9 Grounded!

Nine grounded AS HIS PARENTS PREPARED dessert and Harris was walking toward the den, he spotted Zeke's parents in the front hallway. They were both leaning into the coat closet. "Are you looking for something?" Harris asked.

Quar and Xad turned around quickly. The both looked embarrassed. In reality, they were researching the clothes in the closet. But they couldn't say that to Harris. Zeke walked in and spoke up. "My parents left the dessert they brought in the closet," he said.

"That's right," said Quar. She reached back into the closet and pulled out a white cake with colorful frosting in a pattern of square shapes. Uh, great," said Harris. "You can just bring that into the den." But Harris was suspicious. This sounds fishy to me, he thought. They never even wore coats and had no reason to go into that closet! Why would they have put a cake in there?

Harris joined the others in the den. He picked up a knife to cut a piece of the cake and noticed that the squares in the frosting had changed into a series of wavy lines. Harris looked around. Everyone was chatting, sipping coffee, and happily eating dessert. Zeke and his parents were even using utensils now. It would have seemed perfectly normal if not for everything else Harris had already seen.

Why does no one but me ever seem to notice all the strange stuff that happens around Zeke and his family? he wondered. The appetizer that suddenly cooked itself, the refilling glass, the food appearing magically in front of Zeke, Quar, and Xad, the changing cake frosting, not to mention everything that happened at Zeke's house and also at school. It's all too much. And yet nobody sees it but me!

"Well, we would like to thank you for a lovely evening," Quar said when everyone had finished dessert. "But we should be getting home." Quar, Xad, and Zeke all stood up. This is it! Harris thought. My best chance to prove that Zeke's an alien is about to end. I can't take it anymore. I have to convince them. They have to have noticed something. It's now or never! Harris stood up.