Aliens in the Attic

Chapter Six

Now that the aliens were gone, they all let a breath out. "That's the thing they used to control Ricky" said Jake looking at the ground were the aliens left a weird control. Lee was quick and took it and started to interact with it, then Art approached him and said while taking the control from Lee's hand "Cool. Let me see it", Tim appeared right next to Art "Nice action on the toggles" he said. Lee took the control out of Art's hand "Wait. What are these?", then Lee took it "Give it back;let me see" and now Art took the control "I picked it up first","Give it back", "It's mine".
Sofia rolled her eyes before stepping in front of them "Hey, hey, hey, guys. This is not a toy. It's real", she said with a serious face, Tom went to the window and spotted Ricky, Tim asked her sister "Ricky?", Tom nodded and responded for her "Yep".

"Get him before somebody finds him, I'll stand alien watch" said Jake. Sofia wanted to stay "I'll stay with you". Tom clenched with jaw a little but nodded and left with the twins and Tim. Hannah was besides Jake who was in the middle and Sofia was on the other side. "So, how are you holding up?" he whispered to her, "Well, besides the fact that I think we are going to die, everything is fine" she finished with a sarcastic smile. "Don't think that, we are going to be okay." then he changed the topic "Did you saw Tom's face when you said that you were staying with me? He looked pissed", Sofia rolled her eyes "I didn't saw that", now it was Jake's turn to roll his eyes "Duh, that's because you are blind as fuck" she just responded with "Yeah, sure, whatever," but she felt a light warm feeling on her cheeks"I'm gonna go outside,Hannah you wanna come?", "No thanks Sofia, I'm gonna stay here with Jake". Jake smirked "Yeah Sofia, go with Tom", "shut up Jake".

"Hey guys", Sofia appeared from the door going towards the boys, she noticed that they were playing with the control to play with Ricky who was now slapping his own face, "What does that big button do?" she asked, Lee pushed it and Ricky got out of his zombie state and looked confused, he saw his car "What the--," he went to his car and started to "My car!". Then Lee pushed it again "That would be the on-and-off button" Sofia was laughing now; Tom looked at her with a smile and turned to Lee "Press it again", Ricky snapped again to be his normal self "Who did this to my car?" he asked ready to punch someone in the face, Tom sassily responded "You did, you giant idiot". Sofia had an amused face "ohh, that was nice" and high-fived with Tom. Ricky was about to respond when Lee turned him off again.

Bethany appeared "Ricky!, where have you been?" she now stood in front of Ricky. Tom gestured Lee to press the button again, Ricky continued talking "Shut up, you little b-- Bethany" he realized his mistake and put a horrified face, "What?" said Bethany and slapped his face, "Why are you hitting me?" ,
"Why are you being such a jerk?"
Tom just smiled "Revenge is so sweet", Sofia was bitting her lip to contain the laugh she was holding.
"I just spent the last hour walking around the lake. Where were you?" asked Bethany, Ricky was trying to remember but he couldn't "I--" Bethany cut him off "That's what I thought" and then she left.
Ricky went after her trying to explain to her that he really doesn't remember "No. I-I don't know"
They all laugh "Want me to bring him back?" asked Lee, they listened their bickering again "Babe, please don't be mad at me", "Did your brain fall out of your head?". Tom and Sofia shared a look, Sofia shook her head "Nahh" and Tom continued "Let him suffer".

Now, they were all with Jake and Hannah "Where's Ricky?Taken prisoner by the aliens?" asked Jake; "No. Worse. My sister" responded Tom. Sofia went and asked "Any action up here?" Jake answered "It's been quiet. Too quiet". They all turned their heads to the right when they heard the aliens talking "No talking in here. Got it?".
Jake stood up "What are they doing in the vents?" they all followed him and stood up too; Sofia spoke "Their map" realizing she said "That's how they'll get to the basement", Jake asked panicked "What do we do?".

Tom had the idea to turn on the house heater in order to try to stop the aliens. The three teenagers went to the thermostatic and turned it to the hot side.
"I hope this works, Einstein" said Jake really meaning his words, "Yeah Tom please be right" said Sofia tired of the aliens.

Now, they were all on the stairs waiting for a reaction from the aliens,from the vents it was heard a noise "Sounds like they're mad" said Art, proud of Tom's idea; "Nice job. I think it's working" said Jake congratulating his cousin and giving him a smile.
Uncle Stu's voice was heard soon enough from downstairs "Kids, get down here right now!", they looked at each other with a worried face but went down anyways.
"Who turned on the heat?" he asked when they were down, Tom noticed that his father had turned down the heater and quickly turned it on again while saying "I did. We need that on"; his father gave him an incredulous face,"Are you crazy? It's July", Sofia's dad was passing by waving his fishing hat to his face trying to refresh himself "Oh man, its hot" and then left to the kitchen.

Sofia said "Yeah, but it's-- it's freezing in here" and they all made their arms as if they were cold. "Yeah. Arctic" continued Jake; "Yeah. I think Hannah's coming down with something" exclaimed Tom worrying about her sister well being and then Hannah did a false cough. Uncle Stu had enough and asked "What's going on?", Hannah responded "We're fighting aliens, I'm pretending it's pretend" Sofia gave her a look and Hannah corrected herself "I mean, it is pretend", Uncle Stu continued talking "Okay, but I'm not pretending, so don't touch the thermostat" turning it to the cold side, Tom then turned it to the hot side.

"Tom, I'm not playing around","Neither amI" ,"Tom, I'm not kidding. You wanna spend the rest of the week in your room?" his dad mentioned in a menacing tone; "Why can't you at least trust there's a reason I'm doing this?" said a exasperated Tom; his dad went saying "A reason why you're blasting the furnace
on summer vacation?","Yes" ;"A reason why you shot your sister's boyfriend?" ,"Yes"; "A reason why you're talking back, giving me attitude? Failing your classes?" his dad said changing the topic and Tom's face changed into a sad one but either way he responded, "So that's what this is about? I failed them on purpose," he exploded "Yeah, I tanked my grades, okay? I'm tired of getting picked on because I'm a brainiac", no one knew how Tom was feeling.

They were shocked by the fact that he was failing them on purpose and that he was getting picked up because he was intelligent. His dad tried to reason with him "I was a brainiac. It worked for me", but Tom had enough "I don't wanna be like you. I wanna be cool", that hurted Uncle Stu, they all noticed but he recomposed himself and said before the kids left he said "Don't touch the thermostat".

They were on their way upstairs "Is that true?" asked an amused Sofia followed by an amused Jake who asked "You really fail on purpose?", Tom let out a sigh "Nobody likes a mathlete", Jake rose his eyebrows "I wouldn't be so sure about that" and he elbowed Sofia , Tom gave them a confused face and Sofia shook her head slightly blushing "Shut the fuck up Jake" and left but not without giving him a slap on the back of his head. Tom was still confused and turned to his cousin trying to understand but he failed because Jake just shrugged with a smile and followed behind Sofia, Tom once again sighed rolling his eyes and went to the others.