We're a Family

(38) Adventures in Writing

Carli's POV

Julie's clinging to Hope who is managing to roll her suitcase and carry their bags. Mallory's leaning against me. She'd probably be in my arms if it weren't for Julie's suitcase that have my hands full. Alex and Christen are trudging behind us sleepy and achy. Hope stops walking beside me to adjust Julie. "JJ, give Mom a break. You're a big girl. You can walk," I say. She whimpers and buries her face deeper into her neck. Hope doesn't say a word, but I can tell she's tired.

We're finally in Rio after nine hours on a plane. The whole team's feeling the effects of sitting till you don't know how to stand. "I'm fine Carlos," Hope say calmly. I give her a disbelieving look. "Really I'm fine."

I shake my head and we started walking again. "Mama," Mallory mutters sleepily. "I'm hungry."

"I second that," Christen says.

"Third," Alex sighs smoothing her hair.

Julie shifts and glares at her. She snaps, "I wanted to be third."

I immediately intervene. I'm not going to deal with anymore bickering. I had enough of that with Julie and Christen sitting beside each other for half of the flight. "No, we are not picking a fight over this. No way," I say sternly. "We'll get food when we get to the hotel."

Hope and I exchange looks that none of the 'kids' pick up on. "So . . . " Hope starts off awkwardly as we continued walking. "I think we need to go over the rules—"

"We know the rules," Julie whines into her shoulder.

Hope opens her mouth to respond, but I cut her off. "We are in a different country and this is the first olympics as a family. It's very important that we know, understand, and obey. Understood?" I say firmly. They need to know how important the rules are. Especially in a place none of us are familiar with.

They all nod. "It can wait till the morning though. Just for now, remember to stick close," Hope says. I glare at her. It can't not wait. The hours from now till morning give a lot of room for trouble. She raises her eyebrows at me. I look at the girls and get what she means. They're tired. They won't even remember this conversation in the morning. It's not worth it. I remind them to stick close by and to obey what Hope and I say.

We make it out of the airport without any big surprises. Everybody makes it to the hotel without any complications. After we eat, the room assignments are given and everybody gets settled in. I room with Hope. Mallory and Al are put together, and so are Chris and Jay. Not long after they all fall asleep.

Alex's POV

"Alex."

The persistent hissing of Mallory Pugh is enough to make me murderous. I'm ready to take my pillow and suffocate her with it.

"We're gonna die if we miss breakfast because we're going to starve to death."

"I'm gonna kill you if you don't leave me alone," I snap back pulling the covers over my head.

She rips them off of my body and jumps on top of me. "Get! Up!" she cries out.

There's a knock at the door. Mal opens it, flying across the room. This girl had to have had sugar or something. There's no way she is running this well on pure sleep. Christen strolls in dressed for the day. We're being given a few days to adjust before we started training.

"Alex, breakfast started ten minutes ago. Get up," Christen insists unzipping my suitcase.

I sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes. I yawn, "I think rest days should be filled with rest."
Christen rolls her eyes and chucks an outfit at me. "Where's JJ?"

"She left me this morning to go hang out with Moe." she says dramatically acting like she's hurt. Mallory giggles and jumps on the bed next to me. "What are you laughing at?" questions Chris putting her hands on her hips. Mal giggles even more and tries to hide behind me but Christen quickly pins her down and starts to tickle her mercilessly. Christen finally stops and scoops Mallory into her arms. She plants a kiss on her nose and Mal grins. After I get dressed, the three of us walk to the elevator. When the doors open, Julie and Moe are inside arguing about which one of them would survive longer in a zombie apocalypse.

"I'm like a ninja!" Julie says with her arms crossed. "Nobody would ever see me coming."

Moe snorts, "You have white hair, not blonde, WHITE." JJ glares at her. "Besides why are we even talking about us? As long as we have Kling we'd be okay." Christen and I look at her confused while Julie burst out laughing.

"Because she's bite sized!" chuckles JJ starting to turn red because of how hard she's laughing.