I am so sorry for how long I have been keeping you guys waiting. It's just with all the changes going on in my life; I barely have time for anything anymore. But I finally found time to put up this chapter! So here it is! Enjoy!
The next day, we were fixing up the house. I was working outside, painting the outside walls, with Naoko and Harry, and we were surprisingly getting along. Or so I thought. We were painting when all of a sudden I felt something splash onto my back. I felt my back, then brought my hand to my face and saw it was covered in white paint. I turned around, shocked and saw the others were covered too.
"Hey!" Harry yelled.
"Watch it!" Naoko exclaimed, trying to spray Harry with paint, but missing and hitting me.
"Seriously?" I screamed, looking at my now paint covered shirt. "This means war!" I then grabbed a paint brush and flung it at Harry, hitting him straight in the head. He tried to hit me, but I ducked and it hit Naoko instead. Naoko threw paint at me, but it went through the window and hit Christina. But by then us three were already in a full out paint war. We kept splashing each other, while slowly making our way inside, where everyone was fighting. I looked up the stairs and saw Michael and William coming down the stairs, smiling. They ran down to help but when they got to the bottom, they didn't notice the blue paint falling from the stairs. I quickly grabbed Michael and pulled him away from the paint before he could get hit. He looked shocked, but before he could say anything, I quickly interrupted.
"Now we're even." I told him. He quickly smiled before turning away. I turned around and was thumped in the forehead before I could even say anything.
"That's for saving the enemy." Joni replied, smirking slightly. I just stuck my tongue out and was about to say something when I saw the door open. Frank and Helen looked seriously shocked.
"Whoa! Stop! Ah!" Frank yelled, slipping on some paint and sliding on the floor. By now, everyone was watching Frank slide across the floor and fall face first into yellow paint. We all were silent as Helen screamed.
"Ugh." Frank said, lifting his face to show it was covered in yellow paint. I had to practically stick my fist in my mouth to keep from busting out laughing. He then stood up and wiped his eyes. All of a sudden, Mick's dog decided to shake himself, getting me, Mick, Dylan, and Frank covered in even more paint. Frank turned, looking at all of us before speaking.
"You wrecked the house, you trashed the garden, and you painted the pig. You turned a 200 year old person into a Jackson Polluct." Frank said.
"It's her fault for wearing my shirt." Phoebe yelled.
"I am not finished." Frank yelled, pointing a finger at her. "Now, your mother and I know that you do not get along but you're just going to have to pretend that you like each other until you actually do. Until you have learned why we-whoa." Frank yelled stepping into a bucket accidentally. Yet he continued talking, still walking around with the bucket on his foot. "Till you've learned we are so specific and we demand a level of servility and cooperation or I will bring the hammer down." Frank finished, pointing down. It was actually kind of scary because us North kids didn't know if he was talking about a real hammer or not.
"Is it a real hammer?" Aldo asked confusedly.
"No, no that's just a metaphor." Helen answered.
"I'm scared." Aldo said, looking down slightly. Since I was behind him, I put my arms around him and brought him back against me, glaring at Frank the whole time.
"Don't be scared. Don't be scared." Frank answered, looking only slightly guilty.
"Should I go get hammer, sir?" Ethan asked. Aldo turned and looked at me, obviously frightened. I just held onto him tighter, looking at Frank, who walked over to Ethan.
"No because it's not a real hammer. It's just a pretend hammer. I only said that for effect." Frank replied, looking completely guilty now. Which he should be.
"Now I would like you to all think about what he just said. Except for maybe the part about the hammer." Helen said, looking at Frank.
"Yeah just forget, forget the hammer. Just let's just get started on cleaning this place up." Frank replied tiredly.
"First, let's have a group hug." Helen said, walking to the middle of the room. All of us North kids immediately went into the circle, while the Beardsley kids just looked at us weirdly.
"You mean, actually hug each other?" Michael asked, looking at us weirdly.
"Yeah. That's what I mean." Helen said happily, before mouthing Frank's name.
"Um... Yeah. Umm... Well, ok let's get into the group hug." Frank said, slowly walking towards the hug. The Beardsley kids looked at him like he had lost his mind before slowly walking in themselves. Kelly immediately came over to me, seeing as I was the only one she really talked to. She smiled at me and I smiled back.
"Do you guys always do this?" She asked, still kind of grossed out from being near us.
"Pretty much, yeah." I answered, giving her a sympathetic smile. She quietly groaned, causing me to laugh, before turning back to the others.
"Can't you feel the love, honey?" Helen asked Frank. Frank just gave her a tight smile that was obviously fake to me, but thankfully not to Helen. We all let go and headed back to start cleaning.