Only Fools - Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Margot: Where the hell did you disappear to after school?
Margot: I thought you had to tell me something.
Me: Sorry. Last minute cheer practice for a reason still unknown.
Me: And I had to tell you that I got an A- on my last math quiz!!
Margot: That's it?
Me: Excuse me??
Margot: Idk I thought you had something important to tell me.
Me: That is important!!
Margot: That's predictable.
Me: Aw. I didn't know you believed in me so much.
Margot: I don't.
Margot: I just know I'm a good tutor.
Me: You are!!
Margot: Aw don't make me blush.
"Let's go, girls. Practice started five minutes ago. Get moving," our coach yells into the locker room. I jump at the sound of her voice and nearly drop my phone in the process. Letting out a sigh, I tuck it into my bag before getting up and heading to the gym where the mats are already set up for practice.
After helping lead the team in our usual stretch, Coach Meghan calls us over to her.
"The football season just ended which means that sideline cheer has too. We'll probably start learning our rounds once we get into December, but today the plan is to work on some new stunts. Practice got moved to today because I have personal obligations that prevent me from being here tomorrow. So no practice tomorrow. You get the day off. Now get in your stunt groups and warm up a couple basic stunts before we start getting to the new stuff. Go,"
"Hey, girls," Ashley says sickly sweet. The rest of the stunt group gives her a weak greeting before we begin to warm up stunts. And I expected Ashley to give me bullshit, I just didn't expect it to be so soon into warming up stunts. As she and one of her best friends, Kirsten, let me down after a cradle, Ashley decides to unfortunately open her mouth.
"It's too bad that the football team didn't make it to states this year," Ashley tells us with a sigh. Kirsten nods in agreement, per usual for her.
"Yeah. I really thought this year-" I begin before I'm cut off.
"Not like they had a chance anyways," Ashley interrupts me.
"What do you mean?" Tori asks her.
"I mean, certain people just shouldn't be on the team. They really just bring the whole team down with them," Ashley says, and I almost immediately know that she's incorrectly referring to Ivy just to get on my nerves. I open my mouth to snap back at her, but Britney, my front spot, beats me to it.
"I'm sorry, Ashley. But I'm going to have to disagree with you there. The team really did great this year. I mean, they made it further than our team has in years so that definitely says something. Now can we get back to stunting?"
And being so nice has its clear privileges as no one would dare talk back to Britney. Her ruling is definitive. So we get ready to warm up the next stunt.
"5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, and 3, 4. 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, and, 3, 4. Twist cradle!" I hear my Tori shout from below me as I'm lifted into a stunt. I nod slightly, now knowing what I have to do.
"5, 6, 7, 8," my back spot shouts again. I'm then thrown into the air. I twist my hips and pull my arms down to my sides. It's not long at all until I land in the arms of my bases, safely.
"Hey, Aspen. Can you pull up more? You're really heavy today," Ashley says in a misleadingly sweet voice as she and Kirsten let me down from the cradle. Kirsten nods along with her yet again and I have to refrain from rolling my eyes.
"It's alright, guys. I'll just try to hold more of her weight," Tori, my ever amazing back spot, tries to keep peace among the group.
"No, Tori. You're doing enough. Aspen just isn't holding herself up enough," Ashley says almost as if I'm not standing right in front of her.
"She's doing fine, guys. I can see her the entire time. She's pulling up," Britney defends me.
"It sure doesn't feel like it," Kirsten finally chimes in, which causes for Ashley to smile for some sickening reason.
"Alright. I'll try to pull up more. Let's just move on," I finally give in much to Ashley's satisfaction.
Tori gives me a questioning look, most likely wondering why I just gave in so quickly, but I just shrug and turn around to get into my position to start the next stunt. I simply don't have the energy to deal with Ashley's shit anymore today and that's that.
————
"Is Ivy Charleston still here?" I ask the familiar hostess as I stroll into the diner.
"Yeah. She's just getting ready to leave though," Ivy's coworker nods her head towards the back.
"Perfect," I say with a smirk before walking to the back room where only employees are technically allowed, but I'm known to be the exception with the amount of time I spend here anyways.
"Hey. I'm almost-," Ivy begins to ramble as she grabs the rest of her belongings before she cuts herself short upon seeing me.
"Aspen,"
"Ivy,"
Ivy just gives me an unamused stare in response.
"I'm going grocery shopping. Wanna come?" I ask her.
"Why?"
"Why what? Why am I grocery shopping or why should you come?"
"Both,"
"I must go because I have to pick up food for thanksgiving since my dad is going to be stuck at work all night. You should come because I know you just can't get enough of me," I tell her. Ivy goes quiet for a moment and I almost think that she's just going to go along with my plans, but that theory is debunked as soon as she begins to respond.
"Shoot. I'm so sorry. I forgot that the kids are here. My parents had to drop them off so last minute and I-"
"I'm no kid!" a familiar young boy's voice resounds from the other end of the small room.
"What are you then, Itch?" I decide to play along upon seeing the clear frustration upon the boy's face.
"A man," he says confidently. I have to hold back the laugh that Ivy let's out in the form of a snort.
"Yeah right, bud. How long have you been in here?" Ivy asks him. He shrugs.
"I don't know. How long has Aspen been in here?"
"Aw? Did you see her and follow her back here, Mitchell?" Ivy coos which quite honestly just irritates Itch further, that paired with the use of his full name.
"No. Why would I do that?" Itch asks defensively as he crosses his arms over his chest and sends Ivy one of the most chilling glares I've ever seen from someone so short.
"If you did follow me in here, I want to let you know that I'm honored that you thought I was worth following, Itch," I try to reassure the boy, which seemingly works as told by the smile that overtakes his face.
"Aspen? What are you doing here?" he asks me, a rather random question to ask so far into a conversation, but it's not as if I actually know how the kid's brain works nor would I want to.
"What do you mean 'what am I doing here'? I work at the bookstore, dude,"
"I know! But doesn't Jaxon usually work tonight?" Itch asks me what his original question seems to have actually meant: why am I here when I wasn't supposed to be working today?
"I switched shifts with him so.... you don't know what that means. You know who Jaxon is?" I ask the kid. Itch nods his head enthusiastically in response.
"Well that's unfortunate,"
Ivy doesn't say a word as she slaps me on the arm in response.
"Dude!" I exclaim.
"Oh, that didn't hurt," she excuses herself.
"Are we going to the grocery store?" Itch asks Ivy with uncharacteristic excitement for an eight year old over such a task. Both Ivy and I freeze for a moment, now aware that the kid literally heard our entire conversation completely undetected.
"No. I think we're just going to head back home, Itch," Ivy breaks the news to him. It's then that I can practically see the cogs in his evil little mind turning.
"Why?"
"Well, you three need to get to bed, for one,"
"I will only sleep if we go to the grocery store with Aspen first,"
"Then you'll be really tired tomorrow and I won't care,"
"Ok. Well, I tried to do this the easy way," Itch says mischievously.
"Mitchell...." Ivy drags out, unsure of what's coming next. And then he starts screaming at the very top of his lungs.
It only takes a second or two for Ivy to run over to him and slap her hand over his mouth, but those seconds felt like hours as far as I'm concerned as I can't help but hope he didn't disturb the entire diner with his outburst.
"Fine. We can go. Just never do that again," Ivy gives in.
"What if a stranger tries to grab me. Shouldn't I scream then?" Itch asks, feigning confusion. Ivy rolls her eyes at her sibling.
"Yes. Now go grab the twins. We gotta go," Ivy tells him clearly exasperated. Itch just gives her his usual mischievous smile before leaving the room, presumably to get his siblings.
"Let's go," Ivy says to me as she readjusts the bag that she threw onto her shoulder.
After the exhibition by Itch that I just had to witness, I'm almost relieved by the decision that we should just meet up at the grocery store, even if the extra time spent with Ivy would've been nice.
That of course doesn't prevent me from laughing over how tired Ivy looks as she trails behind her siblings as they energetically burst through the sliding doors.
"Little demons," Ivy says under her breath as she approaches me.
"Hey. Don't group Ivan in with the other two," I defend the boy who's wandering in a daze behind his other two siblings who have already grabbed a shopping cart and are taking turns launching each other on it. Ivy doesn't even bother saying anything to them as she pulls the cart away from them and pushes it over to our first stop, the fresh produce. There's a chorus of sounds of disappointment from the two, but they quickly shut their mouths as Ivy gives them a warning look and proceed to follow Ivan's lead in placing a hand on the side of the basket and walking with Ivy and I.
"Ok. What did you need, Aspen?" Ivy asks me, to which I quickly hand her my decently short shopping list.
"So.... how was work?" I ask my best friend in attempt to break up the awkwardness.
"It was fine," she tells me with a shrug as she grabs an item I recognize to be from my list and places it in the basket.
"And now that conversation's over," I say in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"I'm sorry, Aspen. I'm just exhausted right now and...." Ivy trails off with a sigh.
"It's fine, Ivy. I get it," I reassure her as I give her shoulder a squeeze. She sends me a small smile that causes my heart to flutter a little bit.
"Do you wanna hear about my day, Aspen?" Itch suddenly pipes up from beside me.
"Sure. I-" I can barely get a word out before he continues.
"So school was boring like always. But recess was fun. We got to play on the football field today so I played football and-"
"That's so boring, Itch. I doubt Aspen cares," Isla interrupts him and I can't help but internally thank her for it. Who knows how long he could've went on for.
"Well then what did you do today, Isla?" Itch asks, very clearly annoyed with his sister.
"Oh. My day was boring, but at least I own up to it," she announces confidently.
"What about you, Ivan?" I ask in attempt to include the quieter of the twins. He shrugs and stays quite for a moment, almost leading me to believe that he may just not answer, but then he proves me wrong.
"I made a new friend in art class today. She said that she liked my drawing and then we talked about books for the rest of class," Ivan tells me with a smile.
"Ooh! Ivan has a girlfriend!" Itch taunts his older brother. Ivan's cheeks flush in what I assume to be a mixture of anger and embarrassment by his sibling's outburst.
"Oh shush, Mitchell," Ivy chimes into the conversation. Mitch just smiles his signature mischievous grin before his attention is suddenly redirected away from taunting his brother.
"Ooh. Ivy! Gummy bears. Ivy. I want gummy bears. Can we get gummy bears?" Itch asks at a much louder volume than needed.
"No. You're much too energetic already. You don't need that sugar,"
"But Ivy...." Itch whines.
"You know what? Let's play the quiet game," Ivy suggests in noticeably fake enthusiasm. The three kids nod in approval to her suggestion.
"Ok. Three, two, one, go," Ivy begins the game.
"Ok. I lose. I want gummy bears, Ivy," Itch says not even after a second of playing. It's then that I decide to intervene as I grab a bag off of the shelf and throw them into the cart.
"What the heck, Aspen?" Ivy asks me. I shrug at her and an absolute shit eating grin spreads across Itch's face as he realizes what I did.
"Those have to be shared among the three of you though," I try to reinforce some discipline so Ivy isn't too angry with me. In response to that, I receive three enthusiastic heads nods and a glare from Ivy.
"You three, stay right here. I need to speak with Aspen for a moment," Ivy says before grabbing my wrist and pulling me to the other end of the aisle.
"Ooh. Aspen's in trouble," Itch says with a laugh.
"What was that?" Ivy hisses at me once we're out of ear shot of the kids.
"They wanted gummy bears,"
"And I told them no. You undermined my authority," she reminds me.
"Fuck. We literally sound like a married couple arguing over how to parent,"
Ivy doesn't smile at my comment, but the smile that doesn't quite reach her lips does reach her eyes.
"Dude. You're they're big sister. Not their mom,"
"I know that...."
"Ok. And we're in a practically empty grocery store right now. Can we be the fun big siblings tonight without worry?"
Hesitantly, Ivy does agree even after I tell her that what I'm planning shall remain a secret until it happens. So with a smile, I walk back to the kids with Ivy in tow. I pull the shopping list out of Ivy's hand and hold it out for the kids to see before ripping it into thirds.
"Split up and find this stuff as fast as you can. Whoever gets back first, gets to have the gummy bears,"'I explain to them.
Each of the kids nods enthusiastically at my proposal and as soon as I say go, even Ivan is off in a flash.
And so Ivy and I sit with our backs pressed against the shelves and talk and laugh, waiting for the kids to come back.
Ivan was somehow the first one back, leaving Isla and Itch in tears of frustration, and Ivy and I in tears from laughter.
After a couple minutes, Itch and Isla almost seem to forget about their loss. However, after about ten minutes, once we've finished shopping and are walking out the front doors of the store, Ivan decides to pull out his gummy bears which stirs a chorus of groans of disappointment and disapproval from the other two.
"You could at least share them, Ivan" Itch tells his brother with a frown.
"He won. Leave him be, Itch," Ivy says as she and I finish loading the groceries into my car. However, as we close the trunk and turn around, we can't keep the smiles off our faces at the sweet sight of Ivan giving each of his siblings a handful of his gummy bears.
"I can't eat all of them anyways," he tells them quietly.
"That was so sweet, Ivan," Ivy says to him as she gives him a pat on the back.
"I just hope it stops their whining. They were getting annoying," he very seriously tells us.
"Hey," the other two chorus, seemingly slightly offended by his words.
But Ivan just shrugs and pops another gummy bear in his mouth.