged, and Sarah said, "We wanted to."
'Cause this is my own life keepin' me down
Where I wanna be in my private nation
I'm alone all thinkin' life's a phone call
Here for just a while when in my private nation
You can ride or you can go
He saw that she was standing on the ridge around a pillar. Koran walked over to her and held out a hand. "Truce?"
Why you gonna step on shoes
When you don't know who's been in 'em
Have you ever been more than a bump
On a rock that likes to roll
In the middle of a soup bowl in the sky
Use your eyes
It's all you got till you die
She considered it for a moment, then smiled and shook. "Truce." With that, she jumped off and Rian came over.
I don't need nobody flyin' in my jet stream
Take the bus
Go on and get yourself your own dream
"Congrats" he said to Koran. The younger kid nodded. "It won't be long until it's your turn" he told Rian.
'Cause this is my own life keepin' me down
Where I wanna be in my private nation
I'm alone all thinkin' life's a phone call
Here for just a while when in my private nation
Rian's eyes popped. "You mean I have to go through all that torture too??!!" Sarah laughed. "Heck no. Koran just needed to do it because he's the head honcho apprentice and all."
You can ride on, it ain't free
Leave a light on, so you can see
How to get back when you go
How to get, how to give
How to make ends meet
How to lose, how to win
How to stay on the seat
How to use momentum to keep the two wheels straight
How to wait after it feels like you waited so long
As Koran regarded his friends, he realized something. All my life, I've been sad that I never had a family, and then I found out that they weren't anything to be proud of anyway. Well…
I don't need nobody flyin' in my jet stream
Take the bus
Go on and get yourself your own dream
Koran grabbed some glasses of soda off of a passing waiter, handed one to each RR plus Rian, and raised his glass. "For the Royal Rambles, friends, and pranking our butts off."
This is my own life keepin' me down
Where I wanna be in my private nation
I'm alone all thinkin' life's a phone call
Here for just a while when in my private nation
As they all clinked their glasses, he thought, …if I had known, when I was 10, that in 3 years I would have a family, I would have said that was crazy. But this…
This is my own life keepin' me down
Where I wanna be in my generation
I'm alone all thinkin' life's a phone call
Here for just a while when in my private nation
His gaze rested on each of them. This is my family now.
You can ride on, it ain't free
Leave a light on, so you can see
How to get back when you go
And with that, they partied till dawn.
A/N: Wow, that ending was pretty cheesy, but I felt that I had to type that. This chapter, like all others, is dedicated to my reviewers: thank you, guys!
The next chap will actually continue the party for about half of it, then...CLASSIFIED!
Until the next time, remember reviews are 3, Wolf |-D