***Sam’s View***
	I couldn’t believe the pile of presents that they said was for me!
Amanda, Mat, & Jason carried them over in front of me, so I was
completely surrounded by them. “Um, OK. Which should I open
first?” I asked. “The one that’s right in front of you,” Ike said. “That
might be a god idea. This one says...” I picked up the
purple-wrapped package that was sitting in front of me & read the
tiny card that was attached. “To Sam from... uh.. Amanda?” “Lemme
see,” Amanda said, leaning over & read the card. “Yep. Sorry,” she
said. “OK. Let’s see what it is!” I carefully unwrapped the package.
“Oh, c’mon! You can’t open all of them like that!” Jason exclaimed.
“You’re right. I’ll open the rest slower,” I said with a grin. “No, I just
like this paper & I might need it in the future. Now leave me alone,” I
commanded. 
	I finally got all the paper off & opened the box. Inside lay three
bottles of nail polish. A black, a white, and a beautiful shade of
bluish-purple. “Whoa, these are pretty cool! I’ve been needing some
new polish for awhile!” Amanda beamed. “Next. To Sam From
Krissy,” I read. I opened up the purple bag to find lotion, body spray,
tan lotion, & hair spray from Bath & Body Works. “Thanks man! I
just hope I don’t turn myself into a freak with this tanning lotion,” I
joked. “OK, what’s up next. Two Sam frum Jason, Mat, Ashley, &
Chris” I read from the black bag. I shook my head & opened the bag.
Inside were two CDs. One was Coolio’s ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’. The
other was the ‘California Love’ single. “Whoa, awesome! Thanks
dudes!” I said. 
	“Next one. OK, To Sam from Zac-attack,” I quickly unwrapped
the funnies wrapping paper. Inside was a package of permanent
markers & two containers of lipstick. “Um, OK Zac. Thanks for the
beauty supplies,” I laughed. “No, it’s for your walls. You said you
had, like, lipstick & crap on there,” he mumbled. “I know, I think I
figured it out. Thanks for tryin to make me feel at home,” I said with
a warm smile. Next, I read the card on the dollar-printed bag. “To
Sam, from Isaac.” I carefully pulled the paper off & found a
notebook, a folder, and a package of mechanical pencils. “Wow,
thanks! I’ve been meaning to start writing for a while, but I haven’t
found my pencils & stuff yet. Thanks!” I exclaimed. “Welcome, I
figured you liked to write because I saw that folder of stuff in your
room.” Suddenly, my old room flashed before me. It was dark & pain
rushed up my right leg. I jumped back into the present & saw my
friends’ smiling faces before me. I quickly nodded to cover for my
sudden blackout & picked up the next bag. “2 Sam Fm Janie & Tara”
I opened the bag & pulled out a beautiful porcelain unicorn and a
small snow dome with two birds inside. “Oh shit, I mean, gosh, these
are gorgeous! They must’ve costed so much!” “No, not really,” Jamie
said with a grin. “Tara, will you please stop talking? You barely even
let other people get a word in!” I joked. Tara smiled & blushed a deep
shade of red. “C’mon, say something!” I told her. “Um, hi?” “Hello!
How are you?” “OK.” “What do you think of the American
Revolution?” I asked. “Um, it was sad cuz so many people died but it
was worth it.” I giggled. “You didn’t have to answer that! I’m just
tryin to get ya to talk more! C’mon, open up!” She blushed even
deeper. 
	 “OK, it’s the last present! I’m guessing it’s either from Princess
Diana or Taylor,” I sighed. “And it says..... To Sammy From, ugh,
Tayles,” I groaned, pretending to be disappointed. “Well, I guess I’ll
at least see what it is before I take it back,” I sighed. I looked up &
grinned at him. I gingerly pulled off the beautifully colored paper &
opened up the box. Inside lay a stack of five books. ‘Flowers in the
Attic’, ‘Petals on the Wind’, ‘If There be Thorns’, ‘Seeds of Yesterday’, &
‘Garden of Shadows’. A series by V. C. Andrews. “Whoa, cool! Thanks!
How’d you know I like V. C. Andrews?” I asked him. “Well, I saw
that you had one of her books in your room. I was ‘My Sweet Audria’,
or something,” he said. “’My Sweet Audrina’, yeah. But how’d you
find all of ‘em? Usually they don’t have all of them since they were
all written in the early 80’s,” I said. “I had to look around in a few
stores, but it didn’t take too long, since I knew what I was looking
for.” “Well, thanks!” I said. He grinned & nodded. 
	“Well, thanks you guys!” I exclaimed. “But now we need to
party!” “Well, it’s only about 7, how ‘bout we go outside?” Ashley
suggested. “OK! C’mon, let’s go!” Isaac agreed. Everyone jumped up
& we raced outside. The soccer goal was still up, and a soccer ball
was off to the side of the house. “OK, teams, everyone!” Jason
demanded. “I’m team captain!” Taylor decided. “Me too!” Amanda
exclaimed. Taylor & Amanda split up to opposite sides of the yard. “I
getta go first!” Taylor said. “No way! Guests first! Isaac,” Amanda
decided. “No fair, I getta go first! Fine, Jason.” “Zac.” “Mat.”
“Ashley.” “Sam.” I ran over to Taylor’s side along with Jason & Mat.
“Chris.” “Janie.” “Krissy.” “Tara.” Tara looked kind of sad because
she was picked last, but as she walked over to us, I reassured her.
“The only reason Amanda didn’t pick you is because Ike paid her off
to pick Krissy. Plus, ain’t ya glad you’re on our team? We’re gonna
win.” She shyly nodded. “You can say something,” I told her. “OK.”
	The game started off kinda slow. The best players were pretty
well split up. Ike, Zac, Amanda,  & Ashley were on one side while
Taylor, Jason, Mat, & I were on the other. The goalies were Zac &
Mat. Since about half the people, including myself, didn’t know the
positions or complete rules, we turned it into a game of kickball with
more specific rules. We put the ball in the middle of the yard. When
the goalies both yelled “Go”, we ran for it. 
	“On your marks,” Zac yelled. “Geeet set,” Mat yelled. “Go!”
they both yelled as we sprinted toward the ball. 

		***Tay’s View***
	No one really won the game, people kept dropping out until
there were only three people left on each team. We would’ve won
though, because Zac dropped out early. 
	“Oh, this sucks. Let’s just quit, there’s no point anymore. Just
call it a tie,” Sam complained. Only Sam, Jason, & I were still playing
on our team with Ike, Ashley, & Chris on the other side. “Yeah, I’m
tired! My sides hurt,” Chris whined. “OK, let’s call it quits,” I said.
We trudged over to the rest of them, who were all sipping ice water.
“Get us some?” Jason asked, collapsing into a lawn chair. “Uh uh,”
Zac grunted, shaking his head. “Fine,” Ike said, trudging inside. I
followed him. 
	“Hey, have you seen how Zac’s been staring at Tara?” I asked
Ike when we got inside. “No kidding! I’ve been tempted to tell him to
wipe the drool off his chin!” he exclaimed. We both laughed for a
second. “Yeah, but we shouldn’t be makin funna him,” I said. “I
know, he’s happy & all. Better off than I was when I was his age!” Ike
laughed. “Yeah, really! Lucky kid. But she’s barely said a word all
night!” “Well, with a little work from Sam, she’ll be worse than
Emily!” Ike joked. “Hey! She doesn’t talk that much,” I defended.
“Well, no offense, but she doesn’t like you. If she did, which you
should be thankful she doesn’t, she’d talk your ear off! Talk about a
jabberbox!” Ike laughed. 
	Ike & I carried out drinks for everyone else while they were
chatting away. Zac was still gazing at Tara, while she was looking at
everyone else, but she glanced over at him every once & a while.
“Man, what time is it?” Amanda asked when we returned outside.
“Um, Ike?” I asked him. “Hold on,” he said, handing Ashley & Chris
their drinks while I gave Sam & Jason theirs. “It’s like....eight
something. Can’t read my watch that well. Well, we still have plenty
of time to do practically anything. Like call some people....” Ike
trailed off, sitting down next to Krissy. “Like what?” Janie asked.
“Like, pranks,” Sam said in a mysterious voice. “Yeah!” Zac
exclaimed, snapping out of his trance. 
	After we were all done cooling off, we returned inside. “Well,
how should we do this?” Jason asked when we got inside. “Don’t
you guys have a speaker phone in the TV room?” Ashley asked.
“Yep,” Ike answered. “And I have my tape recorded downstairs, we
can tape it!” I exclaimed, running to my room. Mat & Sam followed. 
	“Oh, where’d it go!” I exclaimed, throwing piles of clothes
around. “Whoa, Taylor, settle down! OK, I doubt it went very far,”
Sam said, looking on the dresser. “Um, knowing their room, I
wouldn’t count on anything staying in one place very long,” Mat
said, joining me throwing clothes around. “Yeah, whatever. You guys
are just freaking out. I bet it’s right where you most expect it,” Sam
smirked. “Um, it’s where you least expect it?” I asked. “Nope. Where
you most expect it.” I shrugged & walked over to the dresser. I
opened the first drawer. No recorder. Second. Nothing. Third. “Well,
you can’t be right all the time!” I exclaimed, taking the tape recorder
& closing the drawer. “Nope, not all the time, but it shows that you
were wrong,” Sam said with a slight grin. “Oh, shove it,” I muttered
& hurried back downstairs. 
	“Got it?” Jason asked when we returned downstairs. “Yep!”
Mat replied & jumped down onto the floor. “OK, are we going to call
certain numbers or just dial?” Ike asked as he sat down with the
phone. “Just dial, man!” Zac exclaimed & grabbed the phone away.
“Who’s gonna talk?” Janie asked. “I want to!” Amanda said, taking
the phone from Zac. “What do we say?” Chris asked. “If it’s a person
our age, just start talkin like you know ‘em. If it’s some old person,
just be like ‘Wrong number’ & hang up,” I said. “OK. But shouldn’t
we keep track of what numbers we’ve dialed so we don’t dial ‘em
again?” Sam asked. “Yeah, probably. Anybody got paper?” Krissy
asked. “In here,” I said & pulled a pad of paper & a pencil from the
table the phone stand was on. “And the recorder?” Jason asked. “It’s
rewinding... almost done... done!” I said, pushing stop. “OK, ready
Amanda?” I asked, putting the recorder over the speaker of the
phone. “Yep.” 
	“OK, 4-2-3-8-6-9-3,” Amanda said, dialing the phone. “Wait!
Did you dial *67?” Ike questioned. “Nope. What’s that do?” Amanda
asked. “It makes the number anonymous, like, if they have caller ID,”
Jason answered. “Oh. Good thing you caught me!” Amanda said,
starting to dial again. “What number did I say?” Amanda asked. “Uh,
4-2-3-8-6-9-3,” Janie told her. Amanda nodded & redialed the
number. I hit ‘speaker’ on the receiver of the phone & hit ‘record’ on
the tape recorder. 
	“Hello?” A middle-aged lady asked. “Oh, sorry, wrong
number,” Amanda quickly apologized & hung up. “Ah!” Mat
exclaimed. “I’ll try again. 4-2-3-9-4-0-8,” Amanda said, dialing, but
remembered to dial *67 first. “Hello?” and old man answered. “Sorry,
wrong number,” Amanda said & hung up. “God, we’re not getting
anything!” Jason exclaimed. “Here, lemme try!” Sam said to Amanda.
Amanda handed Sam the phone. I stopped & rewound the tape
recorder. “OK. 4-2-3-1-5-6-2,” Sam said, dialing. I hit record
	“Hello?” a guy answered, who sounded like a teenager. “Hey,
when are you comin to pick me up?” Sam asked. “What?” “You said
you were coming to pick me up & you haven’t showed up yet. I was
wondering what was taking you so long.” “What are you talking
about? Who is this?” the guy asked. “You know damn well who this
is. When are you comin to pick me up?” “Look girl, I don’t know
you! Just tell me your name,” the guy told Sam. “Don’t even play
these stupid games. You always play these stupid-ass games when
your little friends are over there. You try to act all cool & you know it
just pisses me off. You said you wouldn’t do this again,” Sam
pleaded with him. “Who is this! Girl, who are you? I don’t know
you!” “You do know me!” Sam exclaimed. “What’s you name?” he
asked. Sam looked at us for help. “Tiffany!” Tara suggested. We were
all surprised, it was nearly the first thing she’d said in about two
hours. “Tiffany,” Sam told him. “Tiffany what?” Sam looked at us
again. “Smith!” Mat exclaimed. “Tiffany Smith. Stop playin games!”
“I don’t know Tiffany Smith. I know a Tiffany Sliff, but I don’t know
no Tiffany Smith.” “Ah! Dammit! So close!” Ashley exclaimed. 
	“Why do you always play these dumb games!” Sam insisted. “I
ain’t the one playin games! You are, girl!” “Stop playin games!” Sam
exclaimed & hung up the phone. She immediately burst out
laughing, rolling over on her side. “Oh God, I couldn’t hold it in
anymore! It sounded like he almost believed us!!” Sam exclaimed
between breaths. The whole room was cracking up. Suddenly, the
phone rang. 

		***Sam’s View***
	“Hello?” Ike answered. “Hi, is Tiffany there?” the same voice
asked. “Um, yeah, just a sec.” He put the phone on mute. “Is it him?”
Janie asked. “Ya think?” Mat said, trying to sound stupid. “Shut up.”
“Here,” Ike said, handing the phone to me. 
	“Hello?” I said. “Hey, why’d you call me? I don’t know who
you are!” the guy asked. “Yes, you do know who I am! Stop playing
these games!” I exclaimed. “Girl, just tell me your name,” he told me.
“I already told you. My name’s Tiffany. And don’t go actin like you
don’t know me.” “But I don’t know you!” “Stop playin these games,”
I said, biting my lip to keep from laughing. “Fine then. How do I
know you?” he asked. I searched the group for help. “You lived
across the street,” Ashley whispered. “I lived across the street from
you,” I told him. “You don’t now,” he said. “But I used to, when we
were kids.” “I lived in Michigan when I was a kid.” I know. And I
lived across the street from you. Then we moved here, together,
because our parents were friends,” I said. Janie burst out laughing &
Tara soon followed. I covered the mouthpiece so he wouldn’t hear
them. “Girl, I don’t know you!” the guy insisted. “Why do you
always play these games?” I asked. “You’re the one playin games,”
he said. “You, whatever.” “Fine then. What’s my name?” he asked. I
looked urgently at the rest of the group. “Michael!” Zac exclaimed.
“Michael,” I told him. “That ain’t my name!” the guy exclaimed. “I
know, but you told me to call you that,” I recovered. Zac smacked
himself in the head. “Uh huh,” he said sarcastically. “Why do you
play these games?” I questioned him. “You’re the one playin games!”
he said, laughing. “God, will you ever stop?” I exclaimed & hung up
again. I started laughing along with Janie & Tara. “Oh God, if he calls
back again....” Taylor gasped out. “He’d be a moron!” Ike finished for
him. “He’s already a moron!” Amanda exclaimed. 	
	As soon as everyone began to settle down, the phone rang
again. 
	“Hello?” Zac answered. “Hi, can I talk to Tiffany?” the person
asked. “Yeah, jussa sec!” Zac exclaimed & hit mute. “He’s a moron!”
Chris pronounced. I took the phone from Zac & answered. 
	“Hello?” “Why’d you hang up on me? Who are you, girl?” he
fired off questions. “I hung up cause you’re starting to piss me off.
You’re tryin to be all cool with all your friends around, actin like you
don’t know me.” “But I don’t know you!” he said with a laugh. “Yes,
you do,” I said quietly. “Your name’s Tiffany Smith, I known ya since
we were kids, you used to live across the street. I don’t know you!”
“Stop playing games!” “Fine, what’s my mom’s name?” he asked. I
knew I couldn’t afford to be wrong again, so I didn’t answer. 
	“You always play these stupid games. You promised you’d
stop! you’re always lying... I can’t believe you!” I cried. “I can’t
believe you! I don’t know you!” “Stop saying that!” “Then how many
brothers & sisters I have?” he questioned. “What’s wrong with you!
Stop being such an asshole!” I nearly yelled. “See? I don’t know you!
Why you playin these games?” “Hang up on him again!” Ashley
whispered. “Fine then, Michael, I don’t ever want to hear from you
again!” I cried & hung up. Everyone burst into laughter again. Taylor
somehow managed to hit Stop on the tape recorder so we wouldn’t
waste anymore tape. 
	“Taylor Rewind it! Rewind it!” Zac demanded when everyone
started quieting down. Taylor hit Rewind and we all waited until it
was back to the beginning. We listened to the three conversations,
but it was difficult  to hear because there were always people
laughing in the background. “Oh God, I kinda wish we knew who he
was!” Amanda exclaimed. “Oops,” Krissy mumbled. “What?” Janie,
Ike, & Mat asked at the same time. “Um, I can’t read the number I
wrote. The pen was kind of running out of ink, so I started tapping it
against the paper & ink like squirted all over the numbers,” Krissy
told us. “Oh, dammit!” I mumbled. “Sorry!” Krissy exclaimed. “No,
s’OK. Can any of you guys remember the number?” I asked them. “I
can’t,” Taylor sighed, leaning back against the couch & taking the
tape out of the recorder. “Hey Krissy, can I see that pen?” he asked.
Krissy handed him the pen & he labeled the tape “The Michael
Cronicles”. “Nice name,” Chris commented. 
	“Does anyone think they remember the number?” Janie
persisted. “Here, lemme see the phone,” Jason said. I handed him the
phone & he dialed a number. “Hello?” a middle aged woman
answered. “Sorry, wrong number,” he said & hung up. “Where’s the
pen?” Krissy frantically asked. “I dunno,” Taylor answered. “I threw
it to you.” “I didn’t get it!” While they were looking for the pen,
Jason dialed another number. “Hello?” a little boy answered. “Sorry,
wrong number,” Jason said & hung up again. 
	“Here it is!” Krissy cried. “Jason, what numbers did you just
dial?” “Um, would you kill me if I said I can’t remember?” “Oh well,
it’s not like they’re gonna hurt us if we call ‘em again. You dialed *67,
right?” Ashley asked. “Uh, would you kill me if I said I didn’t?”
“Mat!” about half the room exclaimed. “Sorry! So I wasn’t thinking!”
Mat defended. “Like usual,” Zac mumbled. 

		***Zac’s View***
	After we pranked people for about an hour, we figured that
we’d better stop in case someone found out what we were doing. 
	“Well, what now?” Janie sighed. “I’m NOT playing any stupid
games,” Ike said. “Like truth or dare,” Taylor mentioned. “I second
that,” Sam agreed. “Or seven minutes in heaven,” I said. “Or ten,”
Amanda said. “Or spin the bottle,” Mat groaned. “Hmm, I wanna
play a game outside,” I told them. “How ‘bout hide & seek?” Janie
asked. “What?” Chris exclaimed. “Yeah, you guys have like TONS of
hiding spots out there, let’s go use ‘em!” Sam exclaimed. “Yeah, hide
& seek!” Mat agreed in a baby voice. “Fuck you,” Amanda told him.
“No thanks,” Mat replied. 
	After some reasoning, everyone agreed to go outside for a
game of hide & seek. Mom & Dad didnt really care how late we
stayed out, as long as we stayed in the yard. 
	Sam, Mat, & I were nominated to be it. We had to go inside for
two minutes for them to hide. We couldn’t yell when the time was up
because the kids were in bed, so they had to be ready. 
	When the two minutes were up, we raced around, checking
behind all the trees. “Find anyone?” Mat asked a few minutes later.
“Nope. We should split up. I’ll take the back, you take one side &
Sam take the other.” “OK,” he agreed & ran off to find Sam. I stayed
in the back & started looking up in the trees. Suddenly, I caught a
glimpse of someone’s foot above the treehouse, so I raced to the
treehouse. 
	Once I was up, I saw that one of the boards of the roof mas
misplaced. I moved it aside & clumb up the tree. I heard a gasp, then
more leaves rustling. I pulled myself from limb to limb for a few
moments before I caught a glimpse of the person’s face. “Tara?” I
whispered. The person continued climbing. 
	I knew this tree better than the back of my hand, so I easily cut
her off. “Found ya,” I gasped. “Damn you,” Tara muttered back. We
both sat down on separate branches, trying to catch our breath. 
	How’d you know I wa sup here?” she asked a few seconds
leter. “I saw your foot through the leaves, so I went up to the
treehouse. You didn’t put that board back too well,” I told her.
“How’d you know about the loose board?” I asked. “Taylor told me
about it. He said since I didn’t want to run around, I should hide in a
tree. I thought it would work, but I guess not.”
	“C’mon, let’s get back down. Bet they’re gettin ready for a new
game,” Tara said after a few moments of silence. “K,” I agreed, but I
didn’t climb back to the treehouse. “Where’re you going?” Tara
questioned. “Gioon back down. I’m gonna climb over to that tree
over there,” I said, pointing to it. “No way! Those branches are to
thin! They’ll never hold you!” she exclaimed. “Are you saying that
I’m fat?” I asked. “No, but...” she mumbled. “Well, I’m goin then Suit
yourself.” “Oh, fine. Wait up,” she grumbled. 
	I gingerly clumb near the other tree, Tara close behind me.
“How do we get over there?” she asked. “See that branch over
there?” I asked her, pointing to a long branch from the other tree.
“Uh huh.” “We jump onto it.” “There’s no way I’ll be able to land on
that!” she protested. “No, you jump toward it & grab it. You have to
hang for a second and swing hand-over-hand to the rest of the
branches,” I explained to her. “Are you sure it’ll hold us?” she asked.
“It held Taylor a few weeks ago, so it’ll be able to hold you,” I
assured her. “I’m not sure...” “Here, I’ll go first & show ya,” I offered. 
	I braced myself on the branches I was standing on, then leapt
off. Tara gasped. When the branch was about a foot away, I reached
my arms out to wrap around it. Success! Carefully, I lowered myself
so I was hanging by my hands, then scooted over to the other
branches. I carefully clumb onto them & sat down, catching my
breath. Tara was staring at me, her mouth agape. 
	“Your turn,” I said with a grin. “No way, I’m goin back to the
treehouse,” she said, turning around. “No!” I cried, standing up.
“You’ll fall on the way down!” “I’ve been cllimbing trees forever, I
think I know how to climb back down.” “There are a lot of trick
branches that I’d have to warn you about. C’mon, it’s not that hard.
Just jump toward it, grab it, & climb over here. It isn’t that far of a
jump. You won’t fall, trust me,” I assured her. “OK, but if I die, I’m
gonna kill you,” she joked, but her voice was still filled with fright. 
	“One, two three,” she counted, then leapt toward the branch. 

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