On Saturday Joel, Pixley, Benji, Heather, Billy and Paul were in Heather's backyard. Heather was showing off for Benji by doing double back flips and Pixley just sat on the grass with her arms crossed complaining she can't do that.
Billy patted her on the back. "Why aren't you doing any of that?"
She looked up at him. "I can't."
"You could." He and Paul agreed. "I saw you."
Pixley fell back on the grass. "Ah! No. Now you're gonna make me do it aren't you?"
Billy and Paul nodded pulling Pixley to her feet.
Joel walked over to the three. "Sup?"
Pixley looked at him. "The sky and..." She looked up. "No clouds."
Joel sighed. "What were you talking about?"
"Instead of telling you, how about Pixley shows you a double back, hand stand, back one handed round off?" Paul grinned. "I watched you do it before."
"That's not exact, but I can try." She walked over to one side of the yard and did the same routine she did for the tryouts that Paul and Billy had seen, much to her dismay.
Benji, Joel, Billy and Paul applauded. "I haven't done that for about a year." She said, standing next to Joel.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "That was really good."
"No, that wasn't good enough for the team. So it's crap."
"I've seen some of their routines and they suck."
"I came up with some and they made 'adjustmets' to them, so I quit." Heather stated.
After a while Pixley finally gave in and agreed she was pretty good. Heather ran inside and grabbed the ringing phone. "Pixley!" She ran outside with the phone in hand. "Pixley, it's your aunt. It's urgent."
Pixley took the phone and sat on the deck steps.
Benji looked at Heather. "What's going on?"
Heather shook her head. "I don't know. It's about her mom. I didn't ask."
Pixley walked over to them. She tried to speak but she couldn't. Tears welled up in her eyes. Joel hugged her, she cried on his shoulder. "Roy came to Aunt Betty's house and now Mom is gone."
"What happened?" Benji asked.
Billy and Paul were confused, they had no idea about Roy or Pixley's mom. All they knew was that Pixley was staying with Benji and Joel for the time being.
"She didn't tell me a lot. She just said that Roy came over, smacked Aunt Betty and when she woke up Mom was gone. Aunt Betty called the police, but..."
Billy looked at Paul. "I think we should go. It's getting late." Billy said.
"Yeah." Paul nodded.
"See ya Monday." Billy waved as he and Paul walked out the back gate.
Heather looked confused. "OK then?"
Joel sat on the grass with Pixley in his arms. "Do you wanna go home?" He asked.
She nodded. "Sorta."
Benji wrapped his arms around Heather. "What do you mean sorta?" Heather asked.
"I wanna go to bed, but I don't wanna get up."
Joel picked her up. She leaned her head on is shoulder. "We'll sa ya tomorrow Heather, unless you wanna come over?"
"Actually, my parents are having a BBQ in about half an hour. So I can't leave. Otherwise, I'd come." She pulled away from Benji and kissed his cheek. "I'll come by tomorrow though."
~
Joel took Pixley to their room and layed her on the bed. She had fallen asleep in the car. She woke up and looked at Joel. He smiled and layed next to her. "You OK?"
"Yeah, I just wish I knew if Mom was OK."
"I'm sure she's fine." He kissed her cheek and wrapped his arms around her.
She turned to face him. "I love when you try to comfort me." She gently caressed his cheek. He kissed her lips softly.
Benji came into the room. "Can you please do that some where private?" He flopped on his bed. "You two really just need to do it and get it over with." He sighed.
Pixley glared at Benji and threw a pillow at him, hitting him right in the face. She smirked and layed back down. Joel laughed at his brothers distressed look. "Uh oh." Pixley muttered. She tried to run, but Benji pounced on her. He brought her to the floor with a loud thud. Joel jumped on his brother. "AH! Get off! I can't breathe."
Josh came into the room. "Guys, get off her."
Joel and Benji looked at Josh. "Why?" They asked.
"Cause you're squishing her." He pulled his brothers off Pixley.
Pixley just layed on the floor. "Thank you." She smiled at Josh.
Joel helped her up. "Sorry. Didn't mean to squish you."
"S'ok."
"OK, you love birds make me sick, so come eat dinner. Mom's at work, so it's just us and Sarah." Josh said, leaving the room with Benji.
Joel got off the bed and walked towards the door. Pixley stood with a crack. "Ow."
Joel looked at her and shrugged. "Sorry."
"It's K. You'll just have to gimme a message later." She grinned.
He grinned back. "Okie."
~
After dinner Pixley got a phone call from Roy. "Where's mom?"
"She's fine you little bitch. Just listen. Tomorrow, go home. You're mother and I'll be there. Then we can all be a happy family again." He sounded insain. "You call the cops, I'll kill her." He hung up.
Pixley went pail and dropped the phone. She sat on the floor and started crying. Joel wrapped his arms around her. "He's gonna kill her."
"No he won't. She's gonna be fine." Benji tried to comfort her. He paced the room and tried to think.