All it Took ~ c.d

TWENTY FIVE

"Hey Luna?" Oscar says out of the blue as I enter the room once again; this time carrying Dad's most prized possession. Jerry Rice's tonsils that he removed and now keeps floating in some kind of clear jelly stuff in a massive glass jar above the fireplace. It's pure grossness if you ask me but he loves it as if it's one of his kids. His many, many kids.

"What's up?" I ask. I place it down with a thud. This whole one arm thing is really not helpful- I've had to make about 10 journeys to collect 10 things so far.

"How'd you know about Pablo?"

"Well considering I get home first and Isaac doesn't get the post in when we get back, I always find the letters first. The Peruvian postage mark kind of gives it away. And the kids hand writing saying Mr O Allcroft." I smile.

"Why didn't you tell dad?"

"You're my brother, I'm not gonna snitch on you." I sigh. "I only do that to Saac."

"I've been sending my chore money over to him. He works in a soccer ball factory and I felt bad for him. Did you know that kids who work in soccer ball factories make 30 balls a day and only get paid like $3." He tells me.

"I did know that O" I smile. It's so amazing that even though he's grown up with the family name and that he can have whatever he wants whenever he wants, he still chooses to help other people. "It's called child labour and it's really bad. There are people fighting to stop it from happening."

"Well I'm one of those people too. He works for Nike and all our soccer balls are Nike."

"Is that why they're all mysteriously punctured?" I smirk.

"We got them free so it's not fair. Pablo deserves recognition for his work." He tells me. I've never seen him so passionate about anything other than soccer before. He leans against the giant desk that takes up half the room.

"I don't think puncturing balls is going to help that. Maybe we could talk to dad and see about sponsoring him? You know, actually sending money he can use?"

"I know he can't use dollars but I didn't know where to get any Peruvian nuevo sol from"

"You've seriously done your research little one. We'll talk to dad tomorrow okay? Right now we need to get this finished before we leave for Ty's game."

"You're right." He smiles leaving the room once again. He turns back to me as he reaches the doorway. "Luna?"

"Yeah?"

"You're the best sister any of us could have ever asked for. You know that right?"

"Thanks Oscar" I smile as his words warm my heart. At least I'm doing something right.

"My pleasure" He beams before running out the room.

***

About an hour later and the house is finally decorated. Dad's already called to tell us that he's taking Mason straight to the game considering the gym we made them go to is just a 10 minute drive down the road. The remaining Allcrofts grab our stuff and head outside to the car.

"Did Cameron say he'd meet us there?" Isaac asks awkwardly. I check my phone to find a message from the boy in question saying that he's basically there.

"Yeah" I say kind of bluntly. I don't mean to be cruel to him, I'm just a little weirded out about the whole mountain make out thing.

"Okay then" He shrugs as he clips in his seatbelt. I fiddle around with my buckle for a few minutes before Isaac notices me struggling. I let go of the belt as it snaps back into position. He sighs and leans over me, his face inches from mine as he grasps the belt in his hand. "Don't worry I'm not going to kiss you" he rolls his eyes. I try to cheer him up but poking my tongue out but he just gets madder. I take extreme action and lick the side of his face as he grimaces. "You're disgusting" he laughs.

"You've got cooties now" I smile, repeating a phrase I used to tell him all the time when we were 4. When I had a thing for licking people's faces...

"You're 17. Grow up."

"Why are you mad at me? I'm supposed to be mad at you."

"I thought I wasn't your brother anymore. What do you care what I think?"

"Stop being a baby." I roll my eyes as he clicks the buckle into place for me, sitting back in his seat. "I said I was sorry didn't I?"

"No you didn't actually." He says, glaring at me.

"I'm sorry for saying that you weren't my brother anymore."

"I'm sorry for everything." He says sadly. I hold out my casted arm and he takes ahold of my stubby fingers that poke out the end. "Truce?"

"Truce" I smile as Charlie starts the car and pulls out of the driveway.

***

53-54 to the other team. 20 seconds left. All the Lakers need is a 3 pointer and they'll win the game. I sit on the edge of my seat, fully into the game as Cameron sits on his phone, texting away like this isn't the most nail biting thing on the planet. I thought he was a fan of basketball?

Tyler intercepts the ball from the opposition, dribbling it down the court as fast as he can. He reaches the three-point line and throws the ball towards the net. He lands on the ground like a ballerina doing a leap and we all watch as the ball soars through the air. Players jump to intercept it but it flies straight over their heads. It hits the backboard with a thud, circling the ring twice before dropping through the net just at the timer buzzes through the stadium. The crowd all jump to their feet, cheering as loud as they can. He did it. Tyler won the game.

"And Tyler Allcroft wins the game for the Lakers." The announcer bellows through the stadium. My entire family runs on court and circles my brother. He seeks me out of the crowd of family members and team members and gives me a tight hug.

"I'm sorry for being a douche" he shouts over all the chaos in the room.

"Forget about it! You just won the game!" I yell. His eyes light up as we jump up and down doing a happy dance. Mason joins in with our jumping and before we know it, the 8 Allcroft siblings and all jumping up and down like we used to in the good old days. I see cameras flash in my peripheral vision as I look over to Cameron who is now taking photographs of the chaos. I wave him over as a reporter asks for an Allcroft family picture. The 10 of us all stand in a line as the reporter takes pictures. Oscar stands in front of me as I bend down to his shortened level, putting my face against his, giving a big smile as I wrap my arms around him. We all change poses as Tyler grips me tightly, smushing our faces together. We take several pictures with the team too before Cameron finally comes over.

"Hey!" I smile as he pulls a piece of purple confetti out of my hair. I didn't even notice it was raining confetti. "You've barely said two words all evening what's up?"

"Nothing" He tells me.

"You seem to be more interested in your phone than the game. I thought you said you were a fan of basketball?"

"I said I was a fan of Tyler not basketball."

"But he plays basketball?"

"I know! That's why I'm here."

"You're not making any sense" I shout over the music that plays.

"Listen. Don't worry about it. I'm excited for the party." He says a little too loudly. Mason starts to turn, I know he heard something so I pull Cameron towards me, kissing him as Mason looks around to see who said it.

"Ew get a room" Isaac laughs as I let go of Cameron.

"Shut up dork."

"You two are friends again?" Cameron asks. I've been texting him with updates all day.

"Yeah. Looks like an apology was all it took."