What'd you get for Christmas? I got a Flutterbye. :3

The Isadora Diaries:

Birthday:

Sunday, April 8th

I didn't mean to set the monkey on fire. I promise.

I guess I should explain what happened. Just don't judge me, all right?

I don't know what I'm thinking. You're a laptop, so of course you won't judge me.

At least I hope not.

Anywho…

My bad day started in the morning – Sunday morning. Yeah, it was the morning of Grayson's birthday party and the moment of truth of whether Duncan came through with the party planning like he promised he would.

Quigley and I woke up at seven that morning but I got the feeling that Duncan had been up for hours. He had dark bags under his eyes, and he was fully dressed as he paced back and forth around the kitchen as he talked on the phone looking serious and busy. Seriously busy.

(See what I did there? No? Ok.)

Quigley and I just watch him in silence until he ended his call.

"What's going on?" I asked suddenly realizing how stupid my question was. Duncan gave me a look that said "Are you kidding me?"

"I meant the phone calls, and the pacing, and the serious Duncan! I didn't forget about the party!" I added quickly.

"I was talking to a guy about renting costumes. I got a great deal on MM&M costumes!"

"A deal?" Quigley asked.

"MM&M costumes?" I added.

MM&M stands for Magnificent Math Musicians. They're a band with their own show on the little kids' channel, and they sing really corny songs about math. Oh, and they're people dressed as math symbols.

"What are we going to do with MM&M costumes at a birthday party?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Duncan said, as if we should be able to read his mind and suddenly know his plans. We shook our heads. I had an idea about what he was planning, but I praying that I was wrong.

"Okay, guys" Duncan began, "just don't freak out all right?"

Quigley and I exchanged looks. We knew whatever he was going to say wasn't going to be very pleasing.

"The three of us are going to dress up as characters from MM&M and perform some of their songs live! Won't that be fun?!" Duncan exclaimed with a little too much enthusiasm. I think he was trying to sound excited, so maybe we would be excited, too.

It didn't work.

My jaw dropped.

All I could do was wonder what my brother had gotten me into. Did I really have to go through with his plan?

Quigley was the first to protest, obviously furious. "You can't be serious! MM&M is so lame! They're songs are corny, and their name doesn't even make sense! MM&M? They're isn't even an 'and' anywhere in Magnificent Math Musicians! Besides, what if someone from school sees us? We'll be the laughing stocks of the school, and I can a name a few people who will never let me live it down!"

"Relax, kay?" Duncan said, surprisingly calmly. "No one will see us. It's a five-year-old's birthday party for five year olds and it's at a park for little kids. We won't become a laughing stock anywhere."

"But we don't even know any of the songs," I stated a matter-of-factly. "How are we supposed to perform if we don't know any of the songs?"

"Yeah," Quigley agreed. "And none of us can even sing!"

"I thought of that," Duncan said, smiling proudly. "The audience will be sitting in front of a white wall. Violet is letting me use her movie projector to project the lyrics to the songs on the wall so that we know what comes next. And we're going to be lip-syncing, so you don't have to worry about ruining the hearing of small, innocent children with your god-awful excuse for singing voices."

"Well" I said, still trying to come up with reasons why we shouldn't go through with it, "there are four members of MM&M and only three of us."

"Violet's doing it."

"Really?" Quigley and I asked simultaneously.

Duncan nodded. "Yeah I was surprised, too. But she said that she's always wanted to perform something. Now she can! It's not exactly an ideal performance, but it's something!"

"What about the deal you made with the guy who is letting you rent the costumes?" Quigley asked. "We don't any money to pay for any deal! The only money we have is the money we raised to pay back Mom."

Duncan crossed his arms. "I didn't say the deal involved money."

Quigley raised an eyebrow. "Should we be scared?"

"Unless you're afraid of dirt, kids, fish, knives, and possibly a little blood, then no."

"This was all in one deal?" I asked.

"Actually it was, like five. But it means that we don't have to pay any money for what we need for the party!" Duncan exclaimed excitedly.

I could hardly believe it. Duncan really thought everything through. Sometimes I forgot just how smart he really was. But can you blame me? He is the same kid who strapped burritos to fireworks and blew up our roof for them.

I looked at Quigley, who looked at me as well with a surrendered expression. We made a silent agreement. "We'll do it." As if we actually had a choice.

"Great!" Duncan cheered. "Go ahead and get dressed right now! The party starts at twelve, so that means we have only five hours to prepare. Come on, guys! Let's move, move, move!" Duncan ordered clapping his hands loudly every time he said 'move'.

"Wait, can we at least know where the party is?" Quigley asked as Duncan was shoving him up the stairs.

"Cherry Park," Duncan answered. "It's almost a mile from here, so it won't take long to get there. But you still need to hurry!"

"But how will we get there if Mom and Dad are still at work?" I questioned.

Duncan sighed in exasperation. "You two ask way too many questions! We'll get there the same way I did before. We'll ride our bikes."

"Our bikes?" I asked.

"For a mile?" Quigley added.

"Don't complain" Duncan said still trying to shove us up the stairs. "It's free and good exercise. Now go!" We obeyed and hurried up the stairs.

After we go ready and had a short breakfast, we crossed the street to the Clarke's house to pick up Violet who Duncan had texted earlier to tell her she needed to get ready quickly. I was surprised that she actually was ready, since Violet isn't really a morning person. Heck, I'm surprised she was even awake!

"Hey, guys!" Violet greeted us cheerfully when she opened the door for us. "You can come in. I just need to finish something first, then we can go," she said as she reached over to accept Quigley's offered hug. "Quigley, come with me," she said as we followed her inside. HE happily obeyed, taking her hand and they both went upstairs. Duncan and I silently waited for them by the couch in the living room. While we were waiting I thought about the party, and if Duncan had pulled off a good children's party like Quigley and I were hoping. I was a little nervous about performing as a member of MM&M (I mean, I want to protect any dignity I have left), but I reassured that a bunch of five-year-olds weren't going to tell the entire middle school about it.

"WAKE UP, BRO!" Violet's shouting crashed my train of thought. Immediately, my heart began racing faster than my Uncle Craig probably ever drove for a NASCAR race.

Violet's 'bro' = Klaus.

Klaus = in the same building as me.

Me = What do I do get me out of here bring him here to me so I can talk to him and yell at him for being a butt just kidding I don't want to see him ever oh gosh my life!

(I apologize for such an awful sentence.)

What was he doing there in the first place?! Violet said he was spending the night at a friend's house!

Then I remembered that Violet actually said that two days before. He had already came home yesterday.

A part of me was excited that he was back and there was a chance that I'd get to see him, because I really wanted to see him without Haley around. But then there was this other part of me that felt the complete opposite and didn't want to see him again ever because I would just feel awkward being around since we hadn't been talking for, and I knew that he was getting closer to Haley.

In truth, ignoring my mixed emotions, I really did miss him. He was my best friend after all. I was so used to just talking to him whenever I wanted that I was having a hard time adjusting to this whole 'not talking' thing. Not that I wanted to.

I wanted to run upstairs and try to tackle him to the ground and fail epically because I'm so weak, and he would laugh at me and pick me up from behind and spin me around because he knows I hate that, and I would freak out on him and make us both fall. Then we would just lie there talking about anything or nothing at all. Just like what we used to do.

I also wanted to run upstairs and punch him in the jugular.

Violet came back downstairs with her purse, followed by Quigley. "Sorry I took a while" she apologized. "I'm ready now."

I followed by brothers and Violet out of the front door before I could do either of things I wanted to do.

I didn't realize how out of shape I was until I rode my bike that entire mile. I was sweating and panting like some crazy person. I seriously hoped that I would never have to go through that again. Then I remembered that we had to ride our bikes back home. The thought was so stressful that I refused to think about it.

Cherry Park was pretty much your average park. It was a large, open field lined with cherry-dotted bushes and tall trees, and every inch of the ground was littered with small red cherries. In the middle of the field was your typical park with slides, swings, jungle gym, etc…

There were also two white buildings by the play area. One of them, Duncan explained to us, had the bathrooms while the other one was an office.

I couldn't bring myself to understand why a simple park would need an office, but I figured Duncan didn't either, so I held the urge to ask.

Duncan led us to the office building, which was pretty empty except for a couple of doors and a desk on the other side of the room. Behind the desk was a tall, bald man (with an extremely shiny head) talking on the phone with his back to us. Duncan cleared his throat making the man jump and turn around to see us. I could tell he recognized Duncan, and he quickly ended his phone call once he did.

"Good morning, kids!" he greeted enthusiastically. "You two must be Quigley and Isadora! Duncan's told me about you and your predicament. Wow, you three look a lot alike! You know, I've never seen triplets all together before." The bald guy seemed really nice, but I wondered how he could talk so fast with sp much enthusiasm and still keep a smile on his face without getting tired.

Before any of us could respond, he looked at Violet and said, "You must be Bea, the girl Duncan's been telling me about!" Duncan's face grew red faster than the speed of light. "Pfft! What? I didn't-uh-I dont, I mean I didn't mention any Bea! What are you talking about? No, this is Violet."

"Oh, sorry there, Violet!" the man laughed. "Anyway, my name is Joe Baldwin, and I'm in charge here at Cherry Park."

I choked trying to hold back a laugh,a nd I had to cover my mouth so he wouldn't see my smile. A bald guy named Baldwin? I felt really mean, but it just seemed so funny to me! Quigley looked like he was trying not to laugh, too, so I elbowed him in the ribs to get him to stop.

"Come with me to the storage room, " Joe said. "You can help me get the game booths set up."

"Game booths?" I asked.

"Yeah, you know," Joe said. "Booths for games? We have them for whenever the park is rented for parties. Come on, let's go!"

There were only three booths, and they were definitely fit for a five-year-old's birthday party. One was for throwing a baseball through a hole in the wall, another was Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and the last one had a strange contraption that shot out toothpaste...I made a mental note to myself to stay away from that one. There were also boxes of prizes, which were pretty much tiny stuffed animals and small water guns all throw together in cardboard boxes.

We were setting up the booths outside when a truck trailing a white trailer behind it pulled up into the grass. The trailer wasn't as big as the one's that you see being driven to clothing stores or supermarkets; it was a lot smaller, but it wasn't too small. To be exact, it was just the right size to hold a pony because that is just what was inside. All of us except for Joe looked at Duncan in amazement.

"You gut these kids pony rides?!" Quigley asked, astonished.

"You'd be surprised with what you can do if you make the right deal," Duncan said proudly. I made another mental note to myself to get Duncan to make a deal with the manager of my favorite store the next time I see a shirt I want there.

"These deals better not be ridiculous," I warned.

"Don't worry!" Duncan put one arm round me and his other around Quigley. "They're not ridiculous! Besides, we're like The Three Musketeers. We can do anything together!"

I hoped he was right.

Twelve o' clock finally rolled around and the little kiddies began to show up with their colorful, bagged gifts for Grayson. They were pretty excited about the game booths and the pony rides, and a good bit of them went to play on the swings and hang upside down on the slides. Weird stuff like that. hat caught my attention, however, was when a pretty big group of kids seperated themselves on either side of the jungle gym and just stood there staring at each other in silence. Then one of the smallest kids, a boy with blonde hair and glasses, stepped forward and shouted "For Narnia!" followed by a simultaneous cry of, "And for Aslan!" from the kids standing behind him. Then all of Hades's underworld broke loose as the two teams of children began attacking each other as if their actual lives depended on it, screaming battle cries, throwing berries, and climbing all over each other. I was about to suggest trying to get the kids to calm down, but that battle looked pretty rough, and I really didn't want to get caught in the crossfire.

It wasn't long before Grayson and his family showed up. Since it was Grayson's parents that were going to pay us, we went over to greet them. Grayson immediately ran to go join the little monsters in Narnia-throwing cherries and all-while we met his parents. Overall, they were pretty please with the effort that Duncan put into the party (we all were, actually). In fact, they were so pleased that they paid us on the spot with an extra twenty dollars! Yes, everything was going quite well. There were a couple of (completely faked) deaths over at the cherry war that kind of freaked us out a little bit (who knew little kids could be so violent?), but the party was going well, nonetheless. At least it was going well until they showed up. The pale blue minivan pulled up on the grass next to the other parents' cars, and the first person to step out of the car was none other than Haley. Haley. HALEY. My first thought? What the heck was she doing at a little kid's birthday party? And if she had to be at any little kid's birthday party, why did she have to be at one where I had to dress up as a math symbol?!

Then Klaus stepped out of the van setting off a butterfly massacre in my stomach, and making my heart do backhand spring somersault split combos, and leaving my brain confused.

Finally, Sunny leaped out of the van and ran straight over to where my brothers, Violet, and me were standing, blonde pigtails bouncing and all. She wrapped her arms around Violet's legs first, then she did the same to me and my brothers. When she finished, she ran off without a word towards the Narnia battle while smushing cherries on her face. The entire time, Violet had been staring at Haley and Klaus with a mixture of confusion and disbelief glued on her face. "What?" she kept repeating in a higher octave than she normally spoke as she stomped towards them. "What? Klaus! What did I talk to you about just this morning?!

My life had suddenly plummeted downhill, and if Klaus was going to be around while I was dressed as a math symbol lip-syncing to math songs, I was sure my dignity would do the same. I immediately turned to Duncan. "You said no one we knew would be here!"

"Well, I didn't think anyone would be!" he argued.

I turned to Quigley (who looked as distressed as I felt) then. "Did you know they were coming?!" Quigley shook his head. Klaus said he would ride with Sunny in a taxi and leave her here with us, and his mom would be off in time to get her. He never said anything about coming with Haley!"

I looked over at Haley, who was observing her nails as she waited for Klaus to finish arguing with his older sister.

"All right kids, settle down now!" Joe said into a wireless microphone. "That means you, pigtails!"

Sunny threw a cherry at his nose. Sometimes she acts a lot like Violet, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

After five minutes of Joe trying to get the kids to be quiet as they dragged him into their battle, the parents finally realized that things were getting a little out of hand. So they pulled their kids off of Joe's cherried body so he could speak. He stood up, sweating, panting, and looking at the kids as if they were all monsters-which they kind of were. After adjusting his clothes, he said into his microphone, "All right kids, everyone come sit by this wall because in a few short minutes, MM&M are going to perform some songs for you! Yay!" He began clapping his hands to get the kids to cheer, which they did, but their cheering soon became a contest to see who could cheer the loudest. The kids began trying to muffle each other's cheers with their hands and cherries. It wasn't long before another cherry war erupted, and not just between the kids; it felt like there was one in my stomach as well. In a few minutes, I would be humiliated in front of Klaus and, even worse, Haley. Doing something like this in front of Klaus was pretty embarrassing, but doing it in front of Haley was worse because she had the power to make me the laughing-stock of the school with a snap of her fingers. Before IO could protest, Duncan ordered me to go with him and he pulled me and Quigley by our wrists to the building where we met Joe.

3,459

Oh, and it's a five year old's birthday party. If you read somewhere that it's for seven-year-olds or some other age, jut let me know and I will fix it. I kept changing the ages, so that happened.

"And when it's all a blur, you are the hard line
In the disorder, you are the peace sign
And when riots stir, you are the sound mind
And in the disorder, you are the peace sign
And when it's all a blur, you are the peace sign
And in the disorder, you are the peace sign..."

~Peace Sign by Lights

;)