"mouth, cut it out," i say as i watch him swirl the dirty water around with his finger.

"i bet it's old blood that's mixed in with the water pipes!" chunk exclaims, earning my groan once again.

"give it up chunk,"

i've gotten incredibly annoyed with chunk since he arrived at mikey's house. i can only handle him for so long in a days time.

data watches mouth carefully, probably lost in some new idea.

"mouth, i'll give you a dollar to take a drink of that," i say butting chunk out of the table conversations.

"five and i'll lick a drop," he tells me, looking me dead in the eye.

"ten to take a full sip," i declare, grinning.

he raises the glass to his mouth and i watch the liquid go down his throat.

"ah, sick!"

"man, now i gotta get my tetanus shot," mouth says shaking his head and keeping his tongue out of his mouth.

i laugh at him and stare at the nasty water. particles float in it, making it look dirtier than a river.

"where's mikey at?" i shake my head with a grin on my face as i reel back to reality with our surroundings.

"worried about your loverboy?"

"mouth!" i yell through my teeth with wide eyes. data and chunk were listening to us and heard what he was saying.

"oh, as if data couldn't tell. he's one of the smartest in the group! and chunk isn't gonna say anything, huh chunk?"

"what?" chunk asks still staring at the water glasses.

"nothin'," i tell him, standing up from my chair and walking to the counter.

"fix me up a drink, can ya? i'm having a long day," i say to the man that just came from the way mikey left.

"what-"

the front door opens wide and brand comes in, looking around as if he were worried.

"seriously?! what're you guys doing here? mom's going to kill me, where's mikey, huh?" brand speaks a mile a minute.

"he's in the bathroom, round that corner," i inform him with my eyes on the alcoholic drink the mans still making for me.

just as brand walked over to the basemen entrance, mikey appears basically tripping upstairs.

"mikey, why can't you stay at home. let's get out of here right now. let's get out of here!" brand talks grabbing the hood of his jacket, dragging him towards the door.

i laugh and raise my glass, having it taken away from brand before it even reaches my lips.

"let's go," he mumbles grabbing my arm as well.

the rest of the boys follow and i argue against brand.

"hey! watch yourself! you might be older but you're not my father," i tell him eyeing the surroundings. the grass is so green it looks like a postcard from ireland, not to even mention how drizzly it looks outside.

the door behind us slams, and we're released from brand's death grip.

"gee brandon, i was gonna come, just after i replenished my thirst," i tell him with a snicker.

"right, let's go home, now,"

"i swear they have this giant...this giant it," mikey tells us bewildered and staying by the steps.

"an it?" my nose crinkles in confusion. mikey doesn't like to lie about things much, not unless they're little white lies. meaning there was a foreign creature in the basement and my curiosity sparks everything in me.

we walk a little over to the rock we were at before as mikey describes the peculiarity of the thing he saw.

i tune the talking out as i always do, and watch as the front door opens wide.

"hey guys, shush up and look," i announce while elbowing brand.

they all turn and watch two guys bring a large bag into the back of their vehicle.

"it's a body, i swear," chunk tells us.

"shhh!"

we listen to them, trying to make out the jumbled words, but it's impossible.

"i'm wondering what was in the bag," data whispers.

"ah, it was just trash,"

a strong wind blows and nearly knocks me over. it would have pushed me to the wet grass if brand wasn't there to keep me up.

"guys, why don't we just leave? it's almost dinnertime, come on, let's go home!"

"home? what home? there won't be no home soon, as long as we don't find the treasure. this is out last chance to find the rich stuff, come on guys,"

just then the car starts up and pulls out of the garage.

"duck down guys!"

i watch it turn onto the road and drive away. once we're hidden behind the trees, i stand up and run towards the front door.

i hear screaming behind me and turn to see andi and stef there. i'm not too fond of them, i've heard from mouth that mikey admitted to calling andi the prettiest girl in school once. it's fair play though since i've mentioned my minor crushes in front of him plenty.

stef laughs at her successfully scaring them, making mouth roll his eyes, something i can even see from here.

i can hear them from where i stand from all of the yelling, thankfully. i didn't feel like walking back over there.

"mouth, you look better from behind,"

"oh yeah? wanna see something really scary?" he asks reaching into his pocket and grabbing his small mirror, "look at that,"

chunk and data join in on the teasing.

andi and brand talk with mikey standing next to them.

the whole ordeal is a little awkward for me, i've ran all the way over here and watched it all play out, how was i supposed to just jump into conversation with them now?

once the boys walk over to me they instantly try the door.

"locked,"

"thank god!"

mouth smirks at chunk quickly before insulting his mother, and causing him to ram into the door. the old wooden door breaks and we're in! slowly mouth places his feet in through the door and jumps up to make a loud thud in the room.

brand follows after us to try to get mikey.

"shut up! shh! we've got to get to the lowest point!" mikey announces tapping the map.

"lowest point nothing, let's go mikey, now!"

i hear a scream come from outside and watch as everyone runs after it.

they meet us at the door and explain that 'something jumped at them'. i laugh at them, trying to cover my giggle.

"mouth, look at them," i crack to him. he smiles and nods but isn't necessarily zoned in on the moment.

"brand! what if we find something? a couple of minutes couldn't hurt," mikey protests against brand. he doesn't stop to ask for his approval before turning and walking towards the basement.

"mikey!" i call, following in mostly annoyance. the entire building is covered in cobwebs and smells like old people and paper.

everybody else follows us, mouth and stef arguing the entire stairway down.

"hey! look, it's ice cream! finally something good," chunk calls while walking to the freezer by the side. mouth and data follow him, excited for their own ice cream.

"a dead body's gonna be in th-"