Seven's the Charm

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

At four pm I found myself doing a pirouette whilst saying "whoop-de-dam-doo". Yeah, you're probably wondering why I'm doing that, right? I'll explain. Somebody -probably Danny because he's being particularly spectacular in his efforts to be annoying today- asked if we could play sound and fury. The game is simple, really. All you have to do is stand in a circle and take turns to come up with a sound and a motion to do together. Then everyone else copies you, etcetera. There's no winner or purpose, it's just -supposedly- fun to see what noises and motions everyone comes up with. Of course, my boys are in rare form this afternoon.

Danny, ever the jokester, chose to make a farting sound and do a little hop. Who knows what the people walking past must have thought when they saw about thirty kids and their parents hopping whilst making farting noises. Jake sung a little rhyme about his favourite spidery superhero whilst spinning around. Let me tell you, we all got some laughs from that one when more than a couple of us discovered that they lacked the necessary coordination. Aiden went the quiet route, opting to do a little cheer and click his fingers; I was inordinately thankful for that short reprieve. Freddie went right after Aiden, singing out his own name in full whilst playing an air guitar. Needless to say I smiled my way through the whole thing, abruptly realising moments later that it my turn. And that brings us back to the present, now standing still whilst little Noah thinks of an appropriately humiliating action to go along with the sound he announced he'd thought of just moments before. I took the moment to look around, smiling at Tyler when he caught my eye from across the circle. Aaron tugged at his Dad's trunks and he looked down before gesturing for me to as well; little Aaron grinned a wide grin and waved enthusiastically at me. I returned his smile, pulling a funny face for good measure. There were laughs all around, and I realised that everyone had caught our exchange.

“Got it!” Noah cried. I internally hugged the kid for saving me from myself, retracting it just a moment later when he copied my 'funny' face and let out a loud burp. The kids were all in stitches trying to recreate it whilst us parents laughed and watched on affectionately.

Eventually even the kids got bored with this game so we all scattered again. Before I moved away I let my eyes wander and made sure the boys were being as good as they could manage. Danny and Aiden had run to sit with Reed Robertson -father of an all boy Quad Squad- and his sons, Freddie was playing catch with Meg Rogers and her twin brother Sonny whilst Jake chatted to Beila and Joel Pereira; they were two of our newest Quad Squad, and today was their first meeting us. “Looks like Jake's moving in on the new girl.” I startled and whipped my head round, frowning at Tyler's face bent close to mine.

“You scared the bejeezus outta me!” He chuckled and stood up straight again, glancing over infront of us. I followed his gaze, smiling amusedly at the sight. Jake was sitting on the pebbles, his cheeky smile firmly in place as Beila blushed profusely at him, her own small smile adorable. “I think you're right, thought. Maybe I should go rescue her.”

Tyler laughed loudly, but the two kids in question didn't look away from each other even for a second. “You're talking about rescuing her from your own son, you know?”

“Yeah, exactly. I know what a handful he can be.” Tyler smirked and shook his head. “In all seriousness, he's a great kid, but she seemed really shy when I met her earlier. He's probably hounding her and that's why she's blushing.” I was only half teasing when I said that. I knew my son and more than once he'd annoyed his brothers by following them everywhere and not giving them any peace. The only one of them who seemed even remotely immune to his antics was Danny, and sometimes he was just as bad anyway which probably explained it.

“It doesn't look like that to me...” as Tyler trailed off I glanced up from the pebbles again to see Beila inch closer to my son, her smile a mile wide as this time, Jake's cheeks flushed slightly.