Robbers

Chapter 6

"Oh wow, Cryssie! I didn't know you had a boyfriend!" Daphne giggled.

What I meant to say was "I don't." but what came out was "how do you two even know what boyfriends are? You're what? Three?"

They giggled even more as they looked at each other. "Four!" Daphne held up four fingers as she grinned.

"And a half!" Lilly made sure to add.

"Alright, alright, girls. Let's show Jaspar here what good girls you are. Is the house clean?"

"uhhh...."

"Of course not." My best friend sighed. She turned to her surprise guest with a shrug. "Well dude, this is the best you're going to get so..." she looked at her front door warily. "Brace yourself."

The inside of the house looked like a tornado just hit. Literally. There was screaming and running and stuff all over the place. To say it was a mess would be a massive understatement.

Within a blink of an eye, Sophia had transformed into Mama Herondale.

"Hannah, Jesse stop fighting! Oh my God, is that my lipstick?! Tommy, for God's sake get your underwear off of the stairs! Where the hell is Delilah? And who on earth let Jack into Jonathan's art supplies?!" Sophia turned to Jaspar with an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry you had to witness this. It's not often that I bring a guest over." She said the last part loudly, in hopes that her siblings would hear.

The room froze, with everyone being silent. Except little Jack, who was sitting in a puddle of red paint, splashing about, and laughing innocently.

Then, like a tidal wave, the questions came all at once.

"Who's that guy?"

"What's in the bag?"

Is he Sophia's boyfriend?"

"No way! Sophia doesn't even have friends, how could she have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, she's not even that pretty."

"Maybe it's Crystal's boyfriend."

"Probably. I mean look how close they're standing to each other."

"Ew...she'll get cooties."

"What if Sophia's got cooties?"

"Ewwww!"

"Okay, okay." Sophia interrupted. "That's enough." Everyone shut up. Even Jack. "This here is Jaspar Daniels. He's...err...my friend."

"But you don't have any friends!" her thirteen year old brother, Jesse, pointed out, making the others laugh. Including Jaspar and the twins.

Sophia frowned. "Yes, I do. What about Crystal?"

"She doesn't count!" ten year old Hannah laughed. "We've known her since forever!"

My best friend blew a raspberry. "Well, surprisingly, by some magic force in the universe, I made a new friend today. Now, I'd really appreciate it if you give him a nice, warm Herondale welcome."

There was a mixture of sighs and eye rolls but they all mumbled a "hi" or a "hello", before walking off.

Jas and I followed Soph as she went over and picked up Jack, bringing him into the kitchen. "Lilly, do you know where Delilah is?" she sat Jack on the counter and began cleaning the paint off him with a washcloth.

The little girl shook her head. "Me and Dee were playing outside." She said, referring to her twin sister, whom she liked to call Dee.

She drove away. Vroom! Vroom!" Daphne added.