Four of Clubs

16

I'd never had anyone over before due to the mixture of strict parents and a lack of friends, so I was a little nervous as I walked to my front door with four teenagers trailing behind me.

"So you do still use doors," Roy joked, shifting the grocery bag in his arms as I put my key into the lock. 

"Ha-ha," I enunciated, pushing the door open. I stepped inside, waiting for everyone to come in before shutting and locking it. 

"Nice gaming laptop." Daniel admired the computer sitting on the kitchen island, which was sitting alarmingly close to a half-finished glass of orange juice. "This yours?"

I shook my head, placing the cup in the sink. "It's my brother's-- my mom makes him play down here so she can make sure the games aren't too violent. Evidently, he's not very careful with it, even though the thing cost a fortune."

"How old is he?" Madeline asked, looking at a few pictures hanging in the hall. I blushed in embarrassment, knowing there were pictures of me going all the way back to infancy. 

"He's twelve," I answered, taking the bag from Roy, who seemed unsure of where to set it. "I think he's old enough to play Call of Duty if he wants to, but my parents are kind of strict."

"Don't middle-schoolers get out in a little bit?" Roy asked, helping me unpack the supplies onto the counter. It had taken us longer to get everything than expected-- we had to make a quick stop by Ian's house so he could get some cash, and it ended up being difficult to find everything we needed at the store. 

"Yeah, but my brother stays after school for a homework help group, so he usually gets home around the same time as my parents. Which is good, since he'd just love to rat me out for having people over, and my parents would probably both have heart attacks if they knew I had not one, but three teenage boys in the house while they weren't here. Anyway," I switched topics as I looked at the items in front of me, "What do we do first?"

The next twenty minutes were spent mixing dyes, stirring the ingredients on a pan, and packing away the colorful substance into a piece of paper. 

"That was a long process for just one," I said, suddenly worried about the time constraint again. We still had about three hours left, but I couldn't help feeling antsy. "We should test it, to make sure they work."

"Good idea," Ian said. "Roy and I can go take it somewhere people won't see. You guys stay here and keep making more."

"Got it," Maddie agreed, already measuring more portions.

The two of them left the three of us to work, a comfortable silence falling over the kitchen. It was broken after a few minutes when Daniel's phone began to ring.

He cursed, wiping his hands on his jeans as he looked at the caller. "It's my mom. I told her I was sick and went home early so she wouldn't be suspicious if the school called about me being absent."