14 Chapter 14

The day for the water war had finally arrived and Roxie was already up getting the whole backyard ready for the epic battle. It was 7:30 in the morning and Roxie was overlooking at the course that she had created for the group in the band's backyard. The backyard was pretty big for Roxie's point of view, which was a huge benefactor for the game. The problem was that the backyard overall had very little coverage or shelter for each team to use throughout the whole battle. When everything was in place; Roxie went back inside the house to go fill up the water balloons. When Roxie came inside the house, Calvin was entering the kitchen to grab some fruit to eat before his morning run.

"Hey; why are you up so early? You should be in bed asleep or something." Roxie whispered.

"I usually go out for a little run in the morning, but since today is the water war I was thinking of cutting my route a little short today so I could save some of my energy for later. Why are we whispering?"

"Good point; anyway, do what you got to do just be back in time for the water war. Oh, and be sure to enter through the side gate and not through the front of the house. I'm planting a little surprise by the front door." Roxie smiled.

"Oh, I see what you're doing, very nice; I like it." Calvin teased. Roxie silently giggled and pushed Calvin away towards the garage. Roxie then continued on with her plan until Paul and Landon woke up from their beds. In about 30 minutes after Calvin left the house, Roxie was done with filling up her half of the water balloons and was placing some of the balloons in ice cold water buckets throughout the band's backyard. Around the same time both Annie and Tom had arrived at the band's house through the secret entrance in the back.

"It looks like you got everything in order over here." Annie told Roxie.

"Oh, wow; you two made it right on time. Calvin went out to do his short morning run and Paul, Landon and Nathan are still sleeping upstairs. You did bring everything that I have asked for, right?"

"Yes; we did. We even brought some food for breakfast just in case anyone got hungry after the game." Tom stated.

"Believe me; I'm pretty sure everybody will be starving as soon as we are done with the water war. In fact why don't we head on into the kitchen? I'm going to have to need a few extra hands with moving some of the furniture in the living room." Roxie said. The three of them then walked into the kitchen to start the breakfast and the moving of the furniture in the living room. After a while passed, Paul came downstairs and both Tom and Paul rearranged the furniture with the help of Roxie so it could be easily accessible for both teams throughout the game. Pretty soon Landon came downstairs along with Calvin who had come back from his short morning run.

"Ok; it looks like everybody is all here, ready to go; let's get this game started." Roxie stated. The six of them then silently went upstairs and went to the upstairs bathroom to hide. Roxie then gave Calvin, Landon and Paul two of the water guns and a belt holding at least six water balloons. Roxie then took out a white envelope and held it with her as she stood by the bathroom door.

"Alright; I'm going to open the door and Calvin you're going to go first. I want you to carefully drop those water guns off at Nathan's bedroom door and knock on his door. After you knock on the door, rush quietly downstairs to the hallway by the front entrance of the house. It should take you no more than 10 seconds, are you ready to do this?" Roxie asked him.

"I'm ready as I'll ever be." Calvin said. Roxie then opened the bathroom door and Calvin took a deep breath and went towards Nathan's bedroom. The whole knocking sequence took no more than five to ten minutes at the most for everyone. It was finally Roxie's turn to knock on Nathan's door and she was very nervous.

"Everything is going to be fine. Just do it like you see it in your head and everything will be alright." Roxie told herself before she opened up the bathroom door. Roxie then took a deep breath to calm herself down and opened the bathroom door. Roxie then scanned the hallway to see if it was all clear for her to go to the bedroom. Roxie then tip-toed to Nathan's bedroom and placed the white envelope near the supplies that the others left at Nathan's bedroom door. Roxie then took another deep breath and knocked on the door. Roxie then rushed downstairs to join the others in the hallway. Once Roxie had gotten to the hallway; both Tom and Annie were dressed from head to toe in their water war gear.

"Geeze; what took you so long?" Calvin asked her as he was handing Roxie's belt to her.

"A few complications arose after I knocked on the door, but everything is fine." Roxie said.

"Complications, what do you mean-?" Paul asked.

"Shh; I think Nathan's coming." Annie whispered. The group then went silent and listened for any movement from upstairs.

"Paul, Landon, Calvin! Honestly; you three should know by now-what in the world?" Nathan said.

"Good; he saw the stuff. Now's our chance to head to the kitchen. Tom; head to the backyard and find yourself a good place to hide that is either near or next to a bucket of water balloons. Annie, Landon, Paul, Calvin and I will stay in the kitchen and living room until we get Nathan to head into the backyard." Roxie instructed. Tom then went to the backyard while both Roxie and Annie and the other three boys hid in the living room and the kitchen.

"Are you absolutely sure this thing is going to work?" Annie asked Roxie when she came to join her in the kitchen.

"If you asked me that a few days ago back in New York City; I would have said no and I would have backed out right away. Now with the current situation that I'm in right now; this is the only way to get Nathan to open up to me." Roxie admitted.

"You know; at first I thought Nathan and the boys were absolutely nuts in thinking of considering of having you be their new personal assistant, but after with what you just said I think the boys would be absolutely lucky to have someone like you in their music career." Annie told her.

"Thanks; that is actually the nicest thing anyone has said to me since I actually had considered on taking the job." Roxie replied.

"Well, as being the first person to tell you that; it's an honor to be playing on the same team as you in this water war." Annie smiled.

"Well, it's a privilege to have people like you and Tom to help out in situations like these." Roxie said. All of a sudden the girls heard some movement coming from upstairs. Roxie then knelt down to the floor and hid behind the center island. Annie then went to hide behind the kitchen table.

Back upstairs, Nathan was in his bedroom staring at the water guns and water balloons. He was still holding onto the note that was left by the stuff and for some odd reason Nathan couldn't think what the note actually meant. He read the note about 10 times already and he still couldn't figure out what he had to do. Nathan knew he had to go downstairs eventually, he just was afraid of what might happen if he did go downstairs.

"Oh, what the heck am I so scared of? I bet it's not that big of a deal." Nathan told himself. Nathan then grabbed everything and walked out of the bedroom. When Nathan came downstairs, he headed straight towards the kitchen. Once Nathan entered the kitchen, he stood at the doorway and quietly stepped into the room.

"Ok; I'm in the kitchen. What's the big surprise you guys have for me? Roxie, Paul, Calvin, Landon; where is everybody?" Nathan wondered. Nathan then walked down the hallway to check the media room, but the door was locked.

"That's weird; the media room is hardly ever locked." Nathan said. All of a sudden Nathan heard a sudden movement coming from the kitchen. Nathan turned around and started to walk back to the kitchen.

"Hello; is anybody there? Paul, guys; this isn't funny. You guys are making me a little scared right now," Nathan called out. "Roxie; ok will somebody please just tell me what's going on?! I'm gonna count to 3 and if the four of you don't come out here by the time I'm finished; I am going to call security. I,2,...I'm being serious-." he added.

"NOW!" Roxie yelled.