Nicky, Dicky, Dawn and Olivia sat at a table doing their homework in the store. Dawb was still in her soccer uniform and Olivia was still in her cheer leading uniform.
"Hey, what'd you guys get for number two?" Dawn asked.
"I got four." Nicky answered.
"I drew a head." Dicky showed them the head he drew.
Rikcy walked up. "Well, my life is officially over." He threw his backpack down. "My whole class saw... it."
The other four gasped.
"But you've always been so careful with it." Nicky said.
"And always made sure to hide it." Dicky added.
"And yet, there it was. So that's it. I'm giving up Blue Beary."
Dicky scoffed. "Yeah, right. He's helped you get straight As on every test since pre-K. You can't give him up."
"Well I can give him up easier than you can give up taking a bath with your little rubber duck." Ricky retaliated.
"I don't need to take a bath with Ducky, I choose to. I enjoy our talks."
"You talk to him like this, quack quack quack quack." Nicky told him.
"Yeah. He's a duck. And what about you, Mitten Man? You still sleep with your baby mittens on your fingers and then rub your cheeks and your earlobes."
"I don't rub the lobes anymore! Just the cheeks!"
"Lobes and cheeks?" Josie asked as she set down their drinks. "What did I walk in on?"
Dawn sighed. "These boys still have their security items from when they were babies. Kids."
"Oh, you mean security thingies like this?" Ricky pulled a small blanket from Dawn's uniform.
Dawn stood up quickly. "That is a sweat towel for soccer!"
"Then why does it say Dawn's blanky?" Ricky asked.
"None of you could last without your security items." Olivia said.
"Neither could you." Dicky pulled out a Minnie Mouse with a cheer uniform stuffed animal.
"Minnie helps me cheer!"
"Hey guys." Josie interjected. "Your childhood security items are nothing to be embarrassed about. When I was a kid, I had a princess Susie doll, until one day she was sunbathing, and my dad ran her over with our lawnmower. She was always there for me. But I wasn't there for her!" She ran away, sobbing.
"Issues." Nicky said.
Dawn sighed again. "Wow. Glad I'm not that attached to Blanky."
"What do you mean?" Dicky asked. "You couldn't go a day without Blanky."
"And you four couldn't go an hour without your little security thingies."
"Care to make it interesting? Whoever can go the longest without their bear, duck, blanket, mittens or Minnie gets to have the others do their chores for a month." Ricky challenged. "Who's in?"
Since Olivia spends most of her time at the Harper house, she does most of her chores there, too.
Dicky scoffed. "Easy. Get ready to do my chores, losers."
Nicky stood up. "You mean mine."
Dawn sighed once again. "You don't stand a chance."
"Can't wait to not do any chores for a month." Olivia joined in.
The five kids put their hands together.
"The contest is on." Dawn announced. "Or should I say quadplusOllietest."
"I was just gonna say that." Ricky muttered. "Dang it!"
That night, the five kids and Tom and Anne stood around a trunk in the attic.
"Okay, we will keep your security items in this locked trunk for the duration of the quadplusOliviatest, and we'll check on them everyday to make sure there's no cheatsies." Tom told the kids.
"Oh, you've had these things since you were babies, so if at any point, you want them back, you just come and ask one of us." Anne instructed.
"But you will be eliminated." Tom clarified.
"Any point, just ask."
"Eliminated."
"They get it, Tom."
"They hired me to be tough, Anne."
"No one hired you." Dawn countered.
"You followed us up here." Dicky told his father.
"Just open the trunk." Ricky commanded.
"Fine." Tom opened the trunk.
Nicky went first. "So long Lefty and Righty. Thanks for warming my hands and my heart." He kissed each of them. "You be good, now." And in the trunk they went.
Then Dawn. "You were always there for me, Blanky. Now it's time for me to tuck you in." She put Blanky in the trunk. "Sweet Dreams."
Dicky stepped up. "Be brave. Quack quack quack? Quack." Ducky went in the trunk.
Next, Ricky. "You've served me well, Lieutenant." And... in the trunk. "At ease."
And last, Olivia. "Thank you, Minnie. You've been wonderful. Thanks for always cathcing me when I fall." And Minnie went in the trunk.
Ok, so when she said that, it means when she falls mentally, like when she was sad, she would take Minnie out. Ok?
The parents closed the trunk.
"And I-I"
"Stop it." Tom cut his wife's singing off.
"Sorry. I'm just so sad."
The quads and Olivia took a moment, then Dawn asked, "Who wants soup?"
"Yeah, let's go."
The five kids left the two adults to go get some soup.
The next day at cheer practice, Olivia's coach showed her a new stunt to do. She was the front flyer, so if she messed up, it was pretty bad. Plus, there was a game coming up, so she needed to do really well on this stunt.
'Okay, Olivia, you don't need Minnie, you got this. Just focus.'
Aaaaannndd, she fell, and her stunt group didn't catch her. Great.
"Ow."
After school, when the quads went into the kitchen, Olivia ran upstairs and got Minnie.
"Okay." She walked into the kitchen. "I quit."
"What happened?" Dawn asked.
"Uh, have you not seen my nose?" Olivia asked, pointing to her swollen nose. She landed on it, and the mat helped, but not by much. "There's a game coming up and I'm front flyer. I can't mess up."
"And then there were three." Dawn looked at her brothers.
And Olivia felt so much better.
Olivia walked in the kitchen the next morning, Dawn, Dicky and Ricky following, arguing.
"Hey, kids. How's the quadtest going?" Tom asked. The kids ignored his outfit and Anne's hair.
"Well, I feel great without my blanky." Dawn answered.
"And I haven't thought twice about the bear."
"And Dicky, we can all smell how you're doing." Anne set the burnt waffles down.
"What are you talking about?" Dicky asked. "I smell fine. If I smelled bad, I'd take a bath."
The dog ran up to him, then immediately ran away.
Olivia snickered.
Nicky came in, humming. He slammed his mittens on the table. "I'm out!"
"What?" Dicky and Ricky asked in unison.
"I'm out of the quadplusLivytest."
"Sweet!" Dawn smiled. "You dropped out cause of the website?"
"What website?"
"Dude." Dicky laughed. "You fell asleep so much at school yesterday, kids started taking pictures of you."
Nicky looked at the pictures of him sleeping.
"And posting them on PutStuffOnNicky.com." Ricky finished.
"I dropped out cause lack of sleep is unhealthy." Nicky explained. He gasped as he saw the pictures.
Olivia smiled at him apologetically, like 'sorry that happened to you'.
"This is terrible!" Nicky exclaimed.
Dawn stood up and walked over to Dicky and Ricky. "And then there were three."
Ricky stood up too. "Soon to be just me."
And now Dicky stood up. "I'm not gonna rhyme, but you guys should take me very serious...ly. Oh, I did rhyme!"
The three narrowed their eyes at each other.
"Who do you think's gonna win?" Olivia whispered to Nicky.
"Either Dawn or Ricky." He whispered back.
Olivia nodded.
At school, Nicky and Olivia walked up to Dicky and Ricky.
"Beautiful morning, huh guys?" Nicky asked, flowers in his hand.
"I think it is." Olivia said.
"Since I got Lefty and Righty back, life smells sweet." Nicky smiled and sniffed the flowers.
"Gimme those. I need to smell sweet." Dicky snatched the flowers and rubbed them on his armpits.
Olivia almost gagged.
Dawn walked over with the soccer team. "Oh, you reek." She backed up, bumping into Ricky, who bumped into Jordan, who fell down.
"Ow, my ankle!"
"Can you put any weight on it, Jordan?" The coach asked.
"No, I don't think so."
"Well, Harper, whatever was wrong with you in practice better get fixed by Friday. You're startin against the Mustangs."
"Ooh, bad time to be in a contest, huh?" Ricky asked Dawn. "I wish I had advice to help you play better, but I'm drawing a blanky." He walked off.
"I also drew a blanky." Dicky put a draing of blanky over his face. "You'd be a better goalie if you had your bl- Ow! Same cut." Him and Nicky walked off.
"Well, I have to go." Olivia told her best friend. "Good luck!" She smiled and went to her next class.
At cheer, she did so much better.
"Nice, Olivia!" The couch complimented when Olivia did the new stunt perfectly.
Olivia smiled. This was worth doing extra chores.
That night, Olivia and Nicky watched as Tom and two other guys played Italian music.
Anne crossed her arms. "Tom."
"Hmmm?"
"What's going on?"
"Oh. I just got That's Tom-more back together." Tom answered. "You remember Vito and Alfredo?"
"Steve. Lenny." Anne waved.
"Anyway, we'll be practicing our accordion based music all night."
"Oh, why don't I throw a couple of waffle pizzas in the oven for you?" Anne asked, twirling her hair.
"Ah, pizza." Tom turned back to his friends. "Gee, gentlemen, that sounds nice. Two! Three! Four! A pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza"
Olivia smiled and danced as Nicky sang Italian like too.
The next night, Olivia sat next to Nicky, reading, as Nicky and Dicky played video games.
"What is that noise?" Nicky asked at the sound of yelling and banging.
The trunk that held their security items slid down the stairs. The three got up and ran over to it and unlocked it, revealing Ricky and Dawn.
"Hey, guuuuys." Dawn greeted.
"This isn't what it looks like." Ricky stated.
"It looks like you cheated." Nicky told him.
"Run!"
The two tried to run, but ended up falling down.
"Look at us. What are we doing?" Ricky asked. "None of us one. I mean, we couldn't last three days without our bear, duck, blanket, mittens, or Minnie."
"We obviously still need them." Dawn admitted.
"The quadtest was a bad idea." Dicky said.
"Yeah, as long as our stuff makes us happy, who cares what other people think?" Nicky asked.
Everyone agreed.
"But let's still not tell other people." Ricky implied.
The others agreed, and there was an awkward silence.
"Who wants soup?" Dawn asked.
"Soup, soup, soup, soup, soup, soup, soup, soup"
They walked towards the kitchen in a line, Nicky singing Italian like.
The soup was really good, by the way.
End of chapter twelve! Hope you enjoyed!
word count: 1822