Chapter two! Thanks to the reviewers, Karenkook, EppopinkfangirlXDXDXD(I likey; don't know if I'll change the title though), and Kukipye (yes, Julien and Josh are different families.)! So on we go.

When They Came

Chapter Two: December 30

Skipper was dragging his best friend, Private, down the stairs.

"Skipper, why do you need to know about the new neighbors?" he asked.

"Because last time we got new neighbors, it didn't end well. Remember?" The last people who moved into the building turned out to be criminals in hiding.

"Well, what's Alice going to tell us? She doesn't exactly like us." Private said.

"Alice isn't going to tell us anything." Skipper stopped dragging Private when they reached the landing after the first staircase. The perfect place for spying on lobby-goers. Skipper took out a pair of toy binoculars and focused on Alice's desk.

"She's gotta leave sometime." he muttered. Private looked on.

Eventually Alice stopped looking over her paperwork and got up to go to the back room. Skipper and Private stepped down the stairs and, as quietly as they could, snuck behind Alice's desk to look at the papers. Skipper climbed up onto Alice's chair.

"All it says on here are which apartments were rented out. 7B, 7D, and 7F." Skipper said.

"I guess 3 families must all be moving together." Private said, always the one to be the voice of reason.

"Or a great big group of spies."

Private sighed. Skipper was far too paranoid.

"Hold on, it has some names." Skipper said, looking at the papers underneath. On the piece of paper for 7B was the name Eric Lemkus. On the paper for 7D was the name Julien Ringers. And the paper for 7F read Lauren Ayein.

"Lemkus, Ringers, Ayein. Remember that, Private." Skipper said.

"Hey!" Both boys turned around to find a very angry looking Alice. "What do you two think you're doing back here?" She shooed them out from behind her desk. "You better not have messed with these papers."

"When are these people moving in?" Private asked, before Skipper slapped him.

"You don't just ask her!" Skipper harshly whispered.

"January 2nd, now both of you get out of my lobby before I call your mothers."

Neither boy really wanted to have their mother called, so they reluctantly walked to the elevator and pressed the 'up' button. The elevator came and they stepped inside.

"January 2nd is only four days away." Skipper said as soon as the elevator doors closed. "We need more information.

Private sighed again. This was going to be a long four days.

Julien quietly sat on one of the logs surrounding the fire. He watched as Josh, who sat on the other side of the fire, whispered into his girlfriend's ear. Lisa was always here. Julien liked her, but it utterly disgusted him when she and Josh started kissing. Luckily, they weren't doing that right now.

Maurice was sitting next to him, and was starting to nod off. He had been falling asleep really early lately; Julien didn't know why. Maurice's little sister, Kylie, and Mort, Josh's little brother, were fast asleep in their mothers' laps. Julien wasn't close to falling asleep. Not with the fact that it would be the last night in his own bed.

He looked to his right and gazed at the house he had lived in all his life. The house he would be leaving tomorrow.

It wasn't that big a house. It had three rooms, two of them small and one of them large. The front room, the one you were in when you came in the front door, was the bedroom Julien, Maurice, and Josh shared. The next room was sort of a hallway. It didn't have much of a purpose. The last room, in the back of the house, was the large room. All the adults, plus Mort and Kylie, slept in there.

The sky seemed particularly beautiful tonight. The stars- he loved to just gaze at them. He was told that when they got to New York, he wouldn't be able to see them very well, because of all the muggy air and the bright lights blocking out the sky. He wouldn't believe that until he saw it.

It amazed Julien how he had explored so much of the jungle, yet there was so much more of it that he hadn't. It was hard to believe that New York was all buildings, and barely any trees. He was looking forward to this "Central Park" the adults kept going on about. It was supposed to be beautiful, but Julien didn't think anything could be more gorgeous than what was around him right now.

Julien thought back to the day before, when he had insisted that they mark the house as theirs' so no one could take it.

"Hey Dad, what if after we leave, someone finds our empty house and moves in?" Julien asked his father, two days away from the move.

"What use would we have for the house after we move to New York?"

"We'll want to come back and visit, will we not?"

"That never occurred to me, actually."

"Dad!"

Julien was still trying to convince his father not to move, but if he couldn't have that, he was willing to settle for visits every now and then. His father rolled his eyes and continued eating his banana.

"Well, we have to mark the house somehow." Julien said, tossing his banana peel at Mort.

"Mark the house?" Maurice asked him.

"Yes! Of course! We need to make sure anyone who tries to move in knows that they can not because it is still being ours!"

"Julien, it's not like you can sign the house or anything like that." Josh told him.

"Actually," Julien's father said. "That's not a bad idea."

Josh raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

1 hour later

There was now a hole in the ground off to the side of the front door. Julien's father was pouring in cement. "Alright, kids," he said, tossing the bag aside. "This is what we're gonna do. You're gonna make a hand print in the concrete, then sign your names with this here stick. That way, the house will always be ours."

Josh thought this was stupid, but Julien was all for it. While he was reluctant to put his hand in the sticky wet cement, the fact that the house was theirs' forever on was worth it. He laid his hand in the cement. He took the pointy stick from his father and carefully wrote Julien D. Ringers XIII under his print. He handed the stick to Maurice and quickly went to rinse his hand. Very thoroughly. And screaming "Ewie ewie ewie ewie!" all the way to the water.

When he came back, Josh's hand print was on the right of his own and Maurice's on the left. Next to Josh's was Mort's, and Kylie's was next to Maurice's, their ages printed along with their names. Julien quickly took the stick and added "age 8" to his. The four adults had done the same thing in another hole on the opposite side of the front door. This reassured Julien that no one could take his house, but he still had butterflies flying all around his stomach.

"I think it's bedtime." Mort's mother said. She picked up her youngest son and carried him into the house, Maurice's mother following with Kylie.

Julien looked back up to the sky. He had decided long ago, when he was first told they were moving, that Madagascar was too good a place to leave. But now he knew he had to do something about it. No one was making him leave his beloved home.

No one.

So hopfully I'm not failing here. Please let me know if I am. All reviews are appreciated! Maybe since this is my next big story besides my first one, I should give out cookies again. Even though they're virtual and worthless. Anyway, you know what to do! Click those words below! :)