Zac gasped and crawled beneath the bed. "Where is the little satan child?"
Lia laughed - or cackled rather. "She's in the...living room. Don't worry. She and Avie are doing something at the moment."
Zac climbed out. "Phew... Thank God, I thought I was going to be attacked."
Lia came and laid down on the bed by Zac, burying her face in the pillows. "I love these beds," she said, her voice muffled. "They're so fluffy."
Zac pinched her butt. "You're getting fluffy too. Too much Christmas dinner?"
Lia had popped up when Zac had pinched her and slapped him hence. "You little perve! I did not have too much Christmas dinner. We ate at Lee's Chinese. They had duck. It was gross. I had - ohhhh - maybe 2 bites."
"Lucky you," Taylor said.
"Lee's?" Isaac asked. "Around here?"
"Yeah," Lia said, looking at him. "Been?"
"No," Isaac said. "I've been looking for a Chinese restaurant around here. I've never seen one before..."
"It's on 98th street. It's like...the 1400th block," Lia told him.
"Oh. Cool," Isaac said. He had been unpacking all this time, but finally got sick of pulling things out and just turned the duffel back over, dumping everything out on the bed. "LOOK!" he exclaimed. "I brought...THE DUFFEL BAG."
Taylor and Zac hurried over. "Oooooh," they said in awe. This wasn't any ordinary duffel bag. This was THE duffel bag. It was extra extra extra large.
"Oh, man," Taylor suddenly said.
"What?" the other three asked.
"Man, even ZAC is too big for this thing now."
Zac looked at himself, then at the duffel bag. True. He WAS too big for it. How would a guy who was 6'3 fit into a duffel bag? Easy. He wouldn't. "Oh, well this just sucks," he said.
"Wait, wait, guys," Isaac said. "Not ALL of us are too big for the duffel bag."
Taylor and Zac looked confused. "Huh?" Taylor asked.
"Seriously, man," Zac said. "What are you talking about?"
Isaac just smiled evilly and nodded. Slowly, the other 2 began to realize what was going on. Maniacal grins crept onto their lips, and their eyes averted to Lia. She began to back away.
"Ooooooh, no. I don't EVEN think so. Don't even think about it," she said. They began to step towards her. "Haha. You aren't getting me in that thing. You guys! Stop looking at me like that! It AIN'T happenin'!"
She turned and burst into a run. However, she wasn't planning on one of Taylor's clown-sized boots being in her path, and she fell flat on her face. Zac and Isaac eached grabbed a foot and began to drag her back to them. Taylor was opening the bag, and preparing to stuff her in there and hold her down before she could fight back.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!"
Mrs. Hanson jumped about ten feet into the air. "Did you hear that?" she asked Lia's mother.
"Yeah," the other replied. "What was that?"
Zac came running out of the boys' room, laughing like a mad scientist. Mrs. Hanson called, "Zac, honey, what's going on? Who is screaming?"
Zac stopped laughing. He quickly made up a lie. "Taaaayyyyloooooor," he said slowly. "We're hanging him from the light fixture by his toes."
"Okay, honey. That's nice. Just don't break anything," she told him. After Zac disappeared again into the room, she said to Lia's mom, "I don't think we could AFFORD to pay for another thing they break. These hotels charge you a fortune!"
"I agree," Lia's mom said.
About 10 minutes later, the boys came out of the room, looking unusually innocent. Isaac had a duffel bag strapped over his shoulder. They began to walk towards the door.
"Boys," Mrs. Hanson said. They stopped and looked at her, smiling sweetly. "Where are you going and what's in the bag?"
"We're going to the gym," Taylor said quickly.
"Sports equipment," Isaac said, pointing at the bag on his back.
"Okay," Mrs. Hanson said. "Be really careful. Watch out for any strange characters."
"Okay," they chorused, and then walked out the door.
"Did they seem a little suspicious to you?" Mrs. Hanson asked.
"Was that bag moving?" Lia's mom asked.
They looked at each other. They simultaneously asked, "Where's Lia?"
They got up and ran to the boys' room, where Lia had just gone a moment before. No Lia. They ran to the door of the hotel suite, and yelled out, "BOYS!!!!"
The three stopped walking and turned around sheepishly. The two mothers were standing at the end of the hall, hands on hips and toes tapping on the plush red carpet. They smiled and wriggled their fingers.
"Come here, and let Lia out of the duffel bag," Lia's mom said.
"Now," Mrs. Hanson added for emphasis. They hurriedly came up and laid the duffel bag down at the mothers' feet. The bag was now thrashing wildly. Isaac reached down and unzipped it to reveal Lia. There was a sock in her mouth and her hands were tied behind her back with the wires to headphones. Mrs. Hanson undid the wires, and Lia's mom removed the gag.
Lia stood up by the women. "Ground them," she hissed.
"We're already on it," the two women replied...
