The Moonwalkers

Pizza dinner

Chris growled and sank into the seat next to me, closing the door with a slam. What's with the sudden mood change?
"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling his nose. He swatted my hand away and sulked. I sighed and turned his head to face me. "Oi. What's up?"
"It's nothing..." Chris sighed. He eyed me with a frown and spoke. "You seriously wouldn't kill anything, even to eat?"
"Nope," I shook my head.
"Not even a chicken?"
"Nope."
"Chris...?" Charlene sighed, inserted the key into the ignition. "Don't... just don't..."
"Why?" Chris leaned forward in his seat.
"Stop bothering Charlie, Chris," Charlene said, looking at us through the rearview mirror.
"Whatever..." Chris rolled his eyes.
"I seriously have no idea what the heck's wrong with you," I said, shaking my head.
"It's nothing," Chris said again. "I'm just wondering how you'd survive living in the jungle alone."
"Oh, yeah? Then you'll survive perfectly well?" I retorted without missing a beat. "Nice try, you can't even comb your hair properly," I started ruffling his already messy dark hair. "Let alone, take care of yourself in the jungle."
"Stop doing that!" Chris exclaimed, pushing me off, eventually tackling me to the ground, or was it the seat, and made the car shake violently. I was both laughing and crying.
"Guys, please!" Charlene called from the front, frustrated. "The car is shaking!"
We immediately straightened ourselves and noticed that the car was stopped. I looked out of the window and realised that the pizza place was right outside.
"Oh look, we're here!" I grinned, turning to Chris. "Alright, so we just go?"
"The two of you wanna go?" Charlene asked. I looked over at Chris, who looked back at me, and nodded. Going with Chris means we get to choose pizza with no veggies at all without being scolded. He grinned too.
"Sure, Char," Chris smirked. "We can go alone."
I dug in my phone pouch to make sure that the money that Mom gave us was with me. I opened the door and stepped out when I spotted it.

"Extra pepperoni, and cheese," I grinned at the cashier. "And add on chicken wings."
"No pineapple, no olive, no onions," Chris added, also grinning. I turned to him in surprise. He looked at me, his grin not faltering the slightest. "What?"
"No onions too?" I repeated in surprise.
"Okay, fine keep the onions," Chris turned back to the guy at the counter, who eyed us with suspicion. "And add on four mushroom soup and a large garlic bread."
"And chocolate lava cake for dessert," I added. "Four of those, and four Glacier Soda."
The cashier keyed everything in and went over the order before printing the receipt and handing it to us. The money that Mom gave us was just right to pay for everything.
"Your order will be ready in ten minutes," the cashier said, handing us the receipt. "Have a nice day."
We step away from the counter and looked over at the tables and chairs arranged about.
"You wanna go back to the car or wanna wait here?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
"We'll wait here," Chris grinned. He turned his head, and I followed his gaze to see that he was eyeing the drink counter. He turned back to me with a grin. I already know what he's gonna say. "Wanna have a drink?"
"Money?" I held the receipt to his face and motioned to it with my other hand. "The money that Mom gave us was just right for the food. How do we pay for drinks?"
Chris rolled his eyes. "You think I don't know that?"
"Then what do you have in mind?" I asked, stuffing the receipt into my pocket.
Chris pulls out his wallet from his back pocket and grinned at me. He pulled me to the drinks counter and ordered two cans of cola.
"Thanks," I grinned, cracking open my can of cola. "What about Char?"
"She has Glacier Soda, remember?" Chris smirked, taking a long swig of his drink. His face changed when he swallowed that much of carbonated soda all at once and let out a long burp, wiggling his head. "Oh my god..."
"Let me guess, the gas came out of your nose?"
"Yes..." Chris said before letting out another burp. "Excuse me..."
"Burpie-pants!" I laugh before taking a swig of my cola. I open my mouth to continue, but what came out was a big burp, followed by a burning sensation coming up my nose. "Oh my..."
"What were you saying?" Chris asked with a smirk.
I glared at him.
The guy at the counter called to us so we scrambled to our feet and went to get our food. We finished our colas and threw the empty cans into the bin before making our way back to the car.
"What did you guys buy?" Carlene asked as soon as we got into the car.   
"Pepperoni pizza and chicken wings," Chris smirked, holding the bag of food he was holding. "And soup."
"With Glacier Soda," I added with a grin. "We got lava cakes too."
"Mmm..." Charlene was facing the road, but we could see tell that her mouth watered. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm seriously starving..."
"You wanna grab a side dish?" A grin tugged at Chris's lips.
I roll my eyes and turned away. "What are you planning?"
Chris grinned at me and then turned to Charlene. "Chocolate?"
"Seriously?" I groaned. "Chris, we have lava cake, soup, and chicken wings! Garlic bread and Glacier Soda on top of that!"
"What about supper?" Chris smirked.
"Don't listen to him, Char," I rolled my eyes. "Just go home."
Charlene laughed as she steered the car home.

"So... someone's birthday is coming up?" Mom grinned, helping herself to two slices of pizza and some chicken.
"Oh yeah!" Chris smirked, cracking open his can of Glacier Soda. "Someone whose name starts with a C?"
I opened my container of soup and stirred the croutons into it. "Chris, in case you haven't realised, all of our names start with a C. Including yours."
Chris's eyes widened. He leaned towards Charlene, whispering something in her ear. Charlene snorted and helped herself to some chicken.
"Just tell her, idiot," Charlene chuckled. She looked up at Chris who frowned at her. She rolled her eyes and turned to me. "Charlie, it's your birthday. It's next Thursday."
My eyes popped out of my head as I realised that she was right. With all that's been going on, with the divorce running, moving out of town, and transferring to a new school, I've completely forgotten about my birthday. And it's next week...
"Char, if she asks what her age is this year, I don't know what to say," Chris snorted. I just glared at him. "Char, I think we lost her!"
"I know how old I am this year," I rolled my eyes. "I'll be fifteen on my birthday. Happy now?"
Mom chuckled. "So what do you want for your birthday, Charlie?"
I bit my lip. It isn't like this was the best year. I don't even feel like celebrating after what happened.
"I don't mind, Mom," I said, nervously stirring my soup. "In fact, I don't even want to celebrate."
Mom gasped and dropped her cutlery onto her plate. She looked up at me and frowned. "Charlie, don't say that. We're celebrating. We're gonna have a party right here. On Saturday so that your friends can come."
I choked on my saliva. "What?!"
"We're gonna have a party!" Chris cheered. "Right here."
This is ridiculous. I haven't even made any friends yet!
"But Mom, I don't even have friends yet," I reasoned. "And I don't think I ever will. Especially not with that Barbie girl. Besides, it's only my first day!"
"So what if it's only your first day?" Charlene smiled. "Just invite a few girls over! Maybe even the whole class. Just pass the invitations around. I'm sure some of them would come. Right, Mom?"
"Right as rain, Char," Mom chuckled. She turned back to me with a smile. "Charlie, I'm sure some of your friends would love to attend."
Yeah, who'd say no to free food and a party? Well, me maybe.
But these people are insisting on a party now. I silently groaned but nodded.
"Sure, Mom," I smiled. "I'll make the invitations right away."
"I'll help you," Charlene offered. "I have some coloured paper and glitter glue left behind. We can use those."
"I'll help too," Chris chimed in, nodding solemnly.
"No!" I quickly refused.
"You'll ruin it, Chris," Charlene added.
"And then I would have to clean up after you," Mom smirked.
"Fine..." Chris sighed. "Just thought about adding rocket ships and flying saucers on them."
I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, are you even older than me?"
"Charlie, you know he's only joking, right?" Mom smiled.
"I do, Mom," I chuckled. "But it's still so fun to think he's not."