Call Me Crazy

The rest of the week passed quickly with my group of friends whole once again. Mackenzie continued to talk about me, both behind my back and to my face; Alexis and I were deep into planning, and had scheduled a sleepover for the weekend to discuss our plans; and art wasn’t nearly as bad with Ben being my friend. So all was well, we hoped.

I rang the doorbell at a large brick house. Stone pillars stretched from the large porch up to meet the second floor roof. It was the picture perfect suburban house. I snapped my head to attention as the door was opened. A tall, blonde woman who looked to be in her forties answered the door.

“How may I help you?” she asked my accusingly, her eyes trailing from my Slipknot t-shirt to my grey skinnies.

I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted by Alexis.

“Mom,” she said, stretching the word into two syllables; she was clearly annoyed. Alexis stepped between us, “Mom, this is my friend Niki; Niki, this is my mom. Now that introductions are over, let’s get out of here,” she groaned the last part, pulling me into the house.

The house was just as spectacular on the inside as on the outside. My eyes trailed the floor or the marble foyer and onto the hardwood floors of the living room. Contemporary furniture was sparingly placed around the room, giving it a harsh look. I looked to my right and noticed an archway, which led to the kitchen. From what I could see, the kitchen was similar to those on cooking shows.

I followed Alexis up the curved staircase and to a door, which I presumed to be her room. Sure enough, as she opened the door, I could tell that room was hers. A four-poster bed sat in the center, dressed in a black comforter and lavender pillows. Posters, artwork, and pictures littered the walls and the ceiling, and on the floor, were clothes, casually thrown about.

“So, what do you think?” She prompted me, a smile forming on her face.

“Um, wow…” I trailed off with a smile.

“Yeah, I know it’s a bit much,” she said modestly.

“A bit?” I laughed, “This place is insane!”

“I know, I know,” she droned, “It’s too big for my parents and I.”

“Only child?” I asked.

“Yeah, it gets lonely at times,” she said with a small smile, “I always wished I had an older sister who I could go to with all my problems, someone to comfort me and to talk to. You know, all that girly stuff.”

“Yeah, but now you have me,” I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air for emphasis. Alexis let out a laugh.

“What kind of sisters plot against their enemies for fun?” she joked.

“The awesome kind!” I explained.

“Ok then, we should start planning,” she prompted, “What did you have in mind?”

“Well, something involving homecoming, because that’s her night to shine, and win homecoming queen,” Alexis nodded and I continued, “I haven’t figured exactly what I want to do yet, but we need chipmunks and squirrels, or any other rodent we can find.” Alexis raised her eyebrows, so I explained, “She’s afraid them, pretty much all rodents,” At this, she burst out into laughter.

“That’s so pathetic!” she gasped out when she was done laughing.

“Yeah, no one knows about that but me, and that’s only because I was her first friend back in elementary school,” I said.

“Really?” Alexis asked with a sly grin. I began shaking my head no, rapidly.

“Oh, no, not now,” I hurriedly told her, “We’ll save that for another day,”

“Fine,” she grunted, “I feel like this plan is lacking. It’s pretty wimpy.”

“Yeah, I haven’t thought too much ahead of this,” I admitted.

“We could dump slime on her?” she suggested.

“No, that’s too childish, though I was thinking along the lines of ruining her appearance for homecoming,” I said, and Alexis suddenly gasped, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

“I know what we’re going to do.”