The Girl With the Killer Arm

Chapter 7

When we got home, I ran upstairs and got into the shower. I took a quick shower, and when I got out, I left my robe on and sat down at my vanity. I parted my hair, and put it into two french braids. After I did that, I put on a pair of shorts and a tank top, then wandered downstairs to grab a snack. My dad was in the kitchen, so I went over to him. 

"Dad, who is coming over?" I ask. 

"You'll see." He says. 

"Is it casual, or formal?" I ask. 

"Semi-formal. Like for me, a dress shirt, but jeans. Just don't wear tennis shoes." He says. 

"Okay." I grab a granola bar out of the pantry, and walk back upstairs. Tommy is standing there. 

"Did he say anything about what to wear?" 

"Like semi-formal." I say.

"Okay." Tommy walks back into his room and closes his door. 

I walk into mine and do the same. I hear a buzz, and go over to where my phone is plugged in. I see that there is a text from my best friend from when I was a kid, Jessica. It said, "Hey Taylor! Long time, no talk!" 

I text back, "Yeah! How are you?" I'm in the middle of taking off the tank top I'm wearing when it buzzes again. I check it, and it says, "I'm good. You?" 

"Good." I text back. I go into my closet and take out my pair of nice skinny jeans. I put them on, and pull out nice blue tank top. I put that on, and put on my blue high-top Converse. I check myself in the mirror, then walk back into my room. 

I see that I have another text from Jessica, and I open it. "I'm gonna be near you this week. Wanna hang out?" 

"Of course!!" I text back. 

I go over to wear my makeup is. I put on some foundation, concealer, powder, blush, and eyeliner. I put on some blue eyeshadow, and mascara. I hear my phone buzz again. "What do you want to do?" Jessica asked. 

"Wanna go to the sandlot?" I ask her. She and I were the only girls that were allowed at the sandlot, according to my brothers (Tyler mostly.) She played baseball as well. She only had one older brother, and he was Tommy's age. 

"It is still there?" She texts back. 

"Yeah." I text. "What day works?" 

"Tomorrow." She texts. 

I close Messaging, and open up Snapchat. I am looking through all of my Snaps when there is a knock on my door. I open it and Tyler walks in. 

"What do you want?" I ask. 

"Just to see if you are ready." He says. 

"Well, I am. Is that all you want?" I say, exasperated. 

"Yep." 

"So, can you go now?" I ask. 

He just walks out, and I lean back on my bed. I now check Instagram. I am on it for a few minutes, when someone knocks on my door again. I open it, and Tommy is standing there. 

"Uh, Dad wants us downstairs." 

"Okay." I say. I slip my phone in my back pocket, and walk out of my room. I close my door behind me, and walk down the stairs after Tommy. Dad is standing with Trevor, and Tyler is nowhere to be found. 

"And where is Tyler?" Dad asks. 

"He said he'd be down in a minute." Tommy says. 

"Okay. I have something to say to all of you." 

Just as he says that, Tuler comes bounding down the stairs. He trips on the bottom stair, and catches himself with his face almost parallel to the floor. He stands up and walks over to us. He stands next to Tommy, who immediately slings an arm over his shoulder, and tries to mess with Tyler's hair, which looked expertly done... Not. Tyler grabs his arm and twists it, causing them to begin "fake boxing."

Dad cleared his throat, and they both stopped, turning to him. Trevor and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes. 

"As you know, tonight we have people coming over." Dad starts. 

"Yeah." Tyler says. 

"But you don't know who." Dad says, an amused smile on his face. 

"Well, no, but, I just thought, well, umm, maybe, oh, uh, no..."

"Tyler, shut up!" I said, exasperated. 

"Do you want to know?" Dad asked, clearly fed up with Tyler. 

"Yes." Tyler said. 

"Then I guess you will have to wait until they get here." Dad says, then turns on his heel, probably going to check that our dining room is set up properly. 

"Any guesses?" Tommy asks. 

"Friends from work?" I joke. 

We all crack up, because we all know that Dad doesn't have "friends" at work, but is friendly with a lot of people. He just tells everyone else what to do. 

"But who do you really think?" Tommy asks. 

We don't have to wait long for an answer, because just then the door bell rang. Our maid, Lucy, went and opened it. I know this because she said, "Hello. Here for the dinner? Right this way!"

We all took that as our cue to go up the back way to the dining room. We came around to the back door, and when I peeked in, I didn't see anybody yet, but I did see more tables than usual. There was like 4 round tables, and they each had about 8 chairs. Our dining room was pretty big, but I never realized it, because we rarely ate in there. 

When we heard the doors on the other side of the room open, all 4 of us crammed next to each other to see the people that came in. When we saw that it was just a bunch of the people that also owned portions of the team, we all sighed. We thought it might be someone cool. But no. Guess we are in for a somewhat boring night.