Yuma passes me a vanilla ice cream cone, the flavor I asked for. Tori, Rei, Bronk, Rio, Caswell, Flip, Cat, and even Shark came along for ice cream. We all sit down at circular tables to eat.

I stare down at my cone. I have never eaten ice cream before. It must be cold, since it has 'ice' in its name. But it must taste smooth, because there is 'cream' in its name.

"Here's how you eat ice cream, Astral." Yuma says. He is sitting across from me. "You have to eat it really fast, otherwise it'll melt. And you can lick it or bite it— your choice. You can eat the cone, too, when you finish the ice cream."

Okay,
I think. How hard can it be?


Oooh… Five minutes later, I fall backwards out of my chair. My head feels frozen.

Tori comes back with more napkins. She sets them down on the table, then looks around with a confused expression. "Where's Astral?"

"Down there." Yuma points to me, where I am sitting up with my hand pressed to my forehead.

"My head hurts…" I moan.

"Brain freeze?" Bronk guesses.

"What did you tell him, Yuma?!"
Tori yells in his ear.

"Oww…Tori, not so loud…" Yuma mumbles. "I just told him how to eat ice cream."

"Yeah, but the wrong way!" Tori yells even louder, causing Yuma to fall out of his chair.

"I don't like ice cream very much…" I murmur.

Human Observation Number 1: Do not listen to Yuma when he tells you how to eat ice cream.


I pull a large T-shirt over my head, and then some pajama pants. Since this human transformation has not worn off, I'll be sleeping in a bed tonight.

Yuma walks into the room, drying himself off with a towel. "You should have told me that you didn't know how to take a shower…" he mutters.

I shrug.

Footsteps sound in the hallway; Kari. Yuma tiptoes over to the door and opens it a crack. Without turning his head, he waves his hand, telling me to come over watch with him.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Ssshh!"

We silently watch as Kari turns the doorknob into the bathroom and pushes the door open. Her eyes widen to the size of saucers. Before she can even scream a torrent of water gushes forth and sweeps off her feet, carrying her all the way down the stairs.

Yuma cracks up and leans on me for support, holding his sides. "That was great!" he exclaims through his laughter. "Did you see the look on her face?" He mimics it, and the two of us laugh. "Hey," he says, stopping suddenly. "I think that's the first time I've heard you laugh."

I don't know how to respond. The sound of sodden footsteps distracts us. "YUMA!" Kari shrieks angrily. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU AND YOUR FRIEND! WHY ON EARTH WAS THERE WATER FOUR FEET DEEP IN THAT BATHROOM?!"

We only laugh even harder. Acting quickly, Yuma locks the door. Kari tries to open it. She even tries ramming into it, but nothing works. We both let out a sigh of relief simultaneously, thinking we are safe.

It is too soon to feel secure. The door suddenly breaks off, zooming into the room while passing by only inches from our faces. Yuma and I bite our tongues to keep ourselves from laughing at the sight of Kari soaking wet and steaming mad. Instead I look sideways at Yuma. "Now would be a good time to run for our lives."

"Yes, let's." Yuma agrees.

We both make a break for the window.


The ice cream-brain freeze was thanks to "Durbe the Barian". So, Thank you!

The showering idea was another genius idea from my sister. Thank you again! :)