Adopted By Thomas Sanders And His Sides

Chapter Four: A Shopping Spree And A Friendly Game Of Monopoly

 We stop outside of an art shop. I squeal and jump out of the car. I don't wait for Thomas and step inside. I stare at all of the things I can see from the entrance. I spin around and smile. Thomas catches up to me, laughing. "I guess I chose right?" "Yes, yes you did. You might have to control me in here. I don't like fashion nearly as much as I love art. With that sentence, keep in mind my outfits every day." "Okay, be free." "You're gonna regret saying that." I run down the aisles until I reach the painting isle. I grab a bunch of canvases, a painting set, countless brushes, palettes, and mod podge. I hold the tower on my arms as Thomas comes up with a cart. I carefully place everything inside and move on to the next aisle. In that aisle, I pick up a sketchbook, paper, pencils, malleable erasers, pencil sharpener, blending stumps, fine-point pens, and drawing charcoal. I place the items in the cart and run to the next aisle again. From that aisle, I grab assortments of fabrics, stuffing, fabric paint, hot glue gun, glue to go with it, needles, thread, ribbons, beads, and buttons. I place those items in the cart and stare at the giant mound. I give Thomas an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I feel guilty." He laughs. "Don't be, it's fun to see you so happy. Consider this a small price to pay." I smile and hug him. "Thanks a lot, Thomas." We go to check out before putting everything in the car and driving home. (Still weird to say. Home. I have a home now.) I hum to the song stuck in my head and tap on the window to the beat. When we get there the sides help us lug everything up to my room. Everybody but Roman is surprised upon seeing my room. "What do you guys think?" "It looks great kiddo." "The streamers are a great touch." "The twinkle lights set a good atmosphere." "It's so you. Everything is all bright and happy." "Aww, thanks. I'll put everything away. Why don't you guys put your minds together and figure out something fun to do until dinner." They agree and head downstairs. Roman gives me a piece of paper with everyone's names and numbers before leaving as well. I put all my clothes away first, then I put my art under my desk table. I take out my phone and set some ringtones, my background, lock screen, etc. After that, I head downstairs. I see a Monopoly board game on the dining room table and I laugh. "Well, that's one way you get to know someone." Patton claps. "Yeah, it was Deceit's idea." I raise an eyebrow at him and he shrugs. "I got bored just sitting in my room with Remus yelling juicy butthole every five seconds like an alarm clock." Remus looks indignant. "You liar! You said that-" Deceit waves a hand and Remus is shut up. "Well, then we can all play since we're all here." I take out the pieces and tell people to pick one. "Oh, I call the car!" "Roman, you had the car last time." "Yes. And?" Thomas just shakes his head. "Whatever, you can take it." Deceit just leans forward and grabs the top hat. Patton expectedly lunges for the cat. Logan sighs and grabs the battleship. "I suppose I could join in." Thomas inspects the pieces. "Well, these are boring." "Oh!" I reach into my pocket and pull out a small figurine of each of them. "I forgot I had these until now." Everyone drops the one they'd chosen and grabs their likeness. I reach into my other pocket and supply a small rainbow unicorn for myself. "Aww, kiddo. That's so cute." We all place our pieces on start and the game begins.

~Time Skip~

Roman shouts as he lands on yet another of Logan's properties. "How dare you! I am a prince!" Virgil pipes up with a smirk. "Of what kingdom?" "Why you-" I cut him off by shoving a spoonful of Crofters into his mouth. He chews and swallows before pouting. I throw him the jar and spoon. He inspects the label. "Oh, my crown it actually happened!" I shrug. "Sort of. That's one that I made. Enjoy." He holds the jar close to his chest. Logan raises an eyebrow. "What did you do?" Roman thrusts the jar in Logan's face to reveal the label. It depicts a small, slightly cartoony image of Roman along with the name of 'Roman's Rasberry'. Logan nods in understanding. "Ah." "It's your turn, Pat."

~Time Skip~

I smirk as Roman looks at the board in disbelief. "How? You looked to be the weakest opponent. How have you bested me?" I chuckle. "Not telling." Roman collapses onto the floor dramatically. The game continues.

~Time Skip~

"4" Logan announces. He moves his piece onto my space. "That'll be 1,100 dollars, please." He stops counting his money to stare at me. "Why is it that much?" I smirk. "I have a hotel on the property." He looks at the square. He hands over what money he can before going bankrupt. "Well played. I shall record this information for future games." (Now I own my properties, Roman's properties, and Logan's properties. Just a few more turns.)

~Time Skip~

Deceit lands on one of my spaces just a couple turns after Remus. Both go bankrupt. Now it's just Thomas, Patton, and I. Thomas rolls an 11. He sighs and passes me his money. "I'm sorry Thomas. I'll make it up to you guys later." "No problem. It's just a game." Roman yells from the couch. "It's not just a game! It's a way to prove your steel in battle!" Logan shakes his head. "While it is a game, it has interesting strategical properties. It seems to be able to ...what's the phrase?" He pulls out a vocab card. "Ah, yes. Stretch your brain." It's my turn next and I roll the dice. I land on an unowned property and buy it. I pass the dice to Patton. He surveys the board. "If I roll anything but a two, I lose. I can do it." Logan speaks up. "The chances of you rolling a two are shall we say, slim. The possible outcome of the dice roll landing on a two has a 2.78 percent chance." Patton rolls the dice. Everybody stares. One turns up a one. The other is still spinning. It falls over and- "Darn it. 6. You win kiddo. I'm proud of you." I smile. "Thanks, Patton. Let's get this cleaned up and I'll start dinner." We clean up the game. Logan puts the game away and I start dinner. "Wait a minute, that's my job." I turn to Thomas. "I really don't mind. Besides, consider it a small thank you for buying me all that stuff. It's the least I can do." "Alright, you win. I have the feeling that us fighting over doing nice things is going to be a constant." "Yup." I pop the p on the word and continue frying dinner. After it's done I set the table with plates of delicious grilled cheese and piping hot tomato soup. I also set out glasses for them. I fill each glass differently. Logan gets lemonade, Patton gets cream soda, Deceit gets cranberry juice, Remus gets ketchup, Roman gets long island ice tea, Virgil gets green tea, Thomas gets coffee, and I give myself Root Beer. "Guys, dinner time! All of you!" I take out another stick of deodorant and shave some off onto Remus's plate as a garnish. I put the stick next to his plate and sit down at my own place. Everybody sits down to the meal. "So, Alex. I forgot to ask. When's your birthday?" I stop eating for a minute. "My birthday isn't my favorite day of the year. Don't worry about it." "I just wanted to know so that we could throw you a party or something. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad." I smile. "Don't worry about it, Thomas. No harm is done. If you really want to know, it's December 23." He coughs. "That's less than a month away! Christmas is too! Shoot!" I laugh. "I told you not to worry about it. I don't need anything fancy. In fact, I'm not a big fan of surprises. Just hanging out with all of you will be special enough." Thomas takes out his phone and starts searching the web. "Nope, I'm gonna do something super special for both days separately." I sigh but decide I can't stop him and continue to eat. We eat in relative silence, chatting here and there.