A/N: Sorry guys, finals are here at school, so the chapters are short and it's harder to update /:
Chapter 7
"Cam," Zach said nudging me awake "Wake up, we're back." I sat up off his chest and shook my head to wake myself up. I stretched my arms above my head. It was around 11:30.
"Can we get food?" Grant asked "I'm starving!" we all nodded in agreement. My mom thought it over for a minute.
"Most of the food we have is frozen stuff, I'm not much of a chef even when it comes to frozen foods." My mom admitted.
"How about I drive to the chinese place just outside of town?" Mr Solomon suggested. "I can grab enough food to keep the kids from complaining and give the girls some time to change." He said glancing at our bathing suits which were visible under our t-shirts.
"Good idea," my mom said "I'll help the boys get settled in."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes and the suggested undertone. She really meant 'I'll make sure the boys stay away from the girls and their room.'
Mr. Solomon got back into the car and left to the chinese place.
"Alright girls, two of you go pack your bags, two to a room." she headed towards the house. She was just out of earshot when Zach found the loophole.
"I'll room with Cammie." He said throwing an arm around my shoulder.
"You'll room with Jonas" I said while pushing his arm off my shoulder and pulling Liz towards me in defense. He gave me a sour look but went to stand by Jonas.
"Look's like I'm with Macey." Bex said.
"Or," Grant popped in "you could be with me." He said with an eyebrow raised.
"Oh, she's definitely with Macey." Macey said pulling Bex safely away from Grant. I laughed and looped my arm through Liz's.
"Come on Lizzie, let's go get you packed!" I exclaimed as we went through the house up to her room.
We packed diligently for about a half an hour. We were just lugging the last of her stuff into my room when we heard Macey and Bex fighting over space in her room. We glanced through the open doorway, past the bathroom, and into their room. Liz and I gave each other a look like 'I'm so glad I'm rooming with you!'
"What's all the screaming about?" Jonas asked as he came into our room followed closely by Zach.
"Apparently their closet is too small…" Liz said with a soft smile on her face. We exchanged a look and giggled.
"I will never understand women." Jonas said with a look towards the noise. Just then we heard a thud on the wall.
I ran through the bathroom towards and screaming Bex and Macey.
"Whoa!" I said as I ducked beneath a shoe being thrown in my direction. "What's going on?" I asked
They both simultaneously started yelling at me. "One at a time!" I stated.
"She is taking up way too much space!" Macey exclaimed
"I am not!" Bex exclaimed in a full british accent "She's the one with the bloody full closet of stuff she doesn't need!"
"Can't you just lay it out in your suitcases and in the dresser like sane people?" I asked
They gave eachother a look.
"I suppose…" Macey said.
Bex nodded her agreement.
"See? Was that so hard?" I asked as I rolled my eyes and went back to my room. I flopped on the bed. "They're going to kill each other." I stated plainly.
"Then it's our job to make sure they don't" Liz said as she glanced worriedly in the direction of Macey and Liz.
"Zach what are you doing?" I asked as he hurriedly dropped what he was doing by the side of my bed and looked up innocently."
"Absolutely nothing." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, sure, will you guys leave so we can shower and change?" I asked impatiently.
"Touchy…" Jonas said as the exited the room.
"I'm going to shower really fast" I said as I walked towards the bathroom.
"Okay, I'll take one after you." Liz said as she started to pull out things to change into.
I showered and washed faster than I ever have before. I left the steamy bathroom as Liz entered. I changed into some pajama shorts and an oversized t-shirt. I was towel drying my hair as Liz left the bathroom.
"Is my brush in there?" I asked Liz
"I think so." She said.
I got up to go check. I found it waiting on the counter. I grabbed it and told Macey and Bex they could use the bathroom.
I brushed my hair and waited for Liz to do the same before we headed downstairs.
We went to sit down at the table and we saw the boys staring intently at cards in their hands.
"What are you guys playing?" Liz asked.
"Go fish…" Grant said as he stared at each of the boys in turn before asking Preston for an 8. Preston forked it over and Liz and I tried not to laugh.
"Quick question, why are you playing go fish?" I asked.
"It's the only game we know how to play." Preston said.
"I know how to play more games!" Jonas exclaimed.
"Yeah, but you suck at explaining." Zach said.
Liz and I looked at each other and picked up the cards, ignoring the boys protests.
I sat down and started shuffling while Liz explained our favorite game.
"Okay, this is practically poker but not really, It's called Anaconda. Each player is dealt six cards. In the first round, each player selects three unwanted cards and passes them facedown to the player on his left. No player is allowed to see his new cards until everyone has passed. The second round is the same as the first, only with two cards, then a third round with one card. A round of betting comes after the cards have been dealt and again after each round of passing. Players now have six cards in their hand, from which the best 5-card poker hand wins. Get it?" she finished.
"I think so, but what do we bet with?" Grant asked.
"Anything you can bet." I said. "I could bet two bags of chips, a secret, a story, anything."
"Okay," Zach said rolling up his sleeves. "Let's do this."
And so it began, at first, Liz and I won every round. When Bex and Macey came down, they helped us kick butt. Eventually, the boy's luck changed. They started getting cards that made no sense. After about 3 rounds, I watched each of the boys carefully, then I noticed the switch. They had cards in their laps. It made sense once I thought about it. Each round, one of the boys would volunteer to shuffle and deal. They must make the switch then.
"Food!" Mr Solomon announced as he walked in the door, then I got an idea.
The boy's crowded the table, I grabbed Macey and gestured for Liz and Bex to follow.
"I have an idea," I explained quickly as we walked upstairs. "The boys are totally cheating, so from now on, pass the cards that could help someone elses hands when you're passing to one of the girls" I said. "It may not be much, but it could keep the guys from totally kicking our butts." I said as we went into Macey and Bex's room.
"Even better, pass cards that make no sense to the guys, and try to catch them in the act of cheating" Bex added in. We finalized our plans to convey what cards we had and went over the plan one final time.
"We all clear?" Liz asked. We nodded our agreement, grabbed some socks as a cover and went downstairs.
We ate faster than ever and then sat down for a final round of Anaconda. Through a series of taps, coughs and fidgets we managed to get a good hand for Liz and one for Bex. I handed off ridiculous cards to the boys and the girls took the final round of Anaconda in our name. After the scores were added, the girls had one. I guess cheaters never prosper.
"Let's watch a movie," I suggested.
"Whoa there, it's almost 2:30 in the morning, you sure about this?" My mom asked.
"Definitely." I said
"Totally." Bex added
"Completely." Macey said
"Entirely." Liz finished
She gave us all a look, she didn't look like she was going to stop us, but she might put up a fight. She surprised us all by nodding "All right, don't stay up too late." She headed off towards her room with Mr. Solomon behind her. There was another room down the hallway, an office with a pull out couch, but I think we all knew better. The boys started to chuckled and my mom shot them a look. Then I understood, silence about where Mr. Solomon was sleeping for 24 hours in exchange for leaving us on our own.
We walked over by the couch, argued about what movie to watch, and stuck Mrs. Doubtfire in the DVD played before settling down to watch. I cuddled up in Zach's lap with Bex and Grant next to us on one couch, Liz, Jonas, Macey, and Preston all sat carefully next to each other on the other couch.
As the movie played, I felt myself get more and more comfortable. Zach started playing with my hair which didn't help. About half way through I was fighting to stay awake.
"Go to sleep Gallagher Girl," Zach's voice whispered in my ear. "It's okay." He said as he pulled a blanket over us. I fought sleep for a minute longer before giving in and falling into a deep blissful sleep.
