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"And... It's a wild! Great, now I can get revenge." Ted turned the battle thing towards one of Seth's planets and set four ships on it. Ted glanced over at Daniel who laid four more ships on it.

"Daniel, you can't ally with Ted, if he gets another planet, he wins the game." I was setting up as many ships as I could next to Seth's planet. A good eleven ships.

"There's a thing called joint victories, right?" [Daniel]

"You'd still need another planet to win, and you won't get that oppurtunity if he wins this fight."

"Right, like it matters, I mean, you guys know I have a fourty." [Ted]

Seth pointed to his race card, "Virus," then pointed to mine, "Amoeba. We have both of our flare cards."

"So, it's twelve times whatever number he plays." [Me]

"And now it's sixteen times whatever number he plays." Daniel moved his ships over to Seth's planet.

"Jerk." [Ted]

"Sorry, but I'm playing logically." [Daniel]

I reached out and grabbed a card off the top of the deck. None of them noticed. I looked at the Filch card in my hand and smiled a little, feeling proud of my genius.

"Hey, Ted, could you get me a soda?" [Me]

"Yeah, sure." He got up and left the room. I pulled out my filch card and set it down in front of them, taking all my ships out of the "Warp" and setting them next to Seth's planet. Ted came in and saw how my eleven ships had gone up to seventeen.

"You... You fucking cheater!" I showed him the filch card and he face palmed so hard he was staggered by it.

"Thanks for the soda-"

"No, you don't get soda!" He yanked it out of my hand as I opened it, and guzzled the whole thing down in front of us.

"I still need a soda." [Me]

"Make someone else get it."

"Wait, the card says that the deck and discard pile need to be moved closer to the person who has the filch card." Seth moved the decks closer to me, and Ted was staring at them the whole time, glancing at them every other second.

"So, we're up to what, twenty-ish?" [Daniel]

"Twenty two, yeah." [Seth]

"Okay, play a three and we're good." [Me]

"That's such bullshit." [Ted]

"Not really, it's just luck." [Seth]

"You know what else is bullshit?" [Ted]

"What?" [Daniel]

"Forcefields!" Ted slammed the card down on the deck, and me and Daniel reluctantly pulled our ships out of the fight. "And Plagues!" Ted slammed another card down on the deck, and Seth threw away half his deck and all but one ship on the planet.

"Right, and Ted wins the game." [Daniel]

"Yeah... That was getting ridiculous anyways." [Seth]

"What, you're not even gonna bother revealing your card?" [Ted]

"It's an eight, Ted. It's not gonna beat a fourty."

"Oh, I didn't even have a fourty. I only had a fourteen."

"Still. That's eight against eighteen, you still win."

"Yeah, I know. Okay, so let's wrap it up. I won." We all started packing up Cosmic Encounter and putting the game away.

"Alex, you're diabolical." [Ted]

"Yeah, I know." [Me]

"I didn't get a chance to read the card, what's it do?" [Daniel]

"It makes cheating into a game mechanic, basically." [Seth]

"Yeah, and it's a terrible card. You know, unless you have it." [Ted]

"I feel like this would be more strategic than chess, if it weren't for the fucking powers." [Seth]

"It's still more strategic than chess, but it's got a lot of random bullshit in it that makes you question whether or not cheating already is a game mechanic." [Ted]

"Dude, you need to get an expansion for this game." [Daniel]

"I want one, it's cool because every expansion adds another color, so the more expansions you have, the more people that can play." [Ted]

"Right, so then X and Zane could play with us." [Seth]

"With out taking turns, yes."

"Man, I'm sick of board games. How about some Halo?" [Me]

"Can't, gotta pack for Fourth of July." [Seth]

"Yeah, and I gotta go buy some million and a half fire crackers." [Ted]

"Oh, who's my little pyromaniac?" [Daniel]

"Me..." [Ted]

"Wait, why do you need to pack for fourth of July?" [Me]

"I'm going to my cousin's. It's cool, he lives in like the middle of no where, so they get to stay up really late lighting off fire works and stuff." [Seth]

"Oh, so I guess my family wouldn't be able to come."

"Oh I'm sure you guys could. No they throw this huge fourth of July bash, and it's awesome. Huge barbeques and stuff, I'm sure you and your parents could come."

"Wait, is your cousin... Markus? Well, yeah, I guess there's only so many people with the last name Cranilus." [Ted]

"How do you know my cousin?" [Seth]

"My cousin's dating him, and they invited our whole family out to their bash, and we asked if Daniel and his family could come out."

"Obviously, all otters and zebras were meant to be together." [Daniel]

"Obviously. So, Alex, do you think you come out?" [Seth]

"Yeah, I'll check." I pulled out my flip phone- I know, flip phones are ancient, but they're indestructible unlike those flimsy smart phones. Anyways, I don't like having a lot of apps on my phone, it just needs to be able to text and call and have a calculator. That last one's usually for school.

I texted my parents about the party, Hey, Seth's going to his cousin's house but invited us. Could we go?

Mom texted back, Sorry, dad already planned something with the church's pastor. We're going out to they're friend's house. :(

I looked up at Ted, "Isn't your dad the pastor of a church?"

"Yeah, why?"

"'Cause apparently my parents planned something with their pastor, to go to their friend's place for the Fourth. Wow. The connections in this town are gonna give me a head ache."

"You get used to it." [Ted]

"Small world." [Daniel]

I texted her back, Your pastor wouldn't happen to be married to a woman who worships egyptian gods, would they?

Yeah, how'd you know?

That's Ted's parents.

Oh, good! So you can ride out with Ted if you want! :)

Seth's and Ted's cousins are dating.

... Are you kidding me?

I know. This town is ridiculous.

Yeah. So, how are we gonna get all of us out there?

I guess Ted and Daniel already had plans, I'll ask about Seth.

I looked up at Seth, "Hey, when are you gonna go to your cousin's?"

"I'm leaving tonight. It's a two hour ride, and any chance to spend the night at Mark's place is awesome, so we're not coming home until the day after to help clean up and stuff."

"Oh, I'll see if I can ride with you then, 'cause that sounds awesome."

"Okay. I'm sure my parents won't mind."

I texted mom again, Okay, so Seth's spending the night there tonight and tomorrow. Can I ride with him?

Don't you want to get fireworks?

I'm sure there'll be enough, you said it yourself, they live out of town.

Right. Okay, have fun, be safe, we'll see you tomorrow! :)

Okay.

I put my phone away and looked up to myself alone in the dining room. I turned around and went into the main room, finding myself still alone. I went down into Seth's bedroom, and found him there.

"Hey, where'd Ted and Daniel go?"

"To go get money from home. I decided now would be a good time to pack. What shirts are in your backpack?"

"Uhh... The Oblivion one and a blank black tee."

"Okay, and which pants?"

"I only brought one pair of pajama pants."

"You do realize people are gonna be there, right? We need to wear jeans or shorts or something."

"But... those aren't as comfortable as pajama pants."

"Hey, I'm not the one who wrote the rules of where to and not to wear certain clothes."

"Right, were that true, woman would all wear sundresses and ball gowns while guys walked around in their underwear."

"No, gay guys get to walk around in their underwear, everyone else has to wear clothes."

"Ah, even better. A way for homophobes to target gays."

"Yeah, and a way for heterophobes like us to target straights."

"Psh, you're ridiculous."

"Yeah... Seriously though, you need shorts or something."

"But... Come on, does it really matter?"

"Eh, probably. Markus can be one to judge, and I know my mom's gonna make me wear shorts, so obviously we wouldn't be wearing the same clothes and-"

"Okay, I'm gonna run home quick and get a pair of shorts."

"'Kay, grab blanket while you're at it."

"Why?"

"'Cause yours are warmer than mine, duh."

"And then we're using-"

"My pillows, of course we are."

"Man... You'd think we'd been somewhere together before with how organized we are."

"Organized? You kidding me?" He showed me the inside of his backpack, and all the clothes were just wadded up and shoved inside.