All Time Trouble

“Jayde wake up,” I said poking her.

“No, wake up one of the others,” she mumbled pushing my hand away.

“They’re not here.” Jack said poking her too.

“Where did they go?” she grumbled.

“Dunkin’ Donuts.” We said in unison and she nodded sleepily mumbling an ‘okay then,’ and seconds later we heard her snoring softly again.

“Wanna piss her off?” I whispered and Jack smiled.

“When don’t I?” he asked and I grinned then we both turned back to Jayde.

“Jayde, Jayde, Jayde, Jayde, Jayde, Jayde!” Jack and I said softly at first then we started shouting as we poked his little sister.

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU TWO WANT?!” she shouted turning over from her side as she glared at us.

“GOOD MORNINGGG!!” we shouted holding our arms out and her glare just deepened.

“Hey Jack?”

“Huh?”

“I think now would be a good time to run,”

“I agree, let’s go!” he shouted and we started running all around the house with Jayde close behind us. This went on for about fifteen minutes before Jayde suddenly stopped.

“Wait, what time is it?” Jayde asked from kitchen door as we stood in the middle of the foyer. Jack and I looked at each other knowing that if we made it seem like a good enough time, Jayde would stop chasing us and we’d be able to live another day.

“Noon,” we said and Jayde cocked one eyebrow. She looked out the window to see the sunlight coming in from outside.

“Okay, stay right there,” she said slowly backing into the kitchen to check the time on the microwave.

“IT’S ONLY EIGHT O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING?! I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU GUYS!” she bellowed.

“COME ON JACK, LET’S GO OUTSIDE!” I shouted running towards the door. Jack got there first and opened it for me. I was still running, and just as I crossed the threshold I crashed into someone.

“FUCK!!” we both shouted and fell backwards.

“Thank god I wasn’t holding anything, or we’d have to run back to Dunkin’ Donuts.”

“Of course you wouldn’t be carrying anything Zack, you’re so fucking lazy.”

“Shut the fuck up, who paid for everything because you left your wallet in your room?!” Zack shouted over his shoulder as he helped me up.

“Thanks. And sorry about that, we’re running from Jayde.” I said when I stood up and brushed myself off.

“You’re welcome, and it’s okay. But why are you two-“

“We pissed her off when we woke her up because we poked her, then we lied saying it was noon, but it’s really eight, so she got even more mad, and is trying to murder us.” I said quickly looking back to see where she was.

“You guys are just asking to be murdered by now,” Rian laughed when he came through the door with coolattas. Alex just passed us with two boxes of donuts when I saw Jayde run out of the kitchen.

“Come on Jack, she’s coming!” I shouted again grabbing his hand and we ran out the door.
When Jayde finally got outside, she chased us around the house four times before we split up. Jack climbed up one of the higher trees in the front yard, and I ran around to the backyard, and climbed up to mine and Alex’s tree house. She was currently trying to climb up the tree after her brother, which gave me time to step up on the warn out and withered wooden planks nailed to the tree carefully so I wouldn’t slip and fall. We built this tree house ages ago.

When we were little our parents would always have to come up to get Alex and I down because we’d never want to come down. But when we got into middle school the, boys were always in here. But when they weren’t Jayde and I would be up there. And we’d always fight over it too. It got so bad we ended up making a chart of who had the tree house on what day and for how long. But we ended up messing it up somehow and got into more fights about the tree house. Our parents threatened to take it down because we fought over it so much. That horrified us so we called quits on the fighting for a while. Then the boys were determined to have a place to hang out in summer because they didn’t wanna be inside so they wouldn’t get pestered with chores, so they were going to build a tree house in the second biggest tree we had on the other end of the yard, and we would have tree house wars. Jayde and I didn’t believe them, but later that week they started building one, only to be stopped because our parents said we already had one tree house built, and one was enough. But once Jayde and I got into eleventh grade and the boys were seniors, we never really fought over it anymore because they boys were working on their music and Jayde and I would help.

So when I finally got in the tree house, I looked around and tons more memories floated back to me. I shook them off realizing I Jayde was probably going to kill me if she found me, so I crouched down and looked out the front window, making sure she hadn’t come in the back yard yet.

“You came up here to hide too?” I jumped at the other voice in the tree house. I turned around and saw the others.

“Why are you guys up here? What did you do?”

“Nothing, we just didn’t want to be around if she murdered you and Jack.” Alex said.

“Or ate you guys.” Rian added. I rolled my eyes and reached for a pillow from the sofa and threw it at his head.

“You always think me and Jayde are gonna eat you guys when we’re angry,”

“Well I have a theory!” Rian announced standing up and I just looked at him.

“And what might that theory be Mr. Dawson?” I asked raising an eyebrow and he just sat back down.

“Something which I cannot tell you,”

“Then leave the accusation of us eating you for alone, if you cannot prove it to us.” I said copying his sophisticated tone making the others laugh.

“I really hope she doesn’t hurt us, I want my donuts and coolatta.” I said looking out the window again.

“Shit she’s coming,” I said ducking down again and the boys did the same.

“Guys! You can all come out now!” she yelled as she wandered around the backyard.

“How did she know you guys were hiding?” I asked and they shrugged.

“Because they weren’t in the house,” Jayde said popping up in the other side window from the tree next to us making all of us scream and causing Rian to fall into Alex’s lap. Jayde laughed hysterically almost falling out of the tree.

“Just come down, I want to eat.” She said starting to climb down but I stopped her.

“Why don’t you and Jack get the stuff from Dunkin’ Donuts and come back out so we can all eat up here?” I asked then I looked around her and out the window I was sitting by.

“Where is Jack anyway?”

“She ate him, I’m telling you!” Rian said and I looked at him.

“SHUT UP WITH YOUR FUCKING THEORY DAWSON, OR I SWEAR TO CHRIST I’LL GIVE YOU A REASON FOR YOUR THEORY TO BE TRUE!” I shouted. The others laughed and Rian just nodded quickly.

“Anyway, where is he?” I asked and Jayde shrugged.

“I lost him when I was chasing him out front when he jumped out of the tree.” She said and the four of us laughed.

“But I’ll go find him and we’ll bring the stuff up.” Jayde nodded before climbing down the tree she was in and ran off looking for her brother. We didn’t have to wait that long for Jayde to come back with Jack, and our donuts and drinks. We sat up there all day talking about all the memories we’ve had in the tree house. We were up there til about nine o’clock, when all the parents came back to my house and realized none of us had packed. We quickly came down from the tree house and ran inside. Jayde and I were a little more than half packed, so we finished pretty quickly. The parents left again just as Jayde and I brought our stuff down from my room and placed it by the door. We walked into the living room to see the boys’ progress, and I almost fell over a pile of clothes, but Jayde caught me before I could hit the floor.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!” I shouted looking at my living room, which was covered in more piles of clothes, many more piles of clothes as the one I had tripped over the minute before.

“SHH! We need to pack!” Rian hissed as he continued throwing clothes into his suitcases, not even bothering to fold them, just making sure they didn’t get caught in the zippers of the compartments he was shoving them into.

“Guys, you have to help us, we won’t be able to get this done in time before they come home, and we told them we were already halfway packed.” Alex said and I looked at him.

“But, didn’t they just leave? Like, seconds ago?” I asked confused as I pointed over my shoulder with my index fingers towards the front door.

“Yes.” They all said.

“So you’re telling me,” I said slowly.

“That you made this HUGE mess,” I said still slowly before Jayde cut in.

“WITHIN SECONDS?!” she shouted which caused me to jump. All four of them started to ramble and shout back at us but Jayde whistled and they all stopped talking.

“First of all, what time are they getting back?” Jayde asked.

“We don’t know, that’s why we really need you guys to help us,” Alex said and I nudged Jayde letting her know she was gonna lead this one.

“We’ll help on one condition.” She said putting her finger up and they looked at each other before turning back to us, hoping the one condition wasn’t as bad or as scary as they thought.

“What is it?” Jack gulped.

“Hurry, what should they do if we help them?” Jayde whispered in my ear, and I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“We don’t have to drive night shifts.” I said and they blinked.

“That’s it? You two don’t have to drive the van at night?” Zack asked and we nodded.

“Okay.... NOW HELP US!!!!” They all shouted and we set to work helping them pack. With 4 medium sized piles of clothes left, my mother called the house. I hop scotched around the remaining piles to reach the house phone, and picked it up just as the last ring ended.

“Hello?”

“Hi honey, we’re just calling to let you guys know we’ll be home in fifteen minutes, alright? I hope you’re all packed, and have one of the boys call Matthew to see when he’s coming over or if you all have to pick him up so he can leave with you guys in the morning, and we don’t have to disturb his parents if you were to go and get him early tomorrow morning.”

“Alrighty, will do Momma. See you when you guys get home, love you.”

“Love you too, bye,”

“Bye-bye.” I said quickly as I hung up and spun around.

“What did she-“Alex started but I interrupted him when I shouted.

“WE HAVE FIFTEEN FUCKING MINUTES TO GET THESE LAST COUPLE PILES OF CLOTHES PACKED!” they screamed and I ran back to them hopping over the piles of clothes kicking some with me as I went. We all sorted through them to see whose was whose, then just threw them into suitcase after suitcase. Then finally, we finished packing the boys’ stuff and put it all by the door. We came back into the living room and flopped onto the couches and we all sighed.

“Five minutes to spare. Five. Fucking. Minutes. We should throw a fucking celebratory party.” Jayde said running her hand through her hair.

“FIVE MINUTE DANCE PARTY!” I shouted.

“Isn’t it five SECOND dance party?” she corrected me and I shrugged.

“I think it fits very well here,” I said turning my nose up in the air and everyone laughed. Just then something crossed my mind.

“Shit fuck, we gotta pick up Flyzik.”

“Huh?”

“When Mom called, she was all ‘have one of the boys call Matthew to see when he’s coming over or if you all have to pick him up’ and all that jazz. So come on, we got five minutes, let’s goooo!” I shouted as I attempted to lunge myself off the couch but I ended up just falling over Jayde’s feet and landing flat on my face on the floor. Everyone laughed but I just picked myself up and brushed myself off.

“Are we going to pick up Matthew or not?” I asked.

“Okay, we’re coming MOM.” Alex laughed. I just rolled my eyes and everyone followed me out. We picked up Matt and brought him and his stuff back to the house. We put all his bags and such by the door with ours. The moment we got in the door we had this giant pillow fight, and thirty seconds after we started the parents came in and we just stopped dead in our tracks, pillows in midair about to hit someone and we just stared.

“Please tell me you guys didn’t break anything,” mom sighed looking at us and we all looked at each other then back to her.

“Probably just the couch,” I said blowing a piece of hair out of my face and she gave me a look.

“Why would the couch be broken?” she asked. I looked down with my pillow raised above my head and looked back at her.

“Half of us are standing on the couch and were jumping on it when we started this pillow fight,” I said and she just rolled her eyes.

“I don’t want to know anymore. Well I’m going to bed, we all have to be up early to go, so goodnight.” She came over and kissed mine and Alex’s head and our father did the same. Jack and Jayde coughed a bit and mom looked at them and gave a little laugh and she kissed their heads too.

“Attention hoggers,” Alex and I mumbled and they both hit us on the head with the pillows they were holding. Everyone else said goodnight to their parents and they left. We made up beds and everything with a bunch of blankets and pillows and turned on the tv. We went to put everything in the van, but realized we didn’t get anything that Jayde and I talked about getting the night before. We didn’t have enough time, so we just quickly went out and bought a king size mattress and some shelves. We came back to the house and set everything up the way Jayde had said before and it was perfect. We snuck back inside and quickly packed up the van, then after locking up we went back into the living room.

“It’s only eleven thirty, what should we do?” Zack asked and Jayde and I collapsed next to each other on our makeshift beds on the floor.

“Go to sleep,” we mumbled in unison.

“But it’s only eleven thirty,” Matt whined and we looked at him.

“But we gotta get up at six thirty,” we said in the same tone and he just stared.

“Fine.” he huffed and got under his blanket, pulled it up over his shoulder and turned over.

“I hate you guys.” He mumbled and we laughed.

“Night Matt,” Jayde and I laughed.

“Goodnight everyone else,” we mumbled at they just stared.

“What?” we asked.

“STOP FUCKING DOING THAT, IT’S FREAKING ME OUT!” Jack hollered and Alex, Rian and Zack threw pillows at him as they shushed him to be quiet so our parents won’t hear him cursing.

“Wh-“

“The talking in unison for ten minutes straight, just stop it!” he whisper yelled and we laughed.

“Goodnight Jack,” I said still laughing.

“Goodnight Jackie,” Jayde said leaning up to kiss her brother on the head. I awed and then I leaned over and hugged Alex.

“Goodnight Alexa,”

“You call me that again and I will punch you in the teeth,” he said and I just laughed I kissed his head and turned over.

“Goodnight Zack and Rian.” Jayde said goodnight to them as well and they mumbled back a goodnight. With that we fell asleep. Morning came too quickly, and since Jayde and I refused to wake up, we were wrapped up in our blankets so only our heads were sticking out, and were carried to the van, and we were placed on the mattress.

“This should be a fun tour, sleeping all day on a mattress in a moving van,” I said with my eyes still closed.

“Hell yeah,” Jayde agreed and we laughed a bit.

“You two are forgetting just one, small thing.” I heard Alex say.

“And what would that be?” Jayde asked and we both looked up. And within seconds five bodies were jumping on the mattress.

“You’re in this van with five other boys.” Jack smiled and we just glared at him.

“Flyzik, you drive first.” Jayde mumbled putting her head back down.

“Wha- why me?” he whined.

“Because you were the last to get here last night, so you’re the first to drive,” she said not looking up.

“But I don’t wanna drive! Have someone else drive!”

“I’LL DRIVE!” Jack shouted throwing his hands in the air.

“NO!” We all shouted back and he pouted.

“Just remember Jack, when I drive you’re my shotgun.” I smiled.

“Okay.” He smiled closing his eyes as he threw his head back and smiled really big.

“You make me laugh.” I said and he continued to smile.

“Even thought we know Jack makes us all laugh, we’re still kinda not moving,” Rian said looking around at how we were still parked in the driveway.

“You’re right, we’re not, and since you noticed that, you get to drive! Yay Rian!” I clapped and everyone laughed. Rian rolled his eyes and climbed to the front of the van.

“I CALL SHOTGUN!” Matt hollered and he climbed up after him.

“GOOD FOR YOU! IT ISN’T NECISSARY TO YELL!” Jack, Alex, Jayde, Zack and I hollered back. He just flipped us off without looking at us and we laughed.

“Well we’re going to sleep, so... yeah... night!” I said and buried my face in my pillow again.

“Same, see ya!” Jayde said copying my action.

About ten minutes after we started moving and Jayde and I weren’t tired anymore, we just sat up and talked the whole ride. We had a bunch of snacks and drinks, and had the occasional spill or dropping of food when Rian hit a pot hole or went over a speed bump too fast, but it was all good. We arrived at the first show about three hours later. The guys left the van so Jayde and I could get changed, since we were still in our pajamas. When we were done we went to check out the small venue.

“This is so cool. I’m so excited for you guys.” I said hugging Alex and Zack since they were closest to me, and Jayde took the opportunity to hug Jack and Rian saying ‘me too’. Matt had no one to hug, so he hugged all of us and we just laughed.

“Well the show doesn’t start for a few hours, so let’s go see where all the parents are and check into the hotel across the street.” Alex said and we all nodded, turning on our heels and walking back to the van.