The Summertime Squad

Prologue

A sweet cotton candy pink painted the sky with splashes of violet and coral orange. Memories of the annual summer carnival flooded my mind, and the imaginary taste of cotton candy lingered on my tongue. A wave of euphoria washed over me as it dawned on me that summer was just a mere three months away, and the carnival was four.

I clutched the plate of chocolate fudge cake in my hands tighter, paranoid that I would trip and the cake would fly onto the ground with a splat. If that were to happen, I would not be able to devour the cake, and just the thought made me frown. Chocolate fudge cake had a special place in my heart; especially mom's homemade cake.

My mouth began to water and I wondered when we were going to arrive at the host's house. My mom said that their house was near, but we've already been walking for a minute. When she said near, I assumed they were our next door neighbor.

As if on cue, my mother stopped abruptly, pulling me out of my reverie, and peered at the house in front of us. "Tyler, is this the correct address?" she inquired, turning to my dad.

My dad shrugged. "I don't know, you're the one with the paper with the address on it."

My eyes flickered over to the house that stood in front of us. It resembled our house- a modern double story house with beige exterior walls and a broad front lawn.

My mom ambled up to the front door and my dad, sister, and I trailed behind her. My mom rang the doorbell and I immediately heard someone shriek "They're here!"

Two seconds later, another shouted followed. "Mom, we're having guests over?! Why didn't I know about this?"

I cracked a small smile, and my other family members looked quite amused as well. I had only met the family once before and all I knew was that they lived fifteen doors down from us, and they moved to Grantville a few months ago. A few seconds later, a lady with a chestnut brown hair and warm brown eyes opened the door, greeting us with a friendly smile. "Please come in," she said with a soft Middle Eastern accent.

I kicked off my baby blue converse and lifted up the chocolate fudge cake I had been holding onto with extreme caution. "Where can I put this?" I asked politely since my arms were becoming sore.

"Oh I can take that, thank you dear," the lady responded, taking the cake from my hands. I smiled gratefully and moved my arms around a bit, shaking the numb feeling away.

I sauntered over to the living room, gazing my surroundings. Although there was minimal furniture, the house was nice. The only feature I did not like was the white leather sofas, the sole reason being leather sofas were cold! My sister dropped down onto the sofa and whipped out her phone from her pocket. Her fingers started flying as she tapped away on her screen, most likely texting her boyfriend. I huffed, placing my chin on my hand. Perks of being 19; she had a nice phone and a boyfriend. I had to wait until I turned 16 for either of those, but it felt forever away. I considered two years to be forever and three to be infinity- I've never been the most patient person. I didn't care about the boyfriend part, all I desired was the nice phone so I could play Fruit Ninja.

I proceeded to sit down on the leather sofa, but before I could do so an object flew past me, almost decapitating me.I whipped my head in the direction the object flew from, my mouth agape. My eyes locked with the eyes of a short, slender boy.

"Grab the gun and let's go!" the boy yelled with urgency, referring to the object he threw. His wild light brown eyes darted all over the place as if he expected an animal to pounce on him out of nowhere. I shot him an incredulous look, but picked up the gun anyways, examining it.

The gun was a bright, orange nerf gun, with a few dents and scratches. The boy started to leave the living room, and I followed him close behind. He had light brown eyes and short chestnut brown hair like his mom.