“Oh Blake, I don’t ever want to hear you ask me for another favor…” Minerva mumbled under her breath as she finished sweeping up the broken plate. “Cook for you? You can bet that if I do, there’ll be poison in your food.”

She thought of all the things she wanted to do and say to her boyfriend as she emptied the dustpan into the nearby wastebasket. Choking him and saying ‘Get out of my life’ were at the top the list at the moment. However, it changed to punching him in the throat and yelling ‘Why did I dance with you at that party?’ the longer she thought about it.

Eventually she let out a long exhale as she put her thoughts to rest, returned the broom to its spot and left out of the kitchen. Upon entering the living area, she realized that all three of the boys were out of sight. The bathroom door was still closed, so Tobias was still in there doing God knows what. Her bedroom door was still closed so Mason was still in her room, probably brooding. Twitch was nowhere to be seen though, so she’d have to find him. Where could he have gone? Maybe he went—

Wait…Mason was in her room? She left that little spawn of Satan in her bedroom alone!

Without a second thought, Minerva darted to her room and flung open her door. She felt a sense of relief when she saw everything in its place and nothing broken or damaged. However, the relief was short lived when she realized her window was open and Mason was gone. She walked in and began to look under her bed and in the closet to see if he was hiding. When it appeared that he wasn’t playing a trick on her, but rather truly gone, she felt a mixture of irritation and anxiousness.

She looked out the window, but didn’t catch any sight of him. Knowing she had to find the unruly boy, she ran to the front door. She stopped dead in her tracks when she opened the door and saw a mocha colored guy with a large frame standing there, a serious look on his face. His left hand was raised as though he were about to knock and the collar of a nervous looking Mason in his other hand.

“Samson?” Minerva said, shocked to see her neighbor and to see him looking angry at that.

In the past year she’d known Samson, there were only a select few times she’d seen him angry and all of them had to deal with football. When he wasn’t playing, he was generally a laid back guy. And when he wasn’t quiet, he was laughing. She’d made friends with him through Allison, who dated him briefly.

“Minerva!” Mason said with pleading eyes and arms outstretched toward her. “Tell him I’m with you—tell him!”

“Hey Minnie,” Samson said and then gestured at Mason with his free hand. “Would this hobgoblin happen to be yours? You don’t have to lie for him.”

She closed her eyes and put her hand on her head in shame. “While I would love to say I’ve never met this boy before, I can’t. What did he do?”

“I found him under my bed, hiding and taking pictures of my room. He snuck into my apartment through the window.”

She looked appalled and then glared daggers at Mason, tempted to say she didn’t know him after all. “I’m really sorry about that, Samson. I’m babysitting him and his two brothers. He must’ve snuck out when I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Maybe you should invest in a cage,” he said, releasing Mason and shoving him forward. He watched as the boy quickly made his way in the house, and stood behind Minerva. When the football player turned back to her and saw her embarrassment, his face softened a bit. “Don’t worry too much about it though. I only grabbed him; luckily, he said he was with you before I had the chance to hit him.”

“I wouldn’t have minded if you did hit him; it’s not like he doesn’t deserve it.” She huffed and then offered a sheepish smile. “Sorry again, Samson. Thanks for bringing him back.”

“No problem. Is Allison in there by chance?”

“No, she went to Renee’s party.”

“That’s right.” He nodded and then let out a sigh. “Okay, I’ll see you around…make sure to get that cage. I don’t want to have to call animal control.”

Minerva let out a chuckle and gave Samson a wave as he walked away. As soon as she closed the door, she turned around to Mason with fire in her eyes. The unruly boy, who appeared to be shaken up before, was now back in his regular attitude. There was an indifferent look on his face as he stared at her highly upset one.

"Spare me the lecture."

"You should be asking me to spare your face!” She yelled angrily. “What were you thinking? Were you even thinking? I mean, of all the people you could’ve upset—Samson? He’s a football player! And you snuck into his house? What is wrong with you?”

“He’s a football player? Dang, I should’ve taken a picture of the football in his room.” He snapped his fingers.

“Did you have an extra bowl of stupid this morning?’

“Look, I was playing a game of Truth or Dare with my friend, Eli. He dared me to sneak into someone’s apartment and I did. Since we played over the phone, I had to take pictures to prove that I did it. That’s it. So you can calm down before you bust an artery and have a stroke. I’m back now, aren’t I?”

With those departing words, he started to walk back toward her bedroom. Minerva grabbed his arm before he could get too far, forcing him to stop. “One, you’re not going back in my room, so you can change your course of direction. And two, you seemed to be the one about to have a stroke when Samson had you in his grip.”

He cut his eyes at her and snatched his arm away. “Uncle Blake could do so much better. Where’s that other girl he used to date?”

He started to walk away again, but this time when Minerva went to stop him, there was a sudden knock on the door. She shook her fist threateningly at Mason, but let him go as she answered the door.

It almost felt like a déjà vu moment for her, because there stood Samson again with a serious look on his face. This time, however, a distressed looking Twitch was in his grip rather than his brother.

“What the—” Minerva started, at a loss for any other words.

“I don’t suppose this is one of the other boys you were babysitting.” Samson raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t even know he left.” She turned to the panicking boy in shock. “Twitch…”

“Minnie! Tell him about the aliens! Tell him to let me go! Tell him I could be probed!”

“He tried to pickpocket me just now.”

The college girl stared at Twitch in confusion for a long moment before shaking her head, still not sure what to say. She ended up just apologizing again as her neighbor shoved the boy inside her house.

“I hope after all of this is done, we could be friends,” Twitch said, calming down enough to hold his hand out to him. “You seem like a cool guy. I’m sorry about the pickpocketing thing; I’m just in a desperate situation right now.”

Samson looked at the boy’s hand as if he were crazy and then gave Minerva a look before starting away.

“Sorry Samson,” she called after him once more, sticking her head out the door.
When Minerva turned around to Twitch, prepared to yell about his mental state, she stopped in her tracks when she saw a black wallet in his hands. He was walking around, going through it and picking out the random cards he deemed useless.

“Samson Davis. Twenty-one years old. From New Jersey. A subway fan. Blue Cross. Business cards. I see he likes to use credit cards,” he said aloud while tossing cards behind him. “Where is the money?”

“What the—” Minerva forced herself out of whatever trance she suddenly found herself in and walked over to Twitch. She snatched the wallet out of his hands and pointed to floor covered in cards. “Are you mad? Pick those up right now!”

He tried unsuccessfully to grab the wallet back. “Hey, I’m not done with it yet! Come on Minnie!”

“Twitch, I don’t know how you managed to get his wallet, but do you realize what will happen if he finds out you’ve got it?”

“He won’t know; not if you give it back so I can finish.”

When he reached for it again, she slapped his hands away. “Pick his cards up!”

The fourteen year old boy let out a huff of exasperation, but obeyed her and started to pick up the cards. When he collected them all, he handed them to Minerva, who proceeded to put them back in the wallet the best way she could’ve. After, she glared at Mason and tapped her foot in irritation.

“What now?”

“Now you’re going to return it Samson.”

He frowned. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not? You could take it off his person without a problem.”

“But this is different,” he started to explain, “I just offered my hand as a peace treaty with this guy. I asked to be friends; I can’t show him that I took his wallet anyway. It rejects the peace treaty and he won’t forgive me.”

“I guess you should’ve thought about that before.” She walked over to the door and opened it. “Let’s go.”

He let out a heavy sigh and started out the door, only stopping when he noticed she wasn’t following. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Oh no; you stole it, you return it.” She held out the wallet. “I’m going to watch from here.”

“If something happens to me, you’re the one that’s going to owe the aliens.”

He took the wallet from her reluctantly and started over to the neighbor’s door. After he knocked, he waited nervously for Samson to come to the door. When the door opened, Minerva watched Twitch give a nervous greeting and hold up the wallet. Samson looked confused at first, but after checking his back pocket to confirm that it wasn’t there, his eyebrows narrowed.

“Uhhh, Minnie…” Twitch called to her in a loud voice, sensing danger approach.

Samson turned to see Minerva standing there. “Minnie, I’m going to have a talk with him, if you don’t mind. I’ll return him to you in five minutes.”

Minerva just smiled and waved for him to proceed. That’ll keep Twitch out of her hair for just a moment while she handled the other two.

“Minnie, no! Don’t let him take me! Please!” the boy cried out as Samson put his hand on his back and forced him in the apartment.

Minerva ignored his pleas and went back in the house, closing the door behind her. She ran a hand through her hair as she looked around for Mason and Tobias. Neither of them were in the living area, yet both her bedroom door and the bathroom door were now open. Puzzled, she decided to investigate the bathroom first; she hadn’t seen Tobias in a good minute.

Walking to the bathroom, she looked around hesitantly before going in. The lights were on and the water was running but nobody seemed to be in there. After shutting the water off, she put her hands on her hips. Where could he have gone? Why couldn’t any of them stay in one place?

“White people…” she mumbled under her breath.

Figuring he was in the same place as wherever Mason was, she started to leave the bathroom. However, before she made it out, the door suddenly closed. Startled by the fact that Tobias was hiding behind the door, Minerva jumped back.

“You know, I always did have a thing for older women. More mature…more developed…”

It took her a few seconds to catch her breath. “Tobias…what the hell is wrong with you?”

The boy with the light eyes grinned at her before leaning against the door and locking it.

“Tobias, listen to me,” she said with narrowed eyebrows. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you need to open that door.”

“I’m working on our relationship, darling.”

“What relationship? We are strangers to each other—soon to be enemies, if you don’t open that door.”

He chuckled lightly. "I told you I wasn't going to let you go that easily, did I not?"

“Little boy, you’ve got five seconds to stand aside and let me out this bathroom.”

“Now, according to Doctor Phil there are a lot of different things that go into a relationship. If one of those things is lacking, such as communication, then trouble could arise.” He paused briefly to give her a devilish grin. “I think we’re lacking in the physical department.”

Minerva frowned and took a step away from the boy. “Tobias, don’t make me call Blake.”

“Another party also plays into the decline of a relationship. I know you don’t really care for Uncle Blake, so I forgive you for cheating on me…now it’s time to make up…”

Minerva opened her mouth to tell him to stop again, but realized he wasn’t going to comply when he started toward her. She quickly looked around for something to threaten him with and ended up grabbing a bar of soap.

“This is your last chance,” she warned, holding the dove bar up.

“Soap? What are you going do? Wash me?” He chuckled again. “Save that for later.”

Minerva frowned and, not pleased by the innuendo at all, threw the soap at him. It hit him on his head which caused him to stop for a brief moment and rub the spot where it hit him.

“Ouch.” He frowned, but then the smile returned seconds later. “That's okay…I like 'em feisty.”

Minerva rolled her eyes; he was almost as bad as his uncle. It wasn’t hard to see where he got it from. Without warning, Tobias closed the distance in between them and pinned her against the wall. Now inches away from her face, he grinned and held her there as she began to struggle.

“Tobias!”

“Just one kiss; it’s all a part of repairing the relationship, sweetheart. You’ll thank me afterwards.”

He made his goal clear when he tried to plant a kiss on her lips. Minerva struggled to avoid his lips, but due to the surprising amount of strength in his body, it wasn’t an easy feat. It was only after a good minute when she was able to kick him in between the legs that he stopped. Immediately hunching over and grabbing his crotch, the boy bit his lip and fell to the floor. Tears welled up in his eyes as he rolled back and forth.

"My spaghetti and meatballs!"

Highly upset, Minerva let out several profanities at the boy. Not only did he try to forcefully kiss her, but he made her have to really hurt him too. She watched as Tobias unsuccessfully tried to suppress the urge to cry. She couldn’t help but to feel a tinge of guilt as she saw his tears…and that only served to make her more upset, because he deserved it!

No, that wasn’t right. He didn’t deserve it…Blake did! How dare he set her up with three lunatics?! Letting out a growl at the thought of her soon to be ex-boyfriend, Minerva pulled out her phone. She called his number three times, but he didn’t answer either of them which only served to irritate her more. Oh, he was so gonna get it.

The party seemed to be getting more and more out of hand with each song the DJ played. The crowd of people that filled the apartment were jumping and dancing harder as the strobe lights flashed. Not one piece of food was thrown nor was any of the furniture damaged, but by the way it looked, it wouldn’t be long before it happened.

Blake, Chase, Damien and Louis were in the backyard of the apartment, setting up their instruments. They’d have to play on the lawn because there wasn’t nearly enough room to play inside with all those people. As the four boys traveled back and forth from Chase’s car, they laughed and spoke about whatever came to mind.

“I can’t wait to get in that party,” Damien said as he carried his bass guitar toward the lawn. He proceeded to let out a howling noise, which earned a laugh from the other guys.

“So that you can turn into a werewolf?” Louis raised an eyebrow.

“No, so I can dance with all those fine women.” He howled again. “Just thinking about it makes me want to unleash my inner animal.”

“Well you can tie that little puppy up because unfortunately for you, all those fine ladies will be dancing with me,” Chase said with a smirk.

Damien rolled his eyes and set the instrument on its stand on the grass. “Yeah, right. Unless all those ladies are blind, deaf and stupid, you don’t stand a chance against me.”

“You must’ve forgot about this face.”

“Chase, those girls may be attracted to that blonde hair and those blue eyes of yours, but they’ll leave once they get a whiff of your breath.”

“And run into your flabby arms?” Chase raised an eyebrow. “They sooner go to Louis, and you know he’s the ugliest of us all.”

Louis, who was setting up the mic, stopped to flip his friend off. “Both of you would be throwing in the towel if pit against me.”

“Care to put money on that?” Damien grinned devilishly.

“Ten.”

“Twenty.”

“Fifty,” Chase interjected as he continued to tune his guitar. “You scrubs are going down.”

“Done.”

“Done.”

“Hey Blake, you want to get in on this?” he asked his best friend, who was setting up the drums and cymbals by himself. “You probably stand the best chance against me.”

Blake was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t hear his friend address him, nor did he even hear their conversation. He was too busy thinking about his girlfriend and how she was faring with his nephews so far. By the fact that she already called once, he suspected not well.

He knew they could be a handful at times…okay, he knew they could be more than a handful. His sister had a hard time taking control of them herself, especially since their father wasn’t in the picture to put them in their place. Often times, she tried to make Blake the enforcer and male figure they should follow, but it didn’t work out as planned. Blake couldn’t control them—well, it’s not so much that he couldn’t; the amount of energy and seriousness required to put them in their place was too much to exert on Blake’s part. After the time the triplets tried to set the house on fire, he gave up on them.

And he knew all of that as he was leaving them in the hands of his girlfriend. He couldn’t help but to feel a bit guilty. He had been hoping she wouldn’t have any problems; after all, it was Minerva. She could and would put anyone in their place. Three boys wouldn’t be a problem…right? If wrong, then he’d pay dearly. Was this worth breaking up over?

No.

No?

Unsure about how angry Minerva would be by the end of everything, Blake began to get a little anxious. He had to make it up to her—do something special for her. But what?

“Blake!”

The sudden shout of his name snapped Blake out of his thoughts. “Huh?”

“I said do you want to get in on this?”

“What?”

“Whoever dances with the most girls wins fifty bucks a piece,” he explained, rising to his feet. “Bonus points if you get their number and ugly chicks don’t count.”

Blake grinned at the sound of easy money. “Definitely.”

“Are you sure you can participate, Blake? We wouldn’t want you to be in the dog house with Minerva.” Damien snickered.

“Too late,” Louis added and snickered as well. “By the looks of that slammed door, he won’t be getting any for a long time.”

Blake grimaced as his friends laughed at his expense. “You laugh now, but you’ll be crying when I’m collecting your money.”

“You hear that, Dame? He thinks he’s going to win.”

“I’m still trying to figure out how he’s going along with this. I don’t recall Minerva giving him permission.”

“She might have to break out that whip; Blake’s getting a little ballsy, trying to make decisions by himself and whatnot.”

Damien laughed and slapped hands with Louis, earning a glare from their friend. Blake hated when they started down that road, but this time he didn’t give them the satisfaction of a response. He just shook his head and continued to set up his drum set. Eventually the two guys finished with their instruments and wandered toward the apartment. Noticing that they had a head start on the bet, Chase quickly finished with his guitar.

“Don’t worry about it, Blake. Minnie Golf will understand you just dancing until were on.”

“Yeah, I guess…and with the money I win from you three, I’ll pay her.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself. I said you stood a good chance against me…not that you’d win.” The boy laughed. “Need any help?”

“No, I’m almost done.”

“See you inside then.”

Blake nodded and started putting the last of his drum set together quickly, wanting to get in the party as well. Just as he finished, he was tapped on the shoulder from behind. Turning around, he was surprised to see Renee there with a drink in her hand. The golden brown colored female looked especially good that evening; she was dressed to the nines in her red dress and heels. Her hair was also on point, the radiant brown ringlets resting gracefully on her shoulders. Her wide set eyes rested seductively on Blake. At first they rested specifically on Blake’s exposed chest, but then they rose to his eyes. She watched his eyes take in every curve the tight dress revealed. When his gaze finally met hers, he looked away quickly.

“Renee…I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“You didn’t expect to see me at my own party?”

“Oh, right. This is your party, isn’t it? And it’s your apartment too…I guess I forgot…even though your name is on the door…”

She chuckled as he stumbled over his words which made Blake’s heart beat a little faster. She always did have a pretty laugh to him; like wind chimes or ringing bells. He used to love making her laugh; it was one of his favorite things about her. After the year they’d been apart, he thought he’d been over it by now, but apparently not so. Feeling a bit awkward, he rubbed the back of his head and kept his eyes on his drum set.

Renee stared at him with a kind smile and handed him the drink. “I thought you might be thirsty after all that heavy lifting, so I brought you something to drink.”

Blake nodded at her. “I kind of was. Thanks.”

She watched him take a sip. “So…”

“So…thanks for asking us to play.”

“Of course. Anything to support you.”

“Right.” Blake paused and rubbed the back of his head again. “So…it’s just the two of us out here…alone…by ourselves…no one’s around…which could give off the wrong impression…we should probably head into the party…”

“Blake, you’re too cute.” She chuckled again. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to avoid me.”

“I’m not avoiding you…I’m just trying to keep away from you for the duration of this party.”

“And why, pray tell, would that be? Don’t want to upset your little friend—what’s her face? Minotaur?”

“Minerva. And yeah, she’d be upset if she saw us here…alone…by ourselves…with no one else around…”

Renee gave her ex a pitiful look. “What is she, your warden? I never said you could only talk to certain people when we were together.”

Not wanting to talk anything about their relationship, Blake quickly downed all of the drink in his glass. “Look at that, I’m out of something to drink. I should go get some more…”

Sensing that he was about to walk away, Renee put her hand on his chest to stop him. “Wait.”

Blake wouldn’t have waited had she not touched him, but since she did, he stopped. He looked from her doe eyed expression to her hand, uncomfortable. When she saw his uncomfort, she took her hand back and offered another smile. “One dance.”

“I don’t think so.”

“One dance, Blake. That’s all I’m asking; it’s just three minutes. You can spare three minutes for the host, can’t you?”

“…three minutes?”

“Three minutes.”

He looked reluctant, but agreed; at least he’d have one dance for the bet already. “Fine.”

“Great.”

She was leading him to the apartment when his phone began to ring. Suspecting that it was Minerva, he dug in his pocket and pulled it out, but didn’t get the chance to confirm it before he was stopped again by Renee. She grabbed his hand and put on a pouty face. “Three minutes doesn’t include texting or calling.”

“It’ll only take a second.”

“I only get one hundred and eighty of them; you’ll have to forgive me for being stingy with the time I’ve got. You gave me three minutes and I want every last second of them.”

He sighed and mumbled another ‘fine’. He ignored the buzzing and started to put the smartphone back in his pocket, but Renee swiped it from him quickly.

“Hey—”

“And just to make sure you’re not tempted…” She put his phone in her bra causing Blake’s eyes to widen. When she saw his expression and speechlessness she just laughed and continued pulling him inside the apartment.

When Minerva originally turned Allison’s door handle, it was to make sure it was locked like she thought. Her first surprise came when she found out it was open. Her second came from when she saw Mason in the room. But it was the third and final surprise that was the biggest—one that left Minerva’s jaw on the ground.
There was Mason, standing on her roommates bed, dressed in her clothes and posing with his phone in his hand as if he was about to take a picture. The clothes were so tight on him that they were bursting at the seams. When the boy saw her enter, he immediately jumped off the bed.

"I can explain.”

"Cross dressing?!" she yelled when she was able to regain the ability to speak.

“No.” He shook his head. “Well, actually, a little…but not because I wanted to. I told you before, I’m playing Truth or Dare. I never choose truth.

"Get out of her clothes!"

"Can you wait a second? I have to take the picture to prove I did it."

“Now!”

"Alright, fine. Geez, I can’t do anything." He agreed reluctantly. “The clothes are coming off, so you can lower your blood pressure already.”

He began to take the blue blouse off extremely slow in attempts not to ruin it any further. Getting angrier with each second he took, Minerva closed the door and charged at him. Upon further inspection, she realized that the clothes he wore actually belonged to her; they were random articles of clothes Allison borrowed but had yet to return. That only seemed to increase her rage.

"Can you move faster than the pace of molasses?"

"Hey, I was trying to be nice and not damage it anymore. If I go faster it might rip. Is that what you want?"

"No, I want you to finish taking off my clothes! Now!"

“Wait, these are your clothes? You’re dressing a bit young for you age, don’t you think?”

He smirked at her, which he soon discovered was the wrong thing to do. Minerva grabbed the shirt by the sleeves and started pulling it off of him.

"Ouch! Wait a minute! Hey, you're being too rough!" Mason yelled as he was tugged around by the stubborn shirt that refused to be pulled over his head. "Are you trying to kill me?"

As she continued to struggle pulling the shirt off of him, the door suddenly opened and Twitch popped his head in. There was a confused, yet amused look on his face as he stared at the two.

"What do you want?" Minerva growled once she noticed him.

"I wanted to tell you to keep it down, because you’re interrupting my show," he said and then flashed her a grin. "Also, it doesn't sound too G-rated from out there."

“We’ll be out in a minute.”

He looked at her curiously. “If you need help stripping, I’m sure Tobias will be more than happy to assist you.”

Minerva glared daggers at the boy and he quickly closed the door. She then turned back to Mason and hissed. “I have to go, but I want you out of my clothes. When you get them off, wash them, dry them, iron them, fold them neatly…and then set them on fire!"

"Yay, arson."

Minerva shot Mason another glare so strong that even he used a bit of wisdom and closed his mouth. When she exited the room, she expected to see Twitch sitting on the couch, watching something on television. She did not expect to see, however, four random college students sitting on the floor in front of a grinning Twitch.

“Um, excuse me? Who are you people?” she spoke immediately. “Twitch, what’s going on?”

“Ah, Minerva, you’re just in time. The Great Twitchini is about to start his magic show! Only one quarter admission, but I won’t charge you since I’m using your apartment. By the way, thanks for being a good sport.”

How many years in prison would she get for the murder of three boys?