"Christopher! Wake up!" Someone hits me with a pillow.
I groaned and put my blanket over my head. "Five more minutes," I groaned.
They hit me with the pillow again. "Come on, Chris. Party starts in about three hours."
My head went straight up and there stood Mia. "What?"
"It's Saturday," she said. "What day do you think it is?"
"I don't know?" I rubbed my eyes.
"Well, I can't blame you, considering we have a four day weekend. Now get up." She runs out of my room.
I sighed and got out of bed. I looked down at the floor where Jackson and Shaun are sleeping. On Thursday, Natalia, Katherine, Jackson, and Shaun surprised me when they came here. My aunt Sofia, Uncle Darrell, and my seventeen year old cousin Diego came too.
I kicked Jackson. "Wake up."
"Nnng..." Jackson groaned.
I kicked him again. "Come on, Jackson. Wake up."
"I don't want to," he whined.
"Well, I'm sorry, but we have to have breakfast and then we have to get everything ready for the party." I went over to Shaun and kicked him too. "You get up too."
"Ugh, fine." Shaun gets out of his sleeping bag.
I got my clothes off out of my dresser and took a quick shower. When I walked out of the bathroom, Jackson and Shaun walked out of my room dressed. Shaun's dark hair is sticking all over the place.
"Shaun, brush your hair before you go upstairs," I said.
He groaned, but went to the bathroom.
Jackson and I went upstairs to the kitchen where my parents, Grandpa, my brothers and sisters, my aunt Sofia and Uncle Darrell, my aunt Isabelle and Uncle Stanley, Katherine, and my cousins Natalia, Diego, Sarah, and Louisa are.
"You guys are here early," I said. Natalia, Katherine, Diego, Aunt Sofia, and Uncle Darrell are staying with Aunt Isabelle, Uncle Stanley, and their kids for the weekend.
"Your mother wanted us to be here around eight to have breakfast and to get everything ready for the party," Aunt Sofia said.
"And we've been up for a while," Aunt Isabelle said.
"Guess why?" Diego said, looking at Louisa.
"Diego, she's just a baby," Aunt Sofia said.
Diego rolled his eyes and sat at the table.
"Okay, guys," Dad said. "We've made waffles, sausages, hash browns, eggs, and toasts." He sets them on the table."Some of you will have to sit at the counter."
I served my plate and sat at the counter with Natalia, Katherine, Jackson, Shaun, Mariah, and Mia and started to eat my breakfast.
"So what do we have to do to get everything ready?" Aunt Sofia asked Mom.
"Well, we're going to have the party outside, so we're going to set up tables and chairs, and we're going to have potatoes and gravy with chicken." Mom turns to Dad. "Am I missing something, Dominic?"
"Don't forget the cake," Dad said.
"Oh, yes. I bought two yesterday. One chocolate and one vanilla." She looks at the cakes sitting on the counter.
"You didn't make them?" Uncle Stanley asked.
"I didn't have much time and I was too lazy," Mom said.
"I could've made them," Grandpa said.
"Dad, last time you made cake, you burned it," Aunt Isabelle said.
"It was thirty years ago on Joey's ninth birthday," Grandpa said.
Aunt Isabelle's face fell when she heard my uncle Joey's name and looked down. My dad rubs her back and gives her a small smile.
"So how come the rest of the family aren't coming?" I asked.
"Because they either live in other states or cities, or they're busy," Mom said.
"And besides, they'll be here for Thanksgiving," Grandpa saw d.
Aunt Isabelle looks up. "Even Joey?" she asked.
"Yes, even Joey and Ronnie," Grandpa said.
"Who's Ronnie?" Katherine whispered.
"Uncle Joey's husband," Mariah said.
Now that I've thought about it, I haven't actually seen my uncle Joey since I was about six. I didn't really know what happened, but all I know is that Uncle Joey and Aunt Isabelle got into a really big fight about something. Now he and Uncle Ronnie live in Utah and they've been married for about seven years. It was shocking that they didn't invite us to their wedding and they didn't even come to Grandma's funeral. Sometimes I asked myself if it's because they're gay and they were disowned because of that. I wonder if that would happen if I came out to my family.
"Okay then." Mom stood up from the table. "So here's the plan: Sofia and I will be making lunch, which will be at noon. You kids and the men will be setting the tables and the chairs in the backyard."
"What about me?" Aunt Isabelle asked.
"You will order these guys around," Mom said.
"Great." Aunt Isabelle stands up, holding Louisa. "But first I have to change the baby's diaper."
We finished eating and Diego, Shaun, Jackson, and I went downstairs to get the tables and chairs.
"Shouldn't it be the adult's jobs to set up the party?" Jackson asked.
"Wouldn't kill to help, Jackson," I said, giving him a couple of chairs.
"And besides, the more we work together, the faster we'll get done," Diego said.
We took the chairs upstairs and gave them to Natalia, Katherine, Mariah, and Mia so they could take them outside. We all then worked together to get the folded up tables outside and then started to set up.
"Okay now," Aunt Isabelle said, who's holding the sleeping baby. "First thing first, we have to set the tables up."
"Honey, maybe you should put the baby in the house," Uncle Stanley said.
"But honey," she started to say.
"Just put her inside the house. Olivia and Sofia will keep an eye on her, just like they are with Sarah."
Aunt Isabelle sighed. "Fine." She went inside the house and came back out later.
"There you go," Uncle Stanley said. "Now just tell and show us where we needed to put the tables and chairs."
Aunt Isabelle nodded her head. Since we have over thirty people at the party, we will have about eight people at a table and leave one for the food. We got done about a half-hour later.
"Okay," Aunt Isabelle said," I'm going to check with Olivia to see if she needed something else for us to do." She walked into the house.
"So," Natalia said, wrapping her arm around my shoulder, "is Brian going to be here?"
"Yeah."
She jumps up and down and claps her hands. "Yay! I can't wait to meet him!"
"Calm down, Natalia," Shaun said, holding her arm.
"Sorry! I'm just so excited!"
Aunt Isabelle comes back outside with Sarah and gives her to Mariah. "You kids can rest for a while. You men get inside."
Grandpa, Dad, Uncle Stanley, and Uncle Darrell followed her inside the house. Mariah, Mia, Jacob, and Nate played with Sarah while Diego went onto his phone. Natalia, Katherine, Shaun, Jackson, and I sat down at one of the tables.
"Can't wait to meet your new friends, Chris," Katherine said.
"Trust me. You guys will love them," I said.
"Not as much as Brian, huh?" Natalia asked.
"Oh, for goodness sake, Natalia," I said.
"Relax, Chris. I'm just joking around."
"When does the party start?" Jackson asked.
I checked my phone. "In about an hour and a half," I said.
"What are we going to do now?" Shaun asked.
"Why don't you guys tell me about St. Paul?" I asked.
They told me their science teacher has just announced she's pregnant. Jackson's mom just started dating someone she met at work and he's only twelve years older than Jackson. I asked Jackson what's wrong with that, he just shrugged and said he just thought he didn't understand why his mom would date someone who's sixteen years younger than she is. Jackson's parents divorced when we were in the second grade and his dad left after that.
Then Farrah Jones, an old classmate of mine, is moving to Wyoming because her dad just got a new job there. Katherine and Farrah don't get along because Farrah always teases Katherine for wearing baggy clothes. Katherine says she's very happy that bitch is moving.
It was about quarter to eleven when Dad came back outside and said, "Okay, guys. Guests will be here soon. Let's get some things ready."
"I thought we weren't serving lunch until noon," Jackson said.
"Probably for something else," I said, getting up from my chair.
We walked into the kitchen where Mom just put the chicken in the oven. "Okay, kids. Food will be ready in about an hour. Just put the paper plates, silverware, glasses, and napkins outside and the basket for the presents too."
"She needs all of our help for this?" Jackson whispered to me.
"Just shut up and help, Jackson," I said, giving him the paper plates.
We set everything outside on the table. Mariah brought out the utensil holder to put the silverware and napkins in.
"Okay," Mariah said. "I think everything is ready for the party."
"Chris! Guests are here!" Mom called.
Natalia smiled at me. "Let's get this party started."
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