The Summer of a Teenager

Chapter 4: Lunch at Olivia's House

"It's 2:13. Let's head downstairs. Will you get the boys?" Olivia asked me.

"Sure thing." I walked to Elijah's room door once again and knocked on his door.

"Come in! Oh dang it! I failed level three, again," said Elijah as I opened the door.

"Oh, what are you guys playing?" I asked.

"Oh, Mortal Kombat. I can't get past level three; this is my fifth time trying."

"Oh, dodge Shang Tsung and then use your ice powers to freeze the clock on the left," I explained. I waited for a second while Elijah tried it. I heard the victory sound.

"Wow, thanks, Kate," he said.

"No prob."

"You seem to know a lot about video games," Finn said.

"Well, I've beaten the game four times," I said. "Alex and I share a PlayStation 5. We got it for Christmas last year. I have a lot of free time."

"Haha, nice." He smiled.

I looked behind me and smiled. I didn't want to like him. Heck, I barely knew him. Why was I acting like this? There was an awkward silence, other than the monstrous roar coming from the TV.

"Guys! Are you coming?" Olivia shouted from downstairs.

"Oh yeah, lunch is ready. Olivia told me to tell you guys but you already know, I was helping you with your game," I said.

They all sat up from the beanbags they were sitting on and followed me downstairs. I sat down at their beautiful kitchen table that sat up to twelve people. Our sandwiches were already on the table on plates. Everyone got a mini bag of Doritos, my favorite chips. I took a bite of my sandwich. Blech, mayonnaise. I still ate it because one, I was very hungry, and two, I didn't want to be rude. There was a big plate of assorted fruits and I took a piece of honeydew melon from it.

"So, what grade are you in, Finn?" I asked. I heard everyone chuckle very quietly. I looked over at Alex, him getting the message that he needed to cut it out.

"Um, I'm going into tenth," he responded, "you?"

"I'm going into ninth, so is Alex," I said.

"Oh yeah, you guys are twins, right?" he asked.

I nodded my head and took another bite of my sandwich. Blech.

"Are you excited for high school?" He asked me. I groaned. "Did I say something?"

"Oh no, no," I said. "Everyone just brings it up and you know, just trying to enjoy my... my... my youth. Yeah, my youth."

"It's not as bad as you think," said Elijah.

I opened the bag of doritos. Well, at least something was good. Actually, the fruit was pretty good too.

We all finished our lunch and then Elijah said: "Do you guys want to play a game of basketball?"

"I'm down," said Alex.

"Sure," I said.

Everyone else agreed.

Alex and I were on opposite teams because we would've crushed the other team if we were on the same team. On my team, Finn. Yay? Anyway, on my team, me, Finn and Olivia. On my brother's team, Alex, Elijah, and Malachai, who had joined us after we finished lunch to make the teams even. Elijah called him and he immediately accepted the 'invitation.'

At half time, the score was 2-8. We were winning and I had scored two of the baskets (if you didn't know, baskets = 2 points). We only played for thirty minutes and the final score was 6-10. We won, as in Olivia, Finn and I. Finn and I. That sounds... nice. I guess. Wait, this is weird, I hate mushy gushy lovey stuff, what was happening to me? I barely knew the dude and it seemed like he owned my heart already, I couldn't explain the feeling. What. The. Heck. I think I just needed a moment.

We all headed into the house and it was about 3:30 pm when we finished basketball. Finn looked like he was very impressed with my 'mad-skills.'

"Hey, you're really good," Finn said.

"Oh uh, thanks. I played for the team at Roamy Middle School. I'm going to try out for RH next," I said. RH's (Roamy High) team was really good, but I thought I could make it.

"Do you guys want to watch a movie?" Olivia asked.

"Eh..." said Elijah.

"Come on, we played basketball, you guys have to watch a movie," she said.

"I'm down," Alex said as he walked over by Olivia's side. He put his arm over her. She giggled. Ugh, could she stop with all the giggling? It was getting on my nerves.

"It doesn't matter," said Malachai.

"Okay, so I guess we're watching a movie," said Elijah.

I sat down on the couch in front of the TV.

"What are you doing?" asked Olivia.

"Aren't we watching a movie?" I asked.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you! We turned our garage into an in-home movie theater. It's pretty awesome!" she said, excited.

"Oh, that's awesome!" Alex said.

Elijah led us into the garage where there were leather movie seats and a big screen was hung up in front of them. Behind the seats, were some hanging-lights that hung above the marble bar counter. It looked very modern and clean. Something was licking my ankles.

"Perro!" I shouted as I bent down and pet Elijah and Olivia's dog. He was adorable but he shed so much that they kept him in the garage, well I guess now the movie theater.

"What movie?" asked Alex.

"I dunno. Maybe, Scary Movie?"

"Sure," I said, knowing that scary movies weren't exactly my thing. But I didn't want to be a baby. Especially in front of Finn. Agh, I did it again. Why was I obsessing so early? Blech.

I grabbed a blanket out of the so-called "blanket basket" and sat down on one of the chairs. And, of course, on one side Malachai sits by me and the other side, Finn. Malachai put out his hand for me to hold and I pushed it away. Would he ever let it go of... I shuddered at the thought of: Kate and Malachai. He got up from his chair and sat in the chair at the end, Phew, I thought to myself. But wait, that left me with only Finn.