A Little Bit Ninja

15: Ponderings Over a Pickled Coke

“The whole thing? Yeah right. Give me at least five.”

“Come on! The ranch sunk to the bottom. You won’t get to it until it’s almost gone anyway.”

I might have figured out a way to talk my way around my breach of the BFF code, but her next question laid to rest any hopes I might have had. When she asked, “Why were you putting that huge mutant into the closet when we got there?” I knew that no vague excuse in this world, or the next, would appease her.

I couldn’t avoid her forever. When Erica wants something, she is relentless. She just wears me down until I finally give in, if only to get her to respect my personal space. That’s probably how she got Millie to apologize yesterday, and now she has me in her sights.

“Okay, I’m willing to pay you five, on top of Brady’s one,” Landon said from Erica’s right. “But I get to put three more ingredients in before you drink.”

 “What are you going to add?” Jackson asked narrowing his eyes at Landon.

I felt my phone buzzing inside my faux leather clutch. I wriggled my arms from between Abe and Erica to get at it.

“I’m not telling. It has to be a surprise.”

“Okay, but absolutely no body fluids.” 

Thirty-four new text messages from Anton. I sighed. I’m feeling more harassed than when he kidnapped me.

Last night, after The Gift of the Beiber, I decided it was time for a long bubble bath. Not only did I have a need to hide my shock and dismay from Dad, but I needed to avoid all three of the other guys lurking in my house. Abe, wanted to know what happened downstairs. So did Landon for that matter. And I have no idea why Anton wouldn’t leave me alone.

“I’ll add two bucks if I can put something in too,” Abe said.

“Okay, two bucks per addition. Money on the table now. And no “I owe you’s”, no checks, no credit cards,” Jackson demanded, pushing aside a few half filled glasses to make way for the concoction.  

Also, I’d only managed to read one desperate letter before being interrupted by my dad, and I had a lot more material to go through in order to understand what was going on with my mom.

I thought that nobody would dare interrupt me in the bathtub, but Ant knocked on my door several times. He even waited for me for an hour. Honestly, in a waiting game, he didn’t stand a chance. I was in a bubble bath, and with tons of top secret reading material.

“Hey, you can’t watch what we put in!” Landon yelled at Jackson while concealing an anonymous packet in his hand.

“How else am I going to make sure you guys only put in what you pay for? I’m not going on the honor system.”

Anyhow, Ant finally went home, but he hasn’t stopped calling and texting me since. But I got what I wanted. I read through all the letters in the files I’d snuck out of the Bat Cave.

Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure how to handle those letters. It was like an information bomb that blew up all my previous theories about my mom’s involvement with this whole secret world. Well, both secret worlds.

And although most of the files held similar stories—women and/or children in dire need of escape from life threatening situation and are in need a new life. Please help?—the locations, and specifics never ceased to astound me.

“No way!” Landon was yelling again. “That’s cheating. I’m only paying fifty cents per ingredient if you watch what I put in.”

 “Hey, how come Lan gets three ingredients for five bucks, instead of six anyway?” a black haired guy yelled over the hubbub.