*Nanooks POV*
After the holidays, the month of January, and multiple very good doctors visits, February brought an end to my bed rest, kind of. I was allowed to leave the house to do anything I needed two or three time a week, and I was no longer confined to my room and the bathroom in the house. I still couldn't do any heavy lifting, which included Wyatt and Walker, but that was much better than going absolutely crazy with boredom. It worked out great that I was allowed to get out of the house a few times a week too, because not only had I been missing the playgroups for Haden, Wyatt and Walker, but I had also been missing the older kids' dance, cheerleading, tumbling, and karate.
All of the kids were in at least one activity, BooBoo was the only one that was only in one, he just liked karate, no tumbling, dance, or cheerleading for him. Lyli, Lynn and Dylan were all in competitive dance, along with competitive cheerleading, which kept them busy. They all were also taking piano lessons, and Dylan was learning to play the violin. Trent and Blaine were in competitive cheerleading with the girls, but not dance, and the rest of the boys wouldn't have anything to do with either. All of the boys, even Haden were in karate, and all but BooBoo were in tumbling. Each of them also took either piano lessons or guitar lessons. All of the kids, including Wyatt and Walker, took swimming lessons, because we had an indoor pool, and we weren't keen on taking any chances.
I was thinking of all of this as I got Lyli, Lynn, and Dylan into our Prius for dance and cheerleading. Dance started at four, which only gave us an hour after they got home from school to get them ready and to the dance studio, which was twenty minutes away. We also had to pack a dinner, because at six thirty, cheerleading practice started, and there was no time to stop anywhere. Tuesdays were the only week night that the girls got to stay up until ten, because we didn't get home until about nine forty-five. Thursday was the music lessons day, that was Spencers responsibility, and Friday was tumbling and karate, which I went to. Between all of that I was cutting it close to doctors orders with Haden, Wyatt and Walkers playgroup.
"I bet the other moms will be glad that you're finally back, Mom," Dylan said.
"I hope so, they are some of my best friends," I said, smiling.
"Is daddy bringing Trent and Blaine to cheer?" Dylan asked as I got into the drivers seat.
"Yep, just like always. We have a competition this weekend right?" I asked, I knew, but I wanted to see if the girls did.
"Yeah! It's in Atlanta!" Lyli crowed.
"Mommy can't go with this time though, you guys will share a room with Jentry and her mom Elaine. I'll watch you on TV though, I promise, and Daddy is going with, but he's going to be in a room with Trent and Blaine. When we get back from Disney World this year Mommy and Daddy are going to go with you guys to Nationals, if you make it. The whole family will go, because it's in Miami this year, so we'll stay at the beach house," I said, glancing back at the girls in the rear view mirror.
"Really?" Dylan cried.
"Really, we're going no matter what, for vacation. We'll be there for three and a half weeks," I said.
"Everybody?" Lyli asked.
"Yes, everybody. And by then, Mommy will have had the baby that's in her belly right now, and even it will go," I said.
"Why aren't you finding out if the baby is a boy or a girl Mommy?" Lynn asked.
"I want him or her to be a surprise," I said, smiling to myself.
"Why?" Lyli chimed in.
"Well, because that's what Mommy and Daddy decided," I said.
"Daddy knows what it is," Dylan said.
"He shouldn't," I said, wrinkling my eyebrows.
"He does. He said he could tell when you went for one of the ultrasound thingies and he asked the doctor if he was right and they said he was," Dylan said quietly, "I wasn't supposed to tell you though."
I couldn't believe it, Spencer knew the sex of the baby this whole time and he hadn't said a word. When I thought back, though, he had been dropping a whole lot of hints about it. When we were coming up with names he didn't even suggest a boy name, only a girl one, and whenever he talked about the baby he always called it a she.
"What did he say the baby was?" I asked.
"A girl. He said that I would finally have another baby sister to play with. I'm so excited! I'm going to teach her everything about dance, and cheerleading, and she's going to love me more than anybody!" Dylan exclaimed.
"Nu-uh! She's gonna love me most!" Lyli cried.
"No way! I'm gonna be her favorite!" Lynn interjected.
"She will love all of you equally, especially when she's little," I said.
"But when she's big she'll love me more!" Lynn said, near tears.
"NU-UH! ME!" Lyli yelled.
"It won't be EITHER of you! It will be ME!" Dylan screamed.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!"
At my outburst all three girls went silent, "Now that's better. There is absolutely no need to fight over which one of you your baby sister is going to love more. Even if she does have a favorite someday, that won't be decided by which one of you yells loud enough that the other two shut up. She'll decide her favorite by how you treat her. If you're mean to her, she probably won't like you as much as she would if you're really nice and helpful. You guys are going to be her big sisters, you need to be role models."
For the rest of the ride to the dance studio all three girls were silent, and I was worried I had gone a little too far, until we pulled into the parking lot and they all apologized, and Lyli asked what a role model was. I was explaining it to her as we got into the dance studio, and then she ran off with Lynn to go to their dance room. Lyli and Lynn were in the same room the whole time, and Dylan was by herself for tap and ballet, but Dylan joined Lyli and Lynn for jazz, because they were on the same competitive dance team. Lyli and Lynn were the youngest ones on that team, and Dylan was right in the middle. The oldest girl was ten, and they were all really close, so of course they loved getting to practice together.
"Mommy, can you watch me today?" Dylan asked after Lyli and Lynn had both already run off to their group.
"Sure, baby, go on ahead, I'll watch upstairs with the other moms. Just come up if you need me, or I'll just come down when you get a break," I said, squeezing her hand before she ran off.
Dylan had been increasingly clingy since school had started back up again. Spencer thought she had just gotten used to being home, but I thought it was something else. She never acted like that, and she was so excited when school got back into swing in January, until about two days in. I was afraid that someone was bullying her or something, but when I asked Alex about it he said that he was always with her, so no one could be bullying her.
I shook off those thoughts as I carefully climbed the stairs to the viewing room for the moms. We got a birds-eye view of every room, there was always coffee and pastries, and the chairs were comfortable enough to sit in for two hours and not have anything go numb, even when pregnant. As I breached the room I headed over to my usual spot, and was surprised to see that someone was sitting there. All of us moms had a spot, and none of the others would sit there, because it just worked better that way. I shook my head and just took the seat next to my usual one, and noticed that I'd never seen the woman that was in my spot before.
"Well hi, I've never seen you here before. I'm Nanook Welshman," I said, extending my hand for the woman to shake.
She took it and shook my hand lightly, "I'm Chastity Williams. My daughter's just starting on the competitive team."
"My girls are on the competitive team also! Dylan, Lyli and Lynn, Dylan's been on the team for a little over two years and Lyli and Lynn, they're twins, just started."
"Wow, three girls, and another one on the way, you must have your hands full," Chastity said, almost disdainfully.
"Well, only my girls go here, I have nine other children," I said simply.
"That's twelve! How is that even possible? You barely look old enough to have one," Chastity sneered.
"Well, four of them are adopted,"
"And I suppose they probably all have a different daddy don't they?" Chastity's face was full of disgust at this point.
Her words shocked me for a moment, but I collected myself and said, "Ma'am, for one, that is my own personal business that you have no right to comment on, and for two, you are wrong, all of my children have the same father. My husband and I have been together for eight years, and we've known each other for twenty. I am not some kind of white trash, all twelve of my children are very well taken care of, and live in a loving home with two parents. Maybe next time you should actually take the time to talk to someone for more than a few seconds before you judge them," I said in a huff.
Chastity looked aghast, but didn't say a word in her own defense, so instead of further irritating myself and jacking up my blood pressure, I got up and went to sit down by one of the moms I did know, Heather. Heather's daughter was Arabella, an eight year old who was really close with Dylan, they always wanted to have sleepovers, so Heather and I had become friends too.
I plopped down in the chair next to Heather and said, "Have you talked to that new mom?"
"Chastity? Yeah, she's.... Opinionated. She tried to tell Lori how to choreograph for the girls the other day, it was great. Lori almost kicked her out," Heather said, smirking.
"I don't get why she was added in the first place, I thought our team was pretty good as it was," I said, looking down at the floor, where Dylan was being taught her ballet solo for their next competition.
"She's eleven, so she bumps them up an age category, and she's pretty good. Not as good as your girls or Bella, but about as good as Avery or Annie. She doesn't even come close to Logan though," Heather said.
There were seven original girls on the competitive team, Lyli and Lynn were the youngest ones, at five, Avery was next at six, then came Dylan and Avery's sister Annie, both seven, next was Arabella at eight, and then Logan was the oldest at ten. With the new addition the team would go from a six to eight year old category, which was beyond easy for them to compete and win in, to a eight to ten category, which would definitely be more of a challenge.
"What's the girls name?" I asked idly.
"Courtney, but Chastity calls her NiNi, it's ridiculous," Heather laughed.
"Of all the nicknames you could get out of that!" I laughed hard, making my stomach muscles hurt.
For the rest of rehearsal Heather and I sat around coming up with even more ridiculous nicknames for Chastity herself. In the back of my mind I hoped that Chastity could hear us, because she was just a little too full herself for my liking. Going to a competition with her was not something I was looking forward to, and I was hoping that the rest of the moms wouldn't be fooled into actually liking her and trying to accept her into our circle. I also hoped that Courtney wouldn't be like her mother, and the other girls would accept her, but until I met the girl I wouldn't be able to gauge how much she was like her mother. Or, I could have my girls tell me so I didn't actually have to gauge it myself.
*Dylan's POV*
"Higher! Higher Dylan! You know how to do this, why can't you get your leg up!" Miss Lori yelled from across the room.
I fixed my leg positioning without a response, knowing any type of response would just get me in trouble, and I didn't want to get in trouble. Getting in trouble would only put me and the other girls in a bad mood, because I wouldn't be the only one who would have to do push-ups or whatever Lori saw as a suitable punishment, all the other girls would have to as well.
"Okay girls, if you're not on the competitive team, get to your next class, if you are, get stretching while I get the other girls." Miss Lori said, and there was a rush of girls leaving until only Annie and I were left in the room, stretching out our arms and legs.
"Hey Annie, are you excited for the cheer competition this weekend?" I asked.
"Oh yeah! We're totally going to rock it. Half of our team is in dance too, which makes us like ten times better than any other team out there. We're going to making it to nationals this year without a problem, maybe even Worlds. It's in France this year!" Annie said excitedly.
"That would be beyond awesome! We need to start learning French!" I joked.
Annie laughed, "So what do you think of Courtney?"
"I think she thinks she knows everything. She almost made Lyli cry yesterday because she couldn't get her chin stand. Lyli's a ballerina, not an acrobat. She started learning acro less than two months ago, and she's only five, I mean what do you expect? She's not going to be perfect right away. Just because she's the oldest one on the team doesn't mean she can boss us around," I said.
"Avery did cry last night when we got into the car because Courtney told her that she had duck feet and couldn't dance to save her life. She's six! She dances better than most teenagers, and definitely as good if not better than Courtney. She's such a bully," Annie said.
"She needs a reality check. I can't wait until Miss Lori tells her to fix her sickled feet! "They're awful!" I laughed.
"Who's sickled feet are awful?" I turned around quickly to see Miss Lori standing in the doorway.
"No one's, it's not my place to tell you who's feet are sickled and whose aren't. I'm not a dance teacher," I said, looking at the floor.
"That's what I thought, though I would love to know whose feet you believe are sickled." Lori said.
"Not to be disrespectful ma'am, but Courtney and her mom seem to think they can boss us around. She's made a couple of the younger girls cry already, could you please just talk to her?" Annie asked respectfully.
"The situation is already being dealt with Annie, although I was unaware that tears had actually been shed. I'll be sure to take this into consideration. Now, hush, the other girls are coming in," Lori said, looking thoughtful.
Miss Lori was really tough on us, but she also loved us to death and it showed. The other girls started filing in, Lyli giggling with Avery, Lyli glaring at Courtney's back. As soon as everyone was inside, we lined up. This was our first practice of the week, we practiced Tuesdays, Wednesday, Thursdays, and if we really needed it, Saturdays. Tuesdays were the only time I had actual classes and not just competition practice, though. We stood patiently in our line up as Miss Lori looked us up in down thoughtfully.
"Ok, girls, before we get into solo's for next weeks contest, we need to talk about bullying. Bullying doesn't just happen in school, it can happen anywhere and it saddens me knowing that my girls are the ones doing the bullying. This team is a mixed group of all ages and abilities. Some of you may not be able to everything others can. I don't expect Lynn to be able to do acro stunts the way Logan can. I don't expect Dylan to tap the way Courtney can. Everyone has their own individual abilities, and with that said, I am the teacher, so I will make any and all corrections. There is absolutely no reason for anyone on this team to tell any other person that what they are doing is wrong. We are a team, start acting like it," Lori said, eyeing each of us carefully.
"Now, because of this bullying that has been going on, Courtney, you will not be getting a solo at the contest next week. Don't try and argue, it's done, your solo has been given to Dylan. Logan, you will also be doing a solo, Lyli and Lynn, you will do your usual duet. Annie, Dylan, and Arabella will be doing a trio. I'm going to work with Logan first, the rest of you, go take a break," with that, we were dismissed.
I ran out of the room and straight upstairs. I immediately went to Mom's usual spot, but Courtney's mom sat there instead, looking furious. I tried to push past but she grabbed my arm, "Did you tell Miss Lori that NiNi was bullying people? Because if you did, consider your spot on the team gone."
I ripped my arm out of Chastity's grip and glared at her, "Excuse me? You have no right to talk to me that way. Don't make me get my mom."
Chastity glared at me as I marched away, searching for Mom. I found her sitting next to Heather, who was braiding Arabella's long thick brown hair. I ran over quickly and sat down next to Mom, Lyli and Lynn were on the floor doing homework.
"Do you have any homework Dyl?" Mom asked.
"No, I finished everything in class today. Courtney got in big trouble for being mean to everybody. She didn't get a solo at contest next week, I got it instead," I grinned.
"Good job Dyllie! I know you'll do great. We've got a busy week, between the cheer competition this weekend, and then dance competition the next. I just wish I could actually go," Mom said, frowning.
"It's ok Mom. You need to take care of all the rest of the kids, plus it's not good for the baby for you to fly and be running around trying to get us ready. Elaine knows what she's doing, she has four kids, all in cheer."
"I'll be at the dance competition, I'll make sure your kids get taken care of. Plus, you know all your kids are always welcome at my house, although, maybe not all at the same time," Heather laughed.
"I know everything will be alright, I just really love competition. I'm that crazy mom that thinks that stuff is fun. Some of my favorite memories are from----" Mom stopped in the middle of her sentence, her eyes went completely blank.
I panicked, "Mom! Mom! Mommy!!"
"Call Spencer," Mom said, gripping Heather's arm before she sagged to the floor.