By: Nina He

I tsked.

“Um, excuse me?” Karia crossed her arms. “Are you tsk tsk-ing me right now?”

“Yes,” I sighed. “After so many years of disappointment from you guys, I have mastered the art of tsking.”

Iran whipped her head around—a look of outrage on her face. “Disappointment? Did you look in the mirror today? Do you know that you are the one you should be tsking at?”

We began snapping at each other.

Rosalina groaned, leaning back into her beanbag. “Are we ever going to finish this Monopoly round? We’ve been at it for an hour and you two keep fighting!”

“Fighting? Oh no, we’re just talking to settle some disputes, isn’t that right, Thea?” Iran said through gritted teeth.

I just glared.

“Okay! I quit!” Karia began putting the board game away.

“Well, what are we going to do now?” Rosalina asked.

I grinned. “I know a game.”

“What do you need for the game?” Iran asked.

Completely ignoring her, I explained, “Every person must say something disappointing and tell it like a story. It doesn’t have to be true. If the others think it’s disappointing enough, you tsk. The more tsks you get, the more points you have. The person with the most points at the end wins.”

Karia clicked her tongue. “I’m guessing it’s called Tsk Tsk? The game?”

“Yep,” I smiled.

“Ooh! Sounds fun!” Rosalina tapped her feet. “I’ll go first.”

On the couch beside Rosalina, I twisted my body to face her. Perched on the edge of the armchair, Iran called out, “Make it embarrassing!”

“Well,” Rosalina rubbed her hands together. “I was walking down the street…um…when I tripped and fell on my face…into a pile of dog poop.”

“Boo!”

I twisted myself around again. “Be nice Iran!”

“Uh….er….well, after that, I tried to wash my face with a towel, but the towel was actually an…an…apple leaf!”

“Whaat….?” Iran cocked her head.

“It’s not over yet!” Rosalina chirped. “The apple leaf turned out to be poisonous so I got a rash and I looked ugly and then I went to get some lotion and then the lotion hurt so I went home and I washed my face and I realized that I got shampoo instead of lotion. Done!”

I tsked twice. Iran once. And after a few failed attempts at tsking, Karia managed to tsk once as well.
Rosalina frowned. “Well, I tried at least.”

Suddenly, we all jumped up in our seats to the sound of a crash outside.

Karia got out to look out the bedroom window. “Uhhh…I don’t see anything different.”

“You’re not the one that lives here,” I replied as I peeked out too. The sky was dark and gray, and resilient raindrops kept falling out of the sky and into the pool. “Huh. I don’t see anything either.”

Karia humphed.

“Maybe it’s your cat,” Rosalina suggested.

I rolled my eyes. “The last thing my cat does is go outside! That lazy furball can barely walk to his food bowl!”

“Well, maybe it’s your dog, then,” Iran said.

“My dog hates the rain—and his pet flap is broken.”

“Then what is it? Your fish?” Karai questioned in exasperation, throwing her arms up.
I gave her a look. “I don’t have any fish. They died.”

“Oh. Did you at least give them a toilet funeral?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, we’re getting distracted!” Rosalina exclaimed. “Thea’s parents aren’t home, so we can’t act like babies!”

“We can always ignore it,” I said with a shrug. “It’s not like there was a bomb outside or anything—WOAH!”

I fell flat on my face as the whole house shook once, very violently.

“Earthquake!” Iran shrieked and dove under the desk.

“Careful! That desk has a better chance of falling on you than protecting you against anything,” I warned, wincing as I stood up. Iran stayed. I sighed. “Just don’t sue me when you break your neck.”

Karia headed to the door. “I’m going to check outside.”

“Nu-uh. We’re going to stay in this room,” I declared, jumping in front of her and locking the door. “Nothing’s going to ruin this sleepover! Not even an earthquake.”

“Or a bomb,” Rosalina said.

“I don’t care if there’s a giant duck with angel wings that fly past!” I declared. “Absolutely nothing is going to ruin this sleepover!”

“Oh look, a giant duck with angel wings is flying past,” Karia said, pointing out the window. “Just kidding!”

“Lol,” Rosalina said.

“Iran, get out under there,” I said, half-dragging her from the desk.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t check?” Karia pressed. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Yes.”

Suddenly, there was a crash downstairs.

My heart stopped. “Not my cat or my dog.”

Rosalina’s mouth dropped open. Iran gasped. Karia’s eyes grew wide.

After a moment, I confirmed it. “There’s an intruder in the house.”