Only one review for chapter two? That's not very reassuring. Oh well, thanks to EppopinkfangirlXDXDXD for reviewing! I can always count on you. :) To chapter three!

When They Came

Chapter Three: December 31

Skipper was in hiding. In hiding behind the counter in his kitchen, that is.

Most people thought he was upset when his parents were out because he missed them or something. But that wasn't the case. Not at all. Skipper didn't like it when they left because that meant he was left with his older sister Riley. Normally, he could tolerate her. But when she had three of her friends over and they were blasting their loud music at full volume, that's when it became unbearable.

Skipper quickly got up from where he was sitting on the floor and went to the coat rack next to the door. He grabbed his earmuffs and put them on. Much better.

Skipper found a piece of paper and a pencil and sat back down on the floor. He began drawing up his plan for what he, Kowalski, Rico, and Private would do when the new neighbors arrived. If they were anywhere near as creepy as the last ones...

Skipper felt his earmuffs being pulled off his head. He looked up to see them dangling from the hand of his sister.

"You do know we're inside, right?" Riley asked him.

"I was trying to drown out the noise you were all making, but I see now that it's unnecessary." Skipper picked his things up and made a strategic retreat to his room. If he had to spend his New Year's Eve alone in his room, then so be it.

"Julien, why are you in a tree?"

Julien looked down to see Maurice looking at him from the ground. "Because we can not move if I am in a tree!"

Maurice rolled his eyes before walking away from the tree.

"Hey, where are you going?" Julien yelled. "Don't be leaving me here alone!"

"I'm coming back!" Maurice shouted back at him. Julien could no longer see him. He sat back against his tree, which he had cleverly named "The Me Tree", and gazed through the leaves into the sunny sky. No one was making him move. Not today, not never. Never! They couldn't leave without him, and if he just stayed in the tree the rest of his life, then they would never move. Right? Right.

Maurice came back ten minutes later with Julia and Jade.

Julia and Jade Parker were Julien and Maurice's best friends. They were twin sisters, only differing slightly in appearance. Julia had lighter blond hair and green eyes, and Jade had more dirty blond hair and blue eyes.

"All right, you ding dong, why are you in a tree?" Jade yelled. She didn't have a very strong liking for Julien.

"Because!" Julien called back, as if it should be obvious. "They can not be leaving without me, and if I do not come down from the tree, then we can not leaving at all!"

"That's actually a pretty good idea," Julia agreed. She didn't want the boys to leave anymore than they did.

"I don't think it's gonna work," Maurice said.

"No one cares what you think, Maurice." Julien told him. "They only care what I think, because I am the king!"

"If they cared so much what you thought, you wouldn't be moving," Jade muttered.

"I don't think he's coming down anytime soon." Julia said, so that Julien could not here from all the way up in the tree.

"I'm fine with that," Jade said. "If he's up there, than he can't be annoying."

"I heard that!" Julien yelled.

"Or maybe he can," Jade said.

"Julien, will you at least come down to a lower branch so we don't have to keep yelling?" Julia called up to him. Julien reluctantly jumped from branch to branch down the tree until he was about ten feet up from the ground.

"You can't stay up there forever," Maurice told him.

"Sure I can."

"What are you going to eat?" Julia asked him.

"I have plenty of mangoes up here." Julien had chosen a mango tree to sit in.

"What will you drink?" Jade asked.

"The mango juice, duh!" Julien told her. 'Sheesh, do girls know anything?' he thought.

"Well, what if your dad just comes and carries you down?" Maurice asked.

"He can not climb down a tree and carry me at the same time, now can he?" Julien said, smirking.

Suddenly, the four kids heard the familiar sounds of someone stepping through the jungle. The annoying and bossy Josh Lemkus, everybody.

"Hey, midgets, we're almost ready to head out." Josh looked up to see Julien looking down. "Okay, why is he in a tree?"

"He says that you guys can't leave without him, so that if he stays in the tree, then you can't move." Julia explained to him.

Josh looked back at the eight-year-old in the tree. "That's probably the only sensible plan you've ever come up with in your life." he told Julien.

"Thank you!"

"But you know someone could just come up and carry you down, right?"

"You can't climb down and carry me at the same time! Why is no one understanding this?"

Josh then climbed up to the low branch that Julien was sitting on.

"Hey, what are you doing? Be getting away!" Julien tried to run, but that's difficult when you're in a tree. Josh quickly picked Julien up and jumped down from the tree. He set the young boy on the ground before smirking.

Julien looked up to where he had just been sitting and then back at Josh. He glared. "I hate you."

Okie dokie, you know what to do. And I'd greatly appreciate more than one review *hint hint!*. :)