"Happy birthday, Maddie!" The little girl's family shouted.
Maddie clapped. "Thank you!"
"Come sit, young lady!" Joe set a stack of chocolate chip waffles in front of her place setting.
Maddie ran to the table and sat down. "I love chocolate chip waffles!"
"I know." He grinned.
"You're nine whole years old!" Mercedes yelled.
"In a minute you're going to be a teenager." Marcy told her.
"With your first serious boyfriend!" Quinn could see it now.
"What?!" Marc, Mike and Mal didn't like that.
"Guys, relax." Laura rolled her eyes. "She's years off from that."
"Like fifty!" Marc roared.
"Okay..." Marcy sipped her juice.
"No! Don't do that!"
"Don't do what?"
"Say okay!"
"I can't say okay?"
"Because you don't mean it! You really mean you're going to do what we don't want you to do!"
"No!" Mike and Mal shouted.
"You're being paranoid." Marcy said lightly.
"Way paranoid." Quinn agreed.
"No." Mike made eye contact with her.
Mercedes rolled her eyes. "What could we possibly do?"
"It's you." Marc wasn't fooled.
"I'm offended." Marcy stated.
"I don't care. You're not helping Maddie date before she's fifty."
"Okay." Marcy said exaggeratedly.
"Promise."
"What?! Are you serious?!"
"Yes! I want a promise from each of you. Even Yuria. No helping Maddie date." He pinned each of them with a stare.
The girls sighed deeply. "We promise."
He nodded. "Good."
Maddie pouted. She wanted a boyfriend. She made eye contact with Marcy, who winked. She brightened considerably and finished eating her food.
ATU
Maddie closed the door to her bedroom then ran to jump on her bed. "The boys are busy! Go!"
"Go where?" Quinn raised a brow.
Maddie rolled her eyes hard. "Don't leave! Tell me your plan!"
"What plan, Mad?" Mercedes was confused.
"To get me a boyfriend!" Maddie hissed quietly.
"Maddie, you're too young for a boyfriend." Laura laid back against the nine year old's pillows.
"No, I'm not! All of you had boyfriends at my age!"
She had them there.
"You can't do what we do." Marcy told her. "We're playing grown up games and will probably pay grown up costs. I already am. You don't want to be a mommy at my age, do you?"
"Yes." Maddie nodded.
Marcy looked at her. "What? Why?"
"Because you all take care of me and I want to take care of someone."
YOU ARE READING
A Tribe United
ChickLitThe Fabanges family are a complicated bunch but when their parents die in a plane crash, these eight youngsters have to depend on themselves to survive, especially the oldest and only adult, Laura. This year will be unlike one they've ever had befor...
