“Right this way, technicolor freak,” Jason responded. Tommy hit him in the back of his head, but joined in the laughter that filled the hall way.

When the adults reached the pool, it didn’t surprise them to see Kira sitting on the edge of the pool, Trent, Conner, and Ethan in the water around her, talking in low voices, and trying to calm the yellow teen down. She appeared to have tears in her eyes. The three boys turned to glare at Tommy the moment they noticed him nearby. Tommy sighed. “Give me a minute you guys. I have to talk to my teammates,” he said simply.

“Of course,” Jason replied. Kimberly and Trini hugged him around the shoulders, and then Kimberly gave him a push towards the teenagers, before the adults sat down by the lounge chairs, falling into their own conversations.

Tommy stumbled a bit due to Kim’s push, but steadied himself and then sat down beside Kira.The first floor of the house was full of noise. Kira and Zack had turned the family room into their own private nightclub; Kira was dancing on one couch and Zack on the other, both of them singing along to an old CD of Jason’s. In the living room, miscellaneous monkey noises were issuing from the TV; Trini, Ethan and Billy were taking turns beating levels on Donkey Kong Country. Billy was far more comfortable with old-school Nintendo, Super NES and Sega games, and Trini and Ethan were more than happy to level the playing field. Kimberly sat huddled on the loveseat next to Trini, the two of them talking in low voices, the dog’s head in Trini’s lap and one paw up on Kimberly’s leg as though trying to console her. Billy and Ethan were on the couch, complaining about Snow Barrel Blast and Oil Drum Alley, whatever that meant. Conner had stumbled off to the bathroom and a groggy Trent was sitting on an armchair, watching his girlfriend dance.So with Charlotte on her way back from Paris, Kim dutifully went to the pet shop and bought two more fish, depositing them in the tank less than an hour before their arrival. Charlotte was thrilled to see her fish and didn’t even seem to notice that the pair were a completely different breed. However, just before their departure back to France, the entire house was woken up to her screams. The fish were dead; again. After a family burial in the back yard, Kim dutifully took a sobbing Charlotte back to the pet store and purchased two more goldfish. This time Kim put down a good two hundred dollars for fish, a ten gallon tank, gravel, filter, and everything else that goes along with having fish. Charlotte sweetly kissed the fish tank goodbye on her way to the airport and Kim was left staring at two fantail goldfish who looked as if they both knew they had only hours to live.