Jenga

Chapter Thirteen- An Expected Turn of Events

Nothing has happened yet. Not yet, for today. I might've said a bit too much on my part, because I feel relived that she hasn't come yet.

But I better tell Max that she's come, just so he can prepare himself for when she shows up on our front doorstep and there's nothing we can do to change it.

"If you were thinking tat you should tell your brother, don't. He probably won't believe it until he sees it, anyway," Cyan says.

I roll my eyes, and the five of us just sit there quietly, without saying another word to each other. I, trying to be a little productive, begin reading The Puppeteer. Charlie follows, and so does Cyan, but Arthur and Wisty are already almost halfway through.

"Hey . . . how long do we have to stay here?" Hugh complains to Arthur.

Arthur's eyebrow twitches as he stuffs orange slices in Hugh's mouth. "Shut your trap!" he exclaims.

"Arthur, don't be so rude to the poor kid, just because you were fooled by your own niece," Wisty says with that motherly nature she has.

Arthur, looking grief-stricken, grabs Fedora and Hugh by the hand and runs out of the classroom. "We're done for today!" he shrieks.

What a man.

Seconds later, Wisty claps her hands together, most likely having a sudden idea. "I have a sudden idea," she begins. Ha, told you.

"What is it?" Cyan asks.

Wisty smiles mischievously directly at him, causing to fumble out of his seat. "Let's visit Julia at her house!"

"What?!" Cyan shouts.

"What? No way," Charlie says, just not in the mood to be too surprised about it.

"It'll be fun. Hmm . . . wait. We don't know where she lives," I say, the only one--out of Charlie, Cyan and I--actually not opposed to the idea. 

"I do! I went yesterday," Wisty says.

Now I'm a bit surprised. I fix my face a certain, scary way and hold my hands up to it, trying to demonstrate my sudden desparity. "That's not fair . . . how come Julia hate me so much and loves Wisty? Ah, the torture! You know what, I'll hate her, too!"

Suddenly, Charlie confronts me and holds his hand up to his forhead, then to mine. A sudden bolt of electricity goes through my chest and I begin to feel mushy, or something.

"Yep, just what I thought. You really do have a fever," he says with his annoying nerve.

I twitch my eye and while in the midst of kneeing him in his gut, I exclaim, "I'm perfectly fine, you idiot!"

Charlie plops on the floor with making a grunting noise, and Wisty says, "Um, I think he was just trying to say that you're not acting normal."

I turn to her, still angry, so she jolts. "I got that already! It's just that, he . . . loves to play with my emotions."

Wisty chuckles.

I sigh heavily and continue, "Let's get ready to go."

<> <> <>

The four of us stand in front of Julia's house, three out of the four (including me) freaking out.

"I'm not too surprised that her house is big but . . . why the heck is it pink?!" I exclaim.

"Huh, is it not cute?" Wisty asks calmly.

"How were you not half-dead when looking at this the first time? It looks like a doll house!" Charlie says.

I nod in agreement, Wisty pushing all of us inside the horrid place. 

Only, the inside looks exactly what Charlie had described the outside as. 

A dollhouse.

In the midst of what I hope is an illusion, a tall boy with my kind of eyes, short, wavy dark brown hair and a suit on walks up to us. "You must be Julia's friends," he says.

"Not . . . really. Who are you?" I say. He looks at me, and raises his eyebrows. Starting towards me quickly, the boy grabs my hands and holds them up, coming closer to me. "Um . . .," I begin.

"Beautiful," he says.

"Excuse me?" I ask, gettin a bad feeling about this guy.

"You're beautiful, Noa," he continues, shocking not only me, but everyone else. 

Out of nowhere, Charlie throws his fist into the air, aiming for the guy, but the guy ducks. "Charlie! What're you doing?!" I exclaim.

"Are you blind? Can't you see who that is?" he says to me.

I look at the guy harder now, and gasp, struggling to get away from him, not even knowing he was holding me in his arms. "Reynie, let go!" Man, he looks totally different with wavy hair. It's usually straight. But, then again, I did have a bad feeling about him.

Suddenly, a large bang echoes through the room, and when Reynie falls, taking me down with him, we all see the origin of the loud bang.

It's Julia, red-faced and sweaty, holding a large frying pan. "I still can't believe my parents hired him  to be my butler. He's so stupid!"

"Butler?" I repeat getting up, surprised by this should-have-been-expected turn of events.

"Yeah, more or less. So what're you guys doing here?" Julia says.

Before Wisty answers, I look behind me and see Charlie and Cyan both furious. "Butler?! That means he'll be around her more . . . I'm going to kill him!"

"Her?" Julia asks with a hint of hope that Charlie meant her.

Charlie and Cyan come to and turn their heads. "Oh, nothing." I hear Wisty giggle from at the top of the stairs at this.

"Anyway," Charlie says, "we all brought gifts for you, Jul--" Julia interrupts him by pouncing on top of him.

I clench my fists and exclaim, "Get off get off get off get off!" Seriously, what does Julia think she's doing?

Cyan and I both pry her off of Charlie, who seems half-dead but slowly begins to walk away from her. Only she keeps getting closer. Cyan and I look at each other, my face feeling flushed and his just irritated.

"Ah, darling! A teddy bear! Thank you sooo much! Now, give me a kiss!" she says so lovey-dovey that you'd think she's drunk.

"Nooo! Get away from me! Noa, help!" Charlie shouts as Julia starts chasing after him. Is she really sick?

"Me? Help? You've got to be kidding me!" I reply as I walk up the stairs. He should be able to do it himself.

Wisty nudges me and I roll my eyes, feeling even more flushed.

Ugh, guys. 

I just can't help but laugh, though, when Cyan starts chasing Julia. He must really like her.