Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

Kid

*Ryan's POV*

"There's a new member to the family," Jon said before walking up the stairs.

A new member? How?

Patrick got up and followed Jon up the stairs.

The rest of us sat in a nervous, curious, almost uncomfortable silence. I wondered, as I'm sure everyone else did, what animal s/he was. And whether they were were a boy or girl. And how old they were. Well, they must've been young, or at least were a small animal.

Jon came back down the stairs, carrying a tote labeled in thick Sharpie and Pete's handwriting, 'KIDS CLOTHES'. So that answered one question. They were a small human. But I wondered why they had kept our clothes from when we were kids.

Patrick had followed Jon downstairs, but didn't follow him outside. We all bombarded him with questions as he sat back down at his spot on the couch.

"I don't know anything," he said. "He wouldn't tell me anything. He just said he would call us and tell us to come over at some point, but until then, not to bother them."

We all kind of sighed and grumbled and went back to our minds.

"What animal do you think he'll be?" Spencer asked.

"What makes you think it's going to be a boy?" Patrick asked.

"Because basically all of us are boys, so why wouldn't he?" Spencer said. "And it'd be weird if he were a girl."

"I don't know," Andy said. "I think it'd be nice to have a girl in the family again."

"When was there ever a girl in the family?" I asked.

"...I don't know," Andy said, "but there must've been one at one point."

"What if they-I'm using a gender-neutral pronoun so we don't get in another fight-were a sea animal?" Tyler asked. "'Cause that'd be so cool. You know, to have another one in the family."

"You're a sea animal?" Brendon asked.

"Yeah, he's a seahorse," Josh said, rubbing Tyler's head.

"Stop! You're gonna mess up my hair!" Tyler swatted Josh's hand away. "But yeah, I'm a seahorse."

Brendon 'aww'ed and I smiled at him.

"What if they're some type of bird?" Andy said.

"Or another type of bear?" Joe said.

Spencer scoffed. "You're not a bear."

"Yes I am," Joe said. "I am 100% panda."

Spencer scoffed again. "You're a raccoon."

Joe gasped slightly. "You're just jealous because you're a rat."

Spencer gasped and stood up. "You take that back!"

Joe stood up with him. "Make me!"

Patrick and I stood and pulled Spencer back down while Andy did the same with Joe.

"I am not a rat," Spencer fumed.

"We know, we know," Patrick cooed, petting his arm, trying to calm him.

"You're a guinea pig," I said. "That's, like, twenty times better than a rat."

"Fifty times better," Patrick said.

Spencer was nodding, still giving Joe a death glare.

"And you're better than him," I nodded towards Joe.