What Happened After

Chapter 12

"Are you Ruesso's friend, or are you a stranger?" 

Chapter 12.

          I woke up to a strange, faint noise coming from a few feet away. Opening one eye, I turned toward the sound and found the source: two identical little girls, whispering, giggling, and pointing right at me. Shit, I thought. I had completely forgotten where I had fallen asleep. Where was Ruesso?

      “Who are you?” One of the girls asked. Her voice turned suspicious as she said, “You’re not KangaRuesso’s girlfriend.”

         “No, Daisy,” the other one whispered loudly to her. “That girl went to Heaven, remember? That can’t be her!”

         “Maybe the spell worked and we finally turned him into a girl!”

          The girls giggles grew louder and became uncontrollable as they began chanting, “Ha-ha, Rue-sso’s a gi-irl!”

         I could only stare at these two as I began to hear footsteps coming from the hall. I scrambled to the pull the blankets up over my chest, even though it was fully covered by the sweatshirt I fell asleep in. “I’m a what?” Ruesso asked from just outside the room. The two girls shrieked loudly and Ruesso growled at them playfully, causing them to run back down the hall, laughing, still chanting their song. “Sorry you had to see that so early in the morning,” he apologized, now entering his bedroom. “I told you they get up awfully early.”

          “Yeah, no kidding,” I chuckled.

          “So how’d you sleep? Bed’s comfy, isn’t it?”

          “Yeah, it is.” I couldn’t help the smirk that appeared on my face as I asked, “How did you sleep, KangaRuesso?”

         He outwardly cringed. “Aw, man, they said that? I told them they could only call me that around family…”

          “Well technically, they did think I was you. In girl-form.”

         “Right. Well, anyway, Daisy and Holly came up with that name about a year ago. When Lauren was over here. They were all playing, coming up with animal names and I was ambushed.”

        “I see. They really liked Lauren, huh?”

          “Yeah, they did. Anyway, I’m uh, gonna fix breakfast for them in a sec, if you wanted to come down. Matty and my mom aren’t up yet, so I thought I’d surprise them. I asked the girls to keep it a secret from them for now. You think you can do the same?” he asked, sarcastically.

          “Yes, in the event of me running into your mom or brother, I promise to not mention the fact that you are here. Just me. A strange girl.”

          “You could always go with Daisy and Holly’s theory and try to convince them you’re actually me.”

         “True. What are you gonna make?”

          “Mmm, pancakes? I dunno. I’ll go see what you have. Feel free to use the shower if you want, just come down whenever you’re ready.”

          “Okay.” So Ruesso left, to go make breakfast for his family, and I had to say, it was something I never thought I would see Ruesso Van Avery do. Ever. I took a quick shower and got dressed, glancing at myself in the mirror to make sure I didn’t look too sleepy. So far, so good. When I got downstairs, Ruesso was setting the table. The only person sitting at it was a small boy in footie pajamas, rubbing his eyes groggily.