Kermit rushed into his mother’s arms. “It’s okay,” Aunt Dee said soothingly. “It’s okay, Kermit. I’ll make sure Evan never does it again.”
She narrowed her eyes angrily at Evan as Kermit continued to sob, holding on to his mother like a baby.
Evan rolled his eyes at Andy. Andy replied with a shrug.
“Evan, you and Andy can start cleaning up this mess,” Mrs. Majors ordered. “Kermit is a very sensitive boy. When you play jokes like this, it upsets him terribly.”
Kermit sobbed even louder. His mom tenderly patted his head. “It’s okay, Kermit. It’s okay. Evan won’t ever tease Dogface again,” she whispered.
“But—but—” Evan sputtered.
How could Kermit put on such an act?
How could he deliberately get Evan into trouble? This mess wasn’t Evan’s fault. It was Kermit’s!
“I really don’t think—” Andy started.
But Aunt Dee raised a hand to silence her. “Just get this mess cleaned up—okay?”
She turned to Evan. “I’m not going to tell your mom about this, Evan,” she said, still patting Kermit’s head.
“Thanks,” Evan muttered.
“I’m going to give you one more chance,” she continued. “You don’t really deserve it. If you weren’t my nephew, I’d make you pay for all the damage. And I’d get someone else to take care of Kermit.”
“Evan is mean,” Kermit murmured, removing his glasses and wiping tears off his cheeks. “Evan is really mean.”
What a little rat! Evan thought. But he remained silent, his eyes lowered to the floor.
“Kermit, let’s get you cleaned up,” Aunt Dee said, leading him to the stairs. “Then we’ll have to give the dog a bath.”
She turned back to Evan and pointed a finger at him. “One more chance,” she warned. “One more chance.”
In the corner, Dogface let out a loud hiccup.
“See how you’ve upset the dog?” Kermit’s mom called to Evan. “You’ve given poor Dogface the hiccups!”
“But—but—” Evan sputtered again.
As Evan struggled to find words to defend himself, Kermit and his mom disappeared up the stairs.
* * *
Two hours later, Andy and Evan wearily headed for home.
“What a mess,” Evan moaned. “Look at me. I’m covered in chemicals.”
“Two hours,” Andy muttered. “Two hours to clean up the basement. And Dogface stood there watching us, hiccupping the whole time.”
“Kermit is such a little creep,” Evan said, kicking a stone across the sidewalk.
Andy shook her head bitterly. “Do you have any more cousins like him?”
“No,” Evan replied. “Kermit is one of a kind.”
“He’s such a little liar,” Andy said.
“Hey—you stuck up for him,” Evan accused. “You said he was a genius, remember? You were so happy that he did your math problems for you, you thought he was wonderful.”
Andy shifted her backpack onto her other shoulder. A smile crossed her face. “I forgot all about the math problems,” she said. “Kermit may be a little creep—but he’s also a genius. I’m going to get an A in math!” She let out a happy cheer.
“Winners never cheat, and cheaters never win,” Evan muttered.
Andy gave him a playful shove. “Did you just make that up? It’s very catchy.”
“Give me a break,” Evan growled. He turned and made his way up his driveway without saying good-bye.
* * *
Andy called him two nights later. “Your cousin Kermit is a total creep!” She shouted so loudly, Evan had to hold his phone away from his ear.
“Do you know what he did? Do you know what he did?” Andy shrieked.
“No. What?” Evan asked softly.
“He did all the math equations wrong,” Andy cried.
“Excuse me?” Evan wasn’t sure he heard correctly. “The genius got everything wrong?”
