We're in This Together

Episode 21 (Part2)

The headmaster was already delivering her speech for today's ceremony when Lily and I quietly took our places without causing any disruption. As I settled beside Lily, I quickly scanned the crowd to find my daughter, Adie. While my eyes moved across the audience, a familiar small figure caught my attention. Adie was already waving at me from where she stood with her friends. I returned her wave with a wink and a broad smile. Just as I was about to focus entirely on Adie, Lily gently tugged at my hand to get my attention. I turned towards her swiftly and met her gaze.

"I'm not good at sports, Jennifer," she whispered into my ear. 

"Me neither," I whispered back.

"We're all going to die," she added, causing us to burst into massive giggles. As we struggled to control our laughter, the headmaster mentioned our names in the speech.

"And also, thank you to our teacher, Lily, who served as the organizer, and a big thanks to our volunteer for today, Miss Alison," she mentioned, turning her head towards us and pointing. Caught off guard by the sudden mention, we both flinched but quickly composed ourselves with smiles on our faces. As she spoke, all the students and parents applauded us with enthusiastic claps.

"So, I will end my speech here. Let's enjoy our day," she concluded the speech, and we all applauded her with enthusiastic claps. The students happily mingled with their friends and favorite drivers, enjoying the day. Initially, all the drivers and children engaged in conversations, sharing stories and laughter.

"Should we check on the kids?" Lily whispered, leaning slightly towards me.

"Sure, why?" I added.

"Okay, I'll help with managing the food count," she said, giving me a small nod before swiftly running towards the food count area we had set up at the back of the school. Left alone beside the field, I focused on watching the children. As I kept an eye on them, Susie approached me slowly and stood beside me.

"I guess they're having a good time with their favorites," she added with a smile, which I returned.

"Yeah, they seem really happy," I replied with a smile. She nodded in agreement, placing her hands on her waist.

"Oh, by the way... where is your daughter? Is she also here?" she asked, curious.

"Yeah, she's over there. The one with the long ponytail," I pointed out towards Adie, who was holding her friend's hand and chatting with Lewis.

"Oh, she's such a cutie!" Susie added with a huge smile. I couldn't help but giggle at her words, which were a compliment about Adie.

" Well, she was so exciting about today" I added with chuckles. 

"Oh, really?" she added again. I give her agreement nods. 

"So, I think I'll have to liven things up a bit," she said with a smirk, giving me a wink. Then she walked towards the kids and clapped her hands.

"Alright, kids, shall we play some games?" Susie called out to all of the children. As she spoke, they all ran towards her, surrounding her eagerly.

"Good! For our first game, we're going to play a relay race," she said with a huge smile.

"Yayyyy!" all of the kids shouted in amusement. 

"So, we'll create some groups with random pickers," she said and started to prepare. It took nearly a couple of minutes to finish the preparation. I also helped her with the random pickers containing kids' names. Then, we both walked out to the kids, holding the box full of random picker names.

"So, we're going to make two groups: Charles' group and Lewis' group," she said, as all of the kids eagerly looked at her, including Adie.

"So, as the group leaders, please come up here," she gestured for Charles and Lewis to walk up towards the front of the kids. They all looked at each other with giggles as they took their places.

"Alright then, the other drivers have to choose their teams now," she added with a smirk.

"Oh, I guess they're going to take it personally now," Max said with chuckles, which made all of us burst into laughter.

"I'm going to pick Charles' team," Max said, walking towards Charles and giving him a pat on the back.

"I'm going to choose Lewis," Lando said with a smirk as he took his place beside Lewis.

"You know what, I'm going to choose my teammate," George added with chuckles as he took his place beside Lando.

"So, I guess I'm going to be on Charles' team," Pierre added, taking his place.

"So, it's time for our kids," Susie added, and all the kids had to pick random team names from the box. It took nearly another couple of minutes to finish up creating the teams. As a result, Adie ended up on Charles' team.

"So, before we start our race, there will be two more teammates participating," she said with a smirk.

"They are me and Miss Alison!" she shouted out with a smirk, pointing towards me

"Oh, Susie, no," I said, swiftly shaking my head with a small chuckle

"Come on, you said you really get along with sports," she added persuasively. Finally, I gave in and joined the match.

"So, I'm going to join my favorite team, Lewis," she added, joining Lewis' team.

"Well, I think mine is Charles now," I said, joining Charles' team, which made all of the team cheer. Adie looked at me with a huge smile. After a few minutes, we all started our match with lots of giggles from the kids. For the match, Pierre was the second passer against Lando, and Max was the fourth passer against George. As the sixth passer, Charles went against Lewis. For the last, the eighth passer was me against Susie. In our team, Adie was the fifth passer who had to pass to Charles.

As the whistle sounded, the match began, and all of the parents and others who were managing the food count came to join us by cheering enthusiastically. It was really exciting to watch as the players passed the flag one by one. As the match continued, it slowly came down to the final passer who had to run to the finish line. As Charles grabbed the flag from Adie, he tried his best to speed up his steps to get to me, while Lewis also quickened his pace. As Charles handed the flag to me, I pulled myself together and started my marathon to beat Susie.

"Go, Jennifer, go!" Charles called out from behind me, cheering me on.

For the final leg of the race, all of the previous players had to wait at the finish line to celebrate. As I neared the finish line, I could see Susie's figure beside me. Despite being 52 years old, she was remarkably fit in sports. I had to keep up my pace to beat her team. As I approached the finish line, I spotted Adie's figure. She was being held by Max, cheering loudly for me.

They certainly are adorable, aren't they? Adie's cheerleading and Max's support added an extra boost to my determination to win. 

Summoning all my strength, I kept up my pace, and finally, I managed to surpass Susie, leading our team to victory. As I crossed the finish line, I swiftly ran towards my team, and we shared our celebration together. We all hugged tightly, jumping up and down in excitement.