A/N: Just in case you were curious, the start of this chapter marks the 100th page on the document I write the words on...wait..words what? I have now written 100 pages, there that's what I was going to say. Carry on.
Chapter 17
The sky had darkened so we could see the lights on in the kitchen. We each took a deep breath before opening the car doors.
"Wait!" I called suddenly, stopping the girls in their tracks. "How are we doing this? Are we going to continue to ignore them or are we forgiving them now? And Mace, what are you going to do about Preston?"
"We're going to go in and act like nothing has changed. We are going to walk right past them with barely a glance, me included." Macey instructed as she led us to the back of the car to get our bags.
"Okay, and if they approach us?" Liz asked.
"We make eye contact, then walk away." Bex suggested.
"Cough if you need assistance." I added.
"You girls really are thinking this through too much." My mom commented.
"We're overly hormonal teenagers, we have an excuse." I defended as I pulled the bags out of the trunk.
"Well alright, you can do this your way." She said mysteriously.
"Wait!" I called before she could walk away. "What would you do in our situation?" I asked curiously. I had a feeling she had a better idea.
"First, I would let them know why you're so mad. It will help them apologize and you will all be able to get over this much faster and it will make tomorrow more fun."
"Okay, sounds doable, next step?" Macey agreed, urging her on.
"Next step would be to accept their apology, let them know that you've forgiven them." She continued. "Like the boys mentioned, this summer won't be any fun if you're mad at each other the whole time."
We looked at each other, coming to the same conclusion.
"Yeah, I guess that's the best idea." Bex sighed.
"Good, now go on in. No need to plan this out, just be yourselves."
"That is so much harder than it sounds." I complained as I scooped up my things and followed Liz to the house.
We made it to the house first and just stood at the front door, waiting, gathering courage.
"They aren't a pack of wild bears." Macey commented as she walked up the steps.
"I almost wish they were." Liz squeaked.
"Same." I looked over at Liz and squeezed her hand once before reaching over, and opening the door.
It was pretty quiet in the house. I went in first, taking it step by step. With someone right behind me, probably Bex.
"Why am I so nervous?" I asked quietly.
"You know why." Bex said suddenly, right next to my ear. I jumped and the girls laughed a little.
"Geez Bex." I whispered.
She giggled a little "Sorry Cam, thought you heard me coming."
"I did, I just didn't think you were so close to me." I shook it off and continued walking towards the living room only to hear an "oomph" come from behind me.
I spun around and saw Bex walking away from the table, as I saw the shocked look on Macey's face, and the hysterical one on Liz's, I burst out laughing.
"You. Just. Ran. Into. The table!" I managed to get out in between my laughs. I couldn't hear Macey and Liz laughing, but I knew they were and that only made me laugh harder.
"It is not funny!" Bex exclaimed and we laughed harder.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw my mom, Solomon, Preston, Zach, Jonas, and Grant come in, but I couldn't stop laughing long enough to answer their questions. Liz and Macey had fallen to the ground they were laughing so hard, and I was about to follow their example. Even Bex had started laughing, and everyone else just looked confused.
After a good 3 minutes of straight laughing, we finally managed to stop long enough to catch our breaths.
"Ow." Liz complained. "My stomach is killing me." She giggled again.
"Mine too." I sighed, fighting the urge to look at Bex.
"Now will you finally tell us what happened that was so funny?" Grant asked.
I giggled again. "Bex," Macey cut herself off with a cough, trying to keep from laughing "ran into the table."
We burst into giggles again and this time the boys chuckled along with us.
My mom just rolled her eyes. "You girls are so silly." She said as she walked to the fridge and pulled out a water bottle.
"We know." We said as we climbed to our feet and gathered our things.
Jonas coughed awkwardly and Grant looked uncomfortable when Preston said "So how was your shopping trip?"
I exchanged a look with Liz and we both looked at Macey, waiting for her to respond.
"It was good." She said after only a moment's hesitation.
"What did you buy?" Zach asked quietly, probably expecting us to explode.
"Oh you know...stuff." I answered vaguely.
"Actually, we got you guys something." Bex said reaching into one of her bags.
"Oh yeah" I mumbled reaching for Zach's phone.
"Indeed we did." Liz said quietly.
"You'll love it." Macey said with a smirk.
We had put the phones in the cases in the car, but then we put it back in the boxes so it would be a surprise.
Bex found hers first and walked over towards where I stood to put it on the table.
"Grant." She said with a smile.
"Zach." I grinned and placed his phone next to Grants.
"Jonas." Liz shook it a little as she put it next to Zach's
"Preston." Macey said holding it out to him, a far too innocent smile on her face.
"Thanks." He said with a grin. "Can we help you guys carry your stuff to your rooms?" He asked kindly.
"No thanks, I think we got it." Macey replied as we headed for the stairs.
"Okay, well thanks for the phones." Jonas said awkwardly.
"Are your numbers in here?" Zach asked as he crossed to the table and picked up his phone.
"Why don't you find out?" I said with a smile.
We walked up the steps in unison and walked into Macey and Bex's room as fast as we could without running. As soon as the door shut I let out a sigh of relief.
"Well that went better than expected." I remarked as Liz and I walked to our room to put our stuff down.
"It definitely could have been worse." Liz agreed.
"Yeah but now we have a problem." Bex said.
"We do?" I asked surprised.
"Yeah, you're mom wanted us to tell the boys why we were mad remember?" Macey commented as Liz and I crossed back into their room.
I groaned. "Oh yeah."
"Well, we will tell them, tonight too, but first I have the best idea for our cases." Liz said picking up Macey's camera. "Do we have a printer in this house?" She asked.
"I think my mom might have one." I commented.
"Your mom travels with a printer?" Bex asked confused.
"My mom travels with everything." I replied. "What's your idea Liz?"
"Well, I saw this thing on this website." Bex cut her off.
"Wow that's so descriptive Liz, thank you." She said sarcastically.
"I wasn't finished." Liz said exasperated as I went to go sit with Bex and Macey on the bed. "Anyway, it had this really cute picture of four friends with linked pinky's and I was thinking, what if we did that then put "Best Friends For Eternity" above it?" She asked, a sparkle in her eye.
"Cute idea. But it sounds like it would be a little squished for a phone case. Well, I guess if we did it horizontally." Macey commented.
"I had the same thought, but then I figured, well what if we put one person and one word on each case so when we put them next to each other it would all go together, kinda like Grant and Zach's cases." She said excitedly.
"That would actually be super cute." Bex agreed. "How do we take the picture?"
"We can set it up in the bathroom." I suggested.
"Perfect."
And so we set right to it. We put up the camera in the bathroom with a timer on the counter then stood next to each other, Liz, Me, Macey, then Bex, and linked pinky's. We got it on the first try funnily enough but decided to go back and do it again with our matching rings on (Macey's idea). After uploading it to Liz's laptop, and editing it so our pinky's were the focal point and we were kind of blurred in the background (Bex's idea) we put "Best Friends For Eternity" above our pinky's in a super cute kind of italic font then made three copies so there were four of them total, we edited them around each person's pinky and word. Liz's case would say "Best" mine would say "Friends" Macey's would say "For" and Bex's would say "Eternity".
"This is like the cutest thing ever, but I have to say, this is so cheesy." I remarked with a huge grin as we finished editing the pictures.
Macey laughed a little "I agree, but I've kind of always wanted to do this." She admitted.
"Same." Bex said and she blushed a little.
"Question, do we want to have our own pinky's on our case, or someone elses." Liz asked before clicking print.
"I think we should have someone else's. Could be cute." I offered.
"Alright, who gets whose?" Macey asked.
"I want Liz's! People will see it and wonder why I look so white in pictures." Bex said with a laugh.
Macey laughed too. "Okay, then Bex has Liz's, Liz who do you want?"
"I want Bex's. People will wonder why I look so dark." Liz teased back.
"Okay then it looks like Cammie and I have each other. Let's do this."
"Hold on, I gotta switch the words so they fit the right case." Liz quickly changed the lettering so they fit the corresponding case and then we went in search of a printer.
Liz gripped her laptop tightly and we tumbled down the stairs, slightly stomping our feet to give warning that we were coming.
"MOM?" I called as we ran down the stairs.
"Yeah?" She called back.
"Do you have a printer we can use?" Liz asked as she tripped over the last steps and tumbled to the ground, the rest of us tripping over her.
"Are you girls okay?" She asked.
Macey, Bex, and I were all laying on the floor by the foot of the stairs giggling. "Do you have a printer?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Then yes." She went back to her room to find the printer.
Suddenly four worried heads popped out from the top of the stairs.
"You guys okay?" Grant called down.
We started laughing again. "Fine, fine. Just had a little accident, didn't we Lizzie?" Bex answered.
"It's not my fault!" Liz protested as Macey and I laughed harder.
"You guys scared the crap out of us with all that stomping and falling." Preston said running a hand through his hair.
"Sorry, didn't mean too." Macey got out in between giggles.
They turned to go, but Preston turned back. "Oh, and really Macey? Snow White? She's my least favorite princess!" He exclaimed.
Macey leaned over and whispered in my ear. "I had no idea."
"Dude, really?" Zach asked laughing.
"She's creepy dude, really dang creepy."
"Love my case by the way, Cam's. Really cute." Zach said with a wink and a smile.
"Glad you liked it." I said smiling up at him.
"Do we get to design yours now? You know, since you picked ours out." Jonas asked mischievously.
"No way!" Liz exclaimed as my mom came walking down the hall. "Besides you're too late." She quickly ran to grab the printer from her and had it connected to her laptop in seconds. She placed the special paper in the printer and seconds later, the deed was done. Our cases were ready to be assembled.
"Come on, let's go put them together. Thanks mom!" I called as the girls and I stomped back up the stairs.
"You're welcome!" She said with a smile and a wave.
"Hey do we get to see your cases?" Grant asked as we blew past them into Macey and Bex's room.
"In a minute, let us put them together first." I commented.
"You guys can come in with us if you want." Macey added. I shot around to give her a look, but I didn't dare argue. I knew what she was thinking, and she was right.
"Sweet." Zach said and the followed us into the room. Bex stood by the door so she could close it when they were in.
"Enter the dragon…" Grant whispered as he entered the room. Bex slapped him on the head. "Ow!" He exclaimed rubbing his head. "I think you gave me brain damage."
Bex snorted. "Honey, I think you-" I cut her off before she could finish the insult.
"Now Bexie, let's try to be nice." I said in a sickly sweet voice and she turned her anger on me.
I squealed as she came at me, and she jumped on my back. I turned around in circles trying to buck her off. One giggle in her ear told me that this was going to be fun. She wrapped a hand around my hair and held it up as if she was pulling it.
"Take it back Morgan!" She commanded in a stern voice.
"Never!" I replied dropping to the floor, narrowly avoiding hitting Bex's head against the dresser.
We rolled around on the floor for a few seconds, each of us taking a turn to glance at the boys shocked faces and Macey and Liz's annoyed ones.
"Alright you two, as entertaining as this is…" Liz said walking towards us. She toed us apart and Bex and I burst into laughter. "We've got things to do."
"So you guys weren't really fighting?" Jonas asked confused.
"No, they almost never have real fights. Almost all of them are fake." Macey said stepping over us to sit on the bed next to Liz.
"How can you tell the difference?" Preston asked as he crossed to sit next to Macey.
Macey shrugged. "I just know them really well I guess."
Liz handed out a blank case and each person's picture as Jonas came and stood by her shoulder. "Here you go guys. It'll work best if you do it slowly, only a little bit at a time and don't peel the back of the sticker off all at once. Do it as you put it on." She instructed.
Our giggles died down as Bex and I reached for our cases. I laid down on my stomach, sticker in front of me as I prepared to put it on. Bex put herself in the same position as me and Grant laid down across from her.
Zach tried his luck and came to lay next to me. "Hey Gallagher Girl." He said.
All four of the Gallagher Girls in that room shushed him.
"Right…" He said quieter. "You want some help?" He asked, offering.
"Nope." I said as I concentrated. I moved forward to look at it closer and began putting the picture on.
Zach moved up beside me. "So Gallagher Girl-" Bex cut him off in the middle of his sentence.
"Not now Zach." She said as she pulled her hair out of her face and she and Grant leaned very close to the case.
"I was talking to Cammie." He explained.
"Could've fooled me." Macey said.
"Last I checked I was a Gallagher Girl too." Bex commented.
"As was I." Liz added.
"Me too." Macey said.
"You aren't wrong, but you aren't the Gallagher Girl I was talking to." He tried to explain.
"Wouldn't it be nice if there was some way to specify which person you were talking to?" I asked sarcastically.
"You know, like a name, or something like that." Macey added as she finished applying her sticker.
"Alright, alright, you've made your point, let's not torture the poor man." Grant said absentmindedly.
"Done!" I announced proudly as I held up my case, it was devoid of any bubbles or tears.
"Same!" Macey said triumphantly.
"Got it!" Liz added just a second later.
"I'm...working on it." Bex added in a zoned out tone. She was really focused.
"Hand me my phone?" I asked Macey.
"Sure." She went to grab it from the night stand.
"Not yet, I'm still updating the software." Liz stopped her. Liz looked over at Jonas. "Wanna help me?" She asked quietly.
"Sure." He whispered then ran to go get his laptop. Seconds later, they were hunched over their computers, talking quietly with each other.
"Ah nerd love." Bex commented as she sat up, her completed case in hand.
"Isn't it beautiful?" I added.
"I can hear you guys!" Liz called from the other side of the room.
"You were meant to!" Bex called back in the same tone.
I could practically hear her roll her eyes. I rolled over on my stomach and sighed.
"So, Cammie." Zach began again, this time making sure to specify.
"So Zach." I replied, staring up at the ceiling.
"Are you still mad at me?" He asked.
"Yep."
"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but why did you let us in here if you're still mad?" He asked.
"Yeah?" Grant agreed.
"Yeah, its a little…" Preston began, but with a look from Macey, he stopped talking.
"Well, we let you in here because we wanted to tell you why we were mad." Macey said and all the boys perked up, even Jonas.
"Or rather, we wanted to show you." Bex said "Jonas, you still got that footage?" She asked. Jonas paled then nodded. "Good, pull it up then come over here."
Jonas did as asked then backed away. The girls and I watched the footage once, and saw that you could indeed see Liz in the frame.
"Okay, watch our line of sight." I instructed and the girls and I stepped away from the camera.
As soon as the boys crowded around the computer, Macey grabbed makeup wipes from the counter and quickly wiped off the makeup that covered her bruises.
"Macey." Liz whispered. "Are you sure?" A question in her eyes.
"Absolutely." She replied just as quietly. "They need to know."
Liz looked over at Bex and Me and we each took one of her hands and we turned to face the boys. I took Macey's hand in my free one and we watched them.
We heard the liquid splash over us and watched their reactions as they all finally noticed what made us so mad.
"I still don't get it." Grant whispered to Zach and Zach pointed to the screen. He showed him what was wrong and almost in unison they turned to look at us.
Liz had started tearing up at the thought of what had happened and Bex and I did our best to comfort her.
"Don't mess with our sisters." Bex said threateningly.
"Liz...I..." Jonas said painfully. He looked almost as sad as she did.
"Liz, I am so sorry." Preston said sincerely.
"Yeah, really Liz...I...we just didn't really think about it you know?" Grant added flustered.
"But we should have, and it's no excuse. Please accept our apology. That was...really awful of us to be so insensitive. We're really sorry." Zach added in a heartfelt tone.
Liz laughed a little and let go of my hand to wipe her eyes. "It's okay, you're completely impulsive teenage boys, I understand."
"Just don't do it again." I added without a trace of mercy in my voice.
"Never! Never!" They chorused.
"Then...I guess we can forgive you." Bex said teasingly.
"Good!" Grant said jumping up and pressed his lips to Bex's. She took a startled step back but didn't hesitate to return the favor.
"Well Gallagher Girl." Zach said taking my hand.
"Yes?" Macey said popping into the conversation, and I laughed.
"That will never be not funny." I commented, still giggling.
He just rolled his eyes before settling his gaze on me. Much slower than Grant, he pressed his lips to mine and I began to question why I was mad at him in the first place. Then his lips were gone and I was very aware of where we were.
"Lets go downstairs." I suggested.
Bex broke away for air and a comment. "Yeah, I'm hungry." Then she pushed her lips to Grant's once more.
"Bex, you're going to have to detach yourself from him sometime." Macey said grabbing Preston's hand and walking through the door.
Liz grabbed Jonas' hand and pulled him through as well. I exchanged a look with Zach and we surged forward.
"Come on lover boy." Zach said as we pulled the two apart. As we walked down the stairs, I kept a firm grip on a grinning Bex, while Zach kept a love-struck Grant from bumping into walls and falling down stairs.
"Do we have anything good to eat?" Bex asked as we began to get closer to the kitchen.
"I think so...we have lots of frozen stuff we can eat. Or we can always grab some stuff from the cupboard and eat that." I replied.
"Can we have eating contests?" She asked excitedly.
"I don't think so, you don't handle losing very well." I teased.
"What! No way you would beat me in an eating contest Morgan!"
"You're on Baxter!" I dropped Bex's arm and we raced the rest of the way to the kitchen.
"Whoa there!" Zach yelled from behind us as they tried to catch up.
"This is probably a bad idea!" Grant added.
"This is a great idea!" I said as I pulled open the fridge and Bex opened the cupboard.
"I bet I can fit more oreos in my mouth than you!" Bex yelled.
"You're on!" I accepted her challenge. "I bet I can fit more grapes in my mouth!"
"Don't make me laugh!" She retorted. I grabbed the grapes and ran for the table.
"Ooo! Let's play Chubby Bunny too!" Macey added as she joined us at the table, marshmallows in hand.
"And the toaster game!" Liz added grabbing bread. "Jonas, grab the toaster would you? We'll probably need an extension cord too."
"I'm not a part of this," Jonas said holding up his hands in surrender. "I'm not going to help you four choke to death."
"We won't choke." I said reassuringly. "We do this all the time. Besides, it's not like we don't know the heimlich maneuver." I added quickly.
"That's it, I can't believe you've made me do this Cammie, I never wanted to be this person, but I'm getting your mom." Zach said walking down the hall.
"Oh good idea, she'll want to play too!" I called after him victoriously.
Seconds later my mom appeared followed by Solomon.
"What's this I hear about your four playing dangerous games?" My mom asked "I thought I told you four to stop with the knife song."
"It's the knife game mom." I said.
"I've heard it both ways." Bex said.
"I thought it was the knife game song?" Macey added.
"It's whatever you want to call it." Liz clarified. "And it's not what we're playing."
"Well what is it?" She asked.
"We're having an eating contest." Bex and I toned the same time Macey said.
"Playing chubby bunny obviously." While holding up the marshmallows then Liz added;
"We're playing the toaster game."
She turned to look at Zach. "How exactly are these so dangerous?"
"They could choke!" He exclaimed.
"They could choke on a regular basis, have you seen the way they eat? I'm not all that worried. If they do choke, however, I give you permission to say 'I told you so' after you've applied your training in the Heimlich Maneuver. If you have any." She instructed. "Have fun girls, try to avoid giving the boys heart attacks." She gave a small wave, turned on her heel and was gone.
"You're mom is so cool Cam." Macey said with a smile.
I smiled back. "I know. Now let's do this!"
We divided the food and discussed rules while the boys put on their man pants and assigned themselves our protectors. With our boys either beside us or behind us, we began.
"Alright first one to finish their pile of food wins the first round, the person to win the most rounds will be the overall winner." Macey clarified.
"Round two will be chubby bunny, and round three will be the toaster game." Bex added.
"Any and all tie breakers will be settled through the knife game-" Liz added.
"Whoa there!" All the boys broke in simultaneously. I wondered if that's what we sounded like when we spoke in unison. I cut in to calm them.
"-Unless Liz is one of the finalists, in which case, it's a sudden death round of chubby bunny." I finished for her.
"This is still a horrible idea." Preston stated.
"I completely agree." Zach said.
"I think this will be fun to watch." Grant said excitedly.
"I really wish I could stay out of this." Jonas moaned.
"Hush boys, no one asked for your opinions. Let the big girls work." Macey said rolling her shoulders.
I popped my neck and Bex popped her knuckles. Liz rubbed her hands together anxiously. "Tonight is my night!" Liz stated.
"In your dreams Sutton." Macey intoned. "This game is mine."
"Ha! You're both dreamers, you know I'm gonna win." Bex taunted.
"Please Baxter, I've tanned your hide more than once." I reminded her, a taunt in my eyes.
"Please, your behind is mine Morgan." She retorted.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night baxter." I responded.
"Alright, enough talk, let's dance." Macey said reaching for both the grapes and the oreos.
We each gave another person (to make sure we didn't cheat) 12 oreos and 32 grapes (Liz had this thing with numbers that ended in 2) and a glass of water.
"Hey Jonas, start a timer for us would you?" Liz asked kindly.
"I really don't want to assist in this." He said.
"Preston, will you set it up for us then?" Macey asked reaching out and stroking his arm gently.
"Yeah, I guess." He said staring at her hand, defeated. He grabbed Jonas' laptop from the counter and found a timer on some random website.
"How did you get in?" Jonas asked.
"It was already unlocked." Preston answered, but I could tell that he just knew the password already.
"Oh." Jonas answered, unconcerned. I made eye contact with Bex and we grinned at each other. I wondered how long it would take us to get the password, but from the look in Macey's eye, I knew we would have it by the end of the night.
"Okay, you girls ready?" Preston asked, finger hovering above the mouse pad.
"Born ready." Bex answered and we all leaned forward in anticipation.
"I can't watch." Jonas said, turning away.
"You have to, we can't let the choke." Zach answered grimly.
"You four are worse than my mother. Literally." I said rolling my eyes.
"Yeah, it's not like you guys haven't done anything stupid and dangerous before." Liz added.
"Focus ladies." Macey said, eyes never leaving the pile of food in front of her. "We can berate them for being hypocrites later. Go Preston."
"On your mark...Get set….Go!"
We began shoveling food in our mouths, not even pausing for breaths, each of us using a different tactic. Bex liked to shoves as much as she could in, chewing all the while. Macey ate by size, trying to get it done quickly. Liz ate one at a time, barely making it small enough before swallowing. I was practically dumping food down my throat, hardly chewing at all.
About halfway through our contest, I decided Zach's fear of us choking wasn't all that unreasonable. Liz coughed several times, each time making Jonas jump, and Bex was almost gagging.
Almost two minutes in, I chugged my water down and held my arms up in victory, Bex followed 20 seconds later. Macey came in third with Liz hot on her heels. We all finished in under three minutes.
"I'm not going to lie, that was impressive." Grant said in awe.
"That was seriously cool." Preston said with wide eyes.
"How can your tiny little bodies hold so much food?" Zach wondered aloud.
"I honestly thought all of you were going to die. Camme looked like she was trying to cut of her air supply." Jonas said, rubbing his eyes.
"No time for this, next round." I said grabbing the bag of mini marshmallows.
I ripped it open, told Preston to start the timer, and started us off with one marshmallow in my mouth. "Chubby Bunny." I said in all seriousness, and then passed the bag to Bex.
She repeated my actions. "Chubby Bunny."
The bag went to Macey, and the game went on.
We played for almost ten minutes before someone failed. It's much easier, and a much longer game when you play with mini marshmallows. Plus, we had lots of practice, this was our favorite game.
We each had about 20 marshmallows in our mouths when Bex fell out of the game.
"Chu'y" She tried to state the phrase. "Chub" She cut herself off again, and we waited anxiously. After furious moments of trying to say chubby bunny, she eventually threw her hands up in defeat, and moved to spit the marshmallows out. The remaining three of us cheered silently. The boys looked sick, especially Jonas
Liz was the next to go, in an opposite fashion to Bex's loss, she couldn't fit anymore marshmallows in her mouth. That's usually how she lost.
It was only Macey and I remaining, We stared each other down from across the table. A mere two minutes after Liz's loss, I surrendered from the game, throwing my hands up in defeat and running to the garbage, Macey hot on my heels.
As soon as our mouths were clear, Macey reveled in her victory "WOOOOOO! Finally! This game is mine, Morgan!" She taunted as we returned to the table and pulled out the bread and some extremely strange toppings for the toaster game.
"Who's going to decide what goes on it?" Liz asked as she got knives to spread things on the toast.
"The male opposite you. Preston will choose for Cam, Zach for Mace, Jonas for me, and Grant for Liz." Bex said. "It'll be fair that way."
"Wait, explain this game to me." Grant said crossing his arms, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Macey began to explain"Here's how you play, you pop a piece of bread into the toaster and while it cooks, you go around in a circle and say one thing about yourself. Sometimes we play with other topics, cause we already know everything about eachother like, like one thing about the person next to you, one secret-"
I cut her off "One story." I said with a smile and the girls laughed.
"That was so fun." Bex said laughing.
"Moving on," Liz interrupted. "you want to say it fast, because the person talking while the toast pops has to eat the toast with whatever toppings you guys decide on it. It's really fun."
"So we get to choose what goes on the toast?" Jonas clarified.
"Yep, anything you want." I replied. "if we can't eat it, then we're out."
"Wait a second, won't you guys just measure how long it takes the toast to pop, then use that knowledge to sabotage each other?" Zach asked.
"We did the first few times, so now we switch the setting every time to keep it random." Bex answered.
"Okay, okay. Well, let's play. Then we can be done with this ridiculous challenge." Zach replied rubbing his hands over his face.
"Alright." I clapped my hands together and Macey put a piece of bread in the toaster, and the challenge began.
"Okay, one thing about...Cammie. Cammie is a Chameleon." Macey said quickly.
"Cammie is kind." Liz said.
"Cammie is talking about herself in the third person." I chimed.
"Cammie is a good fighter." Bex said and we were back to Macey.
"Cammie is cute."
"Cammie is funny."
"Cammie is short"
"Cammie has a great smile."
"Cammie…" The toast popped and I wanted to groan when Preston smiled.
"Put...Chocolate syrup, jam, vegemite, nutella, and garlic salt." Preston rattled off, surveying the ingredients on the table top.
Just thinking about it made me want to puke, but there was no way I wasn't going down without a fight. I covered the toast in the listed items, then after making eye contact with my best friends in the world (all of whom were giving me sympathetic looks, we'd tried worse) I took a bite of the horrible concoction. I managed to get one bite down, then a second, but on my third bite, I threw the toast down and held my hands up in defeat. If Macey won this game I would lose, but at that moment I didn't care.
"Finally." Zach murmured.
I took a deep breath carefully showing no weakness. "Good game Preston, I really thought I was going to get it down." I said pulling my feet up under me.
" You aren't going to puke are you?" Grant asked a grossed out look on his face.
Bex let out a sharp laugh. "I don't think Cammie is able to puke. She hasn't ever thrown up before, not even when she had the stomach flu."
"I still don't think that's possible, it had to have been something else." Liz added.
"You've never thrown up? Ever?" Jonas asked puzzled.
I shook my head. "Not even as a child. My parents thought there was something wrong with me, so the took me to the doctors office and my pediatrician sent us to a specialist who told us that there was nothing wrong, I just really didn't want to."
"That's epic." Preston said in awe.
"Yeah it is!" I agreed. I put more bread in the toaster and twisted the dial before pressing it down and saying "Go!"
I crossed the garbage with my nasty toast and my cup. I threw away the gross bread and chugged two glasses of water, keeping an ear on the game. I turned around to see Zach sitting in my chair. I glared at him as I returned, hoping to make him move. Instead of moving however, he just pulled me down into his lap. I rolled my eyes slightly but pulled his arms tighter around me.
The girls quickly all lost at this game. Liz was down on her first time with the toast, Macey hadn't had to eat yet and Bex had two pieces of toast down. We reached the final round.
"Cammies is stunning." Bex said.
"Cammie is strong." Macey added.
"Cammie is going to lose." Bex said with a wink.
"SUDDEN DEATH!" Liz said cranking the knob on the toaster as high as it would go.
"Cammie is clean."
"Cammie is adorable."
"Cammie is getting sick of this." I whispered under my breath.
"Cammie is modest."
"Cammie is quiet."
"Cammie is calm."
"Cammie is clean."
"Cammie is-" And the toaster cut Macey off.
Zach sat up just a little bit and rubbed his hands together. "Alright McHenry, I've been looking forward to this the whole time. You grab that toast and put some egg, raw, honey, cream cheese, raisins, cheese, icing, bacon, capers, spam, jalapeno peppers, garlic, cheese whiz, aaaaaand peanut butter and jelly."
"You're going to regret this Goode." Macey said as she piled it high on the charcoal like toast. She pulled the toast towards her face and we all leaned forward in anticipation. She put one bite in her mouth and almost immediately ran to spit it out.
"I can't do it! I give!" Macey said holding her hand over her mouth "Someone get me some water?"
"I got it." I said jumping to my feet. "Bex, you get the knives."
"Move Zach." Liz said attempting to get him out of my seat.
"I thought we were done with this?" He complained.
"Nope, we have a three way tie." I explained handing Macey a cup of water, helping her get rid of the pukey feeling.
"After this though, we will have a winner." Bex explained laying out three knives and putting three chairs all next to each other then helping Liz clear off the table.
Macey, Preston, and I sat at the sink, (Macey trying to get rid of the sick feeling, me ready to hold her hair if she started puking, Preston rubbing her back reassuringly) while Liz and Bex finished setting up the tie breaker and Grant, Jonas, and Zach all glared disapprovingly.
Here's how we would do it, Liz would examine us all closely and sing the song at the tempo of her choice while we all did the knife game/song/thing and whoever did it fastest (and with the least cuts) would win. Simple.
"Okay, I think I'm ready." She said finally.
"You sure?" Preston asked gently.
"Absolutely." She said shaking her head to clear it. "Let's do this."
We crossed to the table.
I have never been in such an intense tie breaker, each of us determined to win.
"You guys ready?" Liz asked as we all assumed the position.
"Yeah." We toned in unison.
Vaguely I heard the others respond, but I was too in the zone to properly react
"I can't watch." Jonas.
Beside me Bex popped her neck.
"Someone get a medical kit." Grant.
And Macey flexed her fingers on the handle of the knife.
"They'll be fine." Zach.
I stared at my hand, imagining my movements
"Maybe we should get Solomon and Morgan." Jonas.
And how they would feel in the wrist
"No way, I'm so into this." Grant.
And in my hand
"Only if necessary." Zach.
And how my arm would move.
"Someone record this." Liz.
Each movement would be perfect.
"On it." Grant.
It had to be.
"On my mark girls." Liz instructed.
"Ready."
"Set."
"Go!"
The song began.
"There's an old tradition a game we all can play it starts by getting liquored up and sharpening your blade
You take a shot of whiskey and grab your knife and pray and spread your fingers and this is what you say
Oh I have all my fingers the knife goes chop chop chop and if I miss the spaces between my finger the blood will soon come out
But all the same I play the game cause that's what it's all about
No you can't use a pencil you can't use a pen the only way to is with a knife when danger is your friend
Some may call it stupid some may call it dumb
But all the same we play the game because it's so dang fun
Oh I have all my fingers and the knife goes chop chop chop and if I miss the spaces between my fingers the blood will soon come out
Because that's what it's all about
Oh chop chop chop chop chop chop I'm picking up the speed and if you hit one of your fingers your hand will start to bleed"
Our hands were flying, knives so sharp, minds so focused, a meteor could've crashed in the backyard and we wouldn't have flinched. I nicked my pinky with my knife, then my middle finger. Nothing too serious, nothing from lack of skill, just twisted the blade weird in between fingers. I heard grunts from my sides and knew that the others had nicked their fingers too. Finally the song ended, with blood on our hands and on our table we looked to Liz. She said the two words that would bring my world to a halt.
"Another tie." She stated simply.
We all groaned.
"No more, alright no more! I can't handle this! It's too much!" Jonas exploded.
"Can you three be content with a tie?" Grant asked.
I looked to my sides and the three of us nodded.
"Why the heck didn't you say that before?" Zach asked bewildered.
"You didn't ask." Macey said obviously.
The boys all threw their hands up in the air in defeat.
"That's it, I'm done. No more. I'm moving to Canada." Preston said over exaggerating.
We giggled. "It's not that big of a deal." Bex said.
"Not that big a deal?" Jonas said, obviously perplexed about the whole situation. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack! I really thought I was going to have to sew your fingers back on."
I couldn't help it, I started laughing.
"You really think we're that uncoordinated?" Bex asked angrily.
"There's no telling with you three! It's impossible to know!" Zach said.
Macey rolled her eyes and I wiped the tears from mine.
"Oh ye of little faith." Liz said shaking her head.
"No, you know what, no!" Jonas said with a hand on his hip. "That's it, I'm done, you four head to your room, you're grounded!" he said pointing a finger at us then to the stairs.
"Go on!" Preston said pointing as well.
"Yeah, march. Young Ladies." Grant said, joining in the fun.
"You heard him. March." Zach added.
We looked at each other, weary smiles on our faces, and walked towards the stairs.
Half way up the stairs I whispered to my sisters, "Did we just get grounded by our boyfriends?"
"I think so." Macey said an incredulous look on her face.
Bex and Liz started giggling.
"No Laughing!" Was the last we heard from them.
