Alleigh finished eating her salad, picked up a napkin and carefully dabbed the ends of her mouth with it, so as not to smear her lip glossed lips. She then turned to look at Zac, who was still eating and goofing around with Lucy and Mac. She rested her chin in her right hand as she continued to gaze at Zac.
I wish he would joke around with me the way he does with Lucy, Alleigh thought. She decided to try to join in on the conversation, so she started listening to them talking.
"Zac, look at your hair. I can't believe you have long hair. I mean, you're a guy," Lucy was saying. "Why do you have long hair, anyway?"
Zac shrugged. "I dunno. I just........do."
"I mean, your hair is longer than mine!" Lucy remarked. She pointed to her own light, bouncy, downy, straight, medium-dark blond hair, which barely went past her chin.
"You guys have like, the same hair," Mac commented, as he looked at Lucy and Zac's hair. "Only Zac's is longer."
"Yeah, what can I say? Lucy and I are long lost twins!" Zac joked, as he threw his right arm around Lucy's shoulders.
Lucy laughed. "Yeah, Zac's my clone!"
Zac giggled. "Yep, we're replicas of each other!"
"Well, you guys don't look exactly alike," Alleigh put in. "I mean, your eye colors are different."
Mac gave her a weird look. "Who said anything about eye colors? We were just talking about hair."
"Oh." Alleigh felt like she wasn't wanted in the conversation.
Zac looked at Lucy's eyes to see what color they were. He examined them as he observed the irises of Lucy's eyes were a grayish-blue, while his own were brown.
"Your eyes look sorta' like Tay's," Zac commented.
"What? No they don't," Lucy said. "I have the same eye color as Kris."
"Oh. Well, they kinda' look like Tay's eye color too," Zac said, as he continued to peer into Lucy's eyes.
"Ummm.........okaaaaaayyy," Lucy said weirdly.
Alleigh reached over and began stroking Zac's hair gently with her right hand. Zac turned around to look at her.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Zac asked, giving her a strange look.
"Just touching your hair," Alleigh replied casually. "I like it. It's very soft. It's so........nice."
"Uhh.......thanks, I think," Zac said uncertainly.
Alleigh smiled. "You're welcome. Do you think I could braid it sometime?"
Zac looked surprised. "Ummm......."
"Please? I'm really good at braiding hair," Alleigh said brightly.
"Umm, well......thanks, but......no thanks. My mom braids my hair for me," Zac told her.
"Well, maybe I could braid it too, maybe?" Alleigh asked hopefully. "I'd do a really good job, I promise!"
"Uhh........thanks anyway, but my mom can do it for me when I want it done," Zac said, still looking at Alleigh in an odd manner.
Alleigh nodded. "Okay, Zac."
Zac nodded slowly. "Yeah......." he said. "Okaaaaaaayyy."
"Hey, you guys. Do you guys wanna play a game or something?" Mac suggested.
"Cool! I'm in!" Lucy exclaimed.
Zac nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me too!"
"Oh, me three!" Alleigh said quickly.
"Does anyone else wanna play?" Mac asked, looking around the table.
"Yeah, count me in," Dante said.
"I'll play too," Kristyn added.
"Yeah, so will I," Taylor decided.
"Okay." Mac nodded. "How about we play sardines?"
"Yeah, let's play that!" Zac agreed. He jumped up from his seat and began hopping up and down excitedly.
Mac nodded again. "Okay. Who wants to hide fir--"
"I will!" Zac yelled.
Mac grinned. "Okay, you got it. We'll all cover our eyes and count to a hundred, and you go hide somewhere outside."
Zac nodded. "Okay, cool."
"All right. Everyone close your eyes," Mac instructed. "Zac, get going."
Everyone shut their eyes and listened to the sounds of Zac's footsteps scampering away. Mac began counting out loud.
"One, two, three, four..." Mac chanted.
Alleigh moved her hand away slightly from her right eye, as she tried to sneak a peak at where Zac was running off to. Lucy reached over and smacked her.
"Ow! Hey, what was that for??!" Alleigh exclaimed angrily.
"You were cheating!" Lucy snapped. "No peaking!"
"Well, apparently you were cheating too, since you must have had your eyes open too if you saw me open mine!" Alleigh shot back.
Lucy shook her head. "Nuh-uh! I only saw you opening your eyes! I wasn't watching to see where Zac was going, unlike you!"
"You guys, come on. Just quit fighting and keep your eyes shut!" Kristyn told them.
"Fine, but we're playing with little Miss Cheater, here," Lucy muttered.
"...Ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one-hundred," Mac finished. "Ready or not, here we come, Zac!"
With that, everyone split off and began taking off in their own directions. Lucy was determined to be the first one to find Zac, so she quickly began searching all the unusual places to hide.
Lucy walked over to the Cambridge's tool shed, and peered behind it. Sure enough, Zac was crouched over on the ground behind it.
"Ha! Found ya," Lucy said smugly, as she crawled over next to Zac.
Zac looked up at Lucy and grinned. "Hey Lucy. Glad ya finally made it! What took you so long, anyway?"
Lucy grinned back. "Shut up. Apparently, it wasn't that long if I found you here first!"
Soon, not long after Lucy discovered Zac's hiding place, Dante found them, and squeezed behind the tool shed as well. Next Taylor came, and then Mac came. Kristyn arrived after Mac. Finally, Alleigh found them all last.
"Ha ha! You were the last one to get here! You lost!" Lucy jeered at Alleigh.
Alleigh scowled. "Shut up, Lucy. I hate this game. I don't want to play this anymore. Let's play something else."
"How about TV tag?" Zac suggested.
Alleigh smiled at Zac. "Okay!"
"And you're 'it'!!" Zac screamed, as his left hand shot forward and poked Alleigh, and ran away laughing.
Alleigh shrieked. "I'm going to get you Zac!" she yelled after him, as she went chasing Zac around the Cambridge house.
But no matter how fast Alleigh tried to run, Zac was too quick for her. As she finally neared him and started closing in, Zac immediately hopped down onto the ground in a toad position.
"Beavis and Butthead!" Zac yelled.
Alleigh stopped in front of him. "You can't stay down there forever," she told him.
"I know," Zac replied nonchalantly. "But I can stay down for as long as I need to!"
Alleigh glanced around the backyard to see if she could spot any other vulnerable victims on the loose that were easy targets. She spotted Lucy racing across the backyard at warp speed. Alleigh took off after her.
"Lucy, get ready to be 'it'!" Alleigh yelled, as she began running after Lucy.
"Not on your life!" Lucy yelled back as she dove into a squatting position and called out, "The Simpsons!"
Alleigh stopped against a tree and leaned against it, breathing hard, panting. She wasn't so used to running so fast all at once.
"Hey Alleigh."
Alleigh turned around to see Zac standing behind her, grinning mischievously.
"Betcha can't catch me!" With that, Zac bolted away, sprinting at a rapid pace. Alleigh took off after him as fast as she could. Zac quickly crouched down into a squat.
"Animaniacs!" Zac shouted.
Alleigh stumbled onto the ground, panting hard. She quickly stuck her hand out to the ground to steady herself. Zac got up and sauntered over to her.
"Awww.....what's the matter? Are you too tired already?" Zac teased.
"Y-yes," Alleigh gasped, as she clutched her throat, as she continued breathing heavily.
"Aww, too bad. Here, you can tag me 'it,' if you want. You look like you could use a break." Zac stretched out his left hand over to her for her to tag.
Alleigh let out a weak smile. "Ohh, thanks Zac. That's so sweet of you." She touched Zac's hand, making him 'it.'
But just as Alleigh's hand touched Zac's, Zac immediately poked her back, making her 'it' again.
"Gotcha!" Zac shouted. "I fooled ya, you're 'it' again!!" He took off, laughing loudly.
Lucy burst out laughing as well. "Good one, Zac!" She high-fived him. "What a sucker!"
Mac snickered too. "Al, you're never gonna catch any of us, are ya?"
"Probably not," Alleigh groaned. She clutched her stomach, and rolled over on the grass.
"Al, are you okay?" Kristyn asked, walking over to her, looking concerned.
"No! Don't do it! Don't go near her! It's a trick! A trap! She's gonna tag you 'it' if you go near her! Get away from her!" Zac screamed, waving his hands wildly in the air.
"Zac, shut up!" Taylor said sharply, frowning at him. "I think she really passed out or something." He walked over to where Kristyn was kneeling by Alleigh, and crouched down beside them.
Dante's eyes grew wide. "I'll go get mom!" He took off across the backyard.
"Alleigh, what's wrong?" Kristyn asked worriedly, as she studied her sister's face.
Alleigh looked exhausted and dazed at the same time. "I-I......I feel...really.....w-weird," she whispered hoarsely. Beads of sweat and perspiration began dripping down the sides of her face.
"Ohmigosh....." Zac muttered, as he watched in shock at what was happening. This was totally serious.
..:.. Chapter 6 ..:..
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