- C H A P T E R F I F T E E N -
Because the three lazy pants wern't bothered to go and get some clothes from my house, I was left with no choice but to do it myself. I grabbed Harry and Eric some shorts I found lying of the radiator and a vest and shorts for me. I was't going to bring any t-shirts for them but just in case, I yanked two out from Harry's wardrobe. Celeste did't want me to forget anything so she told me to get her whole suitcase with me, which was pretty heavy. Just before leaving, I brought along a few snacks I found in the cupboards, crisps, popcorn seeds, chocolate bars and two packets of jam donuts that I was hiding from Harry, seeing as he couldn't keep his hands off them.
When I returned back to the DeBarge family's' home, I stopped for a moment before entering to 'ooh' and 'aah.' The beauty of it never seemed to fail to amaze me. The front door was painted white and had an antique lion door knocker. On both sides of the door were two long, translucent glass that has a floral pattern on them. The were two steps before entering; they were built from marble and looked absolutely stunning. Especially with the flower beds on both sides of the small steps. The flowers were looking a little dead but they were away for two months and no one was there to water them. Normally, they would bloom beautifully and show of their bright colours.
I dropped off the food bag into their large kitchen and headed to the patio, where the swimming pool was. I had forgotten how big their garden was. They had a large swimming pool; it took up half of the space for their patio but it always gave it a finished look. There was a maple coloured table and a few chairs surrounding it and a white rocking chairs. There was also a little plank that you can jump on to get in the water and a red slide. The floor was tiled with mint brushed sandstone and it matched the colour of the cream house. In the corner, they had a big blue shed. To me, it looked more like a mini house than a shed. Mr. DeBarge had built it himself which was why it looked very original. It had all their names painted around the door and on each window was a picture of them and a hand print.
Mrs. DeBarge was very rich; her husband, Allen DeBarge, was a very successful business man. They owned one of the biggest houses in town and half of this house was rebuilt by them. When they moved down here, this was just a medium size house and there was never this massive garden with an in-ground pool. Mrs. DeBarge even had her own beautiful rose bush and four acres of land where she would plant her vegetables. But they too were facing the same situation as us; no rain meant no vegetables.
"Hey everybody, i'm back," I said, loudly.
No one seemed have taken any notice of me; they were all busy having fun. Without me.
Tisha and Jamal were already in their swim suits. Tisha was in purple and Jamal was wearing blue shorts. Eric was sitting by the edge of the pool, his trousers rolled up and his feet dipped into the water whilst he took care of the two little ones. He was holding onto a rope that was attached to the water hammock that Jamal was lying on so comfortably. I didn't worry if he drifted off accidentally because there was no way he'd fall over; they were four tiny walls on the hammock to prevent anyone from falling and also he had on armbands. Whilst Jamal was chilling, Tisha was trying to catch the big beach ball that Eric was throwing around.
I noticed that Rita and Celeste were no where to be found in the pool. I scanned almost the whole patio, yet I could not see them.
"Celeste, can you pass me those pair of sunglasses?" asked a voice from my right.
I turned my head to my right and found both of them, slurping on juice whilst they lay down on the deckchairs with their shades on. They seemed so chilled and relaxed. Typical them to be doing that than be in the water.
I shrugged my shoulders and placed the luggage and the other bag full of clothes on the floor and sat beside Eric. "Hey," I said, pulling my trousers up and sinking my feet in the pool.
"So you've finally come," he said. "You took ages."
"Missed me?" I asked, teasingly.
"Very," he said, smiling. "Tisha and I were just playing catch, want to join?"
"Yeah, Rosie, play catch with me," Tisha said, excitedly. "Catch!"
The ball flew towards my direction but because she didn't put enough energy to it, the ball didn't reach me. I picked it up from the water and smiled. "That was a good throw," I said, trying to motivate her. "Let's see if you can get this one," I said and threw the fall.
She raced towards it and Jamal clapped his hands with joy.
"Where's Harry?" I asked Eric.
"I actually don't know," Eric said. "He said he needed the bathroom and never came back."
"Must have fallen asleep in there," I joked.
"Yeah, probably," Eric said, joking with me.
Tisha returned with the ball and pointed it towards me and jumped up with glee. "I got it! Did you see me? I was so fast."
I laughed. "Yes, yes you were," I said.
"Wow Tisha! You're faster than Rose," Eric said. "She's a very bad swimmer," he whispered, loudly so I could hear.
Tisha giggled. "Throw again!" she cheered.
I was just about to throw the ball again but I stopped. I turned my head around and smirked as I saw Celeste and Rita. They looked too peaceful and I didn't like it. I turned back to the water, still grinning.
"Do you want to see how far this ball can go?" I asked Tisha.
"Yeah," she said.
"Just watch," I said and stood up, turning again.
"Rose, what are you doing?" Eric asked me, looking up at me.
I smirked and targeted Celeste. I lifted the ball and with all my strength, I threw the ball at her. I watched the stripy sphere soar though the blue sky for two seconds until it began to go down again. The ball crash landed directly onto Celestes' face, making her jumped along with her juice. She jerked up and got of her seat. Rita was laughing.
Eric and I quickly turned around and I say back down, pretending that nothing ever happened. We splashed playfully at each other and sang a song with Tisha.
"We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas."
Okay, so it was August and the middle of summer but that was the first song that popped into my head. Eric looked at me strangely but sang along with me and so did Tisha.
"Would like to explain how this magically came to attack me?" Celeste asked, angrily though I could hear a little laughter on her tone.
Eric and I snorted with laughter and carried on singing with Tisha, who struggled to sing because she was too busy laughing.
"Christmas songs? In August?" she said, making us sound like we were the weirdest creations on earth.
"A song is a song," I said. "How are you, Ce?"
"Hmm, I don't know. I was chilling and then a ball hits my face," she said.
I laughed and stood up next to her. "Who knew magic existed."
"Abracadabra!" shouted Tisha. "Magic, magic!"
Celeste bent her body down, leaning her hands on her knees and her bottom sticking out. I smirked as another evil idea popped into my head. I stepped back and lifted up my leg. Without further delay, I pushed my leg forward and hit her bottom.
She screamed and wobbled for a split second. She lost her balance and suddenly crashed onto the wet surface, making the water in the pool jump up and then back down again. Everybody, even Rita who was now standing next to me, roared with laughter. Celeste too was smiling even if she was soaking wet. At least the fuzziness was no longer visible. Tisha splashed her with water and giggled as usual and Celeste splashed her back, playfully,
"Good Rose," Rita whispered, still laughing.
"Who are you and what have you done to Rose-Mary?" Eric asked, jokingly. "You're acting very...fun."
"Hey," I said. "I told you i'm not boring."
"I'm sorry I ever thought good of you," he said, smiling at me.
"Rose, you do know this means that I'm going to get back at you?" Celeste said, grinning.
I gulped. "No..."
"When i get out of the water, I'm going to push you in," she said, "Even if you can't swim."
Eric stood up beside me and put his arm over my shoulder. "Don't worry, Rose. As long as I'm here, Celeste won't be able to throw you into the water."
I stared at him, almost smiling. That was... nice.
"Because I'm going to do it," he shouted with excitement and pushed me into the pool.
I sunk to the bottom and panicked for a moment before realising that this side of the pool was only three feet so there was no way I could drown. When I got my head out of the water, I decided to play a prank on him. Whilst he was laughing with tears in his eyes, I nodded my head at Celeste, who understood what I was trying to say and swam away to the deeper side with Tisha.
I began flapping my arms like a crazy caged bird and kicked my legs. To make it more realistic, I dipped my head into the water with full confidence and kept pulling myself in and out of the water to make it too like I was actually drowning.
"Rose!" I heard Eric shout. "Celeste do something!"
"Busy," I heard her shout.
"Save her you idiot," Rita said.
I was guessing she had pushed him in because a second later there was another splash in the water and I knew it wasn't Rits's because she was very small whereas this body that was swimming next to me was big.
Eric picked me up, bridal style and stared at me, worridly.
"Rose, I am so sorry," he said.
"You should be," I said. "And by the way... I wasn't actually drowning."
He looked at m blankly. "That was an act?"
I nodded my head. He let go of me, allowing me to sink to the bottom but I floated back up again. He stared at me, showing no hint of laughter of happiness. He looked annoyed.
"Wow!" he said, suddenly smiling. "That was good acting. But now I'm going to have to get you back."
"Ahh, I'm so scared," I said, sarcastically. "I swear, Jamal is more scarier. The way he can throw up on you." I shuddered. "Its gross. Wait, where is he?"
We had all forgotten about little Jamal. All this laughing and pushing had made us forget about who we were supposed to be looking after. Jamal was the youngest and we should have been focusing on his the most. I searched the pool with my eyes and spotted the water hammock. It was empty.
"The hammock. It's... he's not there," I said. "Eric, go check around it."
Where could he have gone? I turned around to face Rita but she was no longer there. Now, where was she? I can't have lost two kids in half an hour. Mrs. DeBarge will be crushed if anything happens to her children. I called Celeste for help but she hadn't seen his either.
"He's not there," Eric shouted from where the hammock was floating.
"Who's not there?" said a female voice from behind me. It was Rita.
Just as my worries were about to rise, she walked towards me with a baby in her hand. Jamal. Thank God he was safe. But he did look awfully funny. He was no longer in his shorts. In fact, he was almost completely naked. The only thing he was wearing was... I think it was a diaper. It was hard to tell because of the way he was wearing it.
"Jamal, he's okay," I said, sighing with relief.
Eric, Celeste and Tisha swam next to me and wiped the water from their face. "I found him," Eric said, jokingly.
"Found?" She raised an eyebrow. "And why wouldn't he be okay? He was floating around the edge of the pool and he wreaked so I went to change is diaper," Rita explained.
"That's a diaper?" Celeste said, looking strangely at Jamal.
"Were you trying to make him wear a top or a diaper?" I said.
"I never knew that diaper shirts were the new fashion in the twenty-first century," Eric joked.
"I'm only twelve," Rita said. "I do not know how to wrap these things on a baby, okay?"
The three of us laughed.
"Well it looks alright for now," I said. "We'll change it again later. Now let's have some fun... in the shallow end. Yay!"
* * *
We got out of the pool after half an hour and changed into the clothes I had brought. Luckily for me, I was able to borrow some of Celeste's clothes and Eric changed into the shorts and t-shirt (I knew it might be a good idea to bring them along). Jamal's diaper had finally been fixed and now he was sound asleep again in his little stroller.
I finally had found Harry; he was sound asleep on the sofa in the living room. So I was right about the sleeping part though he could have been in sleeping in the toilet.
It was almost four thirty and the girls and I decided to mess about him. It was Celeste's idea to dress him as a princess whilst he was still asleep, dab on some make up and do the old whipped cream prank. Whilst we prepared for his, Eric had ran off to the the shops to buy a movie with the money I gave him so we could watch it.
"Got the tiara, nail polish and make up?" I asked, quietly.
"Check," Rita said, holding the tiara and make up.
"And I've got the whipped cream and feather," Celeste said, evilly. I could tell she was enjoying this. Getting revenge on my brother was something she loved to do.
"I got the princess sparkles and skirt," Tisha exclaimed.
"Shh," the three of us said to her
"Sorry," Tisha whispered.
"It's okay," I told her. "We don't want to wake him up."
She nodded, understandingly.
"I need to go to Toilet," she said.
"Can you go on your own or should I come with you?" I asked her.
"I'm a big girl, I can go by myself," she said and hurried off.
"Okay, let's start with the make up," Rita suggested and we all agreed.
Celeste started off with the face and Rita and I began painting his nails in bright neon colours such as green and pink. I did his left hand in pink and yellow and Rita did his right hand, painting them green and orange. I wasn't going to lie but it looked great. Harry was so going to kill me when he wakes up.
Five minutes later, the nail polish had dried off and Celeste had finished with his face. I almost screamed at how ugly he looked. His bright red lipstick had been scribbled all over the bottom half of his face. His cheeks were pinker than the roses on Mrs. DeBarge's rose bush and his eyes looked as if they'd been punched because the purple and black eyeshadow that Celeste had applied were all over the place.
For a finishing touch, we were going to give Tisha the honours to crown him 'Ugliest Princess Ever' but she still had not returned. We waited for her but in the meantime, Celeste sprinkled some 'princess sparkles,' as Tisha calls it, all over his hair and strapped on the ajustable skirt. I wanted to laugh so badly and I could tell the others did too.
"He looks hideous," Celeste snickered.
"No kidding," I said, trying to hold my laughter.
"Now can we whip cream him?" Celeste asked, impatiently.
"Yes, we can," I said and she instantly grabbed the whip creamed can.
She sprayed the cream into his palms and grabbed the feather and began tickling his nose. Rita and I struggled to keep in the laughter but we managed to stay silent. Harry twitched his nose and his hand jerked up and hit his face, making the cream spread all over his face.
Quickly, Celeste pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of him. His eyes flicked open when the flash hit his eyelids and the three of us roared with laughter. There were even tears in our eyes. Harry, who didn't seemed pleased at all, woke up and screamed like a girl when he saw his reflection on the mirror in front of him.
"What the hell?" he shouted giving himself a good look.
Before any of us could say anything, Tisha came running back and screamed at the look of Harry and hid behind me. "Monster!" she cried and picked up the nearest object, the headless barbie, and threw it directly onto his face.
He scowled. "It's me, Harry," he said, wiping the cream and bent down to match her height. "See."
"Get away you ugly monster," Tisha shouted and slapped him.
The three of us gasped and then laughed under our breaths.
He jerked back up and looked at us angrily. "Okay, who's idea was this?"
Rita and I both pointed at Celeste and she pointed and Tisha. He sighed and looked down at his nails and screamed again, but this time is was more girlie. Although he seemed angry, I noticed that he was trying to be serious but the laughter was taking over him.
"Pink!" he shouted, dramatically. "Celeste, you are so dead!"
"Me? What? How d'you know it's me?" she asked. "
"Because you always wanted to get revenge," he said. "The door thing was an accident."
"Oh," she said and ran behind the sofa and Harry began to chase her.
How childish.
"I swear I am going to kill you," he threatened.
"Rose, help me," Celeste cried. "You're brother is one hundred percent crazy."
"And you aren't?" he said.
"They were in it too," she admitted.
"No we wern't." Rita and I both shouted.
"Should we go?" Rita nudged me.
"Yep," I answered and slowly walked backwards out of the room with Rita.
I turned to run but instead I crashed into Eric. He dropped the bag and held me, preventing me from falling. He smiled and stared at me. For a moment, I was staring at him as well until I snapped back into reality
"Sorry," I choked.
"No, it was no problem," he said.
Rita coughed a fake cough and Eric let go of me. He turned and picked up the bag he had dropped. There was a huge grin on her face and I knew what she was thinking. I felt my cheeks turn a little pink and this didn't happen a lot.
"Not your boyfriend, huh?" she whispered, smirking.
I scowled. "Don't make me strangle you."
"Calm down," she said, backing away a little but she still had that smile on her face.
"I er... bought the DVD's," Eric said.
"Great," I said. "What d'ya buy?"
"I bought Monsters, Inc. The Incredibles, Shrek and Tangled," he said.
"Tangled! Ooh, I love that film!" I exclaimed, happily and snatched the DVD for Tangled, which was another version of Rapunzel.
"Then let's watch it. I still haven't seen it," Rita said.
We entered the living room once again and found Harry on the floor and Celeste, standing there and laughing. Whilst Harry was lying on the floor, Tisha was jumping on his stomach. She shouted, "die monster, die!"
I ran up to her and pulled her off him and tried to make her understand that that was Harry, not a monster. As funny as it may be, I had to save my brother.
"Celeste said he is a monster," Tisha explained, pointing at Harry.
"I think I'm going to go wash up," Harry said, out of breath as he stood up. He walked towards the door and left. Seconds later his head popped through the open door. "Rita, where's you nail polish remover?"
Rita shook her head, laughing and followed him out the room.
"Okay, so we're watching Tangled," I said.
"That Rapunzel movie?"
"That's the one," I said.
"Great, let me make some popcorn while you set it up."
"How'd you know I brought popcorn?" I asked.
"I was looking for a muffin and found the bag of snacks," she said. "Should I get the oher snacks too?"
"Yeah sure, why not?" I shrugged and she exited the room.
"Tisha, can you set up the pillows and Eric help me out with the DVD," I said.
"Okay," Tisha said and grabbed the cushions off the sofa.
I walked over to the DVD player, Eric following me and stared at it, confused. I clicked a bunch of random buttons until the DVD slot opened up. Well that wasn't too hard. I listened to Eric laugh, who was standing up and didn't bother to help me, as I took the CD out of it's case and carefully placed it on the slot and watched it take the CD inside.
"Okay, so not everybody know's how to work the DVD box...thing," I said and the movie suddenly turned on. "Oh, it's on. Celeste, Harry, Rita!" I shouted from the top of my lungs. "The movie's started!"
I turned up the volume and sat on the cushions that Tisha had set up nicely on the rug. Eric sat on my right and Tisha on my left. She nudged me and leaned her head next to my ear.
"Is Eric your boyfriend?" she asked. For an almost-five-year-old she knew a lot of big words.
"No...he's not my-"
"I thought I was," he said, jokingly.
"He's already got an girlfriend," I told her.
"I do?" he said.
"Yeah," I said and paused the film with the remote. "Don't be mad but I was eavesdropping on your convosersation and..."
"You heard about Emiy?" he said.
"Yeah," I said,
Just then, he burst into laughter like I had said the funniest thing in the world but honestly, I didn't understand what was so hilarious. He stopped after half a minute and cleared his throat.
"Yes, Emily is my girlfriend," he said.
So I was right.
"So, what was so funny?" I asked.
"Er... the look on your face," he said but I was't sure whether he was lying or not. "You looked jealous."
"I'm not jealous!" I shouted. "I was just... curious about what Emily was like. And why didn't you tell me?" I snapped.
"Because... It was weird," he said.
"Oh," I said. "So... How long have you been with her."
"A long time," he said.
"Wait, was she your... girlfriend before? I mean like, are you remembering something? Does she know who you are?" I asked all at once.
"I don't remember much, but I remember enough to know that she was one of the people I loved the most," he answered.
"Oh," was all I had said.
"You seem dissapponted?" he said, smiling.
"No, I'm not," I said but honestly, I wasn't sure if I was lying or not.
"Are you sure you're not jealous?" he grinned. "A girl like you will find it hard not to fall in love with me," he joked.
"I am not jealous," I said, pausing after each word. "And what do you mean a girl like me? I will never fall in love with anyone because I am smart enough not to fall for that stupid, arrow shooting, naked baby's trick."
He chuckled. "Yeah right."
"Let's see how long your relationship with 'Emily' lasts. Then you tell me if love is real," I said.
"And if it does last forever?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Then..." I paused to think. "I will fall in love again."
"Deal?" he said, placing his palms in front of me.
I stared at it for a second or two and grinned, knowing I was going to win. "Deal," I said and shook his hand. I turned my head to Tisha and whispered, "I'm so going to win."
"I can hear you," Eric said. He was leaning onto me, his cheek almost touching mine. I pushed him away laughing.
"Oh, but if it doens't last," I added before I forgot. "Then..."
"I will marry Celeste," he joked.
"Wow, you're confident," I said.
"Trust me when I say, I will win," he said.
"Keep dreaming." I rolled my eyes and shook his hands once more. "The deal is on."
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A/N: Hey there! The image on the side is kinda how I imagined their patio to be like. This chapter is just a fun chapter I thought you guys might like. Also, they've made a bet.
1) What's your favourite Disney Animated Movie? - Mine is Tangled, Cinderella Monsters, Inc. and Beauty and the Beast. I love all the Disney Animated movies but those are my favorites.
VOTE, COMMENT, FAN, LIKE, TWEET do what you gotta do!