Touch of Hellfire (Original Version)

☕️12☕️

So, Luke got sick of apartment hunting and decided to get an expansion on the apartment over the diner.

Meaning a lot of construction and the odd bit of drywall in someone's food.

We walked into Luke's one morning to find it absolute chaos.

We sat down at a table and Luke ran over to us. "Can't sit here," he told us. "Why not?" Mom asked him. "Because three people got nailed in the head," Luke told her.

"Was their food good?" I asked the most important question. "Just move," Luke grumbled. Mom's phone began ringing. "Outside," Luke pointed at the door.

"Killjoy," Mom rolled her eyes and went outside. Jess walked up to me and Rory and opened an umbrella and handed it to me. "Trust me," he said and winked at me.

"Oh you are so hilarious!" Luke snarked at Jess. "You and Tom should do an act together."

He looked at me and Rory. "Leave it open," he advised. Me and Rory huddled underneath as the drywall came raining down.

"It's like being in the damn apocalypse," I told Rory. "I'd get good footage here."

"That's suicidal," Rory told me. "It's like going onto an erupting volcano for footage of lava."

"Killjoy," I muttered. Mom came back in, pouting. "I'm going to a spa. With my mother."

I held the umbrella over all of our heads while the drywall came down again.

***

Rory and I were charged with helping Mom pack for her trip to the spa. "Well," Mom said to us. "I managed to have most of our treatments mixed so I won't see my mother until dinner."

"Wow," Rory rolled her eyes. "Now what about you two? Parties? Bikers? Kegs?"

"I'm going to do my laundry, watch TV and order Indian food," Rory told me. "Heather?" Mom asked me. "TV, editing footage, food," I answered her.

"Heather, you're the evil twin, do something evil," Mom begged me. "Nope," I popped the p. "All packed," Rory told Mom.

We heard the horn honk and I looked out the window. "Holy cow!"

"What?" Rory asked me. "Grandma arrived in style," I smiled. "Enjoy your mom chaperoning you at the prom!"

"EVIL!" Mom yelled up the stairs. "Bye Mom!" we called.

The limo drove off, leaving the two of us. "I'm not eating Sandeep's," I insisted. "Order some extra cheese pizza to eat, with stuffed crust," Rory smiled. "Just promise me to burn the house down," I chuckled.

"So school now?" Rory asked me. "Yeah," I said and we grabbed our stuff and headed to the bus stop. "So, no Dean tonight," I ordered. "Okay, just the two of us," Rory agreed. "No boyfriends and I'll tell Dean that you'll kick his ass if he comes."

"Deal."

***

"In general, the lab reports weren't bad," our chemistry announced. "But they weren't great either, which leads me to wonder if everyone has the grasp of electrochemistry, so I will be giving another test on Tuesday which will cover chapters fourteen to eighteen in your textbooks as well as the material from lab, please proceed with the assignment we all started yesterday. That will also be on your test."

She put mine in front of me and I opened it to find a lovely A on the first page. Rory smiled at me and gave me a fist bump as we were lab partners. Andrea swirled around. "A minus, did better than I thought."