Farrah's POV
Jackson and I walked down the stairs. Jackson had just finished putting on his football uniform, and we were headed to get food. Surprisingly, Jackson made the football team. Not that I wasn't excited for him, but it just wasn't expected.
"Hey, sports fans, gotta carbo-load before practice. Coach's orders." Jackson said, heading towards the food
I shrugged and followed him, "And I'm just really hungry."
"Oh. Why are you dressed up like a football player?" Dj asked, seizing up Jackson new look
"Because I tried out for them team, and guess what? I made it!" Jackson said, bouncing around, "Ta-da! I mean Boo ya!"
Dj looked at me for guidance, and I ignored her gaze, too busy staring at Jackson.
Jackson went to high five everyone, and Dj turned to me, "You're drooling a little, hun."
I went beat red, "What?"
"I'm just kidding. But you are a little obvious." She winked, "But don't worry. I don't really think Jackson is clever enough to catch on."
I nodded and turned around to see Jackson flirting with Lola, "You're right about that."
"So, Lola, I guess you'll be cheering for me in the old griddle iron?" Jackson asked, leaning against the counter
"I think the term is 'Gridiron." I said, sitting down at the table with a bowl of strawberries I took from the fridge.
Jackson glared at me, and I raised my hands in surrender before turning away from their conversation to enjoy my snack.
"Whatevs. Just as long as you're cheering for me from the balcony." He said, turning back to her
"You mean the stands?" She asked, holding in her laughter
"Whatevs." He sighed, still trying to act cool
"Jackson," Dj called, waving him over, "Why didn't you tell me about wanting to play football?"
"Because you'd get all freaked out and then pretend it's fine." He said
"And then yell at him for it... and then for some reason yell at me to?" I defended
"I wouldn't get all freaked out." Dj argued, "And I only yell at you because you're supposed to stop him from doing dumb stuff."
"I'm lazy." I replied, pointing my strawberry at her
"Ok, but why wouldn't you ask me for... Oh, I see what I did there." She nodded
"Don't worry, mom. I'll see you after rehearsal. I mean practice." He said, putting on his helmet and doing stupid football moves out of the kitchen.
I got my bag and bowl of strawberries, moving to follow him out.
"Wait, why are you going?" Dj asked
"Someone's gotta take him to the hospital." I said, before walking out of the kitchen.
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After practice, Jackson decided he needed to keep working out and came to the conclusion that bench lifting Tommy was the best idea.
"I need something lighter" he said
He ran over and picked me up, and I instantly began smacking his back so he would put me back on the ground.
"Jackson, put me down right now!" I struggled
"But you're so tiny." He complained, hesitantly setting me down in my previous spot
"Lighter than a baby?" I laughed
"Hey, Tommy's pretty Chubby." He argued
I rolled my eyes, and watched as he went back to using Tommy. Dj walked in, and instantly stopped when she saw what he was doing.
"Hey, Mom, get in here and spot me." He said
Dj walked over, and grabbed Tommy from Jackson's grip, "Jackson, I've been doing some thinking and...after careful consideration, I have to say no to you playing football."
"What? But you already said yes." He complained
"Well, technically, I just didn't say no." She shot back, "And, even more technically, you joined the team without asking me."
"Because I knew you would do this." He said, "You're always babying me. I'm 13 now, I'm a man."
As he reached the end of his sentence, his voice
cracked. One of the worst timings for a voice crack, but still pretty funny.
"Wow, very manly." I sarcastically agreed
He threw a pillow at me, and I moved out of the way to dodge it.
"Let's not argue in front of Tommy." She suggested
Jackson picked up Tommy, and put him on the floor, "Here, kid. Fetch."
He threw Tommy's pacifier out the door, and the baby was real quick to follow it out of the room.
"That's very sanitary." I laughed
"Come on, mom. Dad played football." Jackson argued.
"Well you're Dad had... more of a football body." She tried to explain without hurting his feelings, "You have more of a... a ping pong body."
"Ha! Mom roast." I pointed out
"He still would've let me play." Jackson said
"Well, maybe he would have, but parents have a lot more information today, especially about concussions." She said
"But I could get hurt just walking on the street. And I do! You know what? These are the last words you will ever hear from me. Goodbye mother." He said, trying to take his shoulder pads off
He began to struggle, as they reached his head, "If you're still there, I could use a little help."
Dj was about to help, but then decided against it and walked out of the room.
"Idiot." I sighed, getting up to help him.
After his argument with Dj, Jackson decided the best way to mock her point was by wrapping his entire body in bubble wrap. Not that it made a lot of sense, but it would be entertaining for everyone else.
After we wrapped him, we made our way to the living room where the parents were gathered for game night.
"Don't mind me. Just passing through very carefully." He said, stopping in front of the adults, "In case you're wondering about the bubble wrap, I've been told that I have a very fragile 'ping pong' body." He said
He turned around to walk up the stairs, but stopped, "Oh. Stairs. Too dangerous. Better go sleep in the kitchen."
I grabbed a cookie from the table, "Isn't this hilarious?"
Jackson and I walked back into the living room after taking his bubble wrap off, "Alright everyone I'm hitting the hay. Goodnight everyone. Except for... you know who you are."
He gave them all one last look, before rushing up the stairs. I rolled my eyes and quickly followed after him.
Jackson did actually decide to go to bed, but I wasn't tired so I went to hang out with Ramona and Lola. We were discussing how cute all the guys in our grade were, until Kimmy and Dj walked in
"You" Kimmy said pointing to me, "Come sit let's have a chat."
I was confused, but stood up from the bed and moved to sit in the chair in front of her.
"So, Farrah. If that's your real name." Kimmy started, "Is it true Jackson's playing football just to impress Lola?"
"I don't know." I shrugged
"Well I do." She yelled, "It's true. So now that Fuller kid is gonna get flattened like a pancake by a 300 pound line backer. All for some dame."
"Uh, what does this have to do with me?" I asked, looking towards Dj for a somewhat sane response
Kimmy turned to Dj "Your turn. I need to cool off."
Dj nodded at her and sat in the chair in front of me, "Hey, Farrah. You know me.. the nice one. Okay, I think where my hothead partner is going with this is we're really worried that Jackson could get seriously hurt playing football, and I know you are to, and he won't listen to us, but he might listen to his best friend."
"But he did it for Lola, not me." I argued
"But you're his best friend and he looks up to you. I'm sure you could convince him." She said
"I got this." Kimmy said, "Your worst nightmare is back. So here's the deal. You're gonna march right in there and tell Jackson, real calm like, that Lola doesn't care if he plays football. Got it?"
"Okay, but only because Jackson's my friend, not because Kimmy sorta scares me." I agreed
I stood up from my chair and made my way to Jackson's room. I could feel Dj and Kimmy starring at me, so I slowly opened the door, "Hey."
"Oh. Hey, Farrah." He greeted while I stared at his LEGO creation, "This? Yeah this is Max's."
I rolled my eyes and sat next to him, "I helped you build that idiot. Jackson, if you're playing football just for Lola—-"
"Mom's trying to tell me to stop, but no one tells me what to do." He said
"Jackson, you shouldn't play just for Lola's attention. She should be able to see that you're a really cute and awesome guy even without football." I confessed
"You think I'm cute?" He asked, blushing
"Well, yeah," I said, "but that's not the point. You need to be who you really are, not who some girl wants you to be."
"Okay, I'm out." He said, referring to football, "So, Uh... If Lola's not into football players, what kind of guys do you think she into?"
"Well, I bet she likes guys who don't try too hard to impress a girl." I said
"Ah! Those are my favorite kind of guys too." He nodded, making me laugh, "Oh, that came out wrong."
"I'm going to go tell Dj you're not gonna play anymore." I said, standing up to report back to the women who were just interrogating
Reaching the door, I slowly turned around and decided to make a bold move.
"Goodnight Jackson." I said before I kissed his cheek, and sped out.
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The next morning, I sat in the kitchen with the whole family while I ate my bowl of cereal.
"Hey, Mom." Jackson greeted, walking down the back stairs
"Uh, So were talking again?" Dj asked, taking the bowl of cereal I had just finished
"Yeah, I've decided to respect your wishes and not do football." He said
"Well I appreciate that." She smiled, before winking at me
"Look, Mom. I'm really sorry about the whole silent treatment thing. I was just so mad at you." He said
"And you're allowed to be mad at me. But you're not allowed to be disrespectful. That's not how we solve problems in this family." She gently responded
"I know. We talk it out, we work it out, and we hug it out." He said, "I love you, Mom."
"I love you too" She smiled, leaning in to hug him.
"Come on, Dj. We wanna see this!" Ramona said, referring to where Tommy sat for his first haircut
"Ok, everybody grab your cameras." She said
We all took out our phones and gathered around Tommy and Fernando, eager to get a good picture.
"Ok. Just to warn you, sometimes the baby cries. And that's ok." Fernando said, "Alright, here comes the first snip."
He cut the first piece of hair and Dj starts crying, which then made everyone else in the room start crying.
"He's just so cute." I cried
Tommy just say in his chair, looking around the room at everyone crying.
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Thank you guys so much for 300 reads it's incredible. I know I say this a lot but I would really appreciate a comment because no one has ever commented one. If you guys have any suggestions please let me know.