Antic Diaries

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== Chapter One ==
 You have no idea how hard it is to live with three older brothers and 2 older sisters. Watch a horror movie, mix it with a drama one, and what do you get? My—
"Jennelyn Peters!" a voice calls.
I stand up, and stretch my legs, stiffened from a long hour of sitting in school. My cobalt backpack tips against me. I pick it up and clutch my lunch bag, ready to leave the torture chambers of Woodstone Middle Academy.
"Bye," whispers, Michelle Helm, my best friend.
I wave back, and head towards the door. Just down the hall, is the exit. Well, it's at the least the exit for us little people. Eighth graders to seniors use different ones, which I suspect is because the teachers don't want us—shorties under 5 feet—to get trampled.
Outside, the wind is practically blowing us over. It tosses my hair on my face and makes it super chilly—a perfect start to Winter Break. I skip past all the markers on the ground, looking for the one that signals "D." When I finally spot it, my sisters are already waiting.
"Spencer, Marvin, and Casey better get here soon," mutters my oldest sister, Avarie.
She impatiently shifts her feet, adorned with pale turquoise—her favorite color—rhinestones. Pearl, who is only a year older than me—but acts like it's five, nodded.
"Uggggh...yeah. It's freezing," she whines.
I roll my eyes. They are being way too melodramatic. But I've seen my friends' older siblings, and I think it comes with the territory.
"Hey, I think I see Mom's car," I say, right before my sisters start a complain-fest.
They eagerly lean forward.
The dark, dark blue van slowly pulls forward. Only one more car is ahead of it when my brothers appear.
"Finally!" shouts Pearl.
We board the van, stumbling over one another. My eldest brother, Spencer, gets shotgun. The car has enough seats for him to sit in the back, but he doesn't, to the annoyance of Mom. I sit right behind her spot, squished in by Avarie and Pearl. Marvin and Casey get in the very back, near the trunk.
I buckle my seatbelt, then listen for five more clicks. I know Mom is too, because she always starts driving when the last one is heard.
"So how was your day?" she asks, after the car pulls out of the school exit.
"Great," Casey quickly answers. He knows to start speaking before my sisters do. If the boys or I don't before they, we would listen to them jabber the whole ride.
"We're starting a new project in science," he adds. "And it involves...drumroll, please..."
Casey starts to reach for his backpack.
"Lizards!"
Pearl shrieks, and soon I do too. He holds up a brown, bumpy, crawly, lizard.
"Girls! Girls, please stop screaming! And Casey, put that away! It'll get loose in the car; it might get stepped on!" she yells over my sisters and I's peril.
I immediately quiet. Avarie and Pearl do too, a millisecond later. We sigh with relief when Casey reluctantly puts the infernal creature back in its terrarium.
"Thank you," smiles Mom.
We ride in silence on the way home. But I'm also blushing, because the way I reacted was sort of embarrassing. I think my sisters do too, since they are also. Spencer is busy laughing, the type where you can't breathe and can't talk, but it's super quiet—more like a wheeze. Casey is sulking, and Marvin is mocking us. He points and laughs, trying to keep the noise to minimum, so that he won't get in trouble.
After the "Long Ride of Silent Slander," we arrive at our house. I stare longingly at our pool as we tumbled out of the car. If it weren't winter, my siblings and I would've already jumped in it by now, abandoning our school bags. Instead, Mom herds us to the door, where we wait for her to turn of the security alarm.
She lets Oatster, the family chocolate lab, outside, then heads to the kitchen.
"Move please," complains Avarie. "You're blocking the door."
"Fine," I reply with a snort.
She careens past me, and drops her turquoise bookbag by the mudroom. Everyone follows. We sort of remind myself of ducklings, the way our routine is.
My brothers' chatter fills the stairwell as I follow them up. Of course, I start eavesdropping.
"What should I name the lizard?" Casey asks me.
I shrug and shudder. "How about Terror? It fits perfectly."
He rolls his eyes and fake pouts.
"Actually," interrupts Spencer. "That's a great idea. Whenever you clean his terrarium, you could say 'I'm letting Terror out!"
Casey evilly grins. So I take it that the terrifying reptile—or amphibian?—has a name.
We all separate into our own rooms: Spencer into his newly teen-ified den, Casey into one filled to the brim with animal posters, pictures, and magazines, Marvin into his sports obsessed haven, and me into a pink and white paradise.
I have to share with Pearl, since our house doesn't have any more rooms big enough for a growing girl. It's a good thing we have the same taste too, or fights would go on every time we were in it. We both love pink, frills, sparkles, and hair styling, which also gives us one important benefit: enough girl stuff to keep away pesky brothers.
"Jennelyn?" I hear Mom call.
I rush downstairs after letting down my wavy amber hair and placing a glittery headband on.
"Huh?" I ask, after finding her behind the island.
Mom gestures to the countertop piled with silverware.
"Oh. I'll set the table for dinner right away," I sigh.
Avarie enters the kitchen with her phone. She laughs about something texted, which caused her to trip over the broom's brushes.
"Are there any snacks?" she huffs after regaining her balance.
Mom raises her eyebrows, prompting Avarie to rephrase the question and tone, so that it was a little more polite.
I snicker under my breath, and slip away to neaten the tablecloth. Mom made it herself, in one of her phases. Was it the DIY phase, or the sewing?
The silver forks catch the sun coming through the window, making a little silhouette on the wall. I shift the one I'm holding, causing the reflection of light to move.
"Cool!" I exhale, completely distracted, which explains why I jump when Marvin walks into the room, carrying his portable basketball hoop.
"Hey, Jennelyn. See you're doing chores," he says.
"Yup."
He steps past the dining table and into the kitchen, where Mom is cutting bread from Dad's bakery, The Cheese Knife.
"Mom? Could I go outside and practice shooting baskets?"
She nods, and adds, "but bring your hat."
Marvin's face immediately falls. He hates the yarn beanie that Mom made during her knitting phase. It has a tiny dinosaur patch and a bright orange pom-pom on top, but I think it's adorable. Unfortunately, Marvin has to wear that specific one, because I hid his practical black hat.
"Wait!" I exclaim when I see him about to put away the hoop. "I know where your other one is. It's in the bottom of Oatster's kibble bag, stored inside a tiny shoebox."
Marvin looks like he is about to say thanks, but suddenly changes his expression.
"How do you know?" he suspiciously asks.
I finish arranging the tupperware, and bolt from the room, laughing.
"Get back here, Jennelyn!" he angrily shouts, racing after me.
I weave between the couches in the den, and quickly enter the sunroom, where the door to the patio is located.
I accidently bump into Oatster on my way out. "Sorry!" I yell, looking over my shoulder.
"Jennelyn!"
Marvin appears into view behind me when I glance back again. I run even faster, and hop behind the hedge at the end of the property.
"Ugh, nevermind," he pants, just around the corner. "At least she told me where to find my hat."
When Marvin leaves to dig through steak flavored kibble, I pop out of my hiding spot. Mom grins and waves at me through the window above the sink, where she's standing. I wave back, then trot to the front yard, where Avarie and Spencer are. They must've come out when Marvin was chasing me, like Mr. McGregor in Peter Rabbit.
"Hi guys," I greet.
Avarie nods and turns her back to me. I peer around her, and see that they are setting up the barbecue grill.
"Wha—" I start to ask, but then remember that today is the day before Regionals for Spencer's indoor soccer team. That means a bunch of old guys will be visiting, at around 5:00.
A plan starts to form in my mind.
"Can I help?" I request, in the sweetest baby sister voice I can manage.
"Aww…" a raspy voice replies.
I turn around, and see Mrs. South, our neighbor, in her garden, melting. She adores me, so I can count on her to convince my siblings.
Spencer squints and turns to Avarie. She shrugs, which I take as a yes.
"Great! So what should I do?"
Avarie points to a beach bag sitting on the grass next to her.
"You can unfold the picnic blankets," she instructs. "We'll need five."
I can feel my eyes widening, and raise my brows. "Okay…"
== Chapter Two ==
It turns out, five extra large blankets weren't enough. When three of the players' families arrived, two of them were taken. Completely. Mom could barely squeeze in some room for a cooler.
"Hey dudes!"
More of Spencer's friends arrive as I head inside for more apple juice. In the kitchen, Mom and Pearl are squeezing lemons.
"I'm just getting a drink," I quickly clear, when Pearl looks at me pleadingly.
"Help," she hisses.
"My refreshing juice awaits!" I giggle, then ignore her.
Once I pour a glass, I go back outside. There are a few girls, but they all look wishy-washy, so I pass them. Nobody else looks fun, since I would never sit with one of Spencer's buddies, so I head to the backyard's lounge chairs, next to the pool.
Casey is sitting next to it, churning the water with his toes.
"Hey," he mindlessly says.
I clear my throat. When he looks up, I gesture to the bushes near the patio. He glanced around, then nods. Casey tiptoes—very quietly because his shoes are off—to them. He ducks underneath the largest shrub.
I follow after he disappears.
"Scoot," I hiss.
Casey reluctantly shifts and whispers back, "what are you doing?"
"You mean, what are we doing? We're going to sabotage Spencer's barbecue!"
Casey grins, and rubs his hands together, like a villain.
"I knew you would help me," I point out. "Pranks are your specialty."