The Hitting Zone

Kaylee's parents were on the bottom of my list though. They had a clear goal in mind for what they expected of their daughters. Which wouldn't be so bad if it didn't sound like an absolute requirement. Anything less, and they were considered failures. I'll never forget our first dinner with them and how mean they were to me. Someone they barely knew. Noah said they were the stereotypical bad bible thumper that gave all believers a bad name.

I could only say that they were successful. I definitely didn't think well of them. I felt bad for Kaylee who was having a tough time with her parents and the indifference she was feeling from Marie. I could relate with my own birth family experience, but now I had no complaints. The Atkins were like the perfect tv family that I had imagined. Not 'perfect' in the sense that nothing ever went wrong and no one fought, but that they could have peaceful resolutions and keep good relationships with one another.

"Jake, your turn!" Alisha came at me with a giant black chapstick looking thing. We had long finished dinner and made little cakes like Alisha had wanted. It was fun, but I definitely made the ugliest one. Now we were prepping to leave since it was completely dark out. Noah and I had put our sweatshirts on inside out so it was completely black. If that wasn't enough, Alisha was now putting eye black over our cheeks. A ridiculous amount. Normally it was used by some players and athletes that needed to reduce the glare of the sun. Now we're using it for disguise.

"The car is stocked with rolls of toilet paper." Alisha's dad came in from the garage. He was also dressed in all black despite saying that he wouldn't be leaving the car to help us. 'Leave the fun to the kids' was what he had said.

"Awesome." Noah gave him two thumbs up. He then looked to Kaylee. "I say we be in charge of doing the houses. We'll be more efficient and effective. Alisha and Jake have weaker arms so they should just do the yards and cars."

Kaylee nodded. "Yea, we'll be faster than them for sure." She glanced at me as I was getting my face covered. "Do you understand how to do this? We gotta be fast."

"I watched a couple of videos..." I said. "I get it."

We finished getting ready and put on our hoods. Alisha's mom waved us goodbye as we went into the garage. Alisha sat in the front passenger seat while the three of us sat in the middle row.

Noah, in the middle seat between me and Kaylee, started to pull out rolls of toilet paper and pass it around until everyone had two rolls each. "Kaylee's house first."

Kaylee nodded. "Yea. My parents should already be asleep by now. And Marie is out with Kyle."

"So she's just going to come to this instead of waking up to it?" Alisha asked. "Do you think she'll clean it up right when she gets home?"

Kaylee laughed. "No way. Clean in the dark? She'll probably just be annoyed and complain to her boyfriend." She gave us the side eye. "Better not snitch."

"What good would that do us?" Noah snickered. "I think it'd be great if she asks her boyfriend to help her clean up."

That got Kaylee to laugh. "Don't be light-handed just because it's the first house, guys."

Alisha's dad pulled up just outside Kaylee's house. Only the porch light was on, thankfully she didn't live next to the street light. The four of us exited the car, but didn't close the doors so there wouldn't be any extra sounds. Kaylee went directly to the porch light and wrapped it with toilet paper, dimming it which provided us with more cover.

Noah and Kaylee started to work on the house, throwing their rolls back and forth, looking like they had done this before. I looked to Alisha and saw her already decorating the front bushes with pieces of toilet paper. I hurried to join.

Big trees and cars were done by the pros. Alisha and I did the little pieces all over the yard like snow, getting plenty around rose bushes. I was nervous before, but as soon as we started it all went away. It was fun seeing how the yard started to look like a winter wonderland and how creative Noah and Kaylee could get. Near the end, they gestured for us to go back. Then they threw two rolls directly over the tallest part of the house, letting the rolls stream long pieces until it hit the roof and went for the backyard. They came sprinting to the car and we squished, closed the doors in a hurry, and Alisha's dad started to casually drive like he wasn't the getaway driver.

"Shouldn't we be speeding away?" Alisha asked him breathlessly.

"We'll look more suspicious if we're in a hurry." He told her. "We're just trying to blend in for now."

"Think that thump will wake up your parents?" Noah asked Kaylee.

She shrugged. "Depends if they turned on their sound machine tonight. Or not. Either way, we didn't get caught." She leaned forward. "Jason is just a block away, should we drive around more or go directly there?"

"Let's not look lost and confused. It'll attract people who intend to help." Alisha's dad said. "Point me to his house. We'll park on the street and scope it out for a little bit to make sure it's in the clear."

Kaylee gave directions over his shoulder and we parked a little ways down.

"Seems quiet." Noah checked his watch. "9:45. We're cutting it close." Dave still plans on getting us after 10:30 from Alisha's even though her dad said he could take us home. "Jason's at Garret's so we have to be quick. He could come home anytime."

"I say we keep it light, just the yard." Kaylee said.

"Maybe the car in the driveway too since there's only one." Alisha added. "Like try to spell out 'senior' or something."

"Too long." Noah shook his head. "We should just do 3B. That's his position. But we'll need water so the pieces don't fly away in the breeze or it'll just be wasted effort."

Alisha found a half used water bottle at her feet. "Ready."

We made sure our hoods were back up and that the coast was clear before exiting the car. This time we did close the doors so his car wouldn't stand out so much. Alisha passed the water bottle to Noah and then came with me to work on the grass and bushes. Kaylee did a tree nearby while Noah worked on the car. This time was much shorter as we didn't go as hard. Jason was just collateral for doing Kaylee's and Austin's.

We went back to the car as calmly and quietly as possible even though a few cars passed us nearby. My hands were shaking as we got into the car and hurried to close the doors.

Just as Alisha's dad was about to pull away, we saw Jason's car pulling into the empty spot on the driveway.

"Oh man!" Noah rubbed his hands together.

We all watched in anticipation as Jason slowly got out of his car and looked around. He looked stunned. He inspected the other car and we saw him lift his phone and take a pic with the flash on.

"Should we leave?" Alisha whispered.

"I think we have to pass up on the last house." Her dad said normally. "It's almost time for the boys to get picked up."

"Aw, man." Noah slumped in his seat.

My shoulders dropped in disappointment too. This was kind of fun. And I thought Austin was well deserving of a little inconvenience.

"Can we take them home and do the last house ourselves?" Kaylee asked.

Alisha looked to her dad with hopeful eyes. "Please?"

He laughed. "I don't see why not. Maybe I'll even help you girls out. It'll be even later in the night so less chance of getting caught."

"Give him all the toilet paper left." Noah told Kaylee. "Stick it to his windows and cover all the grass. It has to look spectacular. Much worse than yours."

She nodded, clearly on board. "Don't worry. I'll send you guys pics when we're done."

Alisha's dad took us back to the house, where we rushed to wash our faces. Dave showed up just as I dried my face. Noah and I said our goodbyes and went out to the car to meet with Dave.

Dave did a double take at the sight of me getting in the back. "Uh, Jake? Why is your sweatshirt on wrong?"

It was only then that I noticed Noah had taken his off.

"He was in a hurry when we were walking out." Noah answered smoothly for me.

I nodded. I took the sweatshirt off and put it on right.

Dave didn't look convinced. "Okay." He started to drive us home. "So what did you guys do all night?"

"Mostly chill. Had dinner with Alisha's parents so it was pretty PG." Noah told him. "We also made little cakes-" Noah slapped his forehead. "Shoot. We forgot them. I've got to text Alisha to bring them tomorrow. We can eat on the bus."

"You're going to eat a whole cake the ride to a game?" Dave asked in disbelief.

"Not like I get to play." Noah shrugged, pulled out his phone and started to text.

"What about you, Jake?"

I shrugged. "I'm trying to increase my calorie count."

Dave laughed. "I doubt Mom had cake in mind."

"She wouldn't say no." I said fairly confident. Mom was kind of scared by my low weight to increasing height problem.

We talked about his time at Garret's before rolling up to our house. We all got out and went inside...finding Kyle trying to leave.

Mom was refusing. "No way, young man. It's too late. If it's not a matter of life and death, it can wait until the morning."

"It'll be harder to clean in the morning, Mom." Kyle complained. He saw us coming in. "Look. Dave's back. I can take the family car instead now."

"Where are you trying to go?" Dave was confused.

Noah and I shared a knowing look before joining in.

"Yea, it's late." Noah added. "Is anything even open?"

"Marie's house got TP'd." Kyle stated with some annoyance. "She called me as soon as she got home and I figured it'd only be right for her boyfriend to help her out and clean it." His eyes brightened. "Hey, if you guys help, it'll be done much faster."

"Look at the time." Dave let out an exaggerated yawn and headed for the stairs. "Need to get my pjs on."

Noah was right behind him. "Yep, yep. We have a game tomorrow. And I'll probably need to take care of my blisters again if the fluid comes back."

I silently followed behind the pair, making sure my stance was clear that I didn't want to go either. The three of us