War? Check.

Chapter 2

"What the cherry...?" I muttered.

"You're surprised? Understandable!" Sam exclaimed cheerfully, putting his arm around my shoulder casually as if Rosie had done nothing more than spill a bit of mayonnaise on herself. "How long have you known her? Couple of months?"

"Eight years." I said.

Sam's face dropped. If he was sipping tea, he probably would've spat it out. He walked away. "Oh."

"Oh appears to have been a bit of an understatement." said Jack.

"Must've been an elaborate prank." suggested Sam.

I shook my head. "No. Rosie's always liked a joke, but she's never really pranked anyone. Besides, she clearly didn't know I was going to be here, and can you even wear two wigs at once?"

Sam shrugged. "Not sure. I'll look it up." He whipped out his phone, typed something and winced. "Only came up with hair-care routines for people who wear one. Well, what do we do now?"

"I suggest we go home as for now. Max needs time to recover." Jack mumbled.

"Oh, aren't you the caring one- alright, I'm sorry!" Sam said, because Jack looked like he was going to punch him.

We walked together for a bit, before Sam crossed the road to go to his street. We said goodbye, and then it was just me and Jack. As we approached my house (a brown semi-detached with a line of forget-me-nots growing up against the wall- all my mother's doing) Jack said: "Hey... Max?"

"Hm?"

"Speaking of secrets... I don't think you've told her."

"Told her what?"
"You know what I'm talking about."

I stopped in my tracks. He was right. I knew exactly what he meant. I gripped the straps on my backpack a bit tighter before I resumed walking. "I'm just so close to her. I met Rosie before I knew basic music structure, before I met Sam- before I met you, even. And I've only ever told one person."

"Yep, and he told me. Well, not really. Indirectly speaking."

"Come on. It didn't matter if you knew at that point. Does that even count?"

"Who knows?" Jack smiled gently. "And then a Puffer Coat found out and now the entire school knows. Something tells me Rosie would be fine with it, though."

"Yeah..."

Jack smiled. "Hey, I'm not judging you. I get it." He lowered his voice to a murmur. "And I'll probably still get it for another six years considering the way my parents act sometimes."

I gave a faint laugh. We had come to a full stop outside my house. "Well... see you." I said, as I walked up the driveway.

"Bye."

I opened the door. Smoke wisped in an upper corner. I groaned. "Dad?" I said, running into the kitchen. "Are you making sushi again?"

Dad was flapping the smoke with a tea towel away from the fire alarm. "Yep!"

I sighed. Dad is normally one of the best cooks in the universe. The stars align whenever he makes most food... but they all get knocked 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 light-years off course when he makes sushi.

The attempts to flap off the smoke were in vain. Ear-splitting shrieks filled the room. I grabbed at the ceiling for a bit before managing to switch the alarm off. My ears were ringing, but I was just thankful we didn't have sprinklers installed.

Richard walked casually into the room like nothing had happened. "Making sushi?" he asked.

"Yeah." I breathed.