Dynamite Days

November, 1999

It was safe to say that one Lilja Leppälä was not anticipating the sudden blast of rock music that jolted her out of her peaceful slumber. The oozing sound of an electric guitar throbbed into her ears, eliciting a groan of displeasure from the young brunette as she pulled the covers snugly over her head.

She didn't have to look at the alarm clock on the her beside table to know that it was early in the morning. It continued to make noise before her hand came down and accidentally knocked it off the edge. She glared at the inside of her eyelids when the music didn't stop and she realized that it wasn't coming from the discarded piece of technology on the floor, but her older brother's room across the hall.

Pretty soon, a loud pounding sounded from the other side of her bedroom door, followed by the voice of said brother. "Lilja, wake up!" Jarppi hollered.

Lilja sighed, pulling her self to a sitting position. "Jarp...it's early!" she grumbled. Willing herself off the side of her bed, she shuffled over to her door and swung it open. "What could possibly be so important that you feel the need to wake me up?" she questioned.

"The guys are here!" Jarppi grinned.

"Of course they are..." Lilja yawned. "When are they ever not here?"

"When we're at one of their houses..." Jarppi said smartly back at her.

Lilja rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile. "Right, " she said. "Well, tell them I'll be out in a minute, okay?" she said, suddenly not as grumpy.

"Mmkay," Jarppi nodded, ruffling his sister's hair affectionately before he closed her door for her.

Lilja yawned again, moving the hair out of her eyes. The guys always came over early. Of course, she wasn't complaining. Spending the day with her best friends since gradeschool was always something to look forward to.

Lilja quickly rummaged through her closet pulling out a t-shirt and pair of jeans to change into, then hastily brushing out her hair, she dashed out of her room over to her brother's. There with Jarppi, was none other than Jukka, HP, and Jarno.

Hannu-Pekka Parviainen, who everyone just called HP, was the youngest of the guys, being only nineteen. He was one month older than Lilja, however, which he never ceased to remind her about. Kind and caring, HP was always concerned about the well-being and security of others. But when it came to the man himself, suddenly all common sense was out the window. He had absolutely no instinct of self-preservation when he did stunts. HP often saw the looming traps of societal pitfalls before others, but his warnings always fell on deaf ears. If there was even an ounce of responsibility in the bunch, it was HP.

Jukka Hilden, the second youngest, at twenty years old, was the exact opposite. His impulsiveness over the years had made him the champion of social contacts. He was known for his suave speaking skills, boyish charm and complete lack of being able to be intimated by anyone. Jukka got he and his friends through doors that would otherwise stay shut. Jukka was the rockstar who never stopped. “Live hard, live your dream!” was his motto.

Jarno Lasaala, the third of the crazy quintet, was twenty-one years old. He was the one with a camcorder permanently glued to his hand. Jarno was neurotically obsessive about wanting to record every second of their lives - to miss something vital would be a catastrophe. When Jarno wasn't hunched over his laptop's editing program, he was coming up with ideas for stunts, pranks and candid cameras. Jarno was the slightly more nerdy, techy of the group.

The oldest, then, was Lilja's brother, Jarno Leppälä. But because of the shared name, everyone called him either Jarno2, or more commonly, Jarppi. Jarppi was the king of one-liners and the physically clumsiest of them all. He was also the most practical of the bunch and could build anything; cars, rockets and other contraptions they used to hurt themselves with. Jarppi lost his thumb when wrestling a bear - which was a typical example of Jarppi constantly getting into trouble with the most lunatic ideas. He was very protective over his younger sister sometimes, which drove not only her, but everyone else nuts.

Then, of course, there was Lilja. Lilja was the youngest out of all of them together, being one month younger than HP. She'd always been one of the guys...as cliche as it sounds. She was never afraid to do a stunt of prank, and she was the type of person who always knew how to make you laugh. Lilja was the talkitive, persistent, smatass of the bunch. She was never afraid to speak her mind, but she had a way with words that could win anyone over. Lilja, being the only girl, was the sensitive, caring, and loyal one. She could never let anyone down even if she wanted to. If you were in trouble, Lilja would be the first one to call. Lilja was also the second in command behind Jarno when it came to recording their lives. When she wasn't playing with the boys, she was playing with the cameras.

All together, the five of them were inseparable.

"Hey guys!" Lilja beamed, shutting the door behind her. "What's up?"

"Just waiting for you to wake up," Jukka answered, haphazardly spinning around in Jarppi's rolling chair.

Lilja laughed. "Ah," she nodded. "Well, I'm awake."

"I see that," Jukka said, who was actually seeing nothing but colorful blurs.

Lilja laughed, grabbing the back of the chair suddenly, causing the blonde to jerk to the side. He sent her a playful glare, reaching out to slap her arm, which was quickly returned. Jukka stuck his tongue out, then went back to spinning. Lilja laughed again and rolled her eyes, turning to her brother, who was tossing paper wads back and forth to Jarno. "Hey, is Mom up?" she asked curtly, dodging one of the balls of paper as it was accidentally sent flying across the room.

"Yup. She's downstairs making breakfast." Jarppi nodded, tearing another piece of paper from an old notebook on the floor.

The mention of food made HP look up from the book he had his nose stuck in. "Good, I'm starving!" he said, tossing the book to the side and sitting up from his slouchy position on Jarppi's bed.

"Aren't you always?" Jarno chuckled, bouncing a paper wad off of HP's head.

"Pretty much, yeah." he responded, nodding seriously, making everyone crack up.

Lilja flopped down onto the bed in between her brother and HP. "So, boys, what's on the agenda for today?" she asked.

"Snowboarding," HP grinned like a little kid.

"Hm, I wonder who came up with that idea," Lilja smirked, looking over at her fellow nineteen-year-old. HP had always been in love with snowboarding, and he'd always been really good at it, even from a young age. "Sounds like fun!" she added.

"Yeah, just as long as you don't break my snowboard again," Jarppi teased.

Lilja recalled the accident and smiled sheepishly. "I'll try not to..." she paused, her mouth twisting into a mischievous smile, "...but I can't promise anything."

Jarppi's eyebrows rose incredulously, and he pushed her off the edge of the bed onto her butt. Lilja rose to her feet in a matter of seconds, her eyes blazing. She grinned, and before anyone could stop her, she pounced on Jarppi, dragging him to the floor. The Leppälä siblings wrestled around in the middle of the floor, banging into things and knocking over others.

"C'mon, Jarppi, get her!" Jukka cheered, lifting his legs in the air to avoid getting hit.

"Yeah, don't get beat by a girl!" Jarno said.

Lilja growled, whacking Jarppi in the side. He grunted, rolling over and scrambling to his knees to miss Lilja's elbow, which rammed right into the floor.

"Ow, you asshole," Lilja laughed, wincing in pain. She grabbed his ankle, making him lose his balance and fall on his face. She swiftly sat down on legs, pinning him to the floor. "Ha!" she shouted in his ear. "I win!"

"I. Don't. Think. So." Jarppi wheezed, shoving Lilja off of him. He went to get up, but before he could, Lilja put him in a choke hold.

The other three in the room were finding the whole ordeal one of the funniest things they'd ever seen. They were used to seeing the two get into wrestling matches. After all, they were brother and sister. It wouldn't be a normal relationship if they didn't. But more often than not, Lilja and Jarppi were very close, even though they were only half-siblings. They shared the same mother, but had different fathers.

When Jarppi was just a baby, his dad found out that his mom had cheated on him with one of her old friends from college. She ended up getting pregnant, but somehow they were able to patch things up and not get divorced. By the time Lilja was born, her father had been sent to jail for drug use. Lilja was lucky to even see her father once a year, because he was always in jail or somewhere that no one really cared to know. As far as Lilja and the rest of her family were concerned, her real father didn't exist. Jarppi's dad was always Lilja's dad. It was a long, complicated story, so no one ever really talked about it.

"Woah!" HP said, moving out of the way when Lilja sent herself and Jarppi tumbling backwards. He took notice to the blue-faced Jarppi and pulled the brunette off of him. "That's enough, guys. You're gonna end up really getting hurt," he said, holding Lilja up by the waist.

She kicked the air until HP let her down. Blowing the hair out of her eyes, she crossed her arms. "Yes, mother," she huffed at him.

Jukka laughed, helping Jarppi to his feet. "Yeah, HP, you never let us have any fun," Jarppi laughed too.

HP rolled his eyes. "Someone's gotta keep you alive."

"That's what our moms are for!" Lilja sang, pulling HP's jacket hood over his eyes.

HP laughed, whipping the hood off. "Speaking of moms, do you think yours has breakfast ready yet?" He held his stomach, which growled as if on cue.

"Let's go check," Jarppi said, heading for the door.

But Jukka, who'd become very dizzy, stood up from the rolling chair and, trying to make it out the door first, rammed headfirst into the wall. He bounced a couple uncoordinated steps back, holding his head with a strained expression on his face. Lilja tried to supress her giggles as she rested her hands on his shoulders from behind to steady him.

"Food!" he shouted suddenly once he stopped swaying on his feet. By then, the other three had left the room. Before Lilja knew what was happening, she was being thrown over Jukka's shoulder and lugged down the hall. "Food!" he repeated, sounding scarily similar to a caveman.

Lilja let out a noise that sounded like something between a squeal and a laugh as she watched the end of the hall get further away. When they reached the kitchen, Jarppi, Jarno, and HP already had platefuls of eggs and sausages infront of them.

"Food?!" Jukka's nostrils flared as he took in the smell.

"Yes, Jukka, food," Lilja breathed flatly "Now, let me down!"

Jukka grinned, acting like a normal person, if being normal was possible for the blonde in the first place, and he swung Lilja off his shoulder. Once her feet hit the floor, she skipped to the table and sat down across from HP while Jukka took a seat beside her.

"Here you go, guys," Mrs. Leppälä said as she piled food onto the remaining plates.

"Thanks, Mommy!" Lilja said, taking a bite of her breakfast.

"Yeah, thanks, Mrs. L. Your cooking is the best." Jarno said through a mouthful of sausage.

Mrs. Leppälä laughed. "I'm sure your mom wouldn't be too happy to hear you say that," she said.

"She's already heard me say that...many times," Jarno replied.

Everyone around the table either chuckled or smiled.

"So what craziness are you getting yourselves into today?" asked Mrs. Leppälä once everyone was done eating.

"We're gonna go to the slopes for a few hours," Jarppi stated, taking a drink of milk.

"We're going to hang out at Jukka's house afterwards..." Lilja added.

"We are?" Jukka asked. "When did we decide this?"

"Just now," Lilja and Jarppi said in unison.

"Hm, okay." he shrugged, scraping his last pile of eggs into his mouth.

Mrs. Leppälä smiled. "Well, okay. Just don't stay out too late. I'm expecting the two of you home by a reasonable hour." she said, pointing her index and middle finger in a v-shape at her kids.

"Alright," Jarppi said, downing the last of his milk.

"And don't hurt yourselves," Mrs. Leppälä directed at all of them as they stacked their plates and silverware in the sink.

"Awe, you do care about us!" Jukka squealed, as he, Jarno, and HP all hugged her.

Mrs. Leppälä blushed, peeling them off of her. "Well, I kinda have to. You're my kids' only friends."

Jarppi and Lilja both rolled their eyes, but knew their mother was sincere. Mrs. Leppälä was probably the most 'chill' out of all the parents of the crazy quintet. She seemed to handle their antics better than anyone else did, which Lilja and Jarppi were grateful for.

"We better get going before it gets too crowded up there. It snowed last night, so there will be more people today," HP said, anxious to leave.

"Okay, have fun." Mrs. Leppälä said, kissing the tops of Lilja and Jarppi's heads.

"M'kay. Bye Mom!" they said, giving her hugs before dissappearing around the corner.

"So, are we just gonna walk there?" Jarno asked as they all pulled on their coats and snow boots at the front door.

"I'd drive us, but my car wouldn't start this morning," Jukka said, pulling his fur hat snuggly over his head. "It'll be more fun to walk, anyway."

"Yeah, maybe for you," Jarppi griped.

"Well, maybe if you weren't so fat..." Lilja muttered.

"Hey, I'm not fat. I'm chubby. There's a difference." Jarppi defended.

Lilja and the guys laughed, starting to head out the door.

"Oh wait!" Jarno stopped them. "The camera!"

"Way ahead of you, man," Lilja grinned, handing Jarno's video-camera to him. He turned it on and pointed it at his friends, all of which gave the camera funny faces.

"Let's go!" Jukka shouted, leaping off of the front steps.

"Yeah!" Lilja cheered, running up behind him, the rest of the guys following. She jumped up onto Jukka's back, and he instinctively grabbed her legs to keep her from falling.

"Uh, guys, I forgot to go pee before we left," HP said, scratching the back of his head.

"Just go in the yard," Jarppi suggested.

"Don't eat the yellow snow!" Jukka sang suddenly into the camera.

"Haha, it's already been done," Jarno said.

The friends' laughter echoed through the neighborhood, and thus they began their trek.