"Yep. Uh-huh. Yeah, I got it, I'll tell her. What? Where is she? Oh."
I tried to twist myself so that I was looking up at Mercedes, but she was sitting on my back. "Lft me upf!" I muffled.
"Oh, she's here, she's just...ya know, kinda under a bit of pressure right now. I'll make sure she gets the message." Then she hung up the phone.
"I wonder what Johnny's up to...?" She murmured. We had had a bit of a race to the phone, both of us thinking it was Johnny. Somehow, though she's only roughly 110 lbs, Mercedes managed to pin me down. I squirmed a bit and shoved her off.
"Hey, that was uncalled for!" She complained.
I shot her a glare. "How was that uncalled for? You friggen' pinned me down! I pay the phone and water, so the phone is technically mine."
"And Thorton pays for everything else, so the phone is also technically mine." Then she smirked. "Even if that call was for you."
I glared at her as I stood up. "Who was it...?" I asked slowly.
She stood up, too, smirking all the way. "Some-one we both know..." she replied.
I crossed my arms. "Narrow it down a bit?"
She mirrored me. "Wehell, they have a tendency to dress in black..."
I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that really narrows it down, Goose..."
Her smirk grew. "Well, she incites fear into the hearts of many, even if they don't know why."
"Oh." I sat back on the floor. "So...it's Lacey?"
She shook her head. "You're only half right."
I gave her a frightened look. "You don't mean...?"
She nodded grimly. "Yep. Tanya, too."
I groaned. "Don't tell me...they're coming down to visit?"
Mercedes nodded. "For Hallowe'en."
"Um, all 13 days of it?"
She smiled. "That was your thing, but yeah, I think that was what they were aiming at."
I leaned back. "Ugh...that means they'll be here, what, tomorrow? They'd hafta be here before the 19th...and tomorrow's the 16th..."
Mercedes shifted a little. "Uh, well, about that..."
*Knock-knock*
I put the heels of my palms against my eyes. "No. Shit, you've gotta be kidding me..."
*Knock-knock-knock*
"Couldn't they give me at least three days to prepare? A day, even?"
*Knock-knock-knock-knock*
"That's a 'no'," sighed Mercedes. "Want me to get it?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Otherwise, they'll both jump me..."
I ran off to my room and barricaded the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hellooooo?"
That was Lacey.
"Guess whoooo...?"
Tanya...they were close.
"Oh, Laaaaaurraaaaaaa....."
That...was both of them...and they were right outside...
Oh shit.
"LAURA, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"
"You know it'll be worse for you if you don't!" I heard Mercedes call. "C'mon, Laura, get out of there!!!"
"No!" I yelled. "I KNOW Lacey has a binder, and I bet ya anything that Tanya has one too!"
I heard them snigger. "Oh, she knows us sooo welll..." Tanya drawled.
"It is the best way to keep her in line..." agreed Lacey.
"C'mon, put 'em down!" I begged. "I'm not a psychotic elementary schooler anymore! I don't need the bop on the head anymore!!"
"We don't believe you," the twin girls chorused.
"She's not gonna open the door unless you drop the binders," said Mercedes.
"Oh, fine," they grumbled. "They're gone now, Laura. We won't hit you with 'em."
I creaked my door open and peeked out. Lacey and her identical twin Tanya were empty handed...
I stepped out. "Okay, what's up, then?"
*BOP*
Both girls whacked me on the head bare-handed. "Owwww...." I groaned. "I guess you did say you wouldn't hit me with the binders...but why hit me?"
"Because it's funny," they said together. I grumbled some random jibberish. Then I straightened up. "Okay, now that that's done with..." I bear-hugged the twins. "It's great to see you guys!!! Long time, no see, Tanya!!!"
They laughed. Lacey and Tanya were identical in looks, opinions (mostly), style (mostly)and demeanors.
Meaning, they were both quite demonic.
And while Lacey favoured greens and purples, Tanya preferred neons, like shocking pink stitching an yellow shoes and such. She was more punky than Lacey, in a way.
"So," I began. "You guys are here for the 13 days?"
They nodded. "We don't really get to hang out on Hallowe'en," said Lacey.
"And you are very entertaining around October," added Tanya.
I sighed. "And since Lace already met Johnny, I suppose it's your turn to poke and prod with the question stick, right?"
Tanya laughed. "I don't think I can get anymore than what Lacey got, I just wanna meet him myself," she denied.
The phone rang. "I'll get it!" Yelled Mercedes.
"My phone, bitch!" I cried, then I charged towards the phone.
Well, let's just say that...tiny little whisp of a thing that Sadee it, she is very strong...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Johnny," said Mercedes.
"Huh. Beat Laura to the phone again?"
He heard her chuckle. "Yeah, she's sooo slow."
He chuckled. "Get up off of her, Mercedes, I actually called Laura's phone to talk to Laura."
She 'hmphed'. "It's my phone, too..." she grumbled. But he heard an 'oof', like somebody getting up from the floor. "Yo, Johnny," said Laura. "What's up?"
"Remember that painting we were talking about?" He asked, twirling a paintbrush.
"The beasty one?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, I like that one so far. What about it?"
He sighed an shifted the phone to his other ear. "I need another opinion on it," he admitted. "The colours I'm using don't seem to be working too well for it."
"Want me to come over and look?"
He shook his head out of habit. "Nah, it's small, so I can bring it over. Is that alright?"
"Eh..." Laura seemed to hesitate. "Only if you're willing to meet another new face...well, not necessarily a new face per se, it's actually quite...familiar, but rather...a new person."
"A new person with a familiar face? What, is your brother over?"
"We don't look that much alike!" Laura bristled.
Johnny chuckled. "He's the male version of you."
She sighed. "Whatevs...we'll save that debate for later. Now, are you willing to put up with another human being? Lacey's here, too."
Johnny cringed. *Ah, Lacey...she knows about...* He shook his head. It didn't matter what Lacey knew, he was past that.
Meat chuckled in his corner.
Well, mostly past that.
"Yeah, that's fine. I was the one who wanted an opinion, after all."
"So, when you comin', then?"
He picked up the 'beasty' painting.
"I'll be over in about 10 minutes."
"Alright, see ya, then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So that was Johnny, eh?" Asked Tanya.
"He's coming over?"
"Yeah, he said something about needing an opinion for his painting."
"Oooh, I can't wait..." Tanya giggled.
I sighed. "Please don't cause him any permanent mental scarring," I pleaded. "He's got enough on his plate as it is..."
I heard Lacey snort. "You have no idea..."
At least, I think that's what she said. I couldn't really tell.