High School Teenagers

Chapter Twelve. *Raleigh's Diary*

It Runs In The Family

Nothing came to mind when Mom and Dad asked me and Gabe why we Permanently Borrowed our History teacher's cheat sheet. Dylan videotaped us and as usual Mom and Dad and Gemma and Axilla let him. Mom's dark eyes bared at me and Dad's hazel eyes made me feel like I was gonna piss on myself. I could tell that Gabe was seconds of away from pointing at me telling them that it was my idea, which it wasn't. We're in the den skyping with them, and even they scare me over the device. Mom and Dad won't be home until another 34 hours, which gives me enough time to make up a story for them to believe. Gemma and Axilla frowned at me and Gabe; the rest of the family are in their rooms doing homework, I think, maybe just upstairs, probably eavesdropping on us. Zooey, and the West twins stayed upstairs in my room while the four adults pounded me and Gabe with swears. All Mom and Dad could do was glare and ground us, Axilla and Gemma decided to punish us even more by helping the maids, butlers and the chefs with their job, which I found myself groaning to. Gabe shrugged his shoulders and just went to his room. I followed behind him, and Mom called out to me.

"Raleigh?" she said, I turned my attention back to her and her eyes looked pissed. "Do me a favor and stop ditching your classes. Do it again and Justin can't come back over." I opened my mouth but closed it again.

"Yes ma'am," I said and grabbed my bag and took the the elevator to my room. Pressing the "R" on the elevator, the door closed and the elevator took me up to my room in a smooth distance. Two elevators, twenty-one souls and only the Burkes have their own private restroom, the employees here stay in the guest house next to us. If we need them, which is all the time, we just call or walk over. The guest house just a regular house but with six beds and baths, pretty neat and sweet, huh? They even have their own pool and jacuzzi that my parents put in for them. The Burkes Squad—that's the employees—have been with us since my parents were married, and they're pretty much Aunt's and Uncle's to us all. So, Aunt Laura, Trisha, and Uncle Kevin, Leo, Oliver, and Jason. The Burkes Squad!

I stepped out of the elevator to my room with the mirror door closing behind me. Justin sat on my bed with Beverly and Chloe. Justin looked up at me and so did my sister and Eve.

"We have to help the Burkes Squad," I said, "Gabe doesn't have a problem with it, but we all, know that I do."

"Got caught ditching class and don't even get punishment for it, huh? Lucky kid," Chloe cracks.

"Mm-hmm," Justin added smiling at Chloe. "I wonder if they have to stay in the guest house with them."

"Mm-hmm," Chloe said permanently borrowing Justin's words. "Maybe, her and Gabe'll Permanently Borrow something from their place. Stealing from yourself."

"Mm-hmm," Justin said smiling, but this time with humor in his words.

"Say mm-hmm, one more time, and I'll slap you," me and Eve said in unison at both her brother and my sister.

"Melodramatic, much?" Justin said to his sister and turned to me. My bedroom door opened and Zooey appeared with a pissed off Gabe behind her.

"I should murder you," Gabe says pointing a finger at me. "This is all your fault, it was your idea."

"No, it's not," I defended myself, "you grabbed the notes and I put down the answers. And then you told me that you Permanently Borrowed them from Meems' room. So, it's clearly your fault."

"Don't go and out that fire on me," he said, "Mom and Dad gave you the easy work while I have the house and the guest house."

"Then, next time don't put that gunk on me," I said smiling at him. "What'd you expect? me to take the blame and do both of our dirty work?"

"Uh-yeah," Gabe says, my shoulders dropped and so did my mouth. "You're lucky we're related or I'd kill you. I thought we were a team. Where's the "I" and the "we" in team?"

"He's gotta a point," Chloe said, getting on Gabe's side which is a total surprise from the both of us. "What're you gonna do when Mom and Dad finds out about the party at Cooper's place? What if they find out?"

Looking at her, I gave a smile with sour venom, "frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," I said smiling at the blonde.

"Babe," Justin called me.

"When I'm mad words just come spilling out from my mouth like liquid," I said, "you know that."

"Yeah, but still, relax," he said, "I'm not trying to get the word from your crazy Aunt Gemma." Giving him my look of distracted, he backed off and Eve wasn't in the conversation, she grabbed my hat that I had in my closet and placed it on her head and grabbed the real World War 2 gun and shouldered it. Around the Winter time we'd fly to North and South Carolina and dress up and me, her and Gabe just sit behind the cannon parade and make fun of the reenactments and the former members.

Beverly looked at herself in the mirror, and polished the gun with her hand, like she always did during the war re-enactment. Gabe walked over and grabs the gun from her and examines it before looking at me.

"You wanna just kill each other?" Gabe says and on instant, Justin grabbed the gun from him and placed it back in my closet and pulled Beverly towards him.

"No one's killing anyone," Justin said referring to Beverly but he was talking about me. He looked at me and smiled, which gave me the audacity to ball my fists into knots. "Right, babe? no one's killing anyone?"

"I wouldn't say that," I said to him, and smiled. "I'd kill a lot of people if I had the chance." Zooey looked at Chloe who looked at Beverly, who looked at me. "Like Gabe. I'd definitely recommend on killing him. He dragged me down into his world of PB'ing." Wow, I'd never thought that I'd wanna do that to Gabe, or say that about Permanently Borrowing. Chloe's face was priceless, her mouth dropped and so did Eve's and Zooey's. Justin just shrugged his shoulders, and then hopped up towards me, still on my bed, but on his hands and knees.

"You're not thinking about quitting the PB, are you?" he asked me, still on his hands and knees. Furrowing my brows at him, I could have smacked him silly.

"No way, I was born to do that," I said. Gabe and Justin looked relieved and gave crashed on my bed, causing Eve and Zooey to go hitting the ground.

"Good, because I wasn't gonna let you quit on me," Gabe says, pointing a finger at me. "I didn't teach you to quit when you're this far to becoming the queen of Permanently Borrowing." Gabe made a small hand gesture with his thumb and forefinger.

"I thought that I already was the queen of PB," I said with a frown appearing on my face. Gabe frowned at me and scoffed shaking his head, dark curls falling over his eyes.

"Oh, no, that's Aunt Louise," Gabe said grinning.