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I didn't want to let down either one of them so I just responded with a nod. “Okay, sure,” I said, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly. If Cameron hated me and my house after this, then it was solely his own fault.

Ma and Cameron smiled and nodded at me. “Right this way, Cameron,” she said perkily as she led us into the house.

Cameron gave me a reassuring smile as we walked into the house. “Hey,” he said under his breath, placing his hand on the small of my back, “you saw my house; I'm just returning the favor.” His face was so close to mine, I could feel his body heat radiating off his body and colliding with mine. I couldn't help but shudder at the proximity.

I replied with a little smile, not really sure how to respond to that.

Cameron had no problem stepping over all the little toys and knickknacks that littered the narrow floors of my house. He even stopped and picked up a little bear doll, smiling as he examined its fur and texture. “I had this same doll as a kid,” he said, stroking its fur.

I smirked. “Really?” I asked, knowing that all the sextuplets fought over that doll constantly, until someone ended up crying or something. I personally hated that doll.

“Yeah, I loved it,” Cameron said, flicking its little ear. Then he frowned. “But one day I found it torn to shreds. Saddest day ever.” His eyebrows furrowed together at the memory.

“It was probably Cam that killed it.” I mean, who else could have done it?

Cameron rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Whatever,” he said nonchalantly. He replaced the doll on the floor, but was intercepted by Monty, one of the sextuplets.

“Hey, that's mine!” Monty yelled, yanking the doll back and cuddling the bear to his chest. He glared at Cameron.

Cameron smiled with surrender, holding his hands up in that I-come-in-peace fashion. “Sorry, little man, I didn't know that was yours,” he said sincerely, his large hand patting Monty's slim shoulder. “It was one of my favorites as kid, you know.”

Monty returned Cameron's smile, his eyes brightening. “Mine, too!” he exclaimed giddily. “I named him Awesome.” His chubby cheeks glinted a rosy red.

“No, his name's
Emmanuel
!” Myra cried out, joining us in the narrow hallway. Mary and Macy flanked her, mimicking her crossed arm pose as they glared at Monty.

Monty snarled at them. “It's
Awesome
!” he yelled loudly in Myra's face, pushing her slightly.

Myra squealed and pushed him back even harder. “
Emmanuel
!” she retorted with just as much force as Monty. Mary and Macy began chanting the name loudly and stubbornly.

It wasn't long before Mike and Matt came into the hallway and joined in with Monty, backing him up by yelling out the name
Awesome
over Mary and Macy's chanting. Then, I don't know, someone pushed someone and they all began fighting and screaming and just basically going crazy in that little hallway.

“Heyheyheyheyheyhey!” Cameron yelled out over the raucous, pulling kids away from others and separating them. “Calm down, everyone, seriously,” he said soothingly as he kneeled before them, soon eye level with the six devils.

They all froze and stared at him, confused at his sudden presence. I could just hear their thoughts going wild as they stared at Cameron's soft eyes and kind smile;
Who was this big guy? He's too young to be Mommy and Daddy's friend, too old for Petra and Peter; so who was he? Was he An-lee's boyfriend? Was he our new brother?
Cameron gently took the little bear away from Monty and held him out to everyone. “I like both the names that you guys came up with,” he started, meeting their large, slanted eyes, “but I think you guys can come up with an even
better
name for this little guy — all together. Then, he'll be happy that he has only one name and not two.” He crossed his arms. “I bet you guys wouldn't want
your
parents calling you two different names all the time, right?” he asked.

They all responded with obedient nods.

Cameron smiled and placed the little doll back in Monty's arms. “See? And you guys don't want this little guy to be sad, do you?”

Cue the nods.

“So you guys should all go and come up with something and then come back to me and Anjolie when you get an answer. Does that sound good?” he asked, giving each kid his own private smile.

They all nodded once more, this time returning Cameron's contagious smile. Cameron then stood up and shooed them off. “Run along, guys,” he said and they high-tailed it over to the living room. Once they were all gone. Cameron gave me a slow smile, shrugging his shoulders innocently. “Hey, I love kids,” was his only response to the whole situation.

I just rolled my eyes. “You sure do, Sloane,” I said as I led him to the kitchen. Once there, we saw two hot cups of coffee sitting on the island, ready to be drunk. I grabbed up my cup while Cameron slid onto one of the tall stools at the island. He grabbed up his coffee and took a long sip. “Yum,” he said, smiling warmly at me. That look alone warmed me up more than the coffee did.

I glanced around. Ma was nowhere to be found.
Good
, I thought,
no need for embarrassing conversa—

“Lovebirds!” Ma cried, stepping into the kitchen with Petra and Peter at her heels. “How are the two of you?” She spun around — now dressed in her “date dress” — before meeting us at the island. Petra and Peter slapped their hands up on the island, giving Cameron their identical smiles.

I responded with an eye roll, but Cameron was quick to return their inviting smiles. “I'm okay, how are you guys?” he asked them all around. His enthusiastic demeanor was a complete foil to mine.

“We're great, Mr. Hottie!” Petra replied, winking at him. Ma and Peter laughed at the sudden blush on Cameron's cheeks, amused at his humility.

“Thanks, uh…?” he said, cocking his head to the side questioningly.

“She's Petra,” Peter added in, pointing to his sister, “and I'm Peter. Are you Anjolie's boyfriend?” he asked suddenly, throwing us all off guard. It was all I could do not to spit up my coffee.

“No!” I snapped, eyeing Peter dangerously, but since everyone was staring at me with such shocked expressions, I felt the need to clarify. “Uh… h-he has a girlfriend… so he's already taken.” Could they see how red my face was? Because I definitely felt the burn.

“Oh, well that's too bad,” Ma sighed, eyeing the two of us. “You two would make the most darling couple,” she said, smacking her chewing gum admiringly. “Your kids would be hot, I tell you.”

“
Ma
.” She was embarrassing me more than she's ever done before.

She shut me up by waving her hands in our direction. “Well, what are you guys doing down here in this boring old kitchen?” she asked, grabbing Cameron's shoulder and pulling him off of the stool. “Go make-out in Anj's room; that's where the cool kids normally go.” She shoved us out of the kitchen before any of us could protest.

Now in the hallway, Cameron coughed nervously into his fist. He was surely embarrassed. As for me, I was beyond embarrassed — now, I was just numb. I motioned my hand up the stairs. “Upstairs we go,” I said reluctantly, hoping my room was clean.

Anjolie

“So the twins are Petra and Peter… and the sextuplets are Monty, Mike, Matt, Myra, Mary, and Macy?” Cameron asked, counting on his fingers. He was laying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling, his large, scruffy man-self a huge contrast to my frilly flower sheets.

I nodded, folding some clothes and placing them in my drawers. Of course, my room was dirty. Figures. “Yup. That's all eight of them.” I didn't feel like talking about the devils, but Cameron seemed entranced by the concept of twins and sextuplets, so he wouldn't stop rambling about them.

Cameron laughed out loud, turning to face me. “So your parents named them all with either P or M names, huh? How original of them.” His grinning white teeth smiled at me from across the room, genuinely amused by all of this. “They're cute, though. I really like them. I wish I had siblings like them. That'd be cool. And they all look so similar. How old are they? I wonder if they fight a lot. That's a lot of mouths to feed. Do they share a lot of their stuff? Or maybe your parents just buy them each their own things…” Cameron continued rambling as I tidied up my room. I made sure to nod and add “yups” and “uh-huhs” when necessary.

Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was half past three. I sucked in my breath. I had a mission to do at five. I looked over at Cameron, who was still rolling around on my bed talking (basically to himself) and wondered how I could get him out of here. I couldn't take him on my mission; he would die. Being the single most wanted chick out there, I was sure to have a ton of guys on my tail tonight.

Whatever. First things first,
I
had to get out of here. I quickly used my mind powers to clean up the rest of my room. This captured Cameron's attention, hushing him up immediately. He watched as I placed the last pair of jeans into the laundry basket, the room now completely clean.

When I looked back at Cameron, his look of awe met my eyes. “Your powers are outstanding, Anjolie. Really,” he said, sitting up in my bed and standing to his feet. “Is that all you could do?” His eyes met mine and held them, halting my previous rush. He was just too cute.

“Uh… no… I could do other stuff, but…” Showing him my other powers would only hinder me from getting to my mission on time. I couldn't be late; Pedro and his crew were scheduled to be at the alley at exactly five o'clock. If I missed them, I wouldn't get my offerings. And if I don't get my offerings, I'm going to be in big trouble. “It's nothing really, I—”

I was silenced by Cameron's large hands grasping mine earnestly as he peered into my eyes. We were close now,
really
close, and the only sounds I heard were the faint conversations downstairs. Cameron cocked his head to the side, inviting me in. “Could you show me them?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper, “Please?”

With eyes like those, who could say no, right?

“Alright.” I acquiesced, slumping my shoulders. I walked over to my bed and sat down, Cameron doing the same. When we were both situated, sitting cross-legged and facing each other, I sucked in a deep breath and focused all my energy to my pale, white palm.

Cameron watched intently as it began to glow, his eyes widening at my palm's iridescence. Soon my palm had enough energy, the bright white light that radiated off of it indicating that I could perform the magical task. Then, in one swift motion, I used my glowing hand to draw a bow and arrow in the air between us, the shapes forming and hardening from thin air. It wasn't long before the bow and arrow fell out of the air and onto my lap, its rich mahogany color a strong contrast to my gray jeans.

I was finished.

Cameron stared at the bow and arrow on my lap, stroking its mahogany wood with admiration. “Wow,” was all he said.

I smiled, glad that I continued to wow Cameron. Even though I was now super weak — all the energy was sucked out of my body — I still felt some radiance within myself as I basked in his praise. No guy had ever shown me that much attention before, so it really did feel nice.

Cameron finally ceased stroking the bow and arrow, but just as soon grabbed my hand and clasped it in his, forcing me to meet his eyes. When I did, the air stopped in my throat. I swear, every time I look into Cameron's eyes, it's like I've just kissed a shimmery sunset; they were that beautiful.

Cameron smiled that slow smile of his before saying, “You are one amazing girl, you know that?” His eyes crinkled at the corners as he laughed quietly at this realization. “I can't believe you just drew a weapon out of thin air. That's unbelievable.” He picked up the weapon and examined it more closely. “This is legit. I bet this could really do damage.” He focused his attention back on me, placing the bow and arrow back on my lap. “Can you draw anything else?”

I shrugged modestly. “Well… I could draw that and other weapons, like bats, knives, clubs, slingshots, and swords,” I explained, trying not to smile as I watched his eyes widen at each mention of a weapon. “Also, I could draw portals to other places — you know, if I'm stuck in a hard situation and I need to get out.” I cocked my head to the side, trying to come up with the right analogy. “It's kinda like on those old
Roadrunner
cartoons when they pull those large black holes out of their pockets and place them on the ground so that the other could fall into it. Kinda like that.” It was such a dorky analogy, but it was the best one I could think of.

Cameron nodded, completely awed. I could tell that he was struggling to take all this in, but I couldn't blame him. It was as if God himself were telling you the secret of life — that information would be way too much to grasp.

I smiled kindly at him, squeezing his shoulder gently. “This is hard to swallow, Cameron, I know,” I said, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Cameron returned my smile, nodding with embarrassment. “It is,” he said, shrugging. “I'm just taking it all in, though. One at a time.” His smile made me forget where we were, forget the time, forget that I had to be somewhere.

I cleared my throat, averting my eyes away from his, preparing to tell him to scram. I was about to say something when Cameron's phone rang.

He jumped, startled by the sudden ringing, and quickly answered his phone. “Hello?” he answered. I watched as his handsome face brightened, his grin stretching out all the way to his ears. “Oh, hi, Olive!” he greeted into the phone. “Yeah, sorry, I was dropping off Anjolie… Uh-huh… Yeah… I miss you, too!” His face exploded into a huge smile stretching from ear to ear. “Oh? Why thank you, Olive, I'll pick it up later.” He tugged at a loose thread on my comforter. “Sure thing… Okay, sounds great... Alright, I'll see you then… Okay… Yeah… Okay, bye Olive… Alright, see you soon, bye.” He ended the call and looked back up at me, giving me a shy smile. “Olive,” he said, motioning to the phone. The smile was still plastered on his face.