Breaking the Rules

Avatar turned out to be a great movie, though I didn’t hear all of it over the other boys’ comments. Jay seemed to know the whole movie by heart.

"I’ve got a lizard back home,” he says as the credits start rolling.

“Her name’s Neytiri,” Max adds.

“Wow. You really like this movie,” I state.

“Yup,” he says helping me up.

“I’m really for sleeping,” Siva says.

“I’m down,” I say. Suddenly Tom moves toward Max’s ear and whispers something, then motions to pass it on. Max smiles and nods, then goes to tell Nath, who was on his right. He nods excitedly and the three run off.

“What are they doing?” I ask.

“I don’t know but be ready for anything,” Siva warns.

“Alright. Let’s go back then,” I say leaving.

“How’d you like the movie?” Jay asks.

“It was great! I liked it when Jake first ran around Pandora with Neytiri,” I say.

“Bit geeky, Charlie?” Siva notes.

“Me? A geek? Hell yeah!” I say. Jay gives me a high five and a hug.

“See? I’m not the only one in the world who is geeky,” he says to Siva as we enter the main hallway.

I’m shocked for a moment as my eyes scan the scene. The three have brought out their blankets and laid them on the floor. Then they brought out more snacks and game boards.

“Slumber party!” they all scream at the same time as we start to jump around. Tom makes the Flip magically appear and films us.

“What?” I say confused. Last night we were partying, and now, suddenly, we are twelve camping out in the hallway between our rooms.

“We are going to sleep out here tonight,” Max explains the obvious.

“Yeah, well I got that much. But why?” I ask again. They all look at each other before shrugging. “Good enough reason for me,” I say falling onto the pile on blankets next to my room.

“Yay!” they say. Then they go on to deciding a game. Nathan plops down next to me on a homemade bed.

“Good idea?” he asks.

“Oh yeah. I haven’t done this in forever. You guys really bring out the young me,” I say. Jay walks up to us with the Flip. Well, he walks up to me, but Nathan’s here too.

“And who are you, pretty lady?” he says.

“Me? Oh I’m a magician. I could make you disappear for quite some time,” I say. Being me on camera is a rare occasion.

“Ooo, I’m so scared,” he says.

“You should be. I’m so strong. You see these?” I ask referring to my non-existent arm muscle.

“Oh yes very strong. We’re going to play Sorry. You guy wanna join?” he says putting the Flip down.

“Yeah!” I cheer jumping to my feet and then diving to where to game board is. “I want green!” I cheer louder, eyes going wide. One thing you should know about me is that when I’m really tired I go crazy hyper. Like, jumping off walls hyper. Then I crash and burn. I've named it the "sleepy silys."

“Okay?” Tom says looking stunned. “Teams?”

“We have to. There is six of us and four colors,” I say with a “no duh” look.

“Three teams of two?” Siva suggests. Tom and Max cheer with a high five. Team one.

“Would you like to team up with me?” Jay asks me politely.

“Sure!” I agree crawling toward his side of the board. That leaves Nath and Siva for a team.

“We’re gonna win, we’re gonna win!” Tom chants.

“They’re just jinxing themselves,” Jay tells me in my ear.

“Oh I know,” I assure.

“Each of us roll a dice to see who goes first,” Nath says.

We all roll the dice and Jay and I ended up winning, both of us rolling sixes. Nath and Seev go next and Tom and Max follow. I start combining the player’s names to make the team name. I end up with Jarlie, Niva, and Tomax. Yep, genius.

We laugh all night with stupid comments. Tom threw a tantrum because Nathan knocked out the piece that was just about to make it to the safe zone. Then Jay threw a fit for the same reason. Cutting to the case, we won. Yeah, we won. And we very politely rubbed it in their faces by jumping up and down and cheering. Tom threw another tantrum.

“Fuck that! This game is rigged!” he accuses.

“Yeah, yeah. Anything so you don’t lose properly,” I say. Then he decides to pick me up and throw me over his shoulder.

“No. Nonononono. Put me down,” I say calmly.

“Nah,” he says. The boys laugh at me. I move a little to make myself comfortable. Then I do an old trick. I roll off his side and land very ungratefully on my back. The boys rush to my aide.

“I’m fine,” I say before they can ask, even though the fall was very painful.

“I’m so sorry, Charlie!” Tom says as I sit up.

“S’okay. I do that whenever someone picks me up,” I explain. “What are we gonna do now?”

“What are we gonna do? It’s nearly one in the mornin!” Nathan says.

“Sooo… you’re suggesting: Sleep?” I say.

“Yes. Sleep at this time is what I, for one, would love,” he says.

“M’kay,” I say. The boys retreat to their makeshift beds and Nathan waits for me. I hold up my hands and grab the air, asking him to carry me. He sighs but picks me up and brings me to my own bed.

“Thank ya,” I say as he lays me down.

Someone already turned off the lights so I have no idea how he didn’t trip over someone else. And Nathan is taking advantage of the darkness. He bends over even more and softly presses his lips against my own. The heat of his body on my own is too much. This new sensation is like warm happiness in my body. But of course, all too soon, he – and it – is gone.

“Good night,” he says against my ear.

“’Night,” I say kissing his cheek. It takes less than a little bit of time for me to fall asleep.