Roar of Dragons

[Xander – 12 years]

Last night was fun, but I didn't sleep very well. I fell asleep… at some point into the games and stuff, and then kept waking up and falling back asleep throughout the night, even after the others had fallen asleep. There weren't any nightmares, though, so that was a positive thing.

Oh! I can probably do that now, can't I? It's getting to the point I'm not sure I'll fall back asleep again and it's starting to be daytime. Well, the sun's already been up for a bit but I mean that it's past six-thirty in the morning.

I get up from where I'd fallen asleep and look at the other boys. They're all sleeping quietly and peacefully and it's really nice. I wish I could sleep like that.

Though I did sort of sleep similarly to them? At least for a little bit. The last time I woke up, I took off my shirt to see if maybe that would help with sleeping, since they're all doing it without one on. It's always been uncomfortable to wear one but I don't like being shirtless around others.

Just swimming with S.G. and the others pushes the limits for my comfort on that to the point that I wear my full-body swimsuit under the trunks for my swimming lessons on Mondays if I went swimming with them on Sunday.

I grab my pajama shirt and my backpack, then go to the basement bathroom to get changed into an outfit for today. It's just jeans and one of my older shirts, since we're going to be outside working for a big part of the day. Well, I also change my socks and underwear, too, because there's no way I'm wearing dirty ones for the day.

Now that I'm changed and my dirty sleep clothes have been put into a bag and stuffed into my backpack, I look at the mirror. Seeing my blurry reflection reminds me about my glasses, so I hurry out of the bathroom to grab them from the coffee table. Once they're on, I return to the bathroom and close the door.

"I'm stupid," I whisper to my reflection, hoping no one else here has ears as good as mine. "And I'm bad at socializing. And bad at knowing what to do as a friend. But I slept without nightmares for the first time in a long time, even if I didn't sleep very well. And I can bake with magic. That's super fun. And I was able to come up with questions and dares on my own last night instead of just repeating ones they'd done."

Though I think the other boys don't understand dares too much, since it was more like challenging people to do stuff that they might not be able to finish. Like balancing a soda bottle on their head.

That made me a lot more comfortable, though, since I didn't have to do anything bad or that could get me into trouble. It also made things a lot more fun.

Maybe it should've been called "Truth or Challenge"?

I'll ask them about that if I can remember it later. For now, I'm ready to do other stuff so I go upstairs. Ms. Rachel's in the kitchen, looking at stuff.

"Oh!" She says. "Hello, Xander! I wasn't expecting anyone to be up yet."

"The others are all still asleep," I tell her. "But I didn't sleep very much. I kept waking up and it's way past the time I normally get up and I've been awake for over forty-five minutes, so I figured it was time to get up. Is that okay?"

"It is," she answers. "I was about to start making myself breakfast. Do you want some?"

Breakfast? She's offering me breakfast? I thought I had to bring my own so I've got stuff in my backpack. It's almost seven, too, so it's almost the normal time to eat. I wanted to ask about that, too, since I want to eat at the normal time. If I don't eat then, if I don't-it's-I-but-stopstopstop! Clear the confusion away… focus on what's going on. That's what I'm supposed to do, right?

I perform a short deep breath and let it out just as fast. There.

"Um… what kind of breakfast?" I ask.

"Bacon, eggs, and toast," she answers.

"Oh."

"You okay?"

I didn't mean to let her know that I don't want that, but I also don't want to lie and then get told I can't hang out again. S.G. is fun to hang out. So are the other boys, but this is his aunt's house so that's what matters.

"I don't like bacon or eggs or toast," I tell her. "Um… but I can still eat them. They're not like beans or mustard."

"That's fine," she says. "I only just moved in on Monday and haven't done real grocery shopping yet, just bought what I thought we'd be using for today. Sorry, Xander. I'd let you have cereal if I had some."

Maybe if she's okay with it…

"Um…" I hesitate. "Can you say that again while I'm looking in your eyes?"

"Why?"

Oh, no! I'm in trouble, aren't I? There's no way around this without either not answering, which is bad, or by being truthful, which is bad because it'd tell her I don't trust her. This is bad. This is really bad!

"I can tell if people are lying if I'm looking in their eyes," please don't be too mad! "It's a magic I was born with and always happens."

"Xander," she says. "You can look in my eyes," I do. "It's fine if you're not happy with what I have, I don't have much. If I had cereal, I'd let you have some instead."

She's being honest.

"I've got some in my backpack," I tell her. "And milk, too. I thought I had to bring my own breakfast."

"You did?"

"Yeah," I nod. "I've never been to a sleepover before so I didn't know how it works. Mostly. S.G. and the others told me some, like playing games."

"For sleepovers," she says. "The hosting family usually provides breakfast."

"Oh," my face heats up.

That should have been obvious. Stupid me. Why do they even want to hang out with me?

"If you want to eat your cereal, you can," she says. "And Xander?"

"Yes, Ms. Rachel?"

"Can you look me in the eyes again?"

I look into her eyes again.

"Mr. Thompson told me that you're on the Autism spectrum," she says. "I don't fully understand it or how it affects you, but he did tell me some things. He said you might get overstimulated or overwhelmed and need a quiet space to calm down a bit. If that happens, you can go to one of the spare bedrooms. They're the second door on the left down that hall and the door at the very end of the hall. Their furniture hasn't been set up yet, though, so you'd have to sit on the ground if you wanted to sit."

"Really?" I ask. "I can go in them if I need to calm down or get away?"

"Really," she answers.

"Thanks, Ms. Rachel."

"Also," she says. "He said that you might be able to handle the same work as the other boys, or you might need to do other work while we're working on the backyard. Did you ever have to do stuff like yard work at the boys' home?"

"Yeah," I nod.

"What sort of stuff did they have you?" She asks.

"I usually did stuff separate from the other boys," I tell her. "Most of the time, my chore was cleaning the shed. Um. The outside, not the inside. I kept getting confused on where stuff went inside of it. But the shed kept getting green stuff on the outside, so I'd clean that off. I would mix vinegar and water together and then spray it with a spray bottle onto the siding, and then scrub it with a sponge. After, I'd get to use the hose and wash it off. Some of the other boys got mad that I got to use the hose, for some reason."

"The shed here does need cleaning," she says. "So you can handle that. There are some shrubs and other stuff growing around it, though, and they need removing. Are you comfortable with that?"

"I am," I pull off my backpack and open it up so I can pull out a pair of gloves. "Look, I even brought work gloves. I've got some pruning shears in here, too. I think that's what they're called."

The work gloves are mine and I bought them on Monday while Mr. Trey, Ms. Katie, and I were out shopping. The small shears aren't, though, as they belong to Mr. Harold for use when he's trimming smaller stuff on Mr. Trey's property. He said he can do without them for a couple of days, as he doesn't use them every day.

"That was very smart of you," Ms. Rachel says. "I've got some for everyone, too, in case they tear."

In case the pruning shears tear? I'm not sure what sort of stuff she's expecting us to cut with them, but I really doubt they'll tear.

Oh! She's referring to the gloves, isn't she?

"Okay."

"Go ahead and make your breakfast," she tells me.

"Okay," I realize something. "Um. Ms. Rachel?"

"Yes?"

"You don't have a dining table."

"I have one, it's just not built yet," she tells me. "It wasn't as important to put together since we were getting the living room set up. You can sit in there if you want, alright?"

"Alright."

I sit at the coffee table and pull a bowl out of my backpack and set it down, then place a spoon next to it. A box of raisin bran is pulled out next, and I fill the bowl almost all the way full before closing the box and returning it to my backpack. Thankfully, I used the enchantment Greyson had in the database for being able to just reach in and grab what I want to pull out, so I don't have to go digging around to find the milk.

After pouring milk into the bowl, I pull out a banana and use a knife to cut it up, dropping the pieces in. Oh. I don't have a good spot to put the knife. Thank goodness Ms. Katie insists on giving me napkins. I pull one out and set it down, then set the banana-touched bit of the knife onto that. The banana peel is folded up as best as I can do and set onto the napkin as well.

"Why?" I ask Trenton, who I've set on the coffee table beside me.

"Something wrong?" Ms. Rachel asks.

"Yeah," I look at her. "Trenton wants me to put gummy bears in it for some reason. He'll probably bother me about it for a week if I don't and I don't think there's any harm in trying it even though it sounds weird."

"Let me know how it tastes."

She wants to know how it tastes? That's confusing. It sounds weird so I can't imagine it'd be something different.

I pull out a container of gummy bears and add some to the bowl, then put the container and the milk back into my backpack and start eating. Just as I expected, the gummy bears are a weird addition.

"Never ask me that again, please," I whisper to Trenton, then look at Ms. Rachel, who's still making her breakfast. "It doesn't taste that good with the gummy bears. They're too chewy for the cereal, especially with the raisins already in it."

Ms. Rachel comes in here to eat once she's done making her breakfast, sitting on the couch rather than the floor. That makes sense, it's her couch.

"Is it okay if I wash my dishes in your sink?" I ask once I finish eating.

"Go ahead," she says.

"Okay," I get up and bring my stuff to the kitchen. "Is it okay if I throw my trash away?"

"It is," she tells me.

"Okay," I throw my trash in the can and make sure the lid closes, then I pull my dish soap out of my backpack and start washing my dishes.

Once I've washed and dried my dishes, I stick them all back into my backpack, then quietly play with cards for a little bit. When Ms. Rachel finishes eating, she puts her dishes beside the sink and asks if I want to help move the stuff for today out to the yard.

That doesn't take very long since it's just some yard waste bags, the gloves, and some tools. The yard looks even more overgrown than it did in the pictures S.G. posted in the group chat. Is this really something we can do in a single day?

"Ms. Rachel?" I ask once we've moved everything onto the deck.

"Yes?"

"Is it okay if I get started now?" I ask. "I'm kind of bored right now."

I'll need to come back inside to brush my teeth in a little bit if she's okay with that, but that doesn't mean I can't do stuff now.

"Sure," she says. "You can leave your backpack where you want it. Start with the plants first, okay? That'll make it easier to do the siding after."

"Okay," I pull off my backpack and set it down, then pull out my work gloves. "What should I do with the stuff I cut down? And how much of it should I cut?"

[Sig – 13 years]

I guess Xander left at some point during the night, since I don't see him or his stuff down here anymore. He fell asleep before the rest of us did, but maybe he was just pretending in the hopes we'd calm down so we'd fall asleep and he could slip out? That's kind of disappointing, I was looking forward to hanging out with him and he really got into the games last night.

Even if he did keep trying to hide his yawns.

While there are a lot of snacks still left, I make my way upstairs to see what's for breakfast. The others are all still asleep right now but that doesn't mean I can't see about breakfast. Or brunch, I guess, since it's about nine-thirty. We stayed up kind of late but not so late we'd sleep until noon.

When I reach upstairs, I find Aunt Rachel in the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

"Paul said you boys normally wake around this time," she says when I give her a hug. "Are the others waking up?"

"Let me go check!"

I hurry back downstairs and tackle Connor awake, then wake the other two in a similar fashion. Now that we're all up, we head upstairs and help Aunt Rachel fix breakfast.

"I guess Xander left at some point," I say.

We really must have been too much for him.

"He's out back," Aunt Rachel says.

"He is?" I start to go that way, the others doing so as well.

"Hold on," she says. "Eat breakfast first, boys. If you go out now, you're going to want to play instead of work and you'll forget all about breakfast."

She knows us so well despite seeing us so little until these last couple of weeks.

We finish helping make breakfast, then eat, then head downstairs to get changed. We're still wearing just shorts since we know we'll work up sweats and eventually take shirts off anyway, but we needed to put on clean clothes first and get our shoes and socks on. While we're doing this, we spot Xander through the sliding doors leading out to the basement.

He's going in and out of the shed right now while flapping his hands for some reason. We can't figure out what the heck he's doing so once we get our shoes on, we head outside and walk over to him.

"Hey, Xander!" I wave as he exits the shed again, hands still flapping. "Good morning!"

"Morning, S.G.," Xander says. "And Connor, and Sam, and Isaac."

"Morning!" The others greet him.

"What're you doing?" I ask. "We saw you keep walking in and out of the shed and flapping your hands."

"Ms. Rachel said I could sweep inside the shed," Xander tells me. "But there's a big spider and I don't know how to kill it. It's not on the floor so I can't stomp on it."

"Ooh! I got it! I got it!" I exclaim, then dash into the shed. "Where is it? Oh! There it is!"

The spider's on one of the walls near the floor. I pull off one of my shoes and slap it against the wall where the spider was, then pull my shoe away and look at it.

"Got it!" I hop out of the shed and wipe my shoe on the grass, then pull it back on. "Spider's dead, Xander!"

"Thanks," Xander enters the shed and starts sweeping as if nothing happened.

How did he flip so fast on that? He went from not knowing what to do to going right back to what he was doing as soon as the spider was gone.

"Xander?" I ask.

"Ms. Rachel said I could use the broom to get rid of the webs."

He was in the middle of swiping at the web from the spider when I said that, so I guess he thought I was wanting to ask him about that.

"Never mind that," I say. "How long have you been out here?"

"Um… at least two hours, I think?" He doesn't seem certain. "I got all the bushes around the shed trimmed back and the shed walls cleaned. Ms. Rachel said it'll have to get replace at some point but she says that Mr. Derrick checked it and it shouldn't have any stability problems for now so it's safe to use. I don't know who Mr. Derrick is."

"Mr. Derrick?" I ask. "Oh! Mr. Fuller! He came on Monday to help us with getting the furniture and stuff!"

"So it's Mr. Fuller," Xander mutters.

"Aren't you hot doing work in that shirt?" Isaac asks. "It's got long sleeves and looks warm."

"I'm a little hot," Xander says. "But it's okay."

"You don't have a lighter one?" I ask.

"Yeah, but it would make me hotter."

He seems agitated. We should probably stop asking him why he's not wearing something lighter before he gets really mad. I don't get why he's agitated, though, we're just worried about him overheating and passing out. That's not fun to do.

"We're gonna go see what Aunt Rachel wants us to do!" I tell him.

"Okay."

We leave the shed and talk with Aunt Rachel, who sets us to trimming more of the bushes and pulling out vines and stuff. The bush and shrub stems are cut into pieces, and all of the yard waste is put into brown yard waste bags. There are already a few of them filled up, probably from the stuff that Xander put in.

Now that I'm looking, I realize just how different the yard looks already just from Xander cleaning up around the shed and cleaning the shed itself. It already looks a lot bigger with just a little bit of space cleaned up and trimmed back!

When Xander finishes cleaning the inside of the shed (at one point, we hear "Ha! You went on the ground!" right before a thump, so I think another spider showed up), he starts working on cleaning the siding for the house itself.

Aunt Rachel brings us all lemonade to drink while we work, but mostly supervises us to make sure we're trimming the bushes and shrubs stuff the way she wants. Once we get a shrub cut back enough, we also have to dig out the old stems and get rid of those so they don't just start growing right back.

Since we all woke up late, we're not really hungry for lunch by noon so Aunt Rachel tells us that it's at one.

"What about Xander?" Sam asks. "Hasn't he been up for hours longer?"

"Yeah!" I say. "You're not gonna make him wait, are you? Wait, where'd he go?"

"He said he thinks he can wait," Aunt Rachel tells us. "I think he went to the bathroom, he went inside a couple of minutes ago after asking about it."

"Maybe he left?" Connor asks.

"His backpack's still on the deck!" I say. "See! You can see it from here!"

Mostly because of the bright green on it.

"There's no way he'd forget that," I say. "He'll be back out! Let's get back to work!"

We return to working and after a few minutes, Xander returns outside, goes up to the deck, grabs his backpack, and returns inside. I guess he is leaving… damn. We were hoping he'd stick around to play games after.

Another five minutes pass, and I need to take a break so I can go to the bathroom. I hurry inside and nearly trip over Xander as I go behind the couch on the way to the basement bathroom. He's just as soaked in sweat as I am, and he's still wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.

That is so weird, but he does his own thing, I guess.

"Oh!" I say. "I thought you left! What're you doing in here?"

Xander doesn't say anything, just stares at me.

"I gotta pee!" I tell him. "I'll be back in a minute!"

I hurry to the bathroom and after I finish up in there, I come back out.

"Are you taking a break?" I ask.

"A small one," he answers. "I was getting really hot. Ms. Rachel said it was okay to take a break if I needed one."

"Why are you behind the couch?"

"Um…" he suddenly looks nervous and trying to think of what to say.

So there's a reason, but he doesn't want to say? Well, it's not really important! It's not like he's stealing anything or that he'd broken something.

"Well, come back out when you're ready!" I tell him.

Xander nods, and I head back outside. As I'm opening the sliding door, there's a familiar popping noise.

He just opened up a container. He's sneaking snacks. Oh! That's why he didn't talk before – he had food in his mouth and didn't want to let me know he was eating! The reason he was trying to figure out what to say was that he didn't have to mention his snacks to me, since those are meant for him.

I leave the house and close the door without saying anything about the snacks, then rejoin the others.

"Xander's cooling off," I tell them. "He got really hot."

"He did?" Aunt Rachel asks. "I'll make sure he has something to drink," her phone rings, and she pulls it out, then starts walking toward the house. "Hey, Derrick! We're out back right now. Come on around, I'll let you in."

"Mr. Fuller's here?" Connor asks.

"He's come over to help a bit as well," Aunt Rachel tells us as she heads over to the gate.

She lets in Hunter and Mr. Fuller, and Hunter has a green grocery bag in his left hand. Whatever is in it seems heavy by the way it's pushing down the bottom of it. Good thing it's made of a sturdy material!

"Hey, Hunter!" I wave to him.

"Hey, S.G.!" He waves back. "And Connor and… it's Sam and Isaac, right?"

"Yup!" Sam says. "What'd you bring? Is it ice cream?"

"No!" He laughs. "Dad insisted on bringing some fruits and stuff for smoothies, since we're all working outside."

"Those can go in the kitchen," Aunt Rachel tells him.

"Hi, Hunter."

We all look over to see Xander approaching from the basement. Hunter frowns as he looks at him, clearly not knowing who Xander is. Did Xander catch his name? But I don't think he could have since I'm pretty sure he hadn't opened the door yet when we said it.

Plus, he seems comfortable with Hunter, as if he knows him.

"Do I know you?" Hunter asks.

"Sort of?" Xander seems uncertain. "We met a few years ago. I was at the mall with my former foster brother and you punched him. It was very impressive. You were, like, thirteen and he was sixteen. I think you were thirteen, anyway. You'd seen him pulling on my arm and practically dragging me behind him and told him to stop 'cause it was hurting me and then he pushed you and you punched him."

His old foster-brother did what to him?

"Oh!" Hunter's face lights up. "It's… Xander, right? You said former foster brother? So you're not living with him anymore?"

"I think he got fed to a griffin."

"Uh…"

"I got put in a boys' home not long after you punched him," Xander tells Hunter. "And then at the start of last month, I got moved into Mr. Trey's house. He's really nice and it's a big house. S.G. was teaching me fist bumps last night. Can I give you one?"

"Sure!" Hunter holds out a fist, and Xander gives it a bump with his own. "Like your new home?"

"Yeah," Xander nods, then looks at Aunt Rachel. "I'm going to get back to cleaning. Sorry for taking a break."

"You're good," she says. "Your stuff is where you left it."

Xander nods and heads up to the porch to put his backpack down and grab his cleaning supplies, then returns to washing the sides of the house.

"I'm gonna take this inside," Hunter lifts up the bag a little. "Then I'll be back out to help."

We get back to work while the adults talk, and Hunter joins us boys in trimming bushes and shrubs and ripping out weeds and ivy. Like any boy doing yard work in summer, Hunter takes off his shirt pretty fast due to how warm it is. At least it's not a day like when the fire elemental was raising the temperature out of boredom. That would be awful, and I think we'd all be changing into swim trunks and using the hose to cool off.

As it's nearing one in the afternoon, the dads all show up. Mr. Michaels and Mr. Richardson disappear inside with their own grocery bags, while Aunt Rachel and Mr. Thompson start doing something at the pool.

"Hey, Sig?" Aunt Rachel looks over at me. "Can you get Xander and let him know they're preparing lunch? I told him earlier he could help if he wanted."

"Okay!" I locate Xander out front and let him know, and he returns to the back to put his cleaning stuff down before grabbing his backpack and going inside.

It's as I return to the other boys that I realize that Xander didn't seem uncomfortable going in there even though it's just adults. Whoa. Does that mean he's starting to trust them?

Or maybe he's just too tired to be nervous. He did look kind of sleepy.

When lunch comes out, it's sandwiches with baby carrots, celery segments, and cherry tomatoes, and we get a choice of fruit smoothies to drink. Everyone gathers on the deck to eat and…

"Where's Xander?" I ask.

"He sat on the couch to take a break," Mr. Michaels says. "And passed right out."

"Oh, okay!" I say.

We dig into our food and once we're done, get back to work. Sort of. We do a little bit of fencing with some of the shrub stems, since they're long and slender and not all of them are leafy.

"Sig!" Aunt Rachel calls overafter about five minutes of that.

"Sorry!" I exclaim.

"You're fine," she chuckles. "Paul and I are heading to the store to pick up some stuff. Behave while I'm gone."

"Yes, ma'am!" I salute.

"You as well, Connor," Mr. Thompson gives me a light thump on the head.

"Will do!"

They leave and we return to cleaning stuff up. When Aunt Rachel and Mr. Thompson returns, it turns out that they went to get stuff for the pool and they work on replacing the parts which need it. Then, Connor and I are pulled over to help clean the pool while Sam and Isaac keep working on the yard and fence.

We don't change into our swim trunks, but we do have to take off our shoes and socks since our feet will be getting wet as we rinse off the sides. The grime on the bottom of the pool does not feel pleasant. Also kind of squishy.

While we do this, Mr. Thompson helps Aunt Rachel install an automatic pool cover for the pool, so that it can be closed when not in use. The fixtures for installing it are already there so one just needs to be installed.

Connor and I spend almost an hour cleaning the inside of the pool, sometimes using the hose to wash things. We really need to scrub it. A few times, though, we get told to stop spraying each other with the water.

I really want to spay them with it, but they might take away our hose privileges.

Once it's been cleaned and rinsed, Mr. Thompson uses some sort of pump to pull the water out of the pool, then sets the hose to start filling the pool.

"That's gonna take forever, isn't it?" I ask. "Wait! Does this mean we'll get to swim today!"

"Yes, and yes," Mr. Thompson answers. "We only want to get a couple of inches filled in for now. A truck's coming with treated water to fill the pool much more quickly but you want at least a little bit of water in already so the high-pressure water isn't slamming straight into the pool tiles."

"Oh! That makes sense!"

"Ms. Rachel," Xander comes out onto the deck. "There's a big truck here and they say they have water?"

"Did you have a good nap?" I ask Xander.

"Yeah," he says as I realize that he's already sweaty again.

"Did you get all sweaty just coming out here?" I ask. "Is it really that hot?"

"I woke up awhile ago," Xander says. "I was cleaning the side of the house when they got here. Ms. Rachel? What should I tell them?"

"I'm coming," she says.

About ten minutes later, the truck has a big hose going into the pool and water is blasting into it. They said it should take a little more than an hour to fill the pool all the way up, and we manage to finish clearing the weeds, bushes, shrubs, and ivy by the time it's done. Xander's finished cleaning the siding for the house, too.

Well, mostly. Mr. Michaels helped him with the higher bits since they were out of his reach even with a stepstool, though I don't think Xander even used that, for some reason.

"Can we go swimming now?" I ask after Mr. Thompson checks the water and makes sure it's okay. "I wanna go swimming! It's sooooooo hot!"

"You boys are all sweaty and gross," he says. "You'll need to take showers first. And we'll be ordering dinner shortly."

"Oooh!" I say. "What's for dinner?"

"Is it pizza?" Sam asks. "It's pizza, isn't it?"

"Actually," Aunt Rachel looks at Mr. Thompson. "Trey volunteered to bring stuff to grill for us. He should be here any minute now."

"Mr. Caldwell's coming?" I ask. "With stuff to grill? Wait. We don't have a grill."

"I bought one while we were getting the stuff for the pool," Aunt Rachel tells me.

"Ms. Katie's coming, too," Xander adds. "I asked if she was when Mr. Trey asked if I was okay with him coming for dinner. Um… did I ask you if that was okay? I think I did but maybe I didn't…"

"You did," Aunt Rachel tells him, and he looks massively relieved.

"Okay," he nods a little.

"Speaking of the grill," Aunt Rachel says. "I should get that set up."

"I'll help," Mr. Fuller says.

They bring the box with the grill out to the deck and begin setting it up, and us boys start playing in the yard for a bit. There's no point in us all taking showers for swimming since the only way we'd hope to finish in time for dinner would be if we paired up in the different showers and that would be way too cramped for comfort. We'd also still not have much time to do actual swimming.

So we'll go swimming after dinner.

Xander sits on the slope of the yard to watch us play; I think he's tired again and he declines playing when we ask.

Mr. Caldwell shows up not long after we start that, along with Ms. Katie. Xander gets up then and takes one of the bags from Ms. Katie to take onto the porch, and from it he pulls out the apron I see him wearing in some of the pictures he posts in the group chat.

"Oh!" I jump a little. "Are you making dinner, Xander?"

"I'm helping," Xander says. "But Mr. Trey is the one doing most of it. I need to go wash my hands."

Xander disappears into the house while Mr. Trey starts pulling stuff out of the bags and setting them on the deck. We go back to playing while they work on dinner and when we're called for dinner, we find that it's meat-and-veggies skewers. Salad and cornbread are the sides, along with chunks of cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon.

While the three fruits are in their own bowls… I'm suspecting Xander's the reason the one with the watermelon is on the opposite side of the table as the other two. He really wanted to avoid touching the watermelon yesterday so I think he wants to make sure its juices won't get mixed in with the others.

The adults eat up on the porch while we boys – Hunter included – sit in the grass to eat.

"This is really good!" I tell Xander after taking a bite. "Whoa!"

"That's the marinade," Xander says. "Mr. Trey made it earlier. All I did was skewer the veggies and meat the way Mr. Trey said to. He cut them up and grilled them, too."

"It's really good!" I say. "So Mr. Trey can cook?"

"Yeah," Xander nods, then leans in close so he can whisper. "But he's not very good at breakfast stuff so if Ms. Katie isn't cooking then, he usually orders something or wants to go out to eat."

We all giggle a little at that, and Xander just looks confused. I guess he doesn't find that funny but the rest of us do.

After dinner, we take care of the dishes, then split off to take showers so we can go swimming without being covered in dried sweat. I take mine first in the downstairs bathroom while Connor uses the upstairs one. Sam and Isaac will take theirs after.

"S.G.," Xander says once I'm on my way to the yard again.

"Yeah?" I look at him.

He's wearing his backpack and holding Trenton, which gives the impression that he's getting ready to leave.

"Mr. Trey, Ms. Katie, and I are heading back to the house now," he tells me. "Thanks for inviting me to hang out and have the sleepover. It was a lot of fun."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it!" I tell him. "Though I guess all the yard work was boring, huh? You could have helped us, you didn't have to do all the siding on your own."

"Mr. Michaels helped a lot," he says. "And it's okay. I didn't mind it. Um. I'll, um… I'll see you again."

What's with the weird goodbye?

"See you!" I hold out a fist. "Bump it?"

Xander gives me a fist bump, then heads upstairs.

I head out back and run to the pool and jump into the deep end. We worked all day, so it's time for fun!

[Xander – 12 years]

"Xander," Mr. Trey says as I exit the bedroom, dressed in more comfortable clothes rather than the old and sweat-soaked ones I had on when we got back to the house. I just scrubbed myself super clean of it in the shower and feel much better now. "Rachel said she was going to pay you boys for the help, right?"

Oh. Was I supposed to decline the payment because I earned a lot of money on Monday?

"She paid me before we left," I tell him. "It was one hundred dollars. She gave it to me in five twenties. That's a lot."

"It is," he says. "I just wanted to double-check that you were paid as promised."

If he wanted to double-check, I guess that means he doesn't trust her. I don't really trust her, either. I don't know her that well.

"I was," I tell him. "Ms. Rachel said she gave me a little bit extra since I started earlier than the others did. I woke up at my usual time this morning – well, the last time I woke up was my usual time – and got bored after breakfast waiting for them, so I asked her if I could start then. They took longer to come out."

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Mr. Trey asks.

"During the sleepover," I tell him. "Not while working. I wasn't trying to then because I was working."

Though that didn't stop S.G. and the others from goofing off a lot. It probably would have been okay if I did, but I wanted to get the work I was assigned done.

"I'm sure they would have been fine," he says.

"Can I watch something in the theater?" I ask. "I'm feeling really sleepy 'cause I didn't sleep that well last night."

"Go ahead," he says. "Katie put a preservation box in there with a berry pie, in case you wanted some, and there's some ice cream she mixed up earlier in the freezer."

"Thank you," I say.

"You're welcome," he says. "And Xander?"

"Yes, Mr. Trey?"

"It's okay if you fall asleep while watching something."

That's a relief. There's a good chance I might fall asleep by the end of the documentary, depending on how long it is. My accidental nap earlier wasn't that long, while I worked a lot today and I didn't sleep much last night. I want to try and stay up until bedtime, but I might not manage it.

"Okay," I say. "Um. Do you want to watch something with me?"

"I have a few things to do," he says. "But if you want me to come watch something with you, I can come in after I finish."

"Um…"I try to think of a good response. "It doesn't matter to me."

There. A good, honest response.

"Alright," he says. "I'll be down in about forty minutes, then."

"Okay," I say. "Sorry in advance if I accidentally eat all of the pie again."