Welcome to My World

Chapter 45 Ez's POV {Twisted Up In Laughter, Love, And The Death Mat}

After lunch, more people come over. It's crazy, 'cause I've met most of them in real life. There's an Otherworld Soren, but no Claudia. Strange...

There's also Kazi, Janai, and Lujanne, who do act pretty much like that. Lujanne cooks almost as bad as Runaan (but Ellis still eats everything she cooks, yuck!), Kazi talks to Amaya in sign language while the latter argues with Janai.

There's also an Aanya here, but she's totally different. Her moms, Annika and Neha who died when I was less than a year old, are still alive. Now she's less serious, and does a lot more pranks.

I kinda wonder if our Aanya would have acted like this if our moms didn't die.

And also, new discovery. Soren majorly sucks at Sonic All-star Racing. Rayla solidly whooped his butt, but when they switched to Lego Star Wars, she kicked him in the head. I think she's losing.

Genelyn's preening for Callum, but he's too busy admiring Bait. I love my brother. Alesa and Shawn are in the corner, whispering. Hmmm, totally not suspicious.

When Mom pulls a tray of jelly tarts from the oven, I immediately run to grab one. But as soon as I reach for one, it's snatched away by a hand as white as the snow outside. I look up as Derek himself pops it into his mouth. "What are you doing here?" I say accusingly.

"Calm down, Ez, I invited him in for a snack." Callum says. I glance it Derek, who's face bears a smirk. I give up, stalking off to the living room. Ellis is on the rug next to Ava, talking to Aanya. As soon as I join them, Aanya eyes me. "Hey, Ez." She says casually.

"Hi, Aanya. What's up?" I say to her, nodding to Ellis to confirm that yes, she's who she thinks she is in Xadia.

Aanya leans forward, using her elbows to support herself. "So, when are you guys going to get together?" She asks, and I'm not sure if she's teasing us or if she's serious. I never spent enough time with her before to know.

Both me and Ellis bolt upright, her face as red as the couch. Which is really red, by the way. I'm pretty sure my face looks the same. "What?! We're not!"

At this point onwards, it was a complicated mess of Rayllum Rayla and Callum coming and being awkward, then calling everyone else to be even more awkward, because Aanya's on the rug laughing hysterically, Ellis' head is under Ava, and I'm still trying to stammer an excuse.

Really, it wasn't funny.

Derek made a simpering smile. "Some romantic tension, I see?" He purrs. ((@Any Nexus Rising readers, he is not and WILL NEVER REPLACE MCKEYLA AT FREAKING PEOPLE OUR WITH HER ROMANTIC TENSION))

"NO!" Ellis and I yelp, the former being muffled from Ava's thick brown fur.

Gren of course immediately gets down and starts giving Ava belly rubs.

I'm pretty sure if you looked up 'awkward' in the dictionary, you'd find a picture of this moment.

Neha awkwardly (You know what? I'm getting tired of saying awkward so just assume that if someone does something, they did it awkwardly.) cleared her throat. "Eh... Aanya? Are you ok?"

Aanya sat up, wiping tears from her eyes. Her face was as red as mine and Ellis'- but hers was from laughter. "I'm fine, Mom." She said, struggling to stop laughing.

The adults shrugged and left, talking about teenage feelings, and how they should think back about 15 years ago, and reliving romantic failures. Sheesh.

Callum, Rayla, Soren, and Derek are still here, though, along with Alesa and Shawn, who are holding hands. Star-crossed lovers much?

Callum raises his eyebrows. "Who's teasing who about dating?"

"Aanya." Ellis mumbles from underneath Ava.

Rayla claps. "Alright. I know how to settle this." She says excitedly.

This is promising enough that Ellis takes her head out from under Ava. "What?"

Rayla gives us all a grin. "Let's play Twister."

Twister it is, despite Alesa's complaints. Genelyn joins, but only for Callum. Yuck. I can see Rayla looking forward to pushing her over. Derek opts to be spinner, so all of us take places around the mat.

Derek points to me, then spins. "Left foot green." He notes.

I go to put my foot on the green spot as Ellis puts her right hand yellow. By the second turn, Genelyn's out by trying to put right hand green and left foot red. She had to bend over Rayla, unfortunately. Callum fell putting his left hand on blue whole trying to keep his right foot blue.

I size up my competitors. Alesa is wobbling precariously, and so is Ellis, so I don't think I'll have to worry about them. Aanya is surprisingly flexible, and so is Soren. I already know what Rayla can do, so those are my main opponents. I'm worried about Shawn, until his left foot slips when he goes to put his right on green, taking out Soren as well.

"I told you not to wear socks." Alesa calls to him as he slinks off the mat, followed by Soren, who's complaining to him about losing.

Third round takes out Ellis, who can't quite stretch over to red without taking her right hand off yellow and her left foot off green. She slips, and gets eliminated.

Soren pats her on the back. I hear him telling her she'll grow.

I'm pretty confident with my hands on yellow, and my feet on green. It's easy to maintain balance in this position. I have no idea how Rayla can bend over backwards to keep her feet on green and still put her hands on red. Or how Alesa hasn't gotten knocked out. She's still wobbling as she puts her other hand on blue.

"THERE'S JELLY TARTS ON THE TABLE!" Callum yells, making me instinctively look up, which knocks me off balance and I crash down, causing Aanya to fall as she reaches under me for green. We go down with a yelp as Alesa yells at Callum, who's laughing like a maniac.

Aanya and I remove ourselves from the Twister mat, which is now a death trap. Rayla and Alesa are having a fierce stare down, both of them determined to win the match.

Personally, my money's on Rayla.

They freeze, their gazes battling for dominance, until Alesa falls with a sigh. "You win. For the 54th time in a row."

Author's Note: No plot here, I just wanted to write this XD enjoy the pic. I didn't do it.