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doing.
    “What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the name Cinderella ?”
    Mom thought a moment. “Glass slippers.”
    I laughed. “Exactly. Now, all I have to do is find a pair of glass slippers and put them in the display so when kids look at them, they’ll think Cinderella .”
    “That’s a wonderful idea,” Mom said. She was smiling like she had won something.
    “The only problem is, I don’t think the junkyard slash flea market will have glass slippers just lying around the yard … for free.”
    “Oh, you don’t need a junkyard slash anything,” Mom said. “Your best bet might be the bridal shops. They have to replace those plastic see-through shoes all the time, and if you explain to them what you need them for, they may give you a pair.”
    “Awesome!” I yelled. “Mom, you’re the best!” I jumped up and hugged her.
    “More sucking up, I see,” Sister Creature said, sweeping into the room, leaving darkness and despair over all she sees.
    I dropped to the floor.
    “Jax,” Mom asked. “What are you doing?”
    “She’s sucking the life out of me,” I said, rolling around, my hands around my throat.
    “I’ll put my hands around your throat if you don’t get up,” Dana said.
    Dad walked into the room and saw me on the floor.
    “His sister sucking the life out of him again?” he asked after kissing Mom hello.
    “All of us,” I whispered. “Run. Save yourselves.”
    “Oh, get up,” Dana said, not having fun anymore.
    Dad reached his hand down and helped me back to my feet.
    “The guys are coming over later,” I said.
    “All of them?” my dad asked.
    “Yeah.” I nodded. “Both Wahoo brothers, Korie, and Crunch.”
    “Can’t the Wahoos come over one at a time?” Dad asked.
    “Nah,” I said. “With the Wahoos, you get both or none.”
    “None’s good,” he said without hesitation. “I don’t have to think about that twice.”
    “You have to admit you do kind of like watching them beat on each other.”
    Dad laughed again. “Reminds me of my brothers when we were about your age … only about a hundred pounds heavier.”
    I told Mom and Dad all about Bartholomew and his master plan to have us do all the work with him taking all the credit. Sister Creature played with her iPhone, checking imaginary messages and pretending she had all these friends on the other end texting her back.
    About seven o’clock, I heard the rumble coming down the street. Cars were honking, kids were yelling, and dogs were barking. I ran to the back door and opened it up right before Mouth and Tank slammed it against the cabinets … again.
    They stumbled onto the porch and then hesitated, watching the door swing open slowly before them. I peeked around the corner and saw they were totally freaked out.
    “You thought it was haunted, didn’t you?” I said, flinging the door all the way open, bashing the cabinet anyway.
    “Heck, no,” Mouth muttered. “We just thought if you were going to go to all that trouble to scare us we might as well … ”
    “He was scared to death,” Tank said, walking around Mouth and into the kitchen.
    Mouth pushed him and then passed him.
    “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Murphy,” Mouth said, “I’m so surprised to see you.”
    “It’s my house, Mouth,” Dad said.
    “Mr. M.,” Tank said. “Mrs. M., Sister Creature … I mean Dana.”
    Suddenly, there was a crash at the door.
    “You’re both here,” Dad said. “What the heck was that?”
    I opened the door to find Crunch rolling around on the ground, holding his shoulder.
    “What are you doing?” I asked.
    “The Wahoos have made that entrance, like, a thousand times,” Crunch said, the wind and dignity knocked out of him.
    “The Wahoos never try to bust the door off the hinges,” I said. “It’s timing, Crunch. You let me know you’re out there, and I unlock the door just in time for you to fall in. No broken woodwork and no broken bones.”
    Korie came through the backyard and stepped