Our Hidden World

Chapter 11

Side: Ready Aim Fire by Imagine Dragons

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Josephine's P.O.V:

I'm exhausted. Brooke and I just got home from out shift at Barnes and Noble. Truthfully, if we didn't have plans for our friends to come over tonight, I would be taking a shower and getting into a comfy pair of pajamas. Wait...

"Brooke!" I yell "We can tell everyone to come in their pajamas!"

"Or," she shouts back "We could tell everyone that it had become a full blown slumber

party."

"Awesome, you text everybody. I'm taking a shower." I could tell that she didn't want to text all 11 of our closest friends but I didn't really give her a choice. It's times like these where I feel pretty evil. Oh well.

I hop out of the shower 25 minutes later feeling like 100 bucks. I grab my favorite pair of yoga pants and a grey and purple thermal and run downstairs.

"Well thanks alot for all of your help spreading the word," my sister says sarcastically when she catches sight of me.

"I told you that you would have to do it."

"Yeah yeah. Word's out and people should start arriving any minute now." Just then the doorbell rang and Nyssa, Luna, and Regina walked in. I lead them to my room so that they can put their stuff down then we go back downstairs to set up some of the snacks for the night.

All eight of the remaining guests arrive in the next half hour. Both me and my sister take turns leading them to different rooms. 13 of us are spread out through three different rooms. Me, Violet, Blair and Luna are in my room, Brooke, Nyssa, Jordan, and Regina are in her room, and David, Landon, Eli, Asher, and Logan are in the guest room. If it gets too cramped for anyone they can sleep on the couch downstairs or in my parents room, which is empty at the moment since they decided staying in the house with 13 teenager is just asking for the key to insanity. Everyone changes into their pajamas so that they fit the dress code I set and we head downstairs to determine how to get this sleepover started.

"We could start with a movie,"

"Or a board game."

"Maybe we should eat first."

"Or--" David was interrupted by a gallon of water falling on his head. He turned around to see Eli cheering. That's what he gets for walking into the kitchen first I guess.

"Oh man, you know this is war right?"

For some reason, every time a whole bunch of our friends are gathered in one place a prank war ensues. We can't even blame Eli, or any of the other boys cause us girls start it too. It's never pretty. We'll probably all be sleeping with one eye open tonight.

The teams are quickly established. I'm with Eli, Violet, and Landon. Brooke and Asher are together. Blair and Jordan. David and Regina team up. Lastly there is Logan, Nyssa, and Luna. The best part is that Jordi and Logan are on different teams, so they'll find the most hilarious ways to humiliate each other because they know each other too well.

I look at my sister to see whether she'll be plotting against me or not. She sees me watching her and only smiles. Crap I'm in trouble. For everyone else here, when they leave this house tomorrow, the pranks afterwards will be mostly over (note that I said mostly, it doesn't always stop. Sometimes it gets worse because the other prankees have more places to catch you by surprise), but for me it can go on for days afterward since I live with one of the most dangerous prankees on the playing field.

I grab my team and we run outside into my giant yard. It has plenty of space to run around plus a surplus of trees perfect for climbing...and hitting someone with a sneak attack. We climb up one of the pine trees for cover and quickly come up with a plan of attack.

"You guys act like you do this a lot," Landon says. Violet looks at him and smiles.

"A lot would be an understatement my friend." All of the sudden we hear a yell and a cheer.

"I think that was Logan. That's his first out now," I say. Landon looks confused so I look to Eli to explain it to him.

"Ok Landon, since you're new to this we'll explain the rules to you." Eli starts. "Number 1: No bodily harm. Number 2: No fireworks."

"Fireworks why--"

"Don't question. Number 3: You get two strikes, meaning you fall for two pranks before you're out. That's it. The rest is open, only limited by your creativity." Landon looks a little scared but also very excited, and who wouldn't be? We split up to gather all of the material we need. Landon comes with me since he's still new to the layout of my house. The both of us walk to the back of my property line.

"What are we doing?"

"Well as you've already guessed, we've done this a lot and what kind of good prankster doesn't have a hidden stash of supplies?" We arrive under a tree and I begin to climb. Nearly 20 feet up protected by leaves is a small platform where I have supplies tied down.

"Now that is awesome," Landon says, as he pulls himself up after me.

"I know right? Not even my sister knows this is here. But I know where my sister's is and I keep track of what's there so I'll know what she's using ahead of time. Now come on, we have a lot of work to do."

Landon and I spend the next half hour burying stink bombs in the ground like mines, then we meet up with the other half of our group to get an update. We've all put dye in the soap, there's an air horn behind the bathroom door, Violet has a Febreze grenade ready. David and Regina are both out. Logan, Luna, Eli, Nyssa, and Blair all have one out. The rest of us are being extra cautions. I listen as I hear a yell. I turn around and see Logan hanging upside down from a tree and smile. Jordi got Logan out. This is getting pretty interesting. I can only wonder what my sister's victims have in store for them.

Landon is up in the tree cutting Logan down when all of the sudden Violet runs over and yells "So when are you going to use your secret weapon?"

"What secret weapon?"

"You know...shifting and spying on the enemies? I think you should do a bird this time since you did a squirrel last time. They never did figure out how we knew all of their plans," she said with a laugh but I just stood there shocked. I look up and Violet follows my gaze to see Landon still sitting in the trees, staring at the both of us.

"Soo," he said awkwardly. "A shifter. I had a friend that was a shifter back in New York. He was a boss." I stare at him a moment, trying to figure out if he's lying or not. After a minute all three of us start laughing.

"Neither one of you can tell the other team I'm doing this," I said looking at the both of them. They nodded vigorously ." Well than we've got a secret weapon to use my friends."