Preston Greens

30. Pizza Hut!

"Well we're going on a trip on our favorite rocket ship- going through the sky little einsteins." We sang as we walked to Pizza Hut. Mom and dad were rolling their eyes, and believe me, it was a dumb song but it was very catchy. We were all marching towards the buildings, and then cut across the parking lot. Lisa was in the lead, me in the middle, and Charlie in behind me, and Leslie in the back. Mom and dad were trailing behind, talking about some politics. I opened the door to the Pizza Hut and was greeted by the smell of garlic bread and marinara sauce. I inhaled deeply and was instantly filled with happiness and oxygen. 

We took a seat at a booth, all sitting on the same side, with two chairs in front of us for mom and dad. Lisa and Leslie sat next to me and Charlie sat next to Leslie. We ordered some cheesy sticks and some garlic bread, and a medium cheese pizza. We were laughing and giggling about dumb things like what if an employee threw a garlic stick at an intruder or what would happen if a person did a handstand and they hit the light fixtures, which were very low. This place had high ceilings, but the lights hung quite low. 

Mom smiled at my smile, because I was laughing at one of Charlie's jokes, and he wasn't just trying to make me laugh, he was just being his bubbly self. Lisa and Leslie were talking about some actress and Charlie was texting someone, so I told mom thank you and she just nodded. I said the same for dad and he reached over the table and gave a kiss on the cheek.

 The food arrived, and it was served on nice plates, steam coming off of every plate served. It all looked so good. Mom and dad were sharing a salad and we were all sharing the garlic sticks, cheesy sticks, and cheese pizza. I was laughing so hard I was afraid to choke, and mom and dad had to tell me to stop laughing. We stopped saying jokes and Charlie and I told mom and dad about our letter project, and they said they would ask the city if that was ok, since we needed permission. Mom was going to get back to us quickly, since she works for the mayor. Charlie and I were very pleased because mom was pretty good at keeping her promises. We smiled at each other and continued eating our pizza and cheesy sticks, and finally Leslie and Lisa ended their conversation and talked to us. We talked and talked about random things like cats and telling Leslie about the people at school until mom and dad finished paying the check. 

We headed out and walked towards Preston Greens. We passed Millwood and turned on Rosewood. I would rather live on Rosewood than Millwood, because I liked the history behind it. The history behind Millwood wasn't very exciting, but like I said earlier, Rosewood had a big and important story behind it. I also liked Autumn Chase Drive but I didn't know anyone whole lived on that street. The story behind that is really complicated, so I decided not to get that deep into thought. 

We kept on walking when I saw the prettiest bird I had ever seen. I pointed at it and told everyone to be quiet to listen to the song the bird will sing. We waited for a few moments and it sang the most beautiful song. It was right on the sign that read Rosewood Street, so maybe it meant something. I had never seen any bird like it, and it was amazing! We decided to stop listening after a while, and we left the spot. The beautiful melody was ringing in my ears, and it felt really good, like my body felt warm and cozy even though it was nippy and on the colder side. I hugged myself tightly and mom unlocked the front door to my house. Lisa and Leslie swung around the light post again and I joined in with them. There were only two light posts in my yard, and a few of the giant basketball-sized bulbs were broken. Our house was the only one in the whole neighborhood that had those old-fashioned bulbs and light posts. They were already broken when we moved in, and when I asked Josie about it she said that one Halloween some kids were throwing rocks at their house because they only gave them Reese's peanut buttercups when the wanted Kit Kats. It was stupid, and they ended up breaking a window, dented the garage door, and broke those bulbs. Josie and John were so angry that the kids just ran off, not saying sorry. I felt sorry for Josie and John, but those things can always be replaced. They tried replacing the bulbs but they couldn't find any anywhere, probably because they were from a clearance section, and when the kids broke them they were about 2 years old. It was sad that they were limited and that they had to go so cheap, but something told me they went out of style around that time, so that was probably why they were on clearance, to get rid of them. 

I skipped onto the sidewalk and into the house, where mom brought a metal tin to the table. That could only mean one thing- cookies! I was trying not to guess what kind of cookies they were, since it was a surprise, so I went to the living room to find everyone talking about this house, so I decided to answer their important questions. They ended up asking me a lot of questions, but Lisa helped me answer some of the neighborhood history ones. Charlie was amazed so much history and importance could be in one place, and as I thought about this more, I realized I did live in a different and special neighborhood. Every marking had to mean something, and every house was special, and it seemed like they were built by the same builder, even though some were built in different time periods. I always found this to be perplexing. I knew my neighborhood made more than sense, and that all I needed to do was figure it out. We got bored of asking questions about our neighborhood, so we went to my room to scope the place out. I showed everyone dad's office and they gasped. There was a lot of work on the floor and piles of work, surrounding my father. You could barely notice he was in there because there was so much work. I kissed him on the cheek and said hi, and he told me not to make so much noise with my friends and to leave him alone; he had to grade over twenty book reports. We played in my room, looking at things on Instagram and pinterest and we laughed really hard. 

In that moment I knew it wasn't just me who was feeling genuinely happy, but everyone in the room was. We all liked spending time together, and because of me they met each other, and they wouldn't have otherwise. Charlie pulled out from the room unexpectedly. 

"So, have you asked your mom and dad about the bank thing?" He asked quietly. I could tell it had been on his mind for a while, and I felt bad that he wasn't having fun. 

"No, not yet. I was getting ready for this mini party." I replied, scratching at my leg. 

He sighed. "Please let me know as soon as possible." He said, looking at me straight in the eyes. 

"Why do you want to know so badly? Do you need some money?" I asked him suspiciously. 

"No, no, no, nothing like that. I'm just really curious. What if the spirits can get to things they aren't supposed to, like the bleach?" He said. I knew where he was going with this now. I moved my two fingers to my eyes, then pointed them at him.

 "I've got my eye on you." I said, opening the door to my room. Lisa and Leslie were on my IPad, looking at my Instagram account. I could tell by their faces a dare was cooking in their mind. They looked at the account and then smiled. I was a little concerned on what they were about to ask me. 

"So, can you take a small, harmless, dare?" Leslie asked slowly. This wasn't going to be good! 

"Maybe." I said, my eyes darting to Lisa, then Charlie, and then around the room. "What's up your sleeve?" I asked in a deep voice. 

"We dare you to write something on your Instagram profile, and you can't reject it." Lisa said.

 I groaned. Leslie pressed the button that edited my profile, and she started typing in the information box. Charlie was next to me, trying to read what she was writing. When she was finished, I snatched the IPad away from her, putting it in my drawer. "No way, I am not doing that!" I almost yelled, pressing my back against the drawer. 

Lisa and Leslie laughed. "Can you keep it like that for a day?" They asked with their puppy eyes, at least Lisa was. I knew they weren't going to stop until I gave in, and plus, it was just a day. I pressed the 'save' button and we then returned to our conversation. Peppermint was in my lap, and we were all sitting on my bed. I couldn't believe what Lisa and Leslie were trying to do. 

They wrote on my profile "Charlie<3" I didn't want people to see that, so I got my IPad out and added "Leslie wrote that" with an arrow pointing to what she wrote. They said don't remove it, but they never said you couldn't add to it. I wondered if Lisa and Leslie were in one of their "obnoxious" moods, because they don't really do things like that.