WARNING: SPOILERS!!! ~A Watty's 2019 Submission!

Saved for 30 Under One Roof

(Based off "I Date a Bad Boy" from ICarly)
The Manson family definitely got more respect after our performance at the Block Party. I still found it amazing that Sammy had come through for me like that. And I found out that Mateo had recorded the whole thing and put it on YouTube, plus sent it to a producer! I thought I was going to faint when I heard that. That one terrifying, hectic, night could change my whole life for the better for once! And this time, the change won't be another kid. Then, he walked into my life.
I was sitting in my favourite chair with a coffee mug of tea, listening to music on my headphones, when I heard Everett yelling and the front door slamming open.
"Someone jacked my motorcycle!" I jumped up immediately. So did pretty much everyone else in the house and we all came running.
"Do you have the keys?" I asked him. He nodded, holding them up.
"Someone must have hot wired it or something!" He groaned, punching the wall, leaving a good sized mark.
"Everett Marcus Manson!" Mom shouted. "Don't you dare punch my wall!" He gave her a look, then turned back to me.
"What am I supposed to do, Sam? I'm racing Frankie tomorrow and I need to replace the tires!"
"Alright, first things first, we'll call the police. Next thing, we'll send someone around the neighborhood and ask the neighbors if they saw anyone on Everett's motorcycle. Everett, you and I are going to look around and see if the guy's still around." And we did just that. While Penny and Amanda went around the neighbourhood and Dad called the cops, Everett and I raced down the streets. That was when I saw him. He had Everett's motorcycle and was patching up the tires with some rags, wearing Everett's black helmet. I ran over and whipped it off his head, and revealed a head of brown hair.
"Hey! Thief!" I shouted, and he looked up at me with cocoa brown eyes. He looked about my age, and was super cute. He grinned at me.
"Hey. This yours?" He asked me. I huffed, trying not to be drawn into his hotness.
"No, but it's my brother's! Which you stole!"
"Sam! What's going on?" I heard Everett shouting from down the street. But the guy ignored him.
"I was just taking it down to my garage and fixing it up. And, maybe for a quick joyride." I crossed my arms, but he just stood and crossed his arms back at me. "So, Dollface. Gotta name?" Dollface? Was he flirting with me?
"Sam." I huffed. "And don't call me, "Dollface". You're already getting in enough trouble with the police already! Don't make a fool out of yourself and get into anymore!" The guy laughed.
"Well, Sam, I'm Link. And like I said, I didn't mean any harm. I was gonna fix it up for your brother."
"That doesn't mean you just take it! Everett was pissed!" Then, as if on cue, Everett came running over.
"Sam, who's this guy?" I backed up to be next to Everett.
"This is Link, the guy who stole your motorcycle." Everett looked at Link, then crossed his arms, looking huge. It made me feel small, and a little helpless to be honest, which I hated. If I had to choose between poison and feeling helpless, poison anyday!
Link held up his hands in a surrender position. "Look, I was going to patch it up for ya, Everett. And I was going to bring it right back." Everett looked a little more forgiving when he heard that, but he was still pretty gruff with him.
"Just stay out of our neighbourhood and we won't have any problems." Link shook his head.
"Now, that's a problem. My folks and I just moved out here. We're going to be living right here, actually." Everett squinted his eyes, then sighed.
"Just stay away from my motorcycle. And my sisters." He told him. "Don't think you can bug them either." Then Everett took my arm and led me home. When we got home and told Dad everything, he called the cops and canceled the report. Then Everett followed me to my chair.
"What do you want, Evie?" I asked him, using the nickname I know he doesn't like.
"I want you to stay away from Link." He told me. I raised my eyebrows at him. "I'm serious. He's a bad guy, and I don't want to see my baby sister get her heartbroken by that kind of guy."
"Okay first off, ew. He is not my type of guy. Second, I'm five years younger than you! That's hardly a baby sister anymore." I told him. He shook his head.
"Still. Stay away from him." I rolled my eyes, then went back to my music.
However, the next day at school in my Geometry class, Link was there. And fabulous news, he had to plunk a big black backpack next to the one empty seat by me that I usually used for my backpack and sit down in the chair. When he saw me, he grinned.
"Well if it isn't Sammy from down the street." He said. I tossed my hair at him.
"It's Sam. Sammy is my brother." He rolled his eyes.
"Whatever." Then he said, "Speaking of your brother, I'm meeting up with your brother Tyson after school. He asked me to shoot some hoops with him." I mentally groaned. Everett was gonna be pissed to hear that. He already hated Link, and now he was coming over to hang out with his fourteen year old brother.
When I got home and was trying to do my homework, I could hear Link and Tyson yelling to each other outside. As if it wasn't hard enough to study in this house! When I finally got done and went downstairs, Dad was sitting on a bag and Mom was appearing to be trying to get it closed. I sighed.
"Sadly, this is not the weirdest thing I have come downstairs to." I told them. They grinned at me.
"We're taking Tyson through Riley to a water park this week! And you older kids are getting the house!" She told me. Every year, the fourteen and below kids go with Mom and Dad to a water park, which is the place where you don't have to quite act so grownup, unless you're above fifteen. We all went there when we were kids, but we don't anymore. And I noticed how she said Tyson through Riley. Too many names to say them all. Tyson, Nichole, Nicholas, Caleb, Caitlin, James, Felix, Ben, Danny, and Riley. No parent wants to say all those names.
That was when Zoroya and David came in with two suitcases.
"We'll be gone for the next four days! We've got a huge case coming up and we're heading for Tampa Bay! We might stay a few days longer though, just for a little sunshine." Zoroya, although a very creative person, was also David's legal partner in Manson's Legal Firm. "Oh, and by the way, Amanda, Mila, Charles and Charlotte asked to come with us. They all just asked first and we only got five extra tickets, and David had to bring Theresa." That was when Amanda, Mila, and Charlotte came in with duffel bags, Charles right behind them. Amanda was wearing a white jacket with green palm trees sewn onto where the breast pocket would be, little blue shorts, and pink flip flops with a pink t-shirt. Mila had on a big floppy hat, a hawaiian style shirt, khaki shorts, and green flip flops. Charlotte wore a blue tankini top, a light blue skirt, and blue flip flops with a white short sleeved jacket. Charles had a red, unbuttoned shirt, khaki shorts, and red flip flops. They all looked ready to get to Tampa Bay.
"Come on, guys! We're either going to miss our plane, or the sunshine! Either way, let's get out of here!" Charlotte told Zoroya and David. They both laughed and grabbed their suitcases.
"Calm down! The plane doesn't leave until six, and we still have to pick up Theresa." David told them. Then Mateo came dancing down the stairs, his IPod in his hand and a backpack in the other.
"You are all in luck! You're getting rid of a kid tonight!" He told us. "You know Nancy Phillips, two houses down? Well, she got me another gig as a DJ! This couple needed a DJ for their baby shower coming up and they're willing to pay me a hundred dollars!" Mom cheered and gave him a hug while Dad patted him on the back.
"Good job, Mateo! This could be your big break!" Mom told him. He grinned, rubbing the back of his neck.
"It's a little ways down, so I'm camping out at the inn tonight and coming home tomorrow." Jeezums, it seemed that everyone was getting out this weekend. We were only going to have thirteen people in the house! At least, until Adalyn and Autumn came squealing in.
"Yes!" Adalyn shouted. "We won't have to be with you losers for the weekend!"
"Stacy invited us for a slumber party! We're going to be staying all weekend!" Autumn explained.
"Wow, even at twenty one, you still get excited for slumber parties?" I asked. Adalyn stuck her tongue out at me.
"These slumber parties are a bit more grownup, Sam." Autumn told me. "They're only slumber parties because we just turned twenty one." Now I got it. I looked Mom and Dad for their opinion, but luckily for the twins, Riley had Ben in a headlock and they had to convince her to let him go. Don't ask me how the youngest got a boy almost an inch taller than her in a headlock. Well, she was standing on the ottoman.
So that left eleven people in the house this weekend. That was when I realised, only two of my sisters were going to be sleeping in the same room as me! Until Lindsay came in with big news just as big as Mateo's.
"Best. Day. Ever!" She told us. "So, the elementary school has asked me, Lindsay Manson, to do the makeup for their school play! I'm going to be up there all weekend! And they're going to pay me and everything! Five dollars a kid!" Everyone cheered again and Adalyn and Autumn looked a little smug.
"She did do an amazing job on our makeup at the Block Party." they were telling people. There's another one who was going to gone! And if you guys think that this is pure coincidence, then it probably is. But it's an amazing coincidence. I'm going to only have ten people with me this weekend! And a bunch of them were usually out anyway, so I was basically alone! This was going to be great.
Soon, Zoroya, David, the twins, Mila, and Amanda had packed themselves into David's minivan, and they drove off to get Theresa and to go to the airport. Then Mom and Dad gave out hugs and kisses, then took away the fourteen and belows in the Manson Bus and drove to the water park. Mateo left with Lindsay to drop her off at the elementary school for their dress rehearsals and Mateo had to get to the inn for his job this weekend. Lindsay said she would find a ride back home when she needed one. And finally, Adalyn and Autumn were gone, leaving me with Lucy, Desmond, Everett, Sammy, Joseph, Robert, Roberta, and Felicia. But Lucy was usually locked in her room upstairs writing for days on end on her laptop while Desmond was usually in the basement doing weird crap on his laptop. Felicia had gotten some new seeds for her garden so she was going to be playing in the dirt for a while and Roberta had a chance alone in the kitchen with a cookbook that she had gotten for Christmas, but never used yet. And Sammy decided to take Robert and Joseph out for a movie for the day. Which left me and Everett. That was when Everett called up from the basement,
"I'm taking a shower! Luce, you're in charge till I'm back!"
"Kay!" Lucy shouted from her bedroom upstairs. I just plunked back in my chair with my tea, my music, and a book just enjoyed the silence. Until Sammy, Joseph, and Robert got back about an hour later. With Link and his big black backpack. Ugh, why couldn't he just leave my family alone? They were all laughing and being loud.
"Hey! Sam!" Sammy shouted as they came in. Ugh, brothers. Not only did they bring a thieving douchebag, they were loud! I paused my music and gave them a look. Sammy grinned at me. "Hey, where's Evie and all them?" I sighed.
"Everett, is in the shower, Lucy's upstairs writing, Felicia is in the backyard in her garden, Desmond's doing who knows what on his laptop, and Roberta's in the kitchen. She's trying out that new cookbook that she got at Christmas." Joseph, a man of many foods, looked excited.
"All right! Come on, Link! Bobbi's a great cook!" Link shrugged.
"I'll be in there in a bit. I'd like to hang out with Sam for a bit." Would he just stop emphasising my name!?
The other guys shrugged back, not seeing the warning look I was giving them. I mean, at least Sammy should have seen me! Or at least just known! When we were little, we used to have this thing where we thought we could read each other's minds which we called "twin-tuition". We couldn't actually read each other's minds, but we were so close, it was like we could. But not today apparently, because my brothers disappeared into the kitchen, leaving me with Link, who came and sat in the chair next to me and looked at my phone where my music was paused, and I felt my face flush red. He probably listened to like speed metal and rock 'n roll while I was listening to-
"Jesse's Girl, huh?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded, a bit stiffly. "So you like power pop? How about some soft pop?" I had to smile at the expression.
"Like what?" I asked, raising both of my eyebrows at him. He grinned, then took my phone and played a song. I rolled my eyes as he began to sing it karaoke.
"Where it began,
I can't begin to knowin'
But then I know it's growing strong." Then he stood and I turned the music up a little, not wanting to miss his voice. "Was in the spring
And spring became the summer
Who'd have believed you'd come along." Then he held up his hands.
"Hands..." I smiled bigger. "touchin' hands..." He held out his hand to me."Reachin' out..." I took his hand. "touchin' me, touchin' you!" Then he pulled me up and spun me around. "Sweet Caroline!"
"Ba ba ba!" I sang along, holding back laughter. He smiled bigger too.
"Good times never seemed so good! I've been inclined!
"Ba ba ba!"
"To believe they never would!" he spun me into him in an embrace, and all my hatred melted away as we danced and sang. All too soon, we reached the end of the song.
"Sweet Caroline!" I couldn't even sing anymore, I was smiling and laughing too much, but that didn't matter to Link. He just nodded to me and continued.
"Good times never seemed so good!
I've been inclined,
To believe they never would..." He pulled me in close, and leaned down. "Sweet Caroline..." Then he kissed me. Or I kissed him. I wasn't sure. But whoever did it first, made the moment amazing. The music ended, and it went into Love Story by Taylor Swift, stupid autoplay. But we didn't care. This was our Love Story. That was when we heard someone shouting.
"Hey!" Then Link was pulled off of me and I away from him. Everett! I looked back and saw Sammy behind me. By the door, stood Robert and Joseph, with Roberta behind them. Everett was giving Link a hard glare.
"I can't believe this! I don't press charges on you! I allow you to hang out with my little brothers! I let you into my house! And then you kiss my sister!"
"I kissed him!" I shouted, trying to pull away from Sammy. Everett's, Robert's, and Joseph's eyes widened at me. Then Everett turned to Link and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
"Out!" Link winced as Everett hustled him to the door.
"Hey! Come on, man! It was just a dance and a kiss!"
"And a dance and a kiss is all you get!" Everett told him, shoving him out the front door. "Stay away from my house! Stay away from my family! Stay away from all my sisters! But mainly, stay away, from Sam!" Then he slammed the door shut and I pulled away from Samuel.
"I cannot believe you just did that!" I shouted at him.
"When I went to take a shower, you hated him! When I came back, you had your face all up in his!" He shouted. I felt flustered.
"I don't know! I was reading, and then these bozos came back from the movies with him and they went to get something to eat from Bobbi! But he stayed behind and at first I wanted him to leave, but then we started talking about music, then he played Sweet Caroline, and we were dancing and then he was looking into my eyes and I kissed him!" I shouted, tears threatening to fall. Samuel came around in front of me.
"Sam, what's happening to you!? This is not the Samantha Samuel Manson I know!" I didn't know what was happening. I was usually so calm and collected and never got this defensive, especially about a boy who wasn't my brother. When I didn't answer, Sammy got disgusted and disappeared upstairs. The twins and Joseph disappeared into the kitchen. But Everett still glared at me.
"Samantha, you are not to see that boy again!" I gasped.
"What!? Why!?"
"Because he's a bad boy, Sam! And he's going to get you into a lot of trouble!" He told me, coming over and putting his hands on my shoulders. I shrugged him off.
"He's not an actual bad boy, Evie! He's a good guy who just happens to dress in all black and stole your motorcycle! And he likes me! Maybe more!" Everett gave me a look, then groaned.
"I can't even talk to you right now! This is not the Sam Manson that I have known for the last sixteen years! That Sam knew what she was talking about, she didn't throw tantrums, and she didn't kiss. Guys." I stomped away from him.
"Well, then meet the new Sam Manson! The one who's dating Link and doesn't care what her dumb big brother Evie has to say about it! And the one who doesn't have to fix all of this family's problems!" Then I slammed my door shut, climbed up to my bunk, and burst into tears. Then I heard a clicking sound on my window. I jumped down next to the window and looked out to see Link coming out of the bushes the moment he saw me. He had a handful of pebbles. I smiled a watery smile, then he pulled out a notebook from his backpack and a sharpie. I watched him write something on a the paper, make a paper airplane, then threw it towards me. I quickly opened my window and leaned out a little and caught it just in time. I unfolded it, and it read, "Sorry about all that." And there was a heart. I held the note to my chest and nodded. He cupped his hands around his mouth and whooped loudly. I laughed and leaned against the wall next to the window, then slid down the wall, smiling. First real fight with a sibling turned into something better than I could have ever imagined!