Jenga

Chapter Twelve- Worthwhile

"Me? Visit your house? Again? Why?" I ask, really against myself going.

Cyan points his finger upward as he grins and laughs mischievously. "I know that you're last time wasn't so great, so you have another opportunity!"

I cock my head. "Another opportunity to do what?"

Cyan's finger and head drop. "Huh? Are you that clueless? Don't you like him?"

Honestly, I don't care that he's figured me out. I do want to know what exactly he's planning, asking me something like that. Why does it matter to him? He's not on very good terms with Charlie. 

Or maybe, I'm just over-thinking it, like I do with everything.

"What does me liking him have to do with going to his house?" I ask, slightly annoyed be Cyan's vagueness in his explanations.

He sighs. "You'll find out soon enough."

I look around the room. "Where is everyone else, anyway?"

Cyan looks at me and lifts an eyebrow. "Charlie, Wisty and Arthur are late, sure, but how could you not know that Julia didn't come to school today? She's in your class."

"I try not to pay attention to her too much. So, what happened to her?"

"She caught a cold."

I grin and silently laugh to myself. "And how do you know that?"

"Man, you ask questions way too much. This morning, I found Wisty and asked where Julia was and she told me she was out sick. Apparently, they've exchanged cell numbers."

"Good excuse, for now . . .," I say, freaking Cyan out, and suddenly, the door abruptly slides open with Charlie, Wisty and Arthur standing in the doorway.They seem to have ran; they're panting very hard.

"What happened to you guys?" Cyan asks, cleverly changing his focus from me, who wants to get something out of him, and them, the three stooges, who look like their on the verge of passing out.

They sit down, and Arthur is the first to speak, taking his hat off dramatically. "I just wanna be free!!"

I shake my head and turn to Wisty. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Wisty sighs depressingly and shouts, "Fedora! Hugh!"

Out from behind the bookshelves come two children. And really, they're children, as in sixth graders. At this moment I feel like squeezing the life out of the girl, and playing thumb wars with the boy. To elaborate, these kids . . .

"Are the cutest things in the world. I want my children to be just like them," I blurt out, taking Charlie's attention more than anyone else's. He looks at me in a 'do you have a fever' sort of way, but I put my dull face on and he turns away. It drives almost everyone away, but even as his head is turned, I feel his eyes still focused on me.

I tell you, he is probably the most confusing person I've ever met, besides myself.

Anyway, back to the kids. The girl, most likely Fedora, has short, jet black hair, dark gray eyes and the skin of what could be Dracula's daughter. Heck, her whole appearance resembles a vampire. An abnormally cute one, at that. She's wearing the cutest knee-length red dress and black combat boots. If she had on Wisty's blazer, she'd be an 12 year-old fashonista.

The boy, Hugh, has Charlie's messed up, wild hair, but instead of being a hazel brown, it's a dark, almost black kinda brown. He looks a bit like Hugh Jackman, and if you ask me, although it's highly unlikely, he may have a bit of aftershave. He's even wearing clothes that Charlie would wear. Once again, to elaborate, Hugh is basically a combinaton of Charlie and his superstar alter ego.

"How long are you going to look at us, lady? And you, Red, introduce us already!" he says. I scoff. Someone's crabby. See? He and Charlie even have the same crabby personality.

"If you were thinking, Noa, that I'm like this brat, you're highly mistaken," Charlie says, as if reading my mind. I scoff again.

Wisty clears her throat and looks at Arthur, who seems to be still weeping. "This is Fedora and Hugh Carlton, Arthur's niece and nephew."

Charlie stands his arm on the table and rests his head on his hand. "He's helpin' his sis out by babysitting her kids for the week while she's at a conference."

"Um, then why aren't they in school? Are you too lazy to bring 'em there?" Cyan asks Arthur. He shamelessly nods.

"And . . . when the three of us first encountered them in the middle of the day, Hugh had a note from his "mother" with the sudden proposal and started freaking out, thus ran away from the twins, only to have them chasing after us. They're actually pretty scary," Charlie continues.

I snicker and go, "Why the finger quotes around mother?"

He looks at me seriously and says, "Do you really not know why? Think about their last name."

Then it hits me. "N-no way!" I exclaim.

"What's wrong?" Wisty asks.

I look at her in shock, and look at Cyan, who already figured it out, and is dreading over it.

Charlie gets up and looks out the classroom door window. "Phoebe found the opportunity to send her siblings out of her care, posing as her mother and sending then to her uncle, though her siblings were originally her responsibility. She probably knows Arthur works at the school both her ex-boyfriends go to, and is coming to make a scene."

"Whatever she's coming for, I'm not letting her get away with just a hi and bye," I say.

The twins look at me in surprise. "Pheobe's more clever than you may think," Fedora says.

Then it'll just be worthwhile to get her back. I clench my fists. "I don't really care. She'll pay for breaking my brother's heart."