G&T Based

Chapter 18- Kyle

April

Chapter 18- Kyle

April 5th, who could forget? Felicia's birthday. Even though Felicia was only in the Math and Science G&T classes, we became very good friends during just the second week of school. Though her family was rich, she was always fun to be around.

On Saturday, I got dropped off at Felicia's house, or should I say "mansion" at around 10:00am. Giant swinging doors welcomed me into a huge yard sprinkled with wildflowers every few inches. The bushes were neatly trimmed and lined up in a row around the yard. A large pathway led to the front door, while another led to the garage. There were four mansions on the block. One was Felicia's, one belonged to Lindsay's giant family, and the last two were owned by old couples who had a lot of money.

Felicia's dad directed me to the basement, where everyone here was at the moment. We also knew each other from swim team over the summer. I walked down the sweeping staircase and met Felicia at the bottom.

To my surprise, I was the only one there at the moment. Though the basement was empty, it was still grand. The main room contained a giant flat screen TV, a few leather couches, and a bookshelf stuffed with books. Oh, did I forget to mention the bar and the giant fridge? The basement also had lots of windows, which let cool air inside and made sure that it didn't get too stuffy.

"What's up?" I asked, "Who else is coming?"

"Oh, only seven or eight more people," Felicia responded. To Felicia, eight more people didn't seem like that much to her. Just this winter, her parents had about 200 people come over to their house for a Christmas party. And somehow, they were able to fit everyone in one room.

She handed me a list and I read it. I knew everyone on it. There was Daniela, who was a cousin of Felicia's. Amanda and Jonelis, who had both known Felicia since kindergarten. There was also Samantha, or Sam, and her brother Jamoko, whose one year younger. We had both known the two of them for quite a long time. Then, my eyebrows rose as I read the last two names on Felicia's list; Earl and Adam.

I handed the list to Felicia and pointed to the last two names on the list.

"Oh," she sighed, "My parents made me invite them since they have known Earl's and Adam's parents for years. It's like getting invited to a party where you don't know anybody just because your mom or dad is friends with the birthday kid's parents."

"I understand," I said sympathetically. Earl's powerful and mighty mom probably knew all the parents in the whole town and could probably get her son to go to any party he wanted, whether the host liked it or not. Adam's mom was different. She knew everyone too, but because she worked at a Dunkin Donuts a few blocks away, a place where many of the parents get their morning coffee.

"Oh, and Kate's not on list because she has dance. Don't worry, she'll be here later," Felicia said. 

I should have known Kate would be here, she's almost at everything I go to. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it get annoying.

The basement door creaked open. Felicia ran up to see who was there and back with Amanda, Sam, Jamoko, and Jonelis, who all decided to carpool. Not much longer, Daniela arrived, who came all the way from Penn State. Finally, about 10 minutes after I arrived, walked in Earl and Adam, both unsure why they were supposed to be here. Adam looked embarrassed, probably because he was at a party where he wasn't friends with anyone. Or maybe it was because he still remembered the incident with Kate breaking up with him.

Felicia asked us what we thought we should do, and of course, I said hide and seek. It's not a kiddy game, especially when you're in a house this big.

The whole group agreed (Earl after some hesitation), and Jamoko suggested that Felicia should count since she's the birthday girl, probably because he just didn't want to count. Three floors, a basement, and at least 30 different rooms. Felicia agreed and told everyone that she would do the honor of counting to 100.

I tiptoed my way upstairs with Daniela and Earl. Daniela and I had already been at Felicia's house before and knew exactly where the good hiding places were. Daniela: in the giant laundry basket, and me, in a closet near one of the bathrooms, where there was just the right amount of space for me to fit in between a large coat and the wall.

I reached the bathroom closet just as Felicia had counted her way to the 30's. It took a little longer than I expected because I hadn't been to her house for a while and made two wrong turns. The closet door was jammed, I mean completely jammed. No matter how much I pull and twisted the handle, the door would not budge. With my top hiding place taken, I ran into a bedroom, and then into another closet, this time a walk-in one.

"Thank Goodness," I said to myself. The closet had a little hidden square near the back. I moved a coat from a different part of the closet right in front of me so it would be harder to find me. I moved in the small space and crouched down. One of my hands touched the back of the wall. It was metal. Cold, hard, metal.

Strange? I thought to myself, Why would the corner have one metal side?

Felicia had finished counting. I could tell that they started in the basement by the footsteps fading away into the distance. About 10 minutes later, according to my watch, Felicia came back to the first floor. Felicia called out that she had found Adam and Jamoko. About fifteen minutes after that, Jonelis and Sam had been found.

Surprisingly, Amanda still was in her hiding spot. She definitely didn't come upstairs.

Anyway, Daniela was found right away. Felicia probably suspected that Daniela would be in the laundry hamper. It took a while to find Earl. From what I heard from the muffled voices outside, he had squeezed under a bed in the master's bedroom. Now, it was only Amanda and I to compete for the win.

However, Felicia finally gave up after another 15 minutes of searching and called to us to get out. I had heard someone come into the closet once and turned the light on, which made my heart jump, but then left because he or she couldn't find anyone in there. Just as I pushed the large coat out of my way, as I moved out of my hiding spot, I slipped on the carpet on the ground, which sent me against the metal back wall of my hiding space.

The wall didn't break my fall. Instead, it split into two and sent my flying into darkness. After a moment, I landed on something soft. I felt what was under me with my hands; pillows. Dusty pillows with holes in them. The air smelt of mothballs and dirt. From this strange place the wall sent me, I could still hear voices from where I fell. Where the heck was I?