"Mom!" I yelled.
"Dad!" Aidan shouted. They came in the kitchen.
"Guys, no fighting on the trip, please," Mom said.
"At least for the first night," Dad added.
"We're not fighting with each other. Our cousins stole our shoes!" I yelled.
"Oh, so you did see Isaac, Taylor, and Zachary," Mom noted.
"Yeah, and we don't like them. They're stuck up, and they think that they're better than us," Aidan responded. I saw Mom and Dad exchange a look.
"Come on, I'm sure they were just tired after their trip. Give them another chance," Mom said.
"No way! I don't want to give them another chance. They already blew it in my eyes," Aidan responded.
"Yeah," I quipped.
"Guys, we're all going out to dinner tonight and I want you on your best behaviors. Both of you," Dad said, looking from Aidan to me and back.
"All right, but what about our shoes?" I asked.
"I'm sure they didn't take them. Maybe the owners here saw your shoes and took them inside," Mom suggested.
"Ha," I said. Mom gave me a look.
"Grace," she warned.
"Okay, okay, I take it back."
"That's better. Go change clothes and find some different shoes. We'll check for yours at the office when we leave to go," Mom said.
"All right," we groaned. We headed downstairs to look for some clothes and shoes.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Grace and Aidan are brats, I don't like them," Zac told his dad.
"Zac, did you give them a chance?"
"Yeah."
"Give them another one."
"No, Zac's right, Dad. They're horrible," Isaac replied.
"I don't want to be down here with them," Taylor added.
"Isaac, Taylor, you should set an example for Zac. We're all going out to eat tonight and I don't want any problems, or else you three will have a big problem with me. Catch my drift?"
"Yes sir," they all mumbled.
"Go get ready," their dad told them.
Isaac, Taylor, and Zac headed to the ground level of their cabin. The three of them and Mackie were staying down there. The girls were sharing a couch bed, and their parents took the double bed in a room upstairs.
"Do you have their shoes?" Ike asked Zac.
"Got 'em," Zac said, dumping two pairs of sandals on the ground.
"Okay, now hide them somewhere good," Ike said.
"Closet?" Taylor suggested.
"Nah. Too easy," Ike said.
"How about we just stick them in one of our suitcases?" Zac asked.
"Nah. What if Mom and Dad check to make sure we emptied them out?" Taylor responded.
Finally, the guys hid them in the cabinets under the bathroom sink. "That should do it," Ike replied, admiring their work.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Aidan! Grace! Lets roll!" Dad yelled.
"Lets get this over with," Aidan said. We ran up the steps and into the living room area.
"Why, don't you two look nice," Mom said.
"Thanks," we replied.
"Remember what I said," Mom warned.
"Okay, okay," Aidan said.
"Watch it."
Aidan didn't reply. We went down to the car and got in the backseat. We drove over to the Hanson's room. Mom and Dad went to the door while Aidan and I stayed in the car.
"Don't you want to see your cousins?" Mom asked.
"We'll see them at the restaurant," Aidan pointed out.
"You know what they say, too much of a good thing can hurt," I said. Mom gave me a look, and then she and Dad went to go get the Horror's-- I mean Hanson's. Aidan and I watched everything from outside our window. Mom and Dad came back in soon. We drove for about ten minutes to a seafood restaurant. We parked the car and piled out. We walked in with the Hanson's and waited for a table for 13. We finally got it. When we sat down, Isaac, Taylor, and Zac were on one side of the table, and Aidan and I were on the other. Our parents exchanged looks. We picked up our menus.
"I think I'll get catfish," Aidan said.
"That sounds good. I'm going to have the halibut," I replied.
On the other side of the table, Ike, Taylor, and Zac were talking about what they were going to eat. They kept making faces at us.
"Gee, isn't that mature, an 18 year old, a 16 year old, and a 13 year old all making faces at us," Aidan whispered to me.
"Yeah, really. Talk about idiotic," I replied back in a whisper. I caught Zac giving me the evil eye.
Just then, the waiter came. We all ordered our food. Aidan and I managed to whisper one more time. Again, I caught Zac giving us a look.
"This is getting them mad, lets keep doing it," I said.
"All right, but don't make it seem too obvious," he whispered back.
During the next 10 minutes, Aidan and I pretended to whisper six times. Each time, the guys would give us the evil eye. All of the sudden, I felt the table being shoved into my stomach. Aidan felt it, too. Instead of complaining, we just put up with it. There was no way we were letting the adults know about our battle. Finally, though, I was tired of this, so I started swinging my feet under the table. I accidentally hit Aidan. He caught on, though, and started doing the same. We kept hitting Isaac, Taylor, and Zac's legs. I could tell they were getting annoyed by the looks in their eyes. As I swung to take another kick, I felt one set of legs-- Zac's, I think-- grab my legs and hold them still. He pressed them together so tight that I felt like the circulation was being cut off. I caught the look on Aidan's face, and I could tell he was in the same position.
"We gotta be subtle on this next move," I said.
"Nudge the corner of the table next to you," Aidan said.
"Why?"
"You'll see. Just do it."
Casually, I ht the corner of the table. Mackie's arm shifted from the movement and knocked his glass over (which was too close to the edge) and the contents spilled into Zac's lap.
"Mackenzie!" Aunt Diana and Uncle Walker yelled.
"I'm sorry, it was an accident!" he said.
"Mackie, look at my pants!" Zac exclaimed. Zac was wearing white pants which now had a dark brown spot on them. Zac caught the look of laughter on my face and instantly knew that it was Aidan and my doing instead of an accident by his brother. Aunt Diana gave Zac some napkins to clean himself off with.
"I think I'm going to go to the bathroom to clean up," he said.
"Okay, sweetie, but hurry back. The food'll be here soon," Aunt Diana said.
"Okay." Zac got up. He "accidentally" hit my head and Aidan's head as he walked by. Taylor and Isaac were trying not to laugh. Aidan and I looked at each other. The waiter came with our food. We began to dig in. Zac finally came back. He managed to get most of the spot out. We began eating.
"One, two, three!" Aidan whispered to me. We drew our legs back and kicked them as hard as we could into the shins of our cousins.
"OW!" Zac yelled.
"What's wrong?" Uncle Walker asked.
"Uh, just something I ate," he said.
"Oh, okay."
We continued to eat. All of the sudden, I felt a Doc Marten ramming into my knee, and a Vans sneaker pummelling my shin repeatedly.
"OW!" Aidan and I screamed.
"What? What's wrong? Aidan? Grace?" My mom asked us.
"I bit my lip," Aidan explained.
"I got a charley horse," I barely choked out.
"Stretch your leg muscle out, that'll hopefully stop it," Aunt Diana suggested.
"Thanks," I said. We all finished our meal without any other pranks played. We left the restaurant.
"Well, it's been a long day, why don't we just take it easy tonight?" Mom suggested. I could see the tired look in her eyes.
"That sounds great," Aunt Diana said. She looked tired as well. We got into our separate cars and drove off.
"Thank you for being such well behaved at dinner tonight, kids. Your cousins aren't so bad, are they?" Mom asked.
"No, not at all," I said.
"Yeah, perfect angels," Aidan said.
Nobody else said a word on the way back. When we got there, Aidan and I immedietely ran downstairs to check out our wounds. I had a large purple bruise covering a portion of my knee. I had lumps and bruises over my legs. Aidan got it worse. He got kicked so hard, he was bleeding.
"How did you manage to not get caught with anybody seeing that?" I asked him.
"I was the last person out of the restaurant, the first one in the car and there were kleenex in there," he explained.
"Oh, okay." Aidan also had various bruises and lumps over his legs.
"We gotta get them back," he said.
"But how?" I asked.
"I don't know, but it's gotta be good," he said.
"Definitely." I wanted Taylor Hanson and his brothers to pay for what they did.
Chapter 4
Chapter 2
Vacation
Kelly's Hanson Stories
