Previously Strangers (TFIL/Sam and Colby)

Chapter Twenty-Three

I sat on the stool in the kitchen, scraping out the last bits of yogurt from the container and spooning it into my mouth. The television blared from the game room as Corey and Elton battled in FIFA. Corey was clearly losing because he kept shouting about how he was making a comeback, but each time failed miserably. Sam and Colby had been gone all day filming and I had just gotten up from a nap. My dirty, stringy hair was pulled up into clump on the top of my head and my glasses clung to my face. I wore a loose, grey t-shirt and red, baggy flannel PJ pants. Used tissues dotted the kitchen counter after being sacrificed to wipe my endlessly runny nose and a few green tea bags hung over the edge of my Winnie the Pooh mug to cure my sore throat.

An AP psychology textbook was laid out in front of me as well as my notebook and pen, waiting to be used. I cursed school under my breath and went to work writing a note outline of the chapter. I actually found the information interesting; It talked about how brain injuries can completely change a person's personality and view on life. Throughout the entire lesson I wondered if when I had the headache a few weeks back, and was all irritable, was the same situation. Then, the book moved on to talking about brain tumors, which totally freaked me out. My cousin had died from a brain tumor when she was eight or nine and it was terrible. First, she lost her train of thought, then it moved on to motor skills. She slurred her words and couldn't remember how to say certain things, she forgot how to do common things like skipping or walking normally, then it got really ugly. She inflated like a balloon from the Chemotherapy and her hair fell out in matted clumps, there was IV's flowering her hands and arms, and the bruising discoloured her limbs. I shook my head and quickly shut the textbook and slid off the stool.

I joined Elton and Corey in the gaming room and slumped in between them on the couch. Elton offered me a controller, but I declined. Circa trotted up to me and I ran my fingers up and down her back. Bits of fur shed from her body and floated in the air around us. "Feeling better?" Corey asked. I shrugged. The game came to a pause with a bong and Corey tossed his remote on the couch as he turned to me. One of his legs rested on the couch in a half 'crisscross applesauce' way. Elton stood up and left the room to get a drink.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked as Corey stared at me with a smirk.

"I know something you don't know." He sang

"What do you mean?"

Corey looked around the room suspiciously, then lowered his voice, "Well, we have a surprise for you, and once Sam and Colby get home we're going to tell you!"

"Is it...a good surprise?"

"Yeah! It's going to be super fun! I'm so excited!"

"God, Corey. Then just tell me now!"

He thought about it for a minute. Nodding his head he replied, "Okay, well, we were thinking, that we all need a break-"

"Ahem." Our heads turned to see Elton staring back at us, "Corey, I know you aren't telling my little sister about you know what. Because it's not time yet, and you know that." He said, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned on the door frame.

Corey shook his head, "No, of course not. Gosh, Elton! You have no faith in me."

Elton laughed, crossed over to the couch and plopped down. "Come on, Elty. Just tell me what it is." I pleaded. He shook his head, saying that once Sam and Colby returned home, he would tell me. Groaning, I took my phone from the couch and trudged up the stairs to work on school work.

An hour and a half of grueling calculus homework later, I heard the front door's security system beeb, and Sam and Colby pounding through the first floor. I ran down the stairs as fast as my feet would carry me, to the kitchen, where all of the boys except Aaron were standing around a white shopping bag overflowing with things. As I appeared in the room, Their eyes grew wide and panic spread across their faces as Elton jumped up on the counter, sitting where I couldn't see the bag.

"Alright." I began, Ignoring their reactions. "Sam and Colby are home, you have to tell me now." I demanded.

"Fine, fine. Go wait in the bar room." Sam said, pushing me out of the kitchen as if I had seen something I shouldn't have.

I rolled my eyes as my lips slumped into a frown. I perched myself impatiently on the black leather couch and crossed my legs. As time passed by, I became more and more impatient, and once the ten minute mark came about, I stood up in a fit of subdued rage, "I'm all alone in here!" I called out angrily.

Just as the words escaped my lips, Sam, Colby, Elton and Corey filed into the room. Holding things behind their backs. "Hold your horses! Jeez!" Corey said.

"Are you ready for your surprise?" Elton asked. I nodded as I returned to my place on the couch. "Okay, well, since we haven't seen much of you recently, and your School's break is for the next two weeks, we decided to go on a little vacation."

"A vacation?"

"Yes, listen." he spoke shortly.

"To where?" I asked, a thousand possible places of warm weather and and sand and tropics running through my mind.

"Listen!" Elton shouted, "The things we have behind our backs are going to give you hints. And you're going to guess, Damnit! We worked hard on this so shut your face before I beat you up." he growled playfully. An array of Ooo's came from the boys and I claimed that if they didn't shut up as well, I'd do the same.

Once we were all settled, each of them revealed their objects with grins on their faces. I stared at them in confusion, "A bag of orange dirt, a drone, a toy car and a picture of the U.S. map? How the heck am I supposed to guess from that?" I asked.