Scientific Actress

Frame-A-Rooney

"Home alone." Parker handed Reggie and me glasses of water. "House to ourselves."

"Yeah. We make the rules today," Reggie commented.

The boys clinked their glasses together. "It's gonna get crazy!"

"Hey, do you have any coasters?" Reggie asked.

"Do you not understand the meaning of crazy?" Parker questioned, wrapping an arm around me.

I looked over and blushed. We were still in the shallow end, trying to figure out how this thing worked. Parker smiled, probably noticing how cotton candy-colored my cheeks were.

"I don't have coasters." Parker got up. "But I do have the Cloud-inator Nine Thousand."

The robot rolled into the room. "Whoa! A new robot?" Reggie questioned. "Parker, what did we do to deserve you?"

"This machine will create a rain shower right here in this living room," Parker explained.

"Why would we want that?" I asked.

"Because the three of us love tomatoes, but hate store prices." Parker set a bunch of plants on the table.

"Take that, grocery man," Reggie said, making me smile.

"Time to make it rain." Parker pressed the button. It made a perfect cloud over the living room. It got bigger and darker. "Oh, dear."

"Shut it down! Shut it down!" Reggie and I shouted in unison.

A lightning bolt struck a chair. Parker had to punch the robot to get the cloud to disappear. I didn't realize it until the fear was gone, but Parker had grabbed my hand somewhere during the fright of the lightning. The chair was smoking and sizzling.

"That was so cool!" Reggie exclaimed. "Only three people can make lightning. Mother Nature, Thor, and my homey Dr. P."

~~~

Parker finished patching up the chair with glue he made himself.

"I think we just about fixed it," Reggie commented.

"Where'd you get all the chair material from?" I asked curiously.

"Oh. It's my newest invention, Parker Patches. Made from old underwear and banana peels," Parker explained. "Now, just a little more Parker Paste over here... And we're done."

"Nice work, Dr. P." Reggie sat down in the chair. "Ah, my tush is feeling this cush. And now my tush is feeling stuck."

Parker grabbed Reggie, trying to get him out of the chair. Parker ended up on his side. "Up close and personal.

Parker hummed in agreement. "Did you start wearing cologne?"

"The ladies enjoy it," Reggie reasoned.

~~~

Maddie ran into the house. "Parker, I need your help! Can you figure out what these smudges are? Thanks."

The boys maneuvered the chair to face Maddie. "Aren't you at least gonna ask how we got stuck to this chair?"

"Uh... You built a cloud that shot a lightning bolt into Mom's brand new chair, which you fixed with Parker Paste, which has bonded your butts to the cushion and," Maddie sniffed the air, "Reggie started wearing cologne. Also, (Y/n) is just standing there because she's awesome and she's smart enough to not sit in that chair."

"As always." Maddie high-fived me.

"Whoa," the boys said.

"Okay. Now please help me figure out what those smudges are before my game tips off," Maddie begged, running off.

"To the laboratory!" Parker exclaimed.

I sighed and pushed the chair so they didn't have to struggle.

~~~

"Everyone stop!"

I pushed the chair into the high school gym and stepped back. No looks from others. "We determined that the smudges are chocolate of a Swiss origin."

"I figured it out because I licked it," Reggie explained.

"What did you need to tell me, Rooney?" Superintendent Kneebauer asked.

"That I just solved the crime." Maddie ran over to the microphone. "I know who vandalized the mascot. It was Artie Smalls."

"What?" Artie said, obviously faking innocence.

"Artie set up a late-night yodeling practice with Liv yesterday. He had her wear a blindfold to imagine the lush green hills of Switzerland, but really, it was so that he could sneak off. And that's when Artie and his minions vandalized the butter. But he just couldn't keep his hands off the chocolate. Swiss chocolate. And that's when he planted the beanie, which he created using his advanced knitting skills. And then he made sure that the rest of my family all had alibis."

"Wait. So you were the one that tricked me into going to the dairy-aisle opening." Joey walked over to Artie. "They called security. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to be butter escorted out of a dairy aisle?"

"My yodeling."

"Our paella gift card."

"No, no, no. Paella," Mrs. Rooney corrected him.

"It was Artie in the hallway with the butter knife," Maddie concluded.

"A fun tale you weave, Madison," Artie commented. "But no one will ever believe you."

"I believe her," Mrs. Kneebauer said. "Mostly because I don't like your face."

"My only question is... Why would you frame me?" Maddie asked.

"Why?" Artie questioned. He snapped his fingers. The minions dragged Diggie over. "I'll tell you why. Because you dumped my brother, Diggie."

Dump Truck stood up. "Hey, hold on a second here. Yous twos is brothers?"

"Obviously," Artie commented. "The plan was for the Smalls brothers and the Rooney sisters to live happily ever after, but now only Liv and I are a couple. Because you broke my poor brother's heart."

"Artie. Maddie didn't dump me. I broke up with her," Diggie admitted.

Liv ran up to the microphone. "Also, Liv Rooney and Artie Smalls are not a couple. I repeat, Liv Rooney and Artie Smalls will never be a couple."

"You dumped her?" Artie questioned. "Why have you stopped sharing your life with me, dear brother?"

"Because you do stuff like this!" Diggie snapped.

"Well, Mom says I'm acting out-"

"Okay, Artie, no one cares what your mom thinks about you right now," I said, cutting him off. "Do you know how stupid this looks right now? Seriously. You assume things, and you get one of the good players kicked out of the basketball game."

"She's right." Diggie nodded in agreement.

"Maddie, you can play in the game," Superintendent Kneebauer decided. "Artie... You're mine."

"Minions, protect me!" Artie ordered.

The three boys stood in front of him. She grabbed him by the collar and walked out.

"Suit up, Mads. It's game time," Mr. Rooney said with a grin.

"Hey, Mad-Dog Rooney was born suited up!" Maddie ripped off her clothes, revealing her basketball uniform underneath. "Bam, what!"