Opposites Attract Chapter 7

"Hon, is Maddie coming over tonight?" Mom asked me from the kitchen, as she washed Caleb in the sink.1

"Yes Mom, I already told you that twice!" I said as I tried to pull the sleeping bag from the top shelf in the closet. 2

"Sorry, sorry," Mom replied annoyingly, "I'm so stressed right now. Ugh. John, where the hell did you take the towel?" 3

My six year old brother came zooming down the stairs like a rocket launcher. "Ha ha! Mommy said a naughty word!" John laughed and pointed. 4

"Buzz off butt head." I shoved him away. He threw the dish towel on my head and ran back up the stairs. I finally got the sleeping bag down and gave the towel to Mom.5

"Thanks Demi. Hey can you watch the door, Robbie should be home soon from soccer practice. He didn't call me like I told him to. I should've never bought him that phone..." I didn't think she was talking to me anymore, so I backed out of the room and ran to our basement.6

The basement in our house was pretty small. It was big enough, but not huge like Maddie's. There was a small TV and a couch, plus just enough room for two sleeping bags to fit vertically between. I laid out our sleeping bags and set up pillows, a movie in the VCR, an empty popcorn bowl, a box of Junior Mints for us to share, and a bottle of Tropicana Twister. 7

Ding dong! I raced up the stairs to greet Maddie. I flung open the door, but whose standing there except a skinny boy with ratty, dark brown hair, the same shade as mine, holding a gym bag and a soccer ball, standing as tall as my chin. 8

"Hey dork face. My battery died on my cell phone, incase Mom was freaking." he said, pushing me aside as he entered. 9

"I missed you too, Robbie." I said, slamming the door behind him. 10

"Deeeeemmmiiiii!" I heard someone screaming from the basement.11

"Ughhhhh!" I sighed obnoxiously, heading to the door, "what do you want Marissa?" 12

Her face appeared at the bottom of the stairs, "what is all of crap doing down here?" 13

"Maddie's coming over." I replied, leaing aginst the door frame. 14

"What the heck Demi? You know that Sarah's coming over tonight, god, don't you listen to me?"15

"When did that happen?" 16

"A week ago Dem, get with it!" she started up the stairs making sure to thud extra hard as she came up, "ok, now I have to sleep upstairs with her, next to Robbie who is in 5th grade and still comes into my room asking for Mr. Truffy Fluff or whatever. Thanks a lot!" She stormed off, her perfect light brown hair with blonde highlights swinging back and forth as she walked, her hips waggling with every walk she took in her Abercrombie Jeans. 17

So yes, this is the story of my life. All the moral support I get from my family is wonderful. I don't honestly understand why Mom and Dad wanted 5 kids. And even so, the age range is 16 to 6 months.18

Finally, after organizing the basement again, since Marissa came through and plowed everything out (she SO stole my Junior Mints), Maddie rang the door bell. We didn't do much greeting at the doorway, instead we ran downstairs to hide away, then we greeted each other.19

"Hey Demi! So glad to see you!" Maddie said hugging me.20

"You too! We've got everything here except the Junior Mints, which Marissa stole." I said, rolling my eyes. 21

"Of course," Maddie agreed smiling,"hey, can you believe how we got out of that Coke truck situation?"22

"It was pretty stupid," I shrugged, but grinned, "Freddy's an idiot."23

Looking back on it, it was a pretty dumb plan, but when you've been driving a Coke truck for a while, you're probably as dumb as that guy was. 24

Freddy happened to be sticking out his arm out too far from behind the dumpster, so the Coke guys saw it.25

"Hey, whatch you kid doin' back thr?" The guy said.26

Freddy had no choice but to emerge. "Um, uh yeah, funny story about that man. Yeah, um, the cafeteria lady sent me out here to uh, help you, yeah that's it! And....she sent out 4 other helpers!" He looked down on us, "c'mon guys," he hissed, "I have a plan." Derek looked over at me and Maddie curled up at the end, then he stood up. Maddie immeadiatly stood up after. Kevin and I reluctantly stood after, and we emerged from behind the trash heap. 27

"Helpas? That's lovely! They should do tha' more often! Not this kind o' service 'round other schools!" he kept mumbling to himself aas he opened the door with a key, "each of you grab a crate and drop it in the hall." We all ran up behind Freddy and grabbed a crate.28

"Run!" Freddy whispered to us. We each grabbed a crate, and bolted. I slammed mine on the ground and chased after Freddy. We ran up the stairs and skidded into our classes. I was one of the first people to arrive in class, so I took a minute to catch my breath. It was really funny to think about that Coke guy with five abandoned, destroyed crates of soda. 29

"Yeah I guess you could say it was funny." I told Maddie, collapsing on the couch. 30

~~~31

Continuation:32

"So what movie did you rent?" she asked, dropping her bag next to where she would sleep.33

"I don't know," I murmered with my head under a pillow, "some season of a cheesy soap opera back in the 80's. I can also bring down the Game Cube if you want to play Super Smash Bros. or something."34

I heard the soda bottle top crack open, and a lot of sipping. I looked up and Madide was pouring the soda into the tiny cap and drinking it. 35

"What are you doing?" I asked, supporting my self on my elbow.36

"Where the heck are the cups then?" Maddie asked, staring at me.37

"God Maddie, my eyes were covered, you should've just drink out of the bottle!" 38

"Ok, go back into hibernation for 5 seconds then."39

"Fine," I agreed, plopping back down, "1..2..3..4..5..done." I glanced back up to see 1/3 of the bottle drained and Maddie lowering it.40

"Haha good work, okay do you want to go see what we can grab for dinner?" I asked.41

"Why don't I just go pop the corn and we can watch the movie." Maddie suggested, grabbing the bowl. I nodded and she disappeared up the stairs. Suddenly I heard really, REALLY obnoxious rap music start playing. I went over to Maddie's bag and fished around in it. Finally I felt the sleek metal touch my palm. I flipped open the phone, but the wrong way, and I got the full keyboard. I tried flipping the other way and got it. 42

"Hello?" I said, pressing it to my ear. 43

"Maddie?" I heard a voice answer.44

"No Derek, it's Demi."45

"Oh sorry Dem, is Maddie there?"46

"Naw she's popping the popcorn," I replied, "can I take a message?"47

"Uh...no, just have her call me back later ok?"48

"Sure Derek whatever, bye." I shut the phone and placed it back in the bag.49

"Hey Demi! I have it!" Maddie announced as she reentered. 50

"Great, let's turn this baby on and start clogging our arteries!"