Free Church Camp Chaos by Annie Tipton Page A

unless you want me to just go ahead and destroy you now and end your misery—”
    “No!” EJ shouts back. “Just give me a second to think.”
    “Tick-tock,” the voice sneers
.
    EJ rubs her eyes with her fists and tries to focus on the screen in front of her. The Invader has already destroyed four of her ships. One more hit to the final ship—the aircraft carrier that she is currently aboard—and the battle will be lost
.
    EJ takes a deep breath and says “E-nine,” her voice sounding more confident than she actually feels
.
    Silence
.
    Hope spreads across EJ’s chest—but just for a second
.
    “Miss!” The Invader’s laugh cackles through the speaker. “Miss! Miss! Not even close!”
    “Big ol’ stinky miss!” Isaac pumped his fist and jumped up from his spot on the living room floor before shouting triumphantly, “B-six!”
    EJ scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. There were few things in this world she hated more than losing, but losing to Isaac was
the worst
.
    “You have to say it,” Isaac said, grinning a toothless grin and pointing a finger at her. “Or it doesn’t count.”
    “Then it won’t count.” EJ shrugged and sat back against the couch pillows. “I don’t care.”
    “Moooom!” Isaac bellowed toward the kitchen, waking up Bert, who was snoozing in the recliner.
    “All right, all right.” EJ sighed and added a final red peg to her Battleship board. “Hit. Aircraft carrier sunk.” Then she added quietly, “You win.”
    “What was that?” Isaac cupped a hand around his ear. “Who wins?”
    “YOU win, but you’re still a massive loser!” EJ wrenched the tiny plastic pegs and battleships out of the game board and threw them into the box. “You win. I lose. Happy?”
    “Very happy.” Isaac put the box lid on the Battleship game, pressing it down with both hands so it made a rude noise that sounded like expelled gas.
    “Pardon me.” Isaac pinched his nose and pretended to look embarrassed.
    EJ rolled her eyes and tried to look disapproving at her brother, but her lips quivered into a grin, and a laugh overtook her face.
    “Isaac, you are ridiculous.” EJ grabbed him and poked the super-ticklish part of his neck. “But you’re not going to beat me in Battleship
and
Chickenfoot dominoes. Ready to lose?”
    “Never!” Isaac laughed and squirmed until he got away, scampering to the opposite side of the coffee table.
    “I’m going to set up so we can start playing when Mom and Dad are done in the kitchen.” EJ opened the lid of the box and removed dominoes, setting each piece facedown one at a time.
    Isaac and Bert watched EJ, both with their noses peeking over the edge of the coffee table.
    “You’re doing it wrong,” Isaac said after watching for several moments. “You’re too slow.”
    “You
could
help me,” EJ said.
    Isaac stood up, and before EJ could even get a word out, he turned the box over, scattering the remaining dominoes across the coffee table and onto the floor. Bert yipped at the clattering noise and hid behind EJ.
    “Isaac! Come ON!” EJ said, exasperated. “Pick up the ones on the floor before Bert decides they look like dog treats.”
    “Say the magic word….” Isaac wagged his finger at EJ.
    EJ knew this was one of those moments Mom would say that Isaac was just trying to get under her skin for the fun of it. Why? Because that’s what brothers do.
    “Do it before I knock you into next week!” EJ replied, a little louder than she meant to.
    “Nobody’s knocking anybody anywhere,” Dad said as he walked into the living room, kneeled next to the coffee table, and began to pick up dominoes. “Unless it’s a knock-knock joke.”
    “Knock-knock!” Isaac said.
    “Yes, we all
Noah
good joke,” EJ said. “Shut it!”
    “Okay, okay, enough you two,” Mom said. She was holding a tray with a big bowl of popcorn, napkins, and four plastic cups filled with fizzing root beer. “Dad and I have good news and bad news.”
    EJ’s