The Indianan Escape

=='''CHAPTER 1: Good News? '''== ==       It was an average Friday morning in the Simonsen family. Yes, it is spelled like that. It annoyed them when people spelled it as “Simonson”, because they were Danish-American, and “-sen” is a common Danish suffix to last names (They were Italian and Scottish on their mother’s part, and they were Danish and Norwegian on their father’s part.) == Anyway, there were five children—the youngest was Kara-Joanne, at age seven. She was a very hyper person, and she had many complaints from her teachers when she misbehaved, which was actually quite often. In fact, she once bit her friend on the arm when she refused to lend her light-up pencil.

Unlike Kara-Joanne, Natalya, the penultimate one born (she was nine years old), had very, very good grades. Natalya was good at handling money (which she earned from selling cupcakes), and she wanted to be a teacher when she was an adult. She was disgusted by Kara-Joanne’s antics, and also hoped to stop Kara-Joanne from being disobedient forever.

The second-oldest children were Andrea and Rangsey, because they were both eleven—Andrea and Rangsey were twins. But in spite of that, they were not too similar. Andrea was lazy, and was usually either eating or watching TV, and unlike Rangsey, he was very polite to everyone he met, which was the reason he had so many friends. Rangsey was cheerful and had a passion for technology, but he was a complete jerk. Sometimes, he would just go up to someone and call them “fat” or “pathetic”. Besides, he was an attention hog.

The eldest out of all of them was Zeevany, who was fourteen and a half. She had long, dark, brunette hair, which she usually wore with a neon headband. Zeevany, unlike many kids, was born with a condition called Asperger’s syndrome. That didn’t stop her from being successful, though.

They lived with their aunt, Carlee, because their parents were in prison for a reason about which they did not feel too comfortable. Several years ago, she and her friends formed an all-girl band called “Carlee & the Pista Chios.” She had called it that because: a) Carlee saw a bag of pistachios, and she thought it said “pista chios”, and b) it sounded Italian. After all, she was Italian-American.

“I have some astonishing news!” Carlee giggled, as she walked down the stairs. Natalya was smiling after she heard that.

“What is it?” she managed to let it out. “Did you buy a new TV for my room?”

Carlee replied with, “No, Nat. Have you ever heard of ‘Indiana’?” Kara-Joanne shook her head. “Well, it’s a little state in the Midwest that borders Illinois and Ohio, which we will be moving to, since ‘Carlee & the Pista Chios’ are very popular there.”

“Ooh, Indiana!” Andrea said. “I heard that Indiana is a very rich, modern country!”

“Actually, Indiana is a state. It’s a major exporter of corn,” answered Natalya. Rangsey stared at the ceiling in disgust.

“S-s-s-so what you’re trying to say is that…we’re moving to a state thousands of miles away?! NOOOO!” he cried. “I can’t live in a place like that. I want to stay in this expensive, two-story house in Utah, not live in an ugly, dumb house in Indiana! No matter what, I am not going!”

“Now, now, Rangsey!” murmured Carlee. “Don’t jump to conclusions! It might be better than you thought it would be!”

“Yeah,” Zeevany agreed. “What if it’s awesome and extraordinary? You never know until you try.”

Kara-Joanne wondered, so she asked, “What if it’s true?”

That made Carlee furious. “That’s enough! Everybody, please brush your teeth, grab your backpack, and get ready for school! I am tired of this argument!” Andrea, Zeevany, Rangsey, Natalya, and Kara-Joanne followed her commands.

=='''CHAPTER 2: Kara-Joanne Goes Bananas '''==       The children were all at the kitchen table, doing their homework. It was after school, and their “moving-to-Indiana -troubles” were the least of their problems. The largest problem was that Rangsey refused to leave.

“I think it is time to start packing up, because we’re leaving in three weeks! I’ve already made reservations,” Carlee announced, after she strutted into the room. Rangsey went up to his room and hid under the bed.

I hope nobody finds out I’m in here, he thought. ''If so, then I’ll have to go to Indiana. ''He could hear footsteps coming towards him. ''Uh oh, I think my cover is blown! ''

       “Oh, Rang-seeeeey!” said a creepy, mother-like voice. “This is Kara-Joanne, and if you don’t come out, I’ll use my kung-fu skills to knock down the door!” Rangsey persisted to be silent and still. Kara-Joanne wasn’t kidding. She actually did knock the door down.

“Wow!” Rangsey exclaimed. “I didn’t know you could do that!” Suddenly, he realized something—he talked, and gave it all away. ''I am so stupid! Why did I do that?!'' he thought. Then, Kara-Joanne tried to pull him out from under the bed, but she was not strong enough.

Zeevany was in her room, playing a fun game on the computer. She didn’t care that she had to go to Indiana in a few weeks. After all, she loved visiting new places and trying new things.

Natalya didn’t really care, either. She could just imagine making new friends at her new school, and jumping on the beds at her new house.

“Andrea!” hollered Carlee. “I’ve told you seven times today—don’t steal food from the fridge!” Andrea had just taken a chicken leg. He hid it in his pocket.

“Empty your pockets…” Carlee commanded. He reluctantly handed over the chicken leg, which Carlee then threw in the garbage can.

“Carlee?” murmured Natalya, to which she responded, “Yes?”

“May I bake another batch of cupcakes?” She was hoping the answer wouldn’t be a no.

“Can I help?” Kara-Joanne hopefully asked.

“Natalya,” sighed Carlee. “You may make cupcakes, as long as you let Kara-Joanne help.”

=='''CHAPTER 3: Yummy Cupcakes and Troubled Nights '''==

“So,” Natalya inquired, “what kind of cupcake shall we make? Chocolate? Vanilla? Peanut butter? Strawberry?”

“I think we should make chocolate cupcakes,” said Kara-Joanne, as she got out the chocolate cake batter.

“Good idea! Now, what color frosting should we use?”

Kara-Joanne replied, “What colors do we have?” to which Natalya said, “Blue, pink, green, white, chocolate, and yellow.”

“I think we should use green frosting.”

Natalya rummaged through the baking stuff while she asked, “What toppings do you want?”

“Rainbow sprinkles, chopped peanuts, mini marshmallows, and a strawberry on top,” listed Kara-Joanne.

“All right!” They began to prepare the cupcakes. Kara-Joanne put the paper cupcake holders in the cupcake tray, while Natalya cracked the eggs.

Zeevany walked into the kitchen. She said, “Oh, so that’s what that yummy smell is!” Kara-Joanne poured the batter into the tray. “All right,” continued Zeevany, “are you going to eat those or sell them?”

“We’re not sure yet,” sighed Natalya. “Maybe we’ll eat half, and sell the other half.”

“That’s a practical idea,” Zeevany smiled.

A few hours later, it was time to go to bed. Kara-Joanne and Natalya shared a room, as did Rangsey and Andrea. Zeevany had her own room.

“Kara-Joanne!” scolded Natalya. “Carlee said ‘it’s time for bed’! You’re not allowed to be watching TV!”

“Shhhh!” Kara-Joanne whispered. “Keep it a secret! I want to watch the newest episode of Australian Andy, and if you tell, I’ll get in big trouble!”

“Well, why can’t you just record it?”

Kara-Joanne sighed. “Don’t you get it?! I want to watch it before anyone else! Besides, it just doesn’t feel totally right watching it in the morning!”

“Oh, fine,” muttered Natalya. “But tomorrow, I get to use the computer first. Got it?”

“Got it!” Kara-Joanne answered; then, they watched the episode. She didn’t fall asleep watching it, but Natalya did.

Andrea had already begun to pack for Indiana, but Rangsey hadn’t. He didn’t want to go, and insisted that he would stay with a nearby family named the Zimmermanns.

“Rangsey,” inquired Andrea. “How come you aren’t packing your stuff for Indiana?”

“Why YOU’RE packing for Indiana is the question!” Rangsey mumbled. “We’re not leaving till three weeks! Besides, I don’t even want to go.”

=='''CHAPTER 4: The Big Day '''==

The weeks flew by so quickly, the Simonsens (except for Natalya) didn’t even notice how close they were to “the big day”—the day they would have to move from Utah to Indiana. Of course, Natalya had everything written down in her planner: from the time they would be leaving, to which restaurants they would be eating.

“Okay,” she announced. “We’ll be leaving at 7:29 a.m. to the airport, on which we will be boarding our plane to Springfield. Then, we will drive to Indiana, which will take many hours, but don’t worry--we have chips, candy, and cupcakes for you to eat, and puzzle books for you to play in, and a CD player for you to listen to, and—“

“All right! We get it!” moaned Rangsey.

The plane ride went just fine, except for a few things. For example, the only music on the CD’s was songs by Zeevany’s favorite pop singer, whom the rest of the family hated. Secondly, a few old ladies in the back of the plane kept yelling at the flight attendant for water. A little two-year-old was screaming loudly, which greatly disturbed everyone. But worst of all…

ANDREA FARTED! Everyone looked at one another, as if asking, “Who did that?” Many of the kids said, “Ew!” and “Did you do that?” but only one kid laughed, and it was Rangsey, so obviously, Andrea thought that it would be easy to blame him.

“P.U., Rangsey!” tittered Andrea. “Why’d you do that? Do you want to stink up the whole plane?”

“I didn’t do it! I promise!” Rangsey whimpered.

“Then why were you laughing?”

“Just because I laughed,” he angrily replied, “doesn’t mean I did it! YOU were the one who did it! I heard it coming from right next to me.”

“Excuse me,” Zeevany politely mentioned. “I have to use the restroom.”

“Go right ahead,” Carlee said kindly. Zeevany unbuckled her seatbelt, got out of her seat, and slipped on by to the restroom.

Kara-Joanne, busy with her puzzle book, asked frantically, “Natalya, wanna do this word search with me?”

“No thanks,” answered Natalya. “I’m writing down a recipe for a new cupcake I would like to make. It was nice of you to ask, though.”

When the plane ride was done, they hopped off, happy to be somewhere other than crammed in a stuffy plane. However, they (except for Natalya) had forgotten that they shortly had to get in the car.

“Can’t we go grab some food at a nearby restaurant?” Andrea mumbled. “I’m hungry.”

Rangsey sighed. “This is going to be like the plane ride, except it’ll just be us, nobody else. And it’s a lot smaller. And there’s a radio.” He turned toward Carlee and asked, “Could you turn on the radio?” She smiled and turned it on to the teen pop music channel.

The song that was on was called “Future Love”, and it was by Mido McAndrew. “Ooh, I love this song!” exclaimed Kara-Joanne. She began singing along to the catchy pop lyrics, and soon, the whole car was, too.

“Do they have any Carlee & the Pista Chios songs on here?” joked Carlee. To her surprise, the song that came on next was “Gas Station” by—you guessed it—Carlee & the Pista Chios! Unlike “Future Love”, nobody sang along.

“What?!” Carlee gasped. “Don’t you guys know the lyrics to your own aunt’s song?!”

“Nope!” responded Kara-Joanne, who was having trouble with a crossword puzzle. “What is a synonym for ‘pickle’?”

“Why do you ask?” Zeevany replied.

“Oh, in this crossword puzzle, it says ‘synonym for pickle’ for 34 across.”

Nobody knew a synonym for pickle—not even Natalya or Carlee.

A few hours later, everyone heard Natalya shout the familiar two words that everyone wanted to hear: “We’re here!”

'''CHAPTER 5: At Last! '''

Kara-Joanne giddily hopped out of the car and into the new house. Suddenly, she frowned. “Where is everything?!”

“In the trunk,” Natalya promptly replied, as she began to unpack. It was difficult to put the big things, such as the bed frames and the refrigerator, into the house, but they managed.

“Tomorrow,” announced Carlee, “we will be registering you guys for your new school.”

“What schools are we going to?” Kara-Joanne asked, curious to know.

“You, Natalya, Rangsey, and Andrea will be going to Honey Bear Elementary School.”

“That’s a pretty name for a school!” said Zeevany. “But what school am I going to?”

Carlee smiled and replied, “Chrysanthemum Gardens High School is where you will attend.”

“Cool!”

“When do we find out who our teachers are?” asked Andrea.

“Tomorrow, once we’ve registered,” Carlee answered.

Once the computer was set up, Rangsey and Natalya were fighting over who got to use the computer first. Zeevany went to her new room and wrote in her diary. Andrea asked, “Where’s the food?”

“Let’s play hide-and-go-seek!” suggested Zeevany to Kara-Joanne.

“Okay,” replied Kara-Joanne. “But who’ll be the seeker?”

Zeevany said, “I will.” She counted from zero to fifty, while Kara-Joanne picked her hiding spot.

“Ready or not, here I come!” Zeevany announced. The first room she checked was the big green room…no one was in there.

Then, she went in the pink room and looked all around—even in the closet. There was no sign of Kara-Joanne in there.

Zeevany looked behind the shower curtain, and it was still empty. She wasn’t in the blue room, either.

Angrily, she walked into the living room—still no Kara-Joanne! She also was not in the kitchen or the garage.

“KARA-JOANNE!” yelled Zeevany. “I GIVE UP! WHERE ARE YOU?” She heard a knocking sound that sounded like wood. Maybe she changed spots, she thought.

Then, after a while, the big cupboard opened up—that was where she was hiding all along!

When it was Zeevany’s turn to hide, she hid behind the bathroom door, but Kara-Joanne obviously found her.

Andrea, Rangsey, and Natalya were trying to set up the TV. When it finally worked, Andrea cried out, “Australian Andy! Yay!” Australian Andy was his favorite TV show.

“But I want to watch The Life of Mido McAndrew!” whined Rangsey, as he took the remote.

“I want to watch Juan in a Million,” Natalya added. “Let’s flip a coin to see what show we’ll be watching.”

“But a coin doesn’t have three sides,” pointed out Rangsey.

“Well,” Natalya sighed, “let’s have Carlee pick a number between one and fifty. Each of us will pick a number, and whoever guesses the closest wins!”

Each of them guessed a number. “Twenty,” said Natalya.

“Forty-nine,” Rangsey guessed.

Andrea took a while to decide, but his final answer was, “Six.”

“Carlee, what number did you choose?” Natalya asked.

“Four.”

“YAAAAY!” Andrea giggled, jumping up and down. “Now we get to watch Australian Andy!” The episode that was on was the episode where Andy and his friends went camping. Natalya sort of liked it, but Rangsey hated it.

=='''CHAPTER 6: School Registration '''==

The next day, the kids had to stay home for about an hour while Carlee went to their schools and signed them up.

“I wonder what my teacher will be named,” wondered Kara-Joanne.

“I wonder if the restrooms will be clean,” Natalya questioned.

“I wonder what the cafeteria food will be like,” pondered Andrea.

“I wonder if there are good books in the library,” Rangsey thought.

“I wonder if the kids there will be nice,” wondered Zeevany.

Nobody was really certain what their schools would be like. They could only imagine. Kara-Joanne liked this kind of “mystery”, though, and couldn’t wait to have all her questions answered.

“So,” Zeevany asked everyone in the house. “Wanna play hide-and-go-seek?”

“Yeah!” Andrea shouted.

“Sure,” agreed Kara-Joanne.

“All right, if the rest of you guys are playing,” Natalya sighed.

“NO!” Rangsey yelled. “Hide-and-go-seek is a baby game!”

“Well, we’re all playing,” Zeevany announced. “And you can be the seeker, if you want.”

“Okay, fine,” Rangsey said. Then, they began.

Zeevany was hiding behind the TV. Kara-Joanne squeezed herself into the large cupboard, as she had done last time. Andrea had hid in the closet in the big room, and Natalya was sitting behind the shower curtain.

“Ready or not,” Rangsey announced, “here I come!”

He checked the blue room, which Andrea and Rangsey were sharing. Nobody was in there, so he went in the pink room, which was also person-free.