CHAPTER THREE

Krisja's shared a room at the very top of the house with Laurie. it had a large window facing the back yard, so Krisja hadn't been able to see it from the road. through it you could see the garden where carol worked almost every day and the orchard where Tom worked. the orchard was fairly large, and Krisja couldn't see quite where it ended because it was sort of overlapped by a pine forrest near the edge of the property. laurie had told Krisja that the sims owned quite a bit of the forrest property, and that someday she would show her around the area, she and the twins had found a clubhouse in the trees, but it was farther away and it would be an all day long activity to go visit. Krisja doubted that she would be here long enough to see it. 

The room itself was not very big, but there was enough room for both of the girls' small possessions. all krisja owned could fit inside of her backpack, her clothes, her hairbrush, and her journal. there were two beds, on opposite sides of the window, and one closet. 

There was a knock at the door, as Krisja tucked her backpack under her bed. She had learned to not unpack over the years. Since she never seemed to be able to stick. 

"Come in!" Laurie called, and in walked the twins. 

"Hey Laurie, have you seen a pair of aviator goggles lying around?" Max asked innocently.

"What are you up to?" Laurie asked suspiciously, straightening up from where she had been bending over to make her bed. 

"Nothing!" said the girl, "Nothing!" She kept throwing glances at Krisja though, and Laurie noticed.

"You two haven't been formally introduced have you?" she asked. Krisja shook her head and Laurie said, "Krisja, this is Melinda, Melinda, this is Krisja." 

Melinda lifted a hand in greeting and said, "I prefer Mel though," 

Krisja nodded and said, "Nice to meet you." She finally got a good look at Mel though; she looked strikingly similar to her twin (no duh), except for her dark hair was long and fell to her waist. She wore dark green parachute pants, black sneakers, and a black jacket over a white T-shirt, that had the Irish flag on the shoulder. 

Krisja noticed that Max was wearing a pair of aviator goggles pushed up to his hairline making the front bit stand up. "Anyways, we haven't seen your aviator goggles Mel, we'll help you look later." Laurie told them.

Mel and Max nodded, and backed up out of the room. "Always be suspicious of those two." Laurie told Krisja, "They're a couple of mischief-makers." Laurie smiled, and Krisja couldn't help but smile too. "But they're sweethearts if you're nice to them." Laurie added.

Krisja really hoped that she would stay at least long enough to get to know these kids better, but she pushed that thought away. if she got to know them then it would only cause grief if either they or she had to leave. again, over the years she had learned...

"never mind! i found them!" mel shouted from the other room. 

after that, things were quiet, and after a few minutes, Laurie began to get suspicious. 

"we'd better see what they are up to." she said as she got up. no sooner than she had, there was a shout.

"COWABUNGA!!!!" shouted max, followed by a large CRASH!!

Laurie sped from the room, closely followed by Krisja. they dashed into the twins' room, just in time to see mel wearing her aviator goggles and clutching one of the spare bed sheets, climbing out the window. 

"HEY MAX!" she hollered, "ARE YOU OKAY!? HOW WAS IT?!"

"MELINDA!! WHAT THE DEVIL ARE YOU DOING!?" screamed Laurie.

Mel jumped in surprise, then she turned around guiltily. "umm..." she said looking at the sheet, "making my bed?" she said hopefully. 

"With aviator goggles?" Laurie said sarcastically.

 "Okay, max and I found out that if you hold all of the corners of these sheets, they make swell parachutes! We're trying them out!" she paused, "And you can't stop me! " she said as she began climbing out the window again. 

"OH YES I CAN!!" screamed Laurie, grabbing Mel's ankles. Then, after a tug-of-war moment, they both came tumbling into the room. There was a brief struggle, the sheet fell to the floor, and Laurie had Mel in a head lock. 

"Now we can talk this through..." she started to say.

Mel gave an enormous heave, toppling Laurie off balance towards the window!!

"WATCH OUT!!" screamed Krisja, but it was too late. Laurie's feet got tangled around the sheet on the ground, and she screamed.

Krisja watched on in horror as her new friends disappeared through the open window.