Choosing 13 | Johnny Kavanagh

chapter thirty eight

Johnny

"Can we make chocolate chip pancakes today?" Ollie called over to us from the end of the aisle.
Mum tasked us to go to the shops and buy our weekly food shop, but she made us all go. So, Tadhg and I are on trolley duty, Joey is on Sean while Shan is getting everything in the basket, Ollie is just here for moral support I guess?
Currently, we have more things that we want than what mum asked.

"You guys want chocolate chip pancakes?" Shan mutters under her breath, reaching out to get pasta sauce.
Tadhg snorts, looking up from his phone, "that is worrying if you have to ask, sister," he remarks.
Shannon glares at her younger brother.
I chuckle, adding bow pasta to the trolley, "I will join the pancake festasco," I raise my hand.
Shan cringes, putting down two jars of pasta sauce in Tadhg's trolley, "go ahead Ols, get the ingredients," she calls down to her little brother, "Johnny-"

"On it," I say, following Little Lynch down the aisle and to the baking section.
I grab the flour and the sugar, Ollie goes for the fun ingredients, like the chocolate chips and the sprinkles.
"Oh look!" Ollie exclaims as we walk out the aisle and into the toys section, "Spidy!" he runs over to the figurine , playing with it in the box.
Leaning on the trolley, I nod to the toy, "you can get it if you want," I smile when he looks up at me, an unsure look on his face.

"It's not my birthday yet," Ollie tells me, placing the toy back on the shelf.
And I remember their past, how they were so used to not having anything new, either hand-me-downs or cheap stuff that they could buy for birthdays and holidays.
When I had told mum about Shan's bruises on her legs, mum was absolutely mortified by it because she had known something was wrong. Then, we went to the Lynch's house to drop off Shannon's blazer, which ended up being a screaming match against our mums. And then, the Lynch's house was sent up to fire.

I texted Shannon about our group project but she didn't respond for a few hours, so I decided to go to her house and see if she was okay. When I got there, the house reeked of alcohol and something felt wrong, they came back with me and half an hour later, the Lynch's was nonexistent.
Shannon was in a weird place after and Tadhg was on the defensive all the time, and we'd barely even seen Joey.
I'm just glad they're still here.
I shake my head, grab the toy and drop it into the trolley, "my treat, Ols," I give him a bright smile, "which one should we get Seany-boo?"

"Umm." A big smile on his small face, Ollie jumps up and strides through the aisle of toys as I follow him, he runs over to a big monster truck and looks back at me, "Sean would love this!"
Shaking the trolley, I give Ols a bright smile, "put it in the basket then," I nod to the trolley, Ollie drops it in, then we carry on down the aisle.
"Boo!" Someone behind me screams, making a jump in my skin, I look behind me and see Tadhg bending over, laughing, "holy shit, Johnny. Should've seen your face!"

Smirking, Joey walks toward his brother's cart and puts Sean in the seat, "you went pale, lad."
I flip both of the brothers off, "you started war, Tadhg."
Still crackling, the little shit raise his arms in mock defence, "game on, Kavanagh!" he says proudly, Joey takes over his position and pushes the other trolley.
I shake my head, but feeling good about the process I have done with Tadhg.
"Hey Tadhg, Johnny is getting me a Spider-man toy and Sean a monster truck!" Ollie says excitedly, jumping over and over again like the kid he should be.

Tadhg scoffs jokingly, "what the fuc-"
"Language, lad," Joey scolds, coming beside me.
He rolls his eyes, "what about me?" he says dryly, stepping onto the trolley and making me push him too, "I am the best Lynch."
"You want a toy too, Tadhg?" I joke.
My foster brother flips his middle finger at me as I laugh.

"I'm messing, you can get like chocolate or something," I say truthfully.
Tadhg furrows his eyebrows, then turns his head to Joey, who just shrugs, "can I get one of those massive Dairy Milks?"
I nod with a smile, "sure," I push the trolley down the aisle until we reach the shelf where the chocolate is.
"Thanks," I hear Tadhg mutter under his breath, putting the chocolate in the cart.
"Okay, so we need to get cartons of juices and some cheese sticks," Shan lists off as she pulls on mine, making us follow her.