Lance walked into the door and into the living room. He saw Joey and Adrianna on the couch with Chris cuddled up to Adrianna asleep. He then noticed the movie box sitting on top of the t.v.
"Joey." He whispered, shaking his head. He crept over to the couch and gently picked Chris up to take him to his room. As he was doing so, Adrianna woke up.
"Oh, hey Lance."
"Hi." He whispered back.
"What time is it?"
"Almost 11:00, why don't you go home before your mom worries."
"OK, bye Lance." She got up and grabbed her coat and went out the door.
Lance proceeded in taking Chris up to bed. He tiptoed up the stairs and went quietly into his room and placed Chris in his bed, and sucessfully not waking him up. On his way out, he pulled the covers up on JC's bed and then left the room, closing the door behind him.
=|=|=|=
The next morning, Lance got up at around 7:30 and went to wake Joey up.
"And why are you waking me up this early?" Joey asked, tiredly.
"Because, I want you to come Christmas shopping with me, I need some help."
"Alright, fine, I'll come."
"OK, get up and be downstairs in 15 minutes, the mall opens at eight we can't be late."
"We could not, would not want to wait." Joey mumbled as Lance left the room.
=|=|=|=
Just as promised, Joey was down in 15 minutes. They decided to let the other three sleep in, since it was Saturday. They were about to leave when Justin came down the stairs, basketball under his arm, and a cap backward on his head.
"Where are you going?" Lance asked.
"To play basketball with my friends at the gym."
"This early?"
"We wanna get there before all the good courts are taken. Where are you going?"
"We are going Christmas shopping, and you can't go, you have to stay here and watch Chris and JC."
"Oh come on, Lance, just let them sleep, they'll never even know you're gone."
"I'm not leaving them alone."
"Well I'm going so tough." Justin walked out the door before he got stuck babysitting. Lance sighed.
"I can call Adrianna if you want."
"I don't wanna stick her in charge, she did it last night."
"Hey, I helped too, and besides she loves it, I promise."
"OK, since I'm desparate, go ahead and call her."
"OK."
=|=|=|=
About 10 minutes later Adrianna's car pulled up to the driveway and she stepped out. When she walked in, she was greeted by Lance and Joey.
"I am really sorry for making you do this, but if I don't do the shopping now then I'll have to go when the crowds go." Lance apologized.
"That's quite alright, I understand."
"Thank you so much."
"I said it's OK, now get going." They went out the door and left Adrianna in the kitchen alone. "Well, if I have to babysit, I'd appreciate it if I had someone to babysit." She said to herself, starting to head up the stairs to Chris and JC's room.
"OK boys!" She yelled, opening the door loudly. "Time to get up!" Chris' eyes opened immediatly and he sat up in bed.
"Morning!" He shouted. Adrianna chuckled.
"Come on, JC, get up."
"I am up."
"You always say that." Chris said.
"Fine, I'll get up." He climbed out of bed. "Even though it is Saturday.
=|=|=|=
"Hey Lance, what do you think?" Lance turned to see Joey holding up a particulary small dress.
"I love it, it brings out your eyes." He joked.
"I meant for Adrianna, I wanna get her a dress that is nice and sexy but I don't want her to notice what I'm doing. And this one is tight, small, and cheap. $12.49."
"You're kidding me, right? Where did you find that, the discount aisle?"
"Well, sorry, I figured you didn't want me spending 50 bucks on one present with our budget."
"I'm sorry." Joey reached in the cart and pulled out a box that had been labeled, Polka Man.
"What's this?"
"It's that Polka Man thing that Chris wanted." Joey laughed.
"No, Pokemon. Why don't you leave his shopping to me, OK?" Joey said as he placed the "Polka Man" back on the shelf.
=|=|=|=
"Anna, can we go outside?" Chris asked as she made them breakfast.
"No, it's way too cold out there, I don't want you getting phnemonia."
"What is that?"
"It's when you get really sick and sneeze a lot." JC explained.
"Very well put JC." Adrianna said, giggling. "OK, now eat your cereal and drink your milk."
"I don't like milk." Chris complained.
"Just pretend that it's a vanilla shake."
"Can't I have chocolate milk and pretend it's a chocolate shake?"
"No you can't."
"Poo."
"When your finished we can do something fun."
"Yay!"
=|=|=|=
"Carter dribbles up court, fakes left, shoots the three and it's good!" Justin threw his hands in the air, cheering like a crowd. "Justin! Justin!"
His friends were laughing at him.
"Yah know what I think would make a good headline in the newspaper, Justin Carter defeated Miami all by himself, no help of the team whatsoever. Come on, man pass the ball." Richie said.
"Sorry, I got caught up in the moment."
"Shut up, let's just play." The 4 boys played to 20 before Nate broke up the game.
"Guys, I'm beat." He said, panting. "Why don't we head over to your place, Justin."
"Nah I don't think so, I don't like being over there, they all try to cheer me up, like there's something wrong with me."
"Oh ok, then we'll go to Eric's house."
"Fine with me." Eric said. So they walked, tiredly, out of the gym to Eric's house.
=|=|=|=
Adrianna, Chris and JC were sitting in the living room, playing Candy Land, and once again Chris had won.
"I won again, I beat you!" He pointed at them.
"Yah, that's cuz we let you win."
"OK, boys, I think it's about time for lunch, don't you think?" They nodded. "Alright, why don't you watch tv while I make lunch." She disappeared into the kitchen.
=|=|=|=
"So who do you think is prettier? Sarah and Briana?" Richie asked, eating a piece of licorice.
"Sarah, definetly."
"Nah, Briana is."
"You are both wrong, it's Kendra." Eric commented.
"Kendra?!" They all asked in unison.
"In her own way."
"What about you, Justin?"
"You're kidding right? I don't have time to talk about that stuff."
"Oh really, then what do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know."
"How about what's going on at your house, huh? Why didn't you wanna go there?"
"I told you, everyone there thinks there's something wrong with me, and every time I walk in the door, they pounce on me."
"You think maybe it's cuz your parents are dead?" Justin cringed.
"Could be, but I think it's affecting me the least. Lance, the most. He had to turn his whole life around just to come home and take care of me and my brothers."
"Then, just tell them to 'bug off, leave you alone'."
"Yeah, but like that would make them back off."
=|=|=|=
"Guys! We're back!" Joey and Lance set their bags on the counter. Chris and JC came racing into the room and straight for the bags.
"No you don't, what's in these bags are secret until Christmas." Lance picked up the sacks and headed for his room. The boys frowned.
"Hey Adrianna, thanks for blowing off your Saturday." Joey thanked while wrapping his arms around her.
"Oh, we had a grand 'ol time, don't worry about it." She replied, kissing his cheek.Next
