Chapter 6 Family "Bonding"

Roy felt so out of place sitting around the table that it wasn't even funny. Each time he raised his head to get a look at the people he was helping entertain, he would make eye contact with either Alicia or Albert. And when he made eye contact with Alicia or Albert, his stomach would turn. Their glares were the nastiest that he had ever seen.

It didn't help that the atmosphere was as thick as stew. While the game of A Thousand Blank White Cards had started off with lively conversation, it had slowly morphed into a lethal silence that no one was willing to break. Even the smallest movements, such as a flick of the hair from Ruby or a cleared throat from Singe, were unwelcome intruders that Alicia would shoot down with her glares.

Heck, Roy didn't even want to be here. Not really, anyway. He wanted to be back at the castle, away from the mean older lady who made hampers of dirty laundry look pretty. He wanted to be as far away from the cousin who looked like he was ready to place a terrible curse on him.

But alas, he was here. He couldn't get up now. Not with this game going on. Not when he could leave Celia in a potentially awful situation. So, swallowing a lump in his throat, Roy built up enough courage to break the silence.

"Singe, I play this card to you." He placed his card in front of Singe. When he saw it, he sent Roy a smile.

"Man, you really are evil." He rose from his seat. "I don't even know if I'm in good enough shape to do one hundred push ups."

Roy shrugged and buried his nose in his own cards. "Well, if you want those six hundred points, you'd better try."

Singe chuckled nervously and got down on the floor. Roy cringed when he heard Singe grunting. He didn't even know that a person could make exercising sound so…painful.

Celia cleared her throat. "Well, I suppose it's my turn." She fished around in her deck before placing one card in the middle. "I play this card to the center."

Everyone looked at the card. Roy felt his heart sink when he read what it was that it required the players to do; if they wanted to get five hundred points each, they had to hop on one foot while saying the alphabet backwards. That was nearly impossible; Roy could barely do the alphabet forwards!

"You really are as vile as they come," Albert said as he flashed daggers at Celia with his eyes.

This caused her to shrink back in her seat. "Well, it was either play it to the center or play it to myself…"

Alicia rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated groan. "Very well." She, Ruby, Albert, and Roy all got up. As Alicia started reciting the alphabet backwards, he went out of his way to repeat each letter he said a second after they said them; that way, he would be certain that he could get this right. The only downside was that he finished a second after everyone else had completed the task. This wouldn't be so bad if Alicia wasn't prepared to laugh at him.

"I knew you're a turtle, but damn, you could NOT go any slower if you tried."

Roy grit his teeth. Like he did most of the times he encountered a jerk, he wanted to punch her lights out. However, one glance toward Celia told him that he needed to refrain from doing that. At least for now.

"Okay," Ruby said as they all took their seats. "Looks like that's five hundred points for each of us." She looked down at the floor. "How are you coming along, Honey?"

"Just….entering…the sixties," Singe said.

Ruby giggled and blushed. "Wow. Even if one arm, you are a strong guy. I made the right choice picking you."

"HA!" Alicia guffawed. "Ha ha ha!" As she laughed, she lightly slapped Albert in the chest, causing him to join in. "Ruby, if you think you made the right choice picking…him…" she shook her head. "I always knew you were stupid."

Ruby shot her a glare. "Huh. Kind of funny that you would say that when you flunked out of high school."

Singe, who had finally finished with his set, rose to a standing position and furrowed his brow. "Ruby…"

"HA!" Alicia exclaimed. "Look at you, telling your big sister that her choices were stupid." She pinched Ruby on the cheek while putting on a poisonous smile. "Stay cute, Ruby. Stay cute."

Roy growled. He looked over at Celia. "Can I punch her?" He whispered. "I really want to punch her."

"No!" Celia whispered with a horrified look. "Look, they're just reconnecting. Reconnecting is always messy. They'll probably settle down after a little bit."

Ruby removed Alicia's hand from her face and glared at her. "Is that how you treat your children? Dang, you must be a wonderful mother."

Alicia gasped as Albert grasped hold of her arm. "I'm twice the mother you'll ever be!"

"Yeah!" Albert exclaimed. "At the very least, she didn't bring hybrids into the world!"

"ENOUGH!" Singe yelled as he banged his fist on the table. "Look, we were playing a nice game. Why don't we go back to that?"

Albert sniffed. "Sure. Why not?" He picked up his deck and cast Celia a glance. "Well, dear cousin, I play this card to you." He placed the card in front of her, and when she saw it, her face turned red..

"You…did you make this card yourself?"

Albert grinned wickedly. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."

Roy leaned over Celia's shoulder and got a glance at the card. He gasped when he saw what it said.

For five hundred points, tell your loser Koopa boyfriend to beat up some Toads.

"I am NOT going to do that!" Celia exclaimed.

Albert giggled. "Well, we can't continue with the game unless you do what the card says."

Celia gawked at her cousin. "Are you flipping crazy? I can't tell Roy to do that; he could go to jail!"

Albert smirked. "Well, at least then, he would be where he belongs."

This time, Roy let out a gasp. "Uh, excuse me?" He rose from his chair. "I do NOT belong in a jail!"

"Oh, right, because you Koopas are known for being innocent little angels." Albert's smirk grew nastier. "I'm sure your idiot king kidnapping Peach for the better part of ten years is definite proof of that."

"Alright, THAT'S IT!" Roy leapt across the table, ready to turn Albert's face black and blue. Both Albert and Alicia jumped back a good two feet, fear present in their eyes.

"ROY, STOP!" Celia shouted.

Roy snarled. "YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME, BLONDIE? DO YOU?"

"ROY, SERIOUSLY, STOP!" Ruby shouted. She, Singe, and Celia all worked together to hold him back. They were just barely successful.

"You…you…YOU THREATENED ALBERT!" Alicia yelled. She held her hand on her son's chest. "YOU THREATENED MY BABY!"

Interestingly, this proclamation actually snapped Roy out of it. He looked at the scared and frightened look on Albert's face. He felt like an idiot; he just further confirmed the horrible thoughts they had towards Koopas.

"I…I'm sorry…"

"GET THAT BRUTE OUT OF HERE?" Alicia yelled. "I DON'T WANT HIM ANYWHERE NEAR ALBERT AGAIN!"

Celia, Ruby, and Singe all looked at Roy with furrowed brows. "Roy…" Celia said, gently placing her hand on his shoulder.

"No, no, it's okay." Roy flashed Albert and Alicia a glare. "I was just about to leave anyway." With that, he stomped toward the door. In reality, he really wanted to stay in order to prevent Alicia and Albert from flinging any other nasty words or actions toward Celia and her parents. But he knew he couldn't do that. He didn't want to get into anymore trouble.

This jerks were not worth getting in trouble over.