The Library

Cafeteria Parties

The fact that it took ten years for me to finally introduce my friends to my mother should tell you something. Thomas and I dragged our friends into the attic where we played Mario cart until dinner.

Dinner. It was, how to put it, interesting. Picture one of those awkward family meals where no one says anything aside from a few, failed, attempts at small talk. That my dear friends, was dinner.

After my friends left, my mother gave a disgusted look at their retreating backs before putting me and Tommy on dinner clean up. Thank goodness she had forgotten my earlier comment. We quickly washed all the dishes, slipped Henry some junk food (He was still stuck in the barn), and retreated to the roof to finish all of our homework.

As we sat there, stargazing more than working, I marveled at how easy it was for Thomas and me to lead multiple lives. To our parents, we were the troublemakers of the family, but still manageable little farmer children who obeyed most of their rules. To our friends, we were the cool McCord kids who always had a prank ready to lift everyone's spirits. To our siblings, we were snakes, always able to slither out of a sticky situation, unless we wanted a fight. To our teachers, we were clever students who needed attitude adjustment. But to ourselves, we weren't quite sure who we are.

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The next day, Thomas and I went through the motions of our daily routine in record time. We woke up, ran out the door, changed in the cabin, and packed up all our school supplies. Today was a very big day and to say we were excited was an understatement. I pulled my hair into a braid down my back in preparation.

"I wish I went to your school." Isaac muttered gloomily as we worked on breakfast. Thomas actually lit a fire on the stove, and I helped make some omelets. They were quite tasty and we enjoyed them as we walked the rest of the way to school.

We met with our group, smiles all around. "So does everyone know their jobs?" Thomas asked, making eye contact with everyone at the table.

"I'm DJ." Clara said, tapping through her iPod, forming the perfect playlist.

"I get to put all the party supplies in their place." Rigby said, patting the garbage bags next to him.

Drew bounced in his seat like a hyper little puppy. "I get to override the PA system!" He said happily.

"You guys sure that you won't get in any trouble at home for this?" Clara asked, "I've met your mom, and I now know that she is terrifying."

"My parents won't even know what happened." I replied confidently.

We spent the rest of the morning preparing our 'party supplies'. Once in the school, Thomas and I were abnormally quiet. We obediently went through classes and did everything asked of us. Our teachers were suspicious, as they should be, and didn't let us leave their sights all day.

Lunch came around and the student body was restless. They knew we were up to something, they just didn't know what. We sat at our normal table and waited for our entire group to arrive.

I leaned over to Rigby and asked, "Is everything in place for the welcome back party?"

He grinned and said, "Assorted weapons are placed throughout the cafeteria."

"The PA system has been overridden." Drew said when he sat down.

"Perfect." Thomas and I said at the same time.

We reached under the table and found shaving cream and water guns filled with cool-aid. Our grins grew wider, it was time to bring chaos upon this horrible establishment! Upbeat music blared through the speakers, and we all stood up along with several other students we had included in our scheme. We held up our weapons and started spraying every which direction.