Picture Day is today but it's school pictures so I have to wear the school uniform:'( and I'm not a big fan of pictures.
But I'm trying to be positive today lol kind of like this chapter.
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"He's totally flirting with you", Elmer says, doing his homework with Albert at the kitchen table. He glanced up. "You already know he likes you."
"I know. I didn't know I liked him until last Friday", Albert sighed, tapping his pencil against his hand. He waited a few days to tell Elmer about what happened in the closet, then he had to cover his ears from the younger's shrieks of joy. "Should I flirt with him?"
Elmer snorted. "Al, you can't flirt."
"Yes, I can."
"I have never seen you flirt in your entire life."
"You haven't known me that long", Albert pointed, pointing the pencil at his brother. "And just because I don't doesn't mean I can't."
Elmer shrugged and went to his work, just as Ralph walked in. "Hello, my children."
"Hey."
"Hi."
"Albert", he starts, sitting next to the red head. "I have reason to believe that your sentence should be shortened."
Albert's brows furrowed. "Really? Why?"
"I was...convinced", Ralph glanced at Elmer, who giggled, "that you were standing up for a friend. Because I have no evidence, I simply have to trust this. You're not grounded anymore, I guess."
Albert was baffled. He wasn't even grounded for a week yet- it was only Thursday- and here he was, free. "Uh, thanks."
Ralph tousled his hair, a proud smile on his face. "Keep makin' me proud, kid."
Albert smiled and leaned into the touch slightly, going back to tapping his pencil.
"So, what you working on?" Ralph shrugged his coat off of his shoulders, looking at his son's papers. "You guys seem real focused."
"I'm doing math, right now", Elmer mumbled, studying his journal. "Math test."
"And I am writing a paper for English class", Albert informed, tapping his paper. He moved it over to Ralph. "Check how much I've written."
Ralph, placed his hands on the paper. "Wow. Nothing."
"Exactly", Albert sighed, rubbing his eyes. This project was stressing him out. For a while, he didn't have to think about it, mostly because of parties and new friends. But now, how is he supposed to explain, "The meaning of love."
Ralph hummed, nodding. "Mrs. Harris?"
"Yeah. You know her?"
"Ugh, she was my English teacher when I was a junior", Ralph explained, rolling his eyes. "She always told me not to speak Spanish in English class? Told a bunch of kids, actually."
"Well, what'd you do?"
"I spoke Spanish", Ralph shrugged, crossing his arms. "She was so sick of me by the end."
Albert chuckled, twirling his pencil between his fingers. "Yeah, she's a pretty sour lady."
"Bonjour, famille!" Fred shouted throughout the house. He carried bags into the house, walking over to them. Albert could tell his smile was huge when he kissed each of them on the heads. "Que se passe-t-il? What's going on?"
"Uh, we were talking", Ralph starts slowly, glancing at the boys. They stared back at him, knowing what he was doing. "And we think you should make...Thiéboudienne?"
Albert and Elmer glanced at each other. They both knew there were many things that made
Ralph fall in love with Fred.
1) His smile. He says he can stare at it for days.
2) His personality. "He's just a really smart and great human being", he would tell anyone close enough to know about his crush at the time.
And 3) His cooking skills. Maybe this should've been number one.
"No", Fred deadpanned, smiling when Ralph pouted. He gestured toward the bags. "I brought burritos. Plus, baby, it is far too cold for fish."
"Dad, it's only November", Albert pointed out, grabbing one of the bags. Fred looked at him with shock, a small smile curling onto his face.
"And it's cold enough to wear a coat", he repeated, having told Albert this all month. "Speaking of, I'm cooking for Thanksgiving."
Elmer gasped, breaking his focus. "Is it gonna be-"
"A Friendsgiving-Thanksgiving?" Albert furrowed his brows, confused. "Yes. Yes, it will be."
He looked to Ralph. "What?"
"We basically invite all of our friends here, some earlier to help us cook", Ralph explained. "Then, we eat here and enjoy the night together. It's a lot of fun, you'll love it."
Albert hummed, staring at his pencil. He's never had one of those before. Most Thanksgivings he remembers had to do with a dry turkey and not very tasty food. They were kind of sad. "Cool."
Fred tousled his hair and sat down at the head of the table, digging into bags and grabbing food.
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Race was running. Again.
It couldn't believe just a few weeks ago, he wanted to quit. A part of him gone forever because he decided to close that door. He decided he was stupid.
But Race always makes the right decision in the end. "Hey."
He looked over, finding JoJo again. "Hey, Jo. It's been awhile."
"Yeah, I've been busy", JoJo says vaguely, looking Race over. "Had some business."
"Oh, yeah? With who?"
"Mike Guzman."
Race smirked and walked over to the wall separating the bleachers from the track. "Really? Mike Guzman?"
"Yes, Mike Guzman", JoJo repeats, glaring slightly. It had no affect on Race, however, seeing as JoJo had trouble doing it in the first place. "We just...he helped me clean up the park last week."
"Really? Was Katherine there?"
"No. No, she was not."
"So you could call it...a date?"
JoJo blushed and looked away, ignoring Race's laughs. He cleared his throat. "I heard what happened at the party."
"Uh, yeah", Race sighed, crossing his arms and setting his feet shoulder width apart. It wasn't something he wanted sit with. "We fought the Delanceys."
"Dad wasn't too happy about it either?" JoJo pointed at his eye, twirling his finger in a circle. Race chuckled.
"It's healing", Race assured, taking a deep breath. "And it's most important that Albert's okay. I mean he- he didn't have to get involved."
"Albert?"
"Yeah", Race smiled softly, looking at the ground. "He, uh, may have saved my ass a few times during. Don't tell him I said so, though."
JoJo chuckled, promising. Race knew he knew about his crush, they just didn't have to say anything. JoJo was just like that- a good friend with an even better intuition. "Come on. We are going to Jack and Crutchie's house."
Race ran over grabbed his water bottle, following JoJo. "Why?"
JoJo sighed, looking at the sky. "I need to recruit people for something."
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"I'm cool with it", Jack shrugged, braiding Davey's hair. "We don't have anything to do Friday night."
"I think I have to watch my brother", Davey answered, smiling. "But I can ask my mom if I can bring him."
"I can ask Boots to bring his friends", Specs nods, taking their phone out. "He needs to get out of the house anyway."
Spot crossed his arms. "I'll get my friends to join."
"You guys think Albert would come?" Race glanced at his friends as he was playing with his shoelace. "I kind of want to ask him."
Elmer smirked, leaning into Spot. "Sure. Yes, he would. I'll make him."
"El, you don't-"
"Shh, it's already done", Elmer interrupts, ignoring Spot's snickering. "He's coming."
Race half-smiled, going back to his shoelace. He never thought he'd believe he would be excited to see the redhead from the hallway on the day they were supposed to be picking up trash in a park. At the moment, it's sounds perfect.
"Alright", Jack sighs, clipping a barrette in Davey's hair. "Looks like we've got something to do tomorrow."
And Race couldn't be happier.