I wake up to an empty room. The bed still looks like shit. Heh, well Charlie's whole room looks like shit. I slept on the futon in his room. What's pretty cool is that the guys each have their own bathroom. I start brushing my teeth. While I'm brushing I start making faces at myself in the mirror. Then I notice my hair.
"Looks like your dark roots need a touch up." HOLY SHIT! I spit out my tooth paste and gagged a bit. I turned to see Matthew in the bathroom door way. He's holding a shopping bag with hair bleach and blond dye. How did he know?
"Why do you dye your hair so lightly?" Mathew's seriously starting to give me the creeps.
"Chill man, I've just always liked blond hair. Nothing else to it." Crap I got tooth paste on my shirt, oh well its Charlie's shirt anyway. He throws the bag at me, snickers, and then leaves. Da fauq? Well while I'm in here, I might as well fix my roots.
After a nice shower I walk out into the living room, the air is still tense from yesterday. I look out the window and Charlie's motorbike is gone. The only car there is one of those European mini cars. That's a pretty ugly shade of blue. So either Matthew or Kyle is here. Well Matthew works so I'm guessing it's just me and Kyle. Since I'm clearly not welcomed in this house I don't really want to do anything but sit in Charlie's room all day. As I'm walking back to Charlie's room, I literally bump into Kyle. He stops me and says,
"I'm not sure why but Matthew told me to keep an eye on you while I'm home." He said quietly. Well that's great.
After spending five days with them I learned that, Matthew leaves for work at 11 am and doesn't come home until 9pm; Charlie leaves for morning volunteer time at the Rec center at 10 am, then goes for maintenance work and comes home around 10 pm; and Kyle leaves for work at Wal-mart at 3 pm and gets home around 11:40 pm. It's strange, but they don't have parents or anything living with them. Well neither do I but I'm a rare case. In the six hours that I'm home alone, I have to clean and make dinner. Matthew's biggest concern was having a lazy free-loader living here, so Charlie convinced him that I'd cook and clean while everyone was gone. So basically, my day consists of being watched by Kyle until 3 and then cooking and cleaning. I love cooking but, I hate cleaning. When I start cleaning, I just can't stop because everything irks me. Cooking is more of a creative outlet for me. I think that the only reason Matthew tolerates me, is because I can cook very well.
Right now the boys' dinner is wrapped up on the table, and I'm taking a well-deserved shower in Charlie's bathroom; after I scrubbed the oven and all three bathrooms. They might already be here since I've been in here for at least an hour, just thinking. I really want chocolate. If I could, I would say my sexual orientation is Choco-sexual. I'm completely serious; chocolate (especially dark chocolate) gets me all hot and bothered. When I think about chocolate too much I start whining involuntarily. Mitch used to tell me that it sounded really sexual. That's pretty much what I'm doing right now. Until I hear the toilet flush. I must have been whining so loud that I didn't notice someone else was in here. I don't know why Charlie came in here, because there are two other perfectly good bathrooms. Before I could pull the curtains back to yell at him, he left. Well I'm embarrassed. I'm already done so I just turned off the water, grabbed my (Charlie's) towel, and started drying myself. When I finished drying and changing, I went out in the dining room to see if the boys liked their dinner. It should be about 12, so they should've all eaten by now. I go out and see Kyle blushing and avoiding eye contact. Matthew's sitting at the coffee table raising his eyebrow at me and that asshole Charlie is laughing at me. I think they all heard me.
"So, what was that all about? Were you thinking of me in the shower or something?" Charlie can be so cocky sometimes. I felt really embarrassed that they could hear all of that, the air-conditioning was on and everything so the only one who could've heard was Charlie, who stepped into the bathroom. Either they have super-hearing or I was really that loud. I'm pretty sure I was loud, geez I'm scarlet with embarrassment.
"Y-You wish!" I responded to Charlie's question. This time Matthew asked,
"What was that all about?" I guess he really wants to know too and I can't just brush off Matthew.
"It was about chocolate." I said embarrassedly and avoiding eye contact with all three of them.
"Chocolate?" All three of them asked at the same time.
"You see, when I want chocolate, I involuntarily start whining for it." I explained. Charlie laughed right in my face, Kyle looked confused, and Matthew looked like he wasn't buying it.
"I swear!" I yelled into the night.
The next day I was headed to the Utonium household. Every first and third week of the month I have to visit the professor to catch up, talk, and check my stress levels. It's a lot easier during school because my lunch hours are different than the girls. During the summer he comes to my apartment instead. I really need to tell him that I'm staying with Charlie and his cousins, so he doesn't get worried if he decides to drop by the apartment. I already asked Matthew this morning if I could have permission to leave the house.
"Hey Matthew, do you think I could go visit a relative today to let them know I'm not going to be at my apartment for a while?" I totally forgot that the professor is supposed to visit sometime this week. Knowing how strict Matthew is, I feel like I have to ask him.
"Why are you staying with us if you have a relative?" Damn, his tone was so ice cold, I feel like I need a parka. Then I could feel his eyes burning through my body, as if he's trying to see inside me. Screw the parka.
"Well, I don't exactly belong there and I'm not allowed there for long." I said quietly, not really making eye contact. I could still feel him staring at me but softer this time. He sighed and said,
"Alright, but I'm not just gonna hand you a key to this place." What the hell? Then how am I supposed to get back in when I'm done?
"Here." Huh? He hands me a sheet of paper. I quickly scan through it.
"A scavenger hunt?" This bitch wants me to hunt for the house key? Why does he even have this handy?
"Yeah, sometimes Charlie comes home late so I make him hunt for the house key. It's a different map each time so even Charlie won't be able to help you. I still don't trust you enough to have your own key." He's the Devil! A sadist! I bet he gets off on this kind of shit. He smirks evilly and says,
"Have fun.", as he walks out the door to his car.
So with my map securely in my pocket, I walk to my old home. Funny, it's only 10 blocks away from the boys' house. Of course as I said before, the girls and I still have the same face so they could easily recognize me. So I'm wearing a disguise. I have my long blond hair down in a braid, I'm wearing brown contacts, big nerdy glasses, a lab coat, and some gloves. Today I'm his "lab assistant". I knock on the door a couple of times. To my surprise Bubbles answers the door in her pajamas. She takes one glance at me and figures I'm here for Professor.
"PROFESSOR!" She screeches. Geez, she almost blew out my hearing. Professor comes to the door and stares at me confused. Bubbles hovers away, not really caring what's going on. I wish I could still hover everywhere.
"Hello Professor Utonium, you emailed me before about helping you out on a project. I'm Bud Muinotu and I shall aid you for today." As soon as he heard my alias, he knew it was me. He looked a bit worried as if saying, 'You know it's too risky to visit me here.'
"Come in Ms. Muinotu, the lab is this way." He smiles and walks with me to the lab. He closes the door and locks it shut.
"Buttercup, sweetie, you know it's risky to visit me while your sisters are home. What's so important that it has to be now dear? I was about to go for my routine visit later today." That's what I was trying to prevent. I sigh and tell him everything; from me first meeting Charlie, to almost bumping into the girls, to my apartment flooding to my current situation. He sat there and listened to everything, wearing the same expression.
"How are you sure you can trust these boys?" he asked
"Professor, Charlie's my first real friend for a reason. Plus the head of the household doesn't fully trust me yet. He gave me a scavenger map to hunt for the house key when I'm done here because he doesn't trust me with a key yet. Besides, it's only for a few more days, until my apartment is fixed from the water damage." I tried to soothe his worries and thoughts.
"Okay then but you be careful now, and stay out of trouble." He kisses my forehead and hugs me because we can only be father and daughter in secret. When we open that door to the outside world, we are strangers.
"Okay so step 3, go 20 feet west of your general direction now." What? I was just there. UUURRRGHHHH! I HATE THIS STUPID MAP! Okay so there's that tree and I'm supposed to stand on one leg and look north for the singing lady. Da fauq is this shit!? I swear Matthew wants to see me kill myself. I was about to slit my throat with this map when a familiar voice called to me.
"Hey." That's Charlie's voice, only, less enthusiastic.
"What's wrong?" Charlie's more down than usual and how did he find me anyway?
"I upset Matthew at the coffee house, and he confiscated my house keys. All I did was tell this snooty bitch that I didn't want to date her and she just stormed off. Matt got mad because she was a regular top dollar customer, but how was I supposed to know? Now I have to look for keys with someone with no sense of direction." What? That asshole!
"Matthew said you'd probably still be out here on number 3 by now, so I'd better join you." He is doing to die. They actually think I can't do it? Ha, I'll show them! I grabbed Charlie by his collar.
"Let's go!" I'm gonna find that key, even if it's that last thing I do.
So step 27 says to walk east to the nearest bus stop, I think we're close! Not that Charlie's been contributing. Charlie and I have been everywhere, from under trailers, to the tops of buildings. We're covered in dirt and grease. When we reach the bus stop, I noticed a small box taped under the seat. It was so obvious that the key was in there. Even though I was pretty sure we found it, Charlie just stood there, still moping around. I snatched the box off the seat. I sat there, excitedly, yet slowly opening the box. Charlie looked really disinterested and bored. I opened it to find a note.
"Dear Charlie, you've messed up big this time. Here's the second part of your hunt." Second part?! FFFFFUUUUUUUU! So that's why Charlie wasn't that excited, this happens to him all the time so he was expecting it. Huh? There's more on here.
"You can't use your powers on this one."
"Powers?" I said it aloud, instead of thinking it.
"What?" Charlie said surprised and snatched the paper from me. He read through it quickly and said,
"I know where the key is, Come on." If he could figure it out by looking at the map, then why was he letting me bullshit around? Why is he so upset? What is the whole powers thing about? So many questions unanswered.
"Hey, let's go!" I turn to see Charlie on his Hyosung. When did it get there? Charlie looks annoyed and points down the street. Oh there's the coffee shop. THE COFFEE SHOP?! So we've been searching the same areas for hours, right in front of Matthew? Mother FFFFFUUUUUUU!
"Hurry up, or I'll lock you out." Oh shit, Charlie means business right now. I run to his Hyosung and get on the back. Before he takes off my curiosity gets the best of me,
"Charlie, what does the note mean by powers?" he refuses to look and me and says,
"It's none of your concern"
Charlie drives us to the house. We don't even have the keys so why are we here? Charlie gets off and goes to the mailbox by the door, sticks his hand in and pulls out the key. Words cannot express how pissed I am right now. It's barley 9 but Matthew's here already. I feel like punching him but Charlie beat me to it. Of course as much as I want to punch him, I wouldn't because Matthew scares me sometimes. So as soon as Charlie punched him, he punched back hard enough to knock Charlie against the wall. Matthew smirks at me and was about to say something, when Charlie swept his feet. Matthew caught himself and laughed. I wanted to intervene but with what? I'm "normal"; I'm not supposed to have any powers. I'm so confused, why are they fighting? Sure I was a bit pissed at Matt too but not enough to want to kick his ass. I can only watch, until Charlie yells,
"Get the hell out of here!" Why? And where am I supposed to go? My heart is beating really fast, my adrenaline is flowing and I really wanna stop their fighting. Matthew ran into Charlie and kicked him in the stomach. Geez I can't handle all this pressure; I'm getting stressed out. I ran out and headed towards the park. As I was running I could hear the bangs and crashes from Charlie and Matt fighting. My bracelet starts to beep. Then I hear shouting,
"I didn't want her to know! She doesn't need to know!" What does Charlie mean? I ran and ran and ran until my legs were sore. Screw the park, I need somewhere quiet. The beach. I took off my shoes and socks and walked on the soft sand. My bracelet is beeping like crazy. I just need to relax and calm down, but my head is starting to hurt. The world is spinning. The Last thing I remember is hearing Charlie yelling my name and everything went dark.
MY NOTE: So what do you guys think so far? Should I change the point of view of the next chapter? If so, who's POV? Please give me your feed back. Thank you for reading.