The next morning, Kay was anxious to go to school and get it over with. Today was Friday, which not only meant the weekend started as soon as the dismissal bell rang, but it also meant she could visit Foster's again. And this time, she informed her mother, so time wouldn't be an issue like yesterday.
She told her mom bye and walked out the door to get to school. Some of the other kids who went to that school walked too, but this was the first morning she bothered to notice the boy from yesterday, wearing the red shirt and green backpack.
"Hey, Mac!" she called out, and pick up her pace a bit to catch up.
"Oh, hey," he greeted tiredly.
"You ok? You look exhausted," Kay asked.
"I'm fine. It's just that my stupid older brother kept me up all night," he replied bitterly, recalling the many hopeless attempts to sleep last night.
"Your lucky, though," she replied softly, "I've always wanted an older brother. Someone to help me with homework, help take care of my sisters, you know?"
"Oh, I didn't know.. But you don't want Terrance as an older brother, that's for sure," Mac warned. "I hope he doesn't show up after school today. He does that sometimes just to chase me to Foster's." At this point in the conversation, Kay and Mac were arriving in school and headed to their class rooms. She stopped in front of her homeroom.
"That's terrible! He better not be there after school! I'll even walk to Foster's with you to make sure," she smiled encouragingly.
Mac chuckled and replied, "Thanks, Kay, but I don't think you'll be able to stop him either. I'll see ya after school,"
As he walked to his classroom, Kay smirked and said under her breath, "We'll just see about that."
Eight hours later, she found herself staring anxiously at the ever so slowly ticking clock for her dismissal bell. When it finally sounded, she was the first one out the door, and walked outside to wait for Mac. He came out, and raised his hand to wave, but his eyes became fixed on a figure with black hair wearing a red plaid shirt.
"Your brother?" Kay asked. Mac nodded stiffly, still speechless. The boy, who appeared to be in at least middle school, was quite a bit taller then Mac, making it understandable for him to be intimidated. He started to walk over to them.
"Oh, no," Mac sighed.
"Well, well, if it isn't my little brother," Terrance begins. "And who's this?" He grabs Kay by the arm. "Your girlfriend?" He asked in a mocking tone. Kay ripped her arm from Terrance's grasp.
"Now you listen hear mister!" she demanded. Both the boys looked surprised at her. "First, you don't touch me. Second, Mac is my friend. You won't be picking on him anymore," Kay ordered. Terrance stared, but was soon laughing hysterically. He shoved both Mac and Kay on the ground.
"What's a little sissy like you gonna do about it? Run back to your house for imaginary dorks?" He mocked.
Kay smirked. "As a matter of fact, yes." She forcefully scooped Mac off the ground and dragged him along as she ran toward Foster's.
"Hey, get back here, you wimps!" Terrance called, hot on their tracks.
"You know, this would be easier if you ran too!" Kay yelled to Mac.
"I'm trying!" Mac heaved. Kay, being secretly part fox, made her considerably faster than kids her age. Luckily, the school wasn't too far from Foster's. Plus, Shane was sitting outside on the stairs in plain sight, clearly in his half wolf form.
"Thank goodness," Kay thought.
"Shane!" Kay and Mac both called out. His ears twitched and smirked, but when he looked up his expression turned to one of surprise. Right as he jumped off the stair, Kay and Mac had made it to him.
"Shouldn't you be hiding your ears?" Kay quickly asked.
"It's cool. He totally thinks I'm an imaginary friend," Shane explained, and gave a wink. "Now then," he said, turning to Terrance, who just made it to the gate and was gasping for air.
"I suggest you go home, Terrance," Shane stated boldly. "We both know how this ends."
"So Shane puts up with this too?" Kay asked Mac from the stairs.
"Well, yeah, but not always by himself," Mac explains. As if on cue, Bloo jumps out of the house, wearing a pair of neon orange goggles and holding a matching paintball gun. He repeatedly shoots Terrance, coating his clothes in paint of an assortment of colors. Mac and Kay were laughing hysterically. Bloo walked over to Shane, who smiled and fist-pumped his accomplice.
Terrance roared with frustration, and his targets switched from Mac and Kay to Bloo and Shane. He stared at his the two like a predator would stare at their prey.
"I dare you to do something about it," Shane instigated, arms crossed. Terrance charged, and came at Shane swinging. Kay gasped, but watched in awe as Shane blocked and dodged any punch Terrance threw. Somehow, Terrance managed to put Shane in a headlock.
"Haha! Not so tough now, are you, mutt?" Terrance taunted, and rubbed one of his fists quickly and forcefully on Shane's head and ears. He winced and growled as he struggled in Terrance's grasp.
"What should we do?" a panicked Kay asked.
"Stay put!" Shane grunted. He didn't want his friends involved. Even though Terrance was really Mac's problem, Shane had some kind of protective instinct among his friends. Gathering his strength, Shane forced himself to slightly straighten his back, grab a hold of Terrance, and lift him up over his head, sending the teen to painfully land on his back.
"Whoa!" the three watching in horror exclaimed. While Terrence was trying to regain the breath that was knocked out of him, Mac, Kay, and Bloo ran in Shane's direction cheering his name.
"Arrghh, whatever. I've got better things to do then to hang around with sissys," Terrance said angrily, and stormed away from the house.
"That was.. exciting," Kay commented as the four finally entered the house.
"I'm sorry. He just doesn't know when to quit," Mac said, sitting on the large staircase in the foyer. He propped his head in his hands and closed his eyes, obviously embarrassed.
"You don't need to be sorry. He's not your fault," Shane replied.
"We can take care of him any day, huh Shane?" Bloo asked triumphantly, fist-pumping the wolf-boy again. It seemed as though fighting off Terrance was the only time they got along. Wilt, Edwardo, and Coco entered the foyer, unaware of the previous events.
"Hey Mac, and Kay," Wilt said in his usual friendly tone. Mac looked up and grinned slightly, hoping to get his mind off Terrance. Kay winked and gave him a nudge, as if to say, 'It's ok, don't be embarrassed.'
"Hola, amigos!" Edwardo said excitedly, picking up Kay in a tight bear-hug just like yesterday. They looked at each other, and silently agreed to keep the fight to themselves. Once Edwardo put Kay down, she stood for a moment to catch her breath, then her eyes lit up.
"Oh yea! I owe you a game of basketball! Remember?" Kay asked, pointing to Wilt.
"Well, ok, if you still want to, I mean, you don't have-"
"Let's go then!" she said, cutting Wilt off. She took Shane and Mac by the arms and dragged them back outside. She was surprised she remembered how to get outside, being the house is bigger than any other foster care home she had ever seen. Once they were all outside, they picked teams: Kay, Shane, and Bloo verses Wilt, Coco, and Mac. Edwardo decided to be a neural cheerleader, even though Shane tried to convince him that normal cheerleaders picked teams. After that useless attempt, the game started. Since they didn't have a ref, a coin was tossed and Wilt's team got the ball first.
"Alright, listen up," Shane coached while in a circle formed with him, Kay, and Bloo.
"Wilt's the biggest threat, so I'll guard him. Bloo takes Mac, and Kay takes Coco. Now, I'm gonna try to steal, and-"
"Shane?" Kay interupted.
"Yea?"
"We aren't in the NBA. Let's just play the game the best we know how, ok?" she said. Apparently Shane is used to taking everything seriously, from protecting his friends down to a simple game.
"Fine. But your on Coco and Bloo on Mac," Shane pouted, having a perfectly put together strategy be canceled. Kay closed her eyes, revealing her fox features and knowing she would be better able to run in jump in this way. The teams stepped onto the court and the ball was checked. Shane ran back and forth, trying desperately to take the ball from the tall red friend.
"I'm sorry, but it's not gonna happen, Shane!" Wilt taunted. He made the first five baskets of the game effortlessly, and Shane was able to make one of his two foul shots when Coco charged into him. They took a time out with a score of 10-1. Bloo crossed his arms and Shane scowled. Both were pretty sore losers.
"The game's not over yet, you two," Kay reminded, and brought them each a water bottle. Bloo chugged his, but Shane only took a sip before replying.
"Might as well consider it over. I'm not used to facing Wilt. We're usually on a team."
"Well, this time your with me and Bloo, and we're at least gonna make it to ten points," she argued, beginning to feel the heat of the game.
"How do you figure?" Shane asked carefully. He was actually a bit intimidated by the sudden fierce tone that Kay had adopted.
"We could always follow my strategy," Bloo spoke once his bottle was empty.
"Bloo, if your plan has anything to do with ninjas, pranks, or any form of cheating, the answer is automatically no," Shane warned.
"It doesn't.. anymore," Bloo replied. "All we have to do is gang up on Wilt. He'll have to pass it then, and then you can steal it. Duhhh!" The two exchanged looks, then focused back on Bloo.
"I guess we can try it," Kay said, and looked to Shane. "What do we got to loose?"
The game started back up again, this time giving Shane's team offense first. Shane, thinking he was in danger of loosing the ball, passed it to Bloo, who missed it. Fortunately, Kay caught it and made a lay-up.
"Nice, Kay," Shane complimented. Now Wilt's team had the ball and, of course, it was passed to Wilt. It was time to test Bloo's strategy.
"Get over here!" Shane yelled to his teammates. Kay and Bloo swarmed Wilt, causing him to almost trip several times and endangering the ball.
"Coco!" he called, sending the ball flying to her. She would've caught it-had it not been for Shane jumping in front of her to intercept. He stormed down the court and made a lay-up like Kay. This continued through the game, until Mac noticed a pattern. He called for a time out with the score of 18-15.
"They're ganging up on Wilt on purpose! We need a new plan," Mac stated.
"Cococo co co coco," Coco suggested.
"We can try that," Mac said, and turned to Wilt. "Let me or Coco handle take the ball while you wait on your side of the court."
"Ok, but just be careful with Shane. His favorite part of the game is trying to steal for his team," Wilt informed, being a constant teammate of Shane's up until today. The game started again, and the ball went to Mac.
"What are they doing?" Bloo asked.
"I don't know, but Mac's an easy steal," Shane said. "They must be wanting me to go after Mac.. Bloo, guard Mac. Kay, you guard Coco, I'll handle Wilt." She followed his instruction. Mac and Bloo were coming down the court fast, and Mac threw it as hard as he could in Wilt's direction. Shane knew he couldn't reach it by himself. He interlocked his fingers, bent his knees, and called to Kay. She looked over, ran, and stepped with one foot into his hands. Shane hoisted her up til she was airborne, and she grasped the ball before it got to Wilt.
"Yes!" Bloo cheered. Kay landed, and sped down the court to her team's hoop. Wilt was able to catch up easily.
"Watch out, Kay!" Shane called out. She turned and saw Wilt, but didn't stop. She went for another lay-up, and just made it before Wilt could stop her.
"All right!" Shane called out.
"Not bad," Wilt complimented as he took he ball and passed it to Coco, who passed it to Mac. Bloo tried to get the ball from Mac, but he passed it to Wilt, and he made his team's winning basket.
"Aww, man!" Bloo yelled in distress. Shane just crossed his arms and growled.
"Oh, well. It was a good game, huh guys?" Kay said with a wink. "We'll get 'em next time."
"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure about that," Wilt commented. "But it was a good game."
"Who says the next game's gonna be basketball?" Shane asked mischievously as everyone walked back into the house.
"Video game showdown!" Bloo yelled.
"You're on!" Shane, Kay, and Mac said simultaneously. They looked at each other, and ran straight to the arcade.