Smiley and Sunshine

61.

lol goal of March 1st. That didn't age well. Forgive me. Life has been crazy.

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Countdown until Christmas: 28 days

The first Monday back to school after Thanksgiving break, or any time off including the weekend, was like pulling teeth to get the three teens to cooperate enough and send them on their way.

Which made sense because after that little tease of what freedom tasted like, who would want to return to prison that the government calls school?

No one, including teachers as the sample size of one in the Powers home had quickly revealed, was ready to go back for six straight hours of learning. It seemed all their attention spans had reduced to nothing, as students and teachers alike were more interested in chatting about their mini vacay and the 'Giving of Thanks' rather than diving back into the world of mathematics or Shakespeare.

In Colton's eyes, how was it even considered a 'break' when his kid siblings acted just like his 4th grade students?

Okay, that was mean. He meant that nicely and loved almost every second. Except, you know, when his little sister fell into the frigid pool waters on his watch.

Good times.

Poor Austin though, he had his work cut out for him.

If it was this difficult after not even a full week off, Austin could just imagine how difficult it was going to be after the new year came. Winter break was two whole weeks of vacation from school.

He already almost quite literally had to force Emerson out the front door earlier in the morning to send him on his way back to college. The brother decided to leave at 6am on Monday instead of on Sunday like originally planned, just so he could squeeze a couple more hours in with his siblings.

But with all the fanfare, the day turned out to be as anticlimactic as it typically was.

Everyone survived their first day back to school. Not only did Francis, Glen, and Hayes successfully manage to sit in a classroom all day, they also attended their respective sports practices afterwards.

They were thrown right back into the grind of all things sports without any warm up.

Oh, to be young again.

Not soon enough, 5pm finally arrived, signaling the end of practice. Student-athletes galore were released from their sports and escaped into their respective vehicles. No one was lingering today, the only thing on their minds was food and sleep.

In that order, too.

Out of the Powers family, Francis beat everyone back to Colton's car as his practice ended a couple minutes prior. But those couple minutes difference didn't mean the baseball team didn't work any less harder.

No siree. Francis would vehemently disagree with that.

The 17-year-old had his sweaty forehead pressed against the car doorframe, exhausted beyond belief, as he waited for his straggling siblings' arrival.

What slowpokes.

It didn't come as much of a surprise, his exhaustion. First day back at practice meant conditioning for all the sport teams that were currently active, whether in the depths of their playing season or simply training. It was a cursed ritual of the school.