Chapter 9

• There was chaos in The House as usual when Annabelle walked in the door. She stepped over six book bags that lay haphazardly in the entryway. She could hear Top 40 music coming from one bedroom and the beginning of an argument coming from another as she passed the hallway on her way to the core of the house.
• She heard the pop of a baseball mitt coming through the open windows at the rear of the house, and she knew that Kyle and Ricky were in the midst of their usual bout of catch. Any minute, one of them would be complaining that the other one had horrible aim. They would argue and then move to the next activity, playing with their Bakugan or competing at baseball on the Wii.
• She walked into the great room to hear Scooter giggling as he sat next to her fellow counselor, Jackson, on the couch, arguing the merits of Spiderman versus Batman.