• “I got it!”
    Cherry instantly jumped up from the chair and ran to the door.
    “Hey, the money.” I crumbled the hundred dollar bill around some coins and threw it to her. She caught it and opened the door.
    “Hello?” Cherry said, like she didn’t know who it was.
    It’s the same pizza guy that always comes here. I mean, does he just wait for our order!?
    I sat on the sofa and gave her ten seconds. One…two…three…four…ten.
    “Cherry, your online chess match with Rook435 is ready. Want me to play for you? I mean, I know how you hate missing a chess match and all…” I shouted in a loud mumble.
    “Thank you,”
    She shut the door and dropped the pizzas on the counter. “You moron!” she came at me in full charge. I pushed off the ground and flipped over the couch. I ran down the down stairs and into the basement. Cherry wasn’t far behind. I opened the basement door and shut it behind me. These family moments I will cherish for ever. I ran and jumped over the bar and hid there. I landed right beside T.J.
    I was a little shocked.
    “Why are you hiding?” I whispered as Cherry came in.
    “Tracy. She tricked me with the “do these pants make my butt look fat” question.” He said, keeping still like she was staring at him.
    “What? She’s not even her.” I whispered.
    Cherry was turning over chairs and yelling.
    “Yeah, I know, but she’s the best shot I seen. She won’t take a head shot, but she’ll shoot me in the leg if she’s mad enough.”
    “Really, she has a rifle?”
    “Yeah, you didn’t know that?”
    “No…really? Are you just pulling my leg?”
    “No, I got it for her.”
    “Oh…that’ll get you in the a**…most likely literally.”
    “Yeah I know…” he said, dropping his head.
    I shrugged. Yeah, Tracy is like that. Wait, where’s Cherry? I peered over the bar table. My fear filled eye met her rage filled ones.
    “Aw s**t.”
    She lifted me up by my hair and threw me onto the pool table. She pressed her forearm into my neck.
    “Never, ever, EVER do that again! You got me!”
    I let out a squeak of air. She let go of my hair and her arm off my neck. I gasped and sat up.
    “Find, I’ll just say something else!” I yelled like a smartass four year old.
    She turned and jolted towards me. I jumped off the pool table and ran back. She laughed and turned and walked up the stairs. I jumped onto the chair and looked at the fire place. Stupid gene pool. Stupid parents with super human strength.
    “Hey, can you shut and close the blinds?” T.J. asked.
    All of a sudden Ace floated out of me, but I was sure he made sure T.J. didn’t see him.
    “God, T.J., we’re in a basement, in a cliff, on the beach. I’m pretty sure Tracy can get a good shot.”
    “Find, but if I get shot in the kidney, I get one of yours.” He said, getting a Coke.
    I laughed. I wonder how Linda is doing by her self.
    “Hey, I need you to meet some one.”
    I got off the chair and he jumped over the bar table.
    “Sure, are they staying for dinner?”
    “Yeah, dinners’ here by the way. I forgot to shoot at the pizza guy. That was that guy’s forth time here. Well, nah, don’t want to waste a rifle shot.” I said.
    We ran up the stairs, pushing and shoving. When he hit the top step, he turned
    Into a strait B line to the pizza boxes. He didn’t even get a chance to see where the pizza were!
    “Hey, where are mom and dad go, a convention?” I asked.
    “They went out for dinner. So you know the rules; no girls, no boys, bed time at 10:00, no R movies, blah blah blah. Cherry is in charge. Of course, that mean’s we’re on our own.” He said mockingly.
    “Ok, well, I’m already in violation.”
    “What do you mean?” he said, stacking pizza on pizza.
    “The person I want you to meet is a girl.”
    “Ok, well, you’re going to die when mom and dad get back.” He said plainly.
    I grabbed a plate and put some pizza silences on it.
    “Yeah, but she’s different.” I said.
    “Oh really, how?”
    “I don’t know if she wants me to tell you. I mean, it’s kind of personal.”
    “Whatever. Hey, where is she?”
    “I don’t really know. She’s spending the night so I showed her a room, and I left her there.”
    He spat out his drink.
    “She’s spending the night!?! Man, you’re deader than dead. You might as well give up the on light of day.”
    “Whatever, I’m going to go find her.”
    I got off the sofa and walked to the stairs. Just then, T.J. turned it to Smoking Gun’s dumbest.
    “I’ll find her…after this show.” I sat back down and put my feet up and the coffee table. I’m sure she’s ok.

    By the time the show was over, I and T.J. were both in tears.
    “Aw man, aw man! That was so funny!”
    I thought I was going to wet myself. T.J. couldn’t even talk. I got up, still laughing and went over to the stairs. I slowly, busting a gut, walked up them. When I was at the top of the stairs, I leaned up against the wall. I was trying to get some air in my lungs. Man that show rocks. You can’t not watch it and not laugh.
    When I gathered myself, I began to look into each room. Empty, empty, empty, Cherry’s room, empty. I know she’s not in Cherry’s room. I mean, even I’m scared of Cherry. I was about to go down stairs, when I heard laughter.
    Man, Cherry. I walked to cherry’s room and knocked on the red wood door.
    “If, you’re relative to me, go away.” Cherry said.
    Some more laughs.
    “Hey cherry, is Linda I in there?” I said.
    “Define, ‘in there’.” She asked.
    You could just picture her smirk. More laughs. God, she does this every time she has my car keys. Now it’s friends.
    “In the confinement of your room.” I sighed.
    “Very good, now, who’s Linda?”
    Now it was bursting of laughter.
    “Cherry, mom and dad aren’t going to be back until 12:00 at the earliest. I could rip this door off, or unscrew it off; you’re choice. Or, just going out on a ledge here, you can just open it for me.”
    I began to get my keys out, quietly. All of a sudden, the door opened an inch and shut. It sounded like two hyenas chuckling in there. I shrugged, picked Cherry’s key off the key chain and insert it into the key hole.
    I turned the key and opened the door.
    “Leo, you dork! I thought I took all of the keys!” Cherry yelled at me. She was walking back to the bed.
    “Yeah, you missed one and I made four dozen. They’re around the house. So, Linda, ya in here?” I asked, looking around at the picture of boys and pink wall paper.
    Cherry jumped onto the top bunk of her bunk beds and threw some stuff down.
    “Yeah, she’s in here. She just went into the bathroom. Now can you go? God, you always have to bust my bubble. I and Linda were having so much fun messing with you.”
    I rolled my eyes.
    “Ok, what ever. She staying here?” I asked.
    “Yeah, I didn’t trust T.J…the pig…”
    “Yeah, ok…hey, wait! What about me?! Not that I would have done anything.” I said in my womanizing defense.
    “You? You’re a freak. You’re like a perfect gentle man,”
    Ouch. She jumped down from the bunk and held out her arms. “And that’s what girls like about you.”
    Wait, a hug? This is a trap. I know it is. I know it’s a trap. Stop it, it’s a trap!
    “Thanks cherry, that’s helps a lot.” I said, greeting the hug.
    “Yeah…hey Leo, do you think you should be taller?”
    “I don’t know, why?”
    She yanked my underwear, like, a foot from my neck! I pushed her back and said,
    “s**t! That hurt! Man, I hate how you got dad’s strength! God, man…I got to go now. I got to go get my underwear out of my throat.”
    I walked out of there weirdly and shut the door. I yank my underwear from my large intestines and walked back down stairs. I started too walked to the down stairs.
    “Hey man, it’s almost curfew.” I said, though mom and dad had to tell me to say that. “So,” I went on, “Would you rather play a game of pool or listen to me sing home on the range on the roof?”
    “Well, to save my ears the bleeding, I’ll meet you in the pool table.” T.J., getting a snack
    I smiled and slid down the railing. I sing well, not the best, but good. I hit the bottom step and opened the door. I walked into the game room.
    “Hey Ace,” I whispered, “Where are ya?” I looked around. I saw a beer bottle lift up and get set back down. I nodded. I grabbed the billiards balls and some pool sticks and chalk. T.J. hit the bottom step and jumped from the step to the pool table in one hop.
    “So, what? Put money on this or just for fun?” he asked.
    “Um, I’ll put some money on this…say, four a ball?” I replied.
    “Sure. You break?”
    I nodded and began to calk the pool stick. He racked the balls and stepped away. I drew the pool stick back and slammed it right into the ball, square on. It hit the rest of the billiards. The nine, thirteen and fifteen balls went in to the pockets. T.J. hit himself in the head with the pool stick.
    “G still has a pool table, doesn’t he?” he asked.
    I not proud of it, but its fun scamming people.

    “Eight ball, corner pocket.” I said cockily.
    Ching, chang, boom.
    “Well, T.J., that’s 32. Now, since you didn’t get one ball, the prince doubles. Man, I love that rule. I’m glad you thought of it last time.” I said.
    “Whatever. I’ll pay you as soon as I can.”
    Crash!
    “What the heck was that?!” I asked, thinking it was Cherry.
    But she always says “my bad” after glass breaks.
    “I don’t know, it sounded like it came from upstairs. Man, I thought the last burglar learn his lesson.” He smiled.