Stars Of Our Lives

Surprise Surprise White Noise Sucks

I woke up to giggling. Lots of it.

"There's no 'Q'," Krel's voice said. "You lose."

More giggling.

"You can just add something else," Eli's voice replied.

"I've added a belt, four piercings, and an extra arm," Krel said. "You lose."

Absolutely hysterical giggling.

I sat up, trying the blink the grogginess out of my brain. What was going on out there?

"Why don't we just do another game of charades?"

"Yeah, Eli," Krel replied. "Go ahead and try standing up again. Let's see how that goes."

"You say one more word about that, so help me God . . ." He was cut off by his own laughter.

I rubbed my hands against my face, shaking off the sleep and crawling towards the tent door. Upon opening the flap, I saw Krel and Eli sitting across from each other, Eli's notebook and a bag of candy spilled between them. Both of them were red in the face with laughter, somehow looking buzzed and exhausted at the same time.

"Oh hey, Aja," Krel turned to look at me. "You're awake. You're not gonna believe what we figured out."

I stared at him for a solid ten seconds before ducking back into the tent. Maybe I was dreaming. Why my subconscious decided to make up a world where Krel and Eli got along, I don't know. I scrubbed the heel of my hands against my eyes, rubbing all the sleep from them, and poked my head back out.

Nope, not dreaming.

Upon seeing me poke my head out a second time, the boys erupted into a fresh round of giggles, Eli rolling onto his back while gripping his stomach.

I blinked at them. "You didn't take any pills from the pharmacy, did you?"

They just laughed harder.

Rustling sounded behind me, Steve's body heat washing over my back as he peered over my shoulder. "Are they . . . not fighting? Is this a dream?"

"I'm about seventy percent sure it's not," I replied.

"No, no, no," Krel took several deep breaths to try and calm himself down. "We actually . . . were productive . . ." I started giggling too, just from watching them.

"I don't think I've seen Eli laugh this hard since middle school," Steve commented.

"What's got you guys so giggly?"

Eli sat up. "Too much candy, too little sleep."

I laughed harder.

"But no," Krel pushed himself to his feet. "We actually figured -" He wheezed. "We figured it out."

I climbed out of the tent, pulling Steve with me. "Figured what out?"

Eli scooted back several paces, grabbing a makeshift radio that had been thrown to the side. Krel walked over, heaving Eli to his feet and hobbling the both of them back over to the tent.

"There something wrong with your feet, Eli?"

"Happens when he gets tired," Steve yawned, helping Krel ease Eli into the fold up chair. "Side effect."

Oh.

"So what did you guys figure out?" I asked.

"As fun as it is to admit," Eli sneered. "You were right about the 'O' in EDO not being a number. It's a zero."

"But five-forty isn't just an area code," Krel laid the radio in my hands, turning a few of the knobs. "It's a radio station."

"See, there are frequencies kids can hear that adults can't," Eli said. "That's how White Noise works. We think Jim's trying to use the same system."