Porter's House

It was a late Saturday evening and Zaire, Bro, and Amelia were dragging their backpacks to the front door.

"Bye guys! See you on Monday!" Zaire called back.

"So, why are they going away again?" Porter asked. "I need a refresher."

"It's 'cause big bro wants to take a break from us kids here," Lily replied.

"Okay, no!" Bro retorted. "I just thought it'd be nice for us older guys and gal to go somewhere without having to bring you along!"

"Sakura, cherry blossom. Same thing, different words," Lily responded with a frown.

"Have you seen the prices for airline tickets these days?" Bro questioned. "With that money, I could hire a maid to clean our rooms!"

"You can save more if you clean them yourself..." Lily suggested.

"I can save even more if you cleaned them. Hint, hint?" Bro replied, pointing at the hallway leading to their rooms.

With a sigh, Lily grabbed a duster and shuffled to the girls' room. Meanwhile, Bro focused his speech to Porter.

"Until we get back, You're the man of the house. There's leftovers in the fridge and I've left a pizza in the deep freezer in the garage. I'll give you a call when we're about to board the plane, but call me anytime before then if you need anything. We'll be back in the evening, but until then, take care of your sister," He stated before giving Porter a hug and disappearing behind the door.

Lily walked back into the living room, exhausted and covered in dust.

"Are they gone? Come on, let's play a game and invite some friends over! Wanna pull some prank calls?" Lily suggested.

"Oh, by the way..." Bro announced, appearing through the door. "Lily, if you do something stupid and I hear about it, it's not ending well for you."

Bro pointed at Lily before disappearing through the door again.

"Well, so much for those prank calls..." she groaned. "I could've sent 300 joke pizzas to that angry old lady up the street and pinned it on you again..."

"Oh, well..." Porter sighed in relief. "Wanna play on the WBox or something?" he asked.

"Only if we can play something else besides Hola 3. And nothing with motion controls either." Lily replied.

Before either of them could sit on the couch or turn on the console, the doorbell rang. Upon answering it, Lini was on the other side, carrying a suitcase of her own.

"Lini? This is a surprise..." Porter announced.

"It is, isn't it?" Lini nodded, letting herself in and unpacking the contents of her suitcase. "I've brought along some card games, a recipe book in case you wanna cook something with me, some story books for Lily and a lint remover for Seal. Unlike that psycho lady and her crotch-goblin of a son, I like you guys, and I know you're not going to wear out my patience."

"Storybooks? Are you joking? I'm not a toddler!" Lily argued. "Thanks, but no thanks. Porter and I are totally responsible enough to watch the house by ourselves, right, Porter?"

Porter looked at Lini, clearly in disagreement with his little sister.

"I had a feeling you would say something like this." Lini reacted with a squint, reaching back into her suitcase. Moving the articles of clothing inside, she grabbed an envelope at the bottom and handed it to Lily.

"It's from your brother," Lini smiled.

Lily looked back at Lini and then opened the letter, which read:

"Dear Lini, the older siblings and I are going camping. Because Lily doesn't like camping (and to make sure she doesn't set the forest on fire somehow), I've left her at home with Porter. He's capable of keeping the house safe while we're out, but to make sure she doesn't set Porter on fire somehow, could you stay with the two until we get back? I'll be in your debt. Sincerely, Bro"

"Hey, that's not fair! Sure, I don't like camping, but I don't need a babysitter either! I haven't set anything on fire yesterday!" Lily complained.

"What about the day before?" Lini asked.

Lily fell silent in response.

"You just proved her point," Porter added.

Some Time Later

The three were sitting on the couch watching TV when the doorbell rang.

"Ah, must be the pizza I ordered!" Lily said in excitement as she walked towards the door.

"Pizza?" Porter questioned. "We have pizza in the freezer, and besides, you can't pay for it."

"I can't, but Bro definitely can!" she smiled, holding up a small gray wallet.

"Wait, isn't that..?"

Stuffington Airport

Meanwhile, Bro, Zaire and Amelia were dropped off just outside of the airport, courtesy of their friend Max.

"Thanks for the lift. Let me pay you," Bro offered.

He reached into this pocket, but didn't find his wallet. He did, however, find some coins, flower petals, and a receipt for a pile of logs.

"Uhmm.. Anyone seen my wallet anywhere?" he asked.

"That won't be necessary. I make enough to provide for my family, and that's good enough for me," Max replied, though the bags in his eyes told everyone otherwise.

"You sure? You already work five different jobs, you look like you could use a pillow or a couple hours less..." Amelia reasoned, reaching into her purse.

"Please, keep your money. It's fine, and I'm fine," he stated with a smile, and gave the three a thumbs up before falling asleep at the wheel, setting the horn off.

The three looked at each other, wondering if they should help out Max or leave him to his nap.

Back at home, Porter and Lily were enjoying the delivery pizza thanks to Lini, who paid for it herself.

"Bro's gonna be a lot more than in my debt if this keeps up..." she muttered to herself as she stared at the receipt for the pizza.

In the kitchen, after finishing their pizza, Lily started a rock-paper-scissors match with Porter, which ended with a rock in his face. The doorbell rang again, and Porter ran towards it before Lily could play again and throw another rock, or worse, scissors.

Lini was the one to open the door and found her sheep girl housemate standing outside, holding a ukulele.

"Mary? What are you doing here?" Porter asked.

"You didn't know? There's a party being hosted here! I thought I'd bring my trusty ukulele and entertain others, just like back at my home island!"

And with that, she let herself in the house.

The two looked at each other, confused.

"Party? We never sent out any invitations," Porter shrugged. "The only person here who's probably capable of setting up a party now is..."

The answer snapped into their heads rather quickly. 

Before they could walk away from the door to confront Lily, it rang again. When opening it, they saw two teenagers, a male and a female, that they've never met before. They looked like the stars of a vampire film made with a shoestring budget.

"What's up?" The male teen greeted, "we're here for the party."

"Party? What party? Does this look like a party to you?" Porter questioned.

"Really?" The female teen fired back. "It says here there's a party at this address..."

She showed Porter her phone with a post on a social media website. The name that left the post was no longer available, but it showed an party invitation that several people accepted.

"We might've arrived early. Let's head inside and wait for everyone else," The female suggested.

And saying that, the two walked into the house, ignoring Porter's protests.

"Lini, help!" He called, looking over at her. "Call Bro or grab a flyswatter or something!"

Lini pulled out her phone in an attempt to call Bro, but instead heard a ringtone coming from the kitchen.

"There is no way..." Porter whispered in fear.

Back at the Airport

At this time, the other three had reached the TSA screening. While Zaire and Amelia got through fairly quickly, Bro took longer, as he had to remove his jacket, his shoes, and his two belts.

Upon receiving his backpack, he noticed something was off about it.

"Have either of you seen my phone?" he asked.

"You didn't leave it at home, did you?" Amelia replied.

"We're going camping, man. You don't need it!" Zaire added. "Besides, if you need to, we can call them through the payphone here or in the woods."

"A payphone? in the woods..?" Bro questioned to himself.

As he was debating the logic, the three heard an announcement for their flight. Something happened to the plane, and it would be a while before it'd be ready to go again.

With some time to spare, Bro wandered around and saw a payphone nearby...

At this point, more people were steadily finding the address to their house, much to the fear of Lini and Porter.

After wading through the crowd of people, the two reached the uncrowed kitchen, where several platters of food lay on the table. A smartphone rang on the end of the table, which Porter picked up.

"Hello?" he greeted to whoever was on the other end of the line.

"Oh, turns out my phone is here! Alright then," Bro sighed. "Hey champ, our flight got delayed, so it'll be a while before we get to where we need to be. Anyway, how are you? Holding up the fort pretty well?"

Porter looked at the living room full of people partying, snacking, and having fun. He's pretty sure something broke through all the chaos.

"Ehh, yep! Everything's all good here! Nothing to worry about, Definitely not a party happening or anything like that!"

Right after saying that, a partygoer was seen sledding through the kitchen out to the backyard on an ottoman, breaking down the door in the process.

"What was that?" Bro asked.

"Uhh, that was just Lily... riding though the house in the office chair again..?"

A long bout of silence passed before Porter heard an audible sigh coming from the other end.

"Give her the phone. I wanna talk to her," Bro requested.

Porter looked back into the living room and saw Lily crowd-surfing, munching on food and about to grab onto the ceiling fan.

"Uh, no need! Lini's talking to her about it right now! After all, that's why she's here, right?" he reasoned.

"That's true. I guess I'll leave it up to her, then. Well, has anything interesting happened while we've been gone?"

At this point, some people walked into the kitchen since there was almost no more space in the living room. The male teen from earlier walked up to Porter.

"Hey kid, I gotta say, while the decorations here aren't my taste, that girl with the sheep ears is a really entertaining performer. You know her? What's her name?" He wondered.

Porter's face froze in fear when Bro asked who was talking to him.

"No one's talking to me! It's just the movie we're watching!" Porter shouted. "Yeah, the main character owns a venue where people can show off their talents, and his friend was asking who the cute performer on the stage was! Yeah..."

Sweat lined Porter's face as he waited for a response from his brother.

"I didn't know there was a movie that had a character with sheep ears. When we get back, you need to show me the movie. It sounds like something I'd watch," he suggested.

Porter thought he had convinced Bro nothing was amiss, until he heard the sound of a window shatter.

"Is the movie getting to an action scene?" Bro asked.

"Yep, totally!" Porter replied in another shout. "Anyway, we're gonna keep watching the movie now. Have fun camping and please don't come home yet!"

Porter hung up the phone on Bro before he could say anything else. As for Bro, he was left with confusion and concern, mostly with how he'd call him again after already spending the last of his change.

"And there goes 75 cents," he muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, Porter ran through the crowd in the living room and went over to where the sound was coming from. He almost screamed at the sight of the giant hole in the window. When going outside to check the damage, he saw a certain Clone outside munching on a sandwich. Whether it was so many people in the house or just the broken window, Porter lost his composure.

"Alright, that's ENOUGH!" he screamed, slamming the door.

The noise caught the attention of everyone, who then watched the door fall off its hinges.

"Out! Get out of my house! I don't care if there is a party here, it's canceled! Now get out, get out, GET OUT!"

Everyone stared at him for a minute before partying again, as if they didn't just see an angry teenager break down a door.

"Lini," he called, "follow me. We're gonna need some help."

The two grouped up in the attic, one of the few places that wasn't crowded with people.

"So, what's your plan now?" Lini asked.

"It's simple- we call the cops in secret and hide in the crowd when they arrive. When the police arrive and escort everyone out, Lily will vouch for us and explain how this was just one big accident," Porter detailed. "Needless to say, I don't think Bro will mind me borrowing one of his belts to deal with her.."

"Okay, that sounds all well and dandy," Lini replied, "but what will we do if Lily doesn't help us or the police give us the right to remain silent?"

"We'll figure it out when we get there. For now, let's get calling."

A while after they called the police, they heard the sound of sirens nearing the house. After ten minutes, the house went silent.

"Huh. Didn't think it would be that easy. Guess we didn't need Lily to help us out," Porter said, scratching his head. "Let's get back down and check it out."

As soon as they left the attic, the sound of partying erupted through the house, seemingly even louder than before. The two looked around, and it looked like nobody left or was forced to leave. In fact, the only good thing that has happened during their absence was that the window was repaired.

Porter walked up to a female officer, one that looked especially familiar.

"Er, officer? I don't want to sound rude, but there's a house party going on here, and you're supposed to shut it down, so..." Porter motioned his head toward the crowd of people.

"Yeah, this party is abiding noise regulations within the area, my crew and I did a search and found no illicit substances, and while some people here look sketchy, nobody is doing anything particularly offensive," the officer replied, jotting down notes on a pad.

"B-b-bu-but what about the broken window? There's no way you didn't see that when walking in!" he stammered.

"Of course I did, and I got it replaced. Don't think this'll be something your neighborhood officer Jesse will do on the regular. I have things I'd like to buy, thank you very much." she added, still writing down seemingly important notes.

"Can't you do anything about this, though? We never asked for a par-"

"Well, my shift's over, time to party!" she interrupted, gleefully joining the group of partygoers.

"Is this even LEGAL!?" Porter yelled in frustration.

His anger was cut short when the phone rang in his pocket.

"Porter, hi!" It was Amelia on the other end. "Turns out our flight will be leaving on time after all! Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, that's great! One thing, though- are you calling me from a phone booth? If you are, I know you don't carry change, so how are you calling me?" Porter questioned.

"There's a lot of spare change in the fountain nearby. It's like a wallet for everyone! I don't know why, but people just drop their change in! There must be at least 50 dollars worth in there! I'm thinking of getting a candy bar with it!" Amelia answered.

"Please don't do that!" he begged. "You can eat on the plane. Just hang in there and have fun on your trip."

"Okay then! Take care of the house for us!" Amelia chirped.

Porter put on a awkward grin, trying to pretend he was doing his job properly and there wasn't a huge group of people partying.

"You don't have to tell me twice! I've got it all under control! You have fun now!"

The moment he heard Amelia hang up, Porter fell into a panic.

"Got it under control?" Lini asked.

"Of course I don't have it under control!" Porter replied in a yell. "If I did have it under control, these guys would've been ejected a long time ago!"

"What do you suggest we do now?"

"We need to think of a way to get everyone out of the house, but how do we move a party from here to anywhere else?" He wondered.

During their brainstorm, a familiar voice asked them why they weren't partying.

"YOU!" Porter screamed to the voice who asked- Lily. "This is all your fault!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Lily replied, confused.

"Oh, don't play dumb now! This party! This party and everyone who's here!"

"Why would I throw a party? I know you heard Bro's warning to me, so why would I do something like this?" she retorted.

Porter thought about her words for a minute. It's true; he was there when Bro warned her not to do something stupid. Plus, she was in Porter's sight most of the time, so when and how would Lily throw a party?

"But if it wasn't you, who else would it be?"

Lily only give him a shrug in response. "All I know is that I didn't do this."

Their conversation was interrupted when a loud crash could be heard from the kitchen. The three went over to check and found out there was another broken window. That, and there were several holes in the wall near the window.

"Oh boy, déjà vu.." Porter groaned.

"At least we have some time to get everything fixed before they come back home.." Lily assured.

Meanwhile, on the Airplane

The three older siblings were twenty-five minutes into their flight, and for the entire time, even before the plane took off, Bro couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

"Bro.. Bro! Don't forget to blink, Bro!" Amelia called, waving her hand in front of his face.

"I didn't forget, but thanks for the reminder," Bro replied. He took a sip of his soda, chewing the ice in his cup noticeably loud.

"...Is something the matter?" Amelia asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm probably just driving myself crazy, but I have this feeling someone's doing something stupid back at the house..." He sighed.

"I don't see why you need to worry, I'm sure Lini and Porter got it all under control," Zaire reassured.

"Even if they do, what about Lily? She can be tricky at times. Heck, I'm pretty sure she pickpocketed me before we left!"

"To be fair, I don't think you'll need your wallet when spending some time out in the wilderness!" Amelia joked, nudging her brother's arm.

"...Please don't do that," Bro groaned.

"Speaking of which, why are we flying out so far just to go to the middle of nowhere and camp out?" Zaire asked in realization.

Upon hearing this, the realization also hit Bro as he got up, walked to the emergency exit, and kicked the door open.

"I'll see you guys at home," He stated before jumping out of the plane. Zaire took a look around the seat Bro was seated and noticed something off.

"How long before he realizes he left his shoes under the seat?" he asked.

Meanwhile, the other three at home were watching the partygoers and brainstorming how to get them out of the house.

"So, any more ideas?" Lini asked.

"I'm willing to try anything as long as it doesn't damage the house more than it already is," Porter shrugged.

"How about-" Lily suggested.

"Vetoed," Lini and Porter interrupted in unison.

As they were thinking, the phone rang in Porter's pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hey, champ," Bro stated, "something came up, and I'm heading home. See you in a minute."

"Wait, just you or is Zaire and Amelia coming home too? Didn't you already take off? How are you calling me if that's the case? Where'd you get the money to call?" Porter asked. He didn't get any answers as Bro had hung up already.

Sirens immediately went off in his head. How would they fixed the damaged wall and get the partygoers out of the house in time?

"I guess that was our executioner on the line?" Lily joked.

"Yours!" Porter shouted back as he ran outside through the kitchen. He saw a streak of light quickly approaching the house.

"Ooh, he's almost there!" he yelled in a panic.

"Alright, I got an idea-" Lily advised.

"No. Way!" Porter denied again.

"Would you just listen?! I promise that it has nothing to do with fire!" Lily whined, grabbing him.

Lini and Porter looked at each other, suspicious but willing to listen. "Fine."

"Porter, you go out there and distract Bro while me and Lini clear out the crowd and fix up the house." Lily suggested, pointing at Lini.

"That's... actually not a bad idea," Porter said, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Of course it's not. Now get going, 'champ'!" she exclaimed, pushing him out to the front door, the one that led to the garage. Bro had just also entered the garage through another door.

"Oh, hey Porter," Bro greeted. "What are you doing out here?"

"Huh? I-I'm just grabbing another pizza!" Porter replied, pretending to rummage through the deep freezer.

"Another? I only left one pizza..."

"D-Did I say 'pizza'? I meant 'another frozen dinner'!" Porter stuttered. "There's not a lot to eat..."

"Oh, really? Guess I'll go out and buy everyone a meal, then. Let me go ahead and ask what everyone wants quickly..."

Bro then entered the house, ignoring Porter's attempts to stall him. To him and much to the surprise of Porter, the house looked normal. Lini and Lily were sitting on the couch reading a storybook.

"But how? Where are they-?" Porter asked, dumbfounded.

"Something up, Porter?"

"Uh- nope! Nothing at all!"

"I'm surprised the house hasn't burned down, let alone caught fire," Bro joked. "Anyway, I'll go grab my wallet and phone and go to the store to buy some food. Zaire and Amelia might get home home by the time I get back from the store."

"Your things are in the kitchen," Lini informed.

As Bro walked into the kitchen, Porter shuffled over to the two.

"Don't worry, big brother! We got it all covered. If you ask me, those holes in the wall couldn't be fixed without a little construction paper!" Lily smiled.

"Okay... That's cool and all, but what about the window?"

At that moment, they heard an angry scream from Bro.

"Easy- tape and hot glue," Lini replied.

"Then what was that scream about?"

"Would whoever left the drink on the table use a coaster?!" Bro yelled. "Anyway, I got my stuff, but I still feel like I'm missing something..." He said, more calm.

"...Like your shoes?" Lily asked, pointing at Bro's feet.

"Yeah, like my shoes..." Bro paused. "Fortunately, I've got a spare pair of shoes somewhere in the attic.."

Upon hearing this, Lini's face went pale.

"Hey, I haven't heard a peep from any of those partygoers. Are they even in the house?" Porter whispered to Lini.

"Oh, they're still in the house, alright..." she answered.

As Bro pulled down the staircase to the attic, several people fell outside and landed straight on him.

"Oh, hey Bro! Back so soon?" Mary greeted.

"What the- Mary? What are you doing in the attic? No, wait- what are you doing IN MY HOUSE?!" Bro yelled.

"Chill out man, we didn't know it was your house. If that's the case, we'll be leaving!" the male teen said as he got up and dusted himself off.

"Who the heck are you?!" Bro screamed in complete discomfort.

"Well, turns out there are no illicit substances here either," Officer Jesse announced as she walked out of the attic. "Feel free to continue this party as planned."

"...PARTY?!" The connection reached Bro's head.

The other three ran into the hallway where he was.

"Surprise!" Lily chirped awkwardly.

Bro slowly turned his head towards Lily and began to unbuckle one of his belts.

"Hey Lily, come here and test this new belt for me!" Bro suggested, running straight for her.

Lily let out a squeak as she ran away from her brother.

As Bro chased Lily around the house, Lini approached Porter with some thoughts.

"You know, we still haven't figured out who was responsible for the party..." Lini sighed.

"Yeah," Porter nodded, "it's a shame. But if it wasn't Lily, then who was it?"

Unbeknownst to everyone, up the street, a certain elderly woman was in her attic watching the siblings' house through a pair of binoculars.

The woman chuckled to herself. "Who's laughing now, you prankster hoodlum?"