Something in the Way You Move [O'J]

Initiation

Callie's POV

"Alright, lads, close yer eyes, now!" Danny says. "And no peeking, or none of yez are getting the surprise, ya hear?" After checking to make sure that their eyes are all closed, he hurries outside to me. "Ready?" he asks me.

 "Yup!" I reply eagerly. Anything to get off this porch and to be able to play with my cousins!

 Danny beams at me and leads me inside and into the kitchen, where the children are all assembled. "Okay, you lot, open your eyes!"

 Immediately, their eyes snap open and settle on me. David is the first to recover from the shock, screaming, "Callie! You're alive!" He bounds over to me and traps me in a bear hug, squishing most of the air from my lungs in the process. I laugh and hug him back tightly. "What, you thought you could get rid of me that easily?" I ask, grinning ear to ear.

 He punches me playfully on the shoulder. "Wouldn't dream of it!" At this point, I'm trapped in a massive group hug. I manage to hug everyone in turn. "So, are you actually here to stay with us this time, Callie?" David asks. "Like were you adopted?"

 I turn and give Danny a questioning look. He nods once slightly; so slightly, in fact, that if you weren't expecting an answer from him, you wouldn't have picked up on it. Silence has fallen while everyone waits for my answer. It's so quiet you can hear a pin drop. "Yeah. I was adopted," I announce quietly.

 There is an immediate up-roar at my words: all the kids are whooping and laughing and all the adults are shouting congratulations and thumping Danny. I guess everyone was waiting for the baby of the family to have some offspring. After everyone has settled down some, we all sit down at the table (by command of Danny's mum) and have dinner. Although it's more like having a conversation with a few bites of food thrown in here and there. It's great, really. After dinner is over, David shows me to the basement.

 "Yeah, it's kinda like our fort. No adults allowed!" he explains. "Well, not without invitation, anyway. You'll be crashing down here with us. And now, without further ado, the basement!" He sweeps an arm in front of him while wrapping the other around my shoulders. It amazes me how basements can be so different, depending on the person that lives in the house.

 Plush carpet covers the floor and multi-colored lights hang from the walls. There are whiteboards on every wall, covered in drawings, a stereo and CD racks, and even a book case tucked away in the corner of the room. There is an open cupboard filled with games that takes up most of one wall. Blankets currently cover the floor with pillows thrown haphazardly onto them and under them, and it occurs to me that everyone is just sleeping in a massive kid pile. "So...? What do ya think?"

 "It's..."

 "Amazing? Stupendous? Wonderful?"

 "Yeah!"

 He laughs and says, "C'mon, we'll get you a pillow and find you a spot to sleep on. It's kind of just a pile and more often than not we end up in a tangled mass of limbs. Not necessarily the most comfortable at times, but very warm. You'll get used to it, trust me."

 "Oi, Callie! You forgot this!" Danny yells from the top of the stairs. He throws a pillow down at me and I catch it. He closes the door and leaves us.

 "That was...oddly perfect timing," David says. "Like that kind of thing only happens in books and fan-fiction and stuff like that."

 "Yeah, I guess it does," I reply.

 "Well, anyway, come on," he says, grabbing my hand and leading me onto the blanket. "You can crash here," he states, pointing at a spot in the middle of the blanket nest. He grins mischievously. "But if, and only if, you can survive initiation!"