“Jackie! I beat you!” Benny called.
“Did you, now?” I responded, splashing toward him. “Well, guess what? You’re it,” I said and tapped him on the shoulder. It only took Benny a moment before he was chasing after one of his older brothers in a game of tag.
“You know what this weather reminds me of?” Jack asked his twin. “That pirate movie we watched last night, where there was a sword fight in the middle of the storm.”
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Jordan asked, picking up a broom. He swung it at his brother’s face. “En garde!”
Jack grinned and swiped a stick out of the flower bed. The two started to sword fight across the slippery wooden porch, pretending it was the deck of a pirate ship.
“I get to be the captain,” Jack called.
“You have glasses,” his double said. “That makes you a loser. Captains are never losers.” With that, he pushed his brother off the steps with a quick jab of his sword. Jack fell back into a puddle of water and sprayed mud everywhere. When he stood up, his pants were covered.
“Looks like you shit your pants,” Lee teased.
“Well, it looks like you shit your face,” Jack shot back. He scooped up a handful of mud and threw it at his cousin, splattering brown muck on Lee’s face.
“Oh, hell no,” Lee said, wiping the mud off. He bent down and grabbed his own handful. “You’re gonna regret that.” He sent the mud flying in Jack’s direction, but he ducked and it sprayed across Nathan.
“What the…?” Nathan said in confusion.
“Mud fight!” Jordan shouted, throwing a goopy fistful at Danny. Everyone joined in quickly.
“Jackie!” Alex called, dark sludge oozing out from between his fingers. “I’m going to get you!”
“Please don’t,” I said, backing up slowly. “This is a nice shirt. You’re going to ruin it.”
But Alex was still advancing on me, an evil grin on his face. Spinning on my heels, I dashed off in the opposite direction. Water splashed up to my knees as my feet pounded across the sopping grass. I could feel the exhilaration pumping through my body, and I stole a quick glance over my shoulder to see how close Alex was.
“Jackie, look out!” Danny called.
I turned in time to see Zack standing in front of me. His neck was craned up at the sky, his tongue stuck out to catch the falling raindrops. I nearly crashed into him, but I managed to dig my heels into the ground seconds before we collided. Alex, on the other hand, wasn’t so quick to react and smashed right into me. We both toppled over, sending mud in every direction. On top of me, Alex winced.
“Crap, I’m sorry, Jackie,” he said.
I chose not to respond as I let everything sink in. The mud had splattered across my face, and I knew that my top was covered in it too, completely ruined. Part of me knew I should be mad because that was how I normally would have reacted, but something about playing in the rain was so completely freeing that, for once, I didn’t care.
“Well,” I finally said, digging my fingers into the ground. “You’ll just have to pay.” I smeared a handful of mud on his cheek. He blinked in surprise and then we both burst out giggling.
“This is the most fun I’ve had in forever,” Alex said. He bent down and pecked me on the lips.
“PDA alert,” Isaac shouted from across the lawn, making us both glance up. “You two are disgusting. Get a room.”
Alex rolled his eyes, and when he turned back to me, I knew he was going to ignore Isaac and kiss me again.
“Oh no.” I pushed him off me. He looked confused for a moment, but then he saw me scoop up another handful of brown slime. “Isaac is so asking for it,” I told him.
“Well,” Alex said with a huge grin on his face. He stood up and held a hand out for me. “We should give him what he wants.”
***
As we filed into the school auditorium Monday night, the lights started to dim. We were running late, as usual, since it was nearly impossible to tear Katherine away from the kitchen. Given that she was such as amazing cook, she’d decided to prepare all the food for the reception instead of paying for a caterer who she said couldn’t possibly make as good a meal as her. The result was that, for the past three days, there had been a tiny tornado in the Walter kitchen as Katherine rushed about kneading bread, mixing sauces, and chopping up different roots, vegetables, and fruit.