"Hand me the nozzle, now!"

"What are we doing?"

"You'll see…" The girl that spoke chuckled maliciously.

"Oooh…I can't wait." The smaller one squealed.

"Haha…they'll be sorry they ever met us!"

"Here's that...Am-mue-neshun box you wanted."

"Thanks…"

The larger of the two set the machine in place and equipped the rectangular prism box.

"Commence firing!" She announced in an imperious voice.

The smaller one giggled malevolently.

Silenced shots of the artillery flew at the object bobbing at the lake. A few moments later, frantic screams were heard.

"Success!"

***

"Maya!"

"Yeah, Nick?"

"That was completely out of order!"

"Oh, cheer up. We were just teasin'!"

"Yeah, Mr. Nick!" Pearl jumped up jubilantly and clapped her hands, mimicking Maya's motions.

"You were just teasing? You completely ruined my date!"

"Oh well! It's not like you won't have more!"

"It is like that now, thanks to you…" he grumbled.

"Did you hear that, Mystic Maya? He won't be seeing her again! Now you two will have time to lovey-wovey!"

Maya groaned a little. "Pearly…"

Phoenix himself chuckled a little. "I guess she still hasn't grown out of it, huh?" he thought.

*bbbbbbbbrrrrring!* *bbbbrrrrrrrrrrrringg!*

"I got it!" Maya exclaimed excitedly. "You have reached the offices of Wright and Co. How may we help you?" she announced into the speaker.

Phoenix tried to ignore this and picked up the toilet cleaning brush.

"Hey Nick! You won't believe this!"

He sighed and relented. "What now?"

"That burger joint we go to is having a discount!"

"Ugh…" Phoenix groaned.

"C'mon Pearly! Let's get us some food!"

"Yay! Mystic Maya!" Pearl, ecstatic to follow her older cousin, jumped out of her room and absentmindedly grabbed Phoenix's necklace that Iris had gifted and that he had left on top of the table.

"H-hey!" he shouted after the pair. "Wait! That's mine!" But it was too late. Pearl had already bounded out.

Phoenix sighed profoundly and returned to cleaning his toilet. After a few minutes of this menial labor, he wiped his forehead and sat down on the couch, ready for anything on television. However, before he got five minutes into a show, his phone rang.

"Hello?" He asked unenthusiastically into the speaker.

"Hi Feenie…" Iris spoke softly and shyly into the phone.

Upon hearing who was at the other end, Phoenix immediately adopted a changed and more vivacious demeanor. "Hi Iris! How have you been doing?"

"I-I've been doing…well…" she said. "Y-you?"

"W-well…I guess…Maya still exasperates me sometimes. I'm really sorry about the water balloon cannon that she fired at us. Guess I didn't know her pranks as well as I thought." He chuckled a little with the last phrase.

"O-oh! It's no pre—err…problem at all!" She stuttered. "I-I still h-had a lot of fun!"

"Then you want…" Phoenix hesitated, scratching the back of his head, but then continued. "…do it again sometime?"

"O-of course!" Phoenix could imagine Iris blushing madly as she produced those words. "I-I loved it! Especially…w-where you tried to shield me from the water…" she trailed off.

"Then maybe this afternoon, we could go for a swim?"

Iris, over the other end of the phone, seemed to smile, even though Phoenix could not see her. "I'll fetch my swimsuit!"

"Ok! It's a date then." Phoenix affirmed.

The two of them exchanged sweet words before hanging up.

***

Phoenix wasn't one to lose his composure and goggle at a woman, but that's exactly what he found himself doing when he saw Iris.

"E-err…Feenie, would you mind that doing that? It's m-making me nervous…" Iris requested.

"S-sorry!"

Phoenix led her by her hand to the tallest water slide.

"Shall we start with this?"

"U-um…" she had not yet finished her answer, which was presumably negative, before Phoenix grabbed her waist and threw her down, quickly following after.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" she screamed.

"Hahhahahahhahahahahah!" Phoenix was laughing from exhilaration. The frictionless slide continued downwards in spirals and semi-loops, and ended nearly two minutes later when Iris started appearing nauseous.

"F-Feenie…maybe we should try a more serene location?"

"Sorry, I just had to do that once." He then asked her "So, you choose. Where do you want to go next?"

"W-well…" Iris pointed towards the volleyball pool. "Th-there?" she inquired.

"Perfect! I've always wanted to try out a game of volleyball!" he laughed.

They went over to the volleyball court.

Who am I kidding? That's a cliché description that no one wants to read because it is quite devoid of any literary value.

They sauntered in the direction of the rectangular pool with rippling greenish blue liquid that shimmered in the golden rays of the sun, hand in hand, with nary a worry on their minds. Phoenix did not know what was in store for him. (That's better. I should really think)

"S-so!" Phoenix discovered Iris' spikes were quite painful, and her accidental mistake of supplanting Phoenix's head for the ball also allowed him to ascertain her level of explosive strength. "That was a fun game!"

"Y-yeah! S-sorry Feenie…"

"It's alright!" he said, but in reality his head was throbbing with agony. "

"Mmrph" Iris mmrphed. "Y-your f-phone!"

"Oh!" Phoenix had forgotten his phone somewhere. The scorching heat from the sun had probably disabled it by now. "Darn! I forgot!"

He sprinted away to find it, and uncovered it near a trash can. Apparently, he had dropped it there some time ago.

"That's just great. Now I'll have to get a new phone…it's due for replacement anyway…"

"Awww…it's OK, I'm sure that it still works."

Miraculously, as he held the power button, it turned on. "You're like a good luck charm, Iris! I love that about you."

She flushed and turned away a little.

"Voicemail? I wonder what for…" he muttered to himself.

"Mr. Wright? Is this Mr. Wright? I understand you have legal custody of both Ms. Maya Fey and Pearl Fey. Your presence is required at the Hotti Clinic immediately. Call back for details." *Message sent one hour ago.* *Click.*

"Maya! Pearl!"