I'm sorry it's been so long since I've added more chapters. I've been kind of distracted. First there was band camp. Then I had summer reading to finish (which I've given up on and I'm dropping down to regular English rather than trying to take AP, since to do that I would also have to either drop Symphonic band-not gonna happen-or take AP Statistics-also, not gonna happen), and then my younger brother was admitted to the hospital on Monday with an antibiotic-resistant strain of MRSA. He was just discharged today. The swelling's almost completely gone and the infectious diseases team finally found an antibiotic he can take with it that he's not allergic to, thank God.

Thank you, for your patience and enjoy!

Chapter 4: "Off We Go Into the Commercial Market! Zoom, We're Off to Buy Sora Clothes!"

Well…We did get into trouble, after Sora fell asleep on the couch. "Why'd you give him Care Bears?" Yada, yada, yada. I love my mom, but she worries too much. Sora obviously didn't care, so Anna and I—more me, really—didn't see any harm done. What? It was funny! I'm not naturally a crue—okay, so maybe I am. That's beside the point, dang it!

Anyway, for breakfast this morning Mom and Anna got up early—tried to get me up too, but it was an ungodly hour…like, eight in the morning, so I refused…rather colorfully—and made a Country/Yankee breakfast, which consisted of hash-browns, eggs (sunny-side, scrambled—they made them to order), French Toast, waffles, oatmeal with fruit, and—the thing that actually woke me up—the sweet, wonderful smell of…(wait for it)…BACON! (Mom put Anna up to it. I swear, the girl actually puts a limit on how much grease smell she'll inhale per day. She's a health freak…except when it comes to chocolate. Thank God for small miracles. I'm not unhealthy, but I'm not paranoid like my cousin. She actually has the small change to get the good stuff though…talk about a sore subject…)

That kid-Man, he can eat! The Gravity Defying Menace ate more than Dave, almost as much as Matt. All Mom could do was laugh. About twenty years ago, she might've been offended, but after her time in the army, I don't think anything could surprise her…except his hair… My mama's the HBIC!

After breakfast, Mom was staring at Sora's "genie pants," as I'd dubbed them the night before. "Boy, where on Earth did you get those?"

"You mean these?" he asked, pointing to said genie pants. He'd changed when he got up this morning. Mom had done a good enough patch-job that you could only tell they were damaged goods if you looked really closely. "Well, they were kind of custom made, I guess you could say."

Mom did the equivalent of a "facepalm," but with a soapy plate instead of her sudsy hand. "We need to get you some different clothes."

"Anna and I were already planning on that," I spoke up. "That is, assuming we can borrow the truck. Mike's coming home for the camping trip next week, and he said he'd drop off Anna's car by then."

Lexus piped up then. "What are we gunna do about Sora? Is he coming with us?"

Dave pretended to think. "Well…if he pitches in…carries his own stuff…and helps us to get Anna to jump, then sure he can come."

My cousin was gaping at him. "You monster!" she cried.

My stepdad just grinned. "Girl, you need to grow a backbone. You do well in a fight, but heights get you every time." Does he know something I don't?

"Yeah," Mama said, rubbing a towel over her now dry hands and bumping Anna with her hip. "Live on the edge a little bit!"

"Are you never going to let me live that down?"

"Nope," mom said, smiling evilly. "I'm going to bring it up at graduation next summer, and your eighteenth birthday party, and your wedding, and—"

"She gets the point, Mama!" I said, laughing. When Anna and I were about eleven years old, we'd been making strawberry cupcakes, just 'cause we wanted to. And Anna had brought up the debate about how it was "dangerous" to eat the batter because it had raw eggs in it. She tried it once, said it tasted powdery, and called it "living on the edge" and so not worth it. She blames me for the bad mixture. Sigh.

"Well," Matt said through a mouthful of eggs. "The mall is an hour away in morning traffic and the mall opened less than ten minutes ago. Plus, your mother's not getting any younger."

As my HBIC mama whacked him with a greasy spatula, I felt my eyes pop open with horror. "Oh, God." Anna looked just as frightened as I felt.

Together, we whispered "The crowds…"

"Is it really so bad?" Sora asked timidly. "Maybe we shouldn't go to this…'mall'…"

Anna's mouth fell open.

"You've never been to a mall?" I asked him, astonished.

"Uh, well, no. What is it, exactly?"

I grabbed my cousin's wrist and started pulling her towards our bedroom. "Mama, we're changing and then we're goin!"

True to my word, when we got back to the bedroom I threw Anna's favorite pair of jeans and a graphicT at her.

She looked at me incredulously. "Are you serious? Where did you even get this?" She showed me the shirt. It showed a glowing vanilla milkshake and three boys running over each other to get to it. Underneath the picture it stated simply "you know it."

"The back of your closet?"

"When and why was it there?"

"I put it in your suitcase when I was helping you pack for the Spanish trip. You bought it last year at spring break when your parents provided tickets for you, me, and a bunch of our friends to go to New Orleans without any adult supervision?" (Epic Uber Happiness!)

Anna shook her head, looking super confused. "I remember the trip…but I didn't buy this t-shirt."

"Uuuuuummm…Well, I didn't say you remembered it…"

"…Did Chris and Gary spike my drink again?" Anna asked as she pulled on her blue jeans.

Me. And. My. Big. Fat. Mouth.

I opened said mouth with a witty retort but it was lost in my throat. I was about to apologize for my friends' behavior (more out of guilt than feeling bad about it…) when my would-be words were drowned out by the terrible ruckus coming from the neighbors' house. I swear it sounded like a live cat in a blender…

The door burst open and Sora entered, hands over his ears. "What is that noise?" he asked.

Anna screamed and tried to pull on the milk shake shirt. It got caught on her glasses. (I almost always forgot she had them because the frames were almost the same color as her face.)

I sighed and pushed Sora out the door. "We'll be out in a minute. I've gotta play optometrist." Then I shut it in his face.

Within fifteen minutes we were ready to go out the door. I'm not bragging or anything, but it was a new record considering how much eyeliner I wear…which is not much, really, but I have to have it perfectly straight or after Anna notices her eye twitches the whole day.

"So where is—" Sora started to ask when Anna's cell phone rang.

"Hang on," she muttered, looking at the display. She flipped it open and smiled. "Hey, Kris.

"Uh-huh.

"Uh-huh.

"Uh-huh.

"Sure. You want us to meet you there or for me to pick you up?

"Yeah…I guess that's the only legal option…

"Okay. We'll meet you at the Cinnabons booth at the Galeria. Bye."

"What the heck was that about?" I asked her, one eyebrow raised.

"Remember Kris?"

"Is that the 'happy' one?"

"Yeah. From our old school. He was asking if we could hang out today since I just got back from my trip and he said he missed me. He guessed that I was with you and he says he misses you as well. And he guessed that we were going to the mall and asked if he could meet us there."

"Isn't he half an hour farther away? How's he gunna get there at the same time."

"He'll get there before us. I love him to death, but the guy drives like a maniac."

Sora just sat there, staring at the seatbelt and looking puzzled. "What's this thing?"

I face-palmed and Anna leaned over to help him. "It's called a seatbelt. It was designed to protect both idiots who don't obey traffic laws and their victims."

"Oh…." he said, tugging it away from his neck after it was fastened. "Is it supposed to hurt?"

I put the side of my face in my hand and looked at the poor boy. "Did you grow up under a rock?"

He shook his head. "No. I grew up on Destiny Islands. We don't have cars there, but we do have crappy school uniforms…bad trade off, just sayin."

Anna giggled. "You are the brother of my soul. I have one too and it sucks!"

I looked out the window knowingly as Anna backed out the driveway in our grandfather's old, beat-up, brakeless truck. Yeah, I thought.Brother. Sure.