November 26, 2005
Dear Journal-
I CAN’T BELIEVE MY BOY IS 3!!!!!
We had a great party too! All the guys came with their girlfriends. Denise was there, too. All of my family, as well as Leighanne’s family, attended. There were people EVERYWHERE! Nick helped me out with the barbeque…we had burgers, hot dogs and steaks on the grill. Leighanne made her potato salad and almost everyone brought a dish to pass. It was great and the food was amazing! A family friend made Baylee a train cake and we had lots of ice cream, too.
Needless to say, Baylee got SPOILED beyond belief!!! That little boy has more stuff than he’ll EVER be able to play with! Uncle Howie got him a crap load of Play-Dough with all the accessories. Uncle Nick gave him a Little Tykes basketball hoop (there’s a surprise…not), a video game system with games, and one of those Leap Pads with, like five or six books for it…oh and he went half and half with AJ on a Power Wheels truck.. Uncle Kevin bought him clothes, a ball cap, and a plastic baseball bat with ball. Uncle Harold got him a tricycle, some books, and a big stuffed Daffy Duck. Grandma and Grandpa L got him clothes, books, and shoes. Grandma and Grandpa W. gave him a bowling set and a bubble mower. Denise got him a fleece train blanket, a few books, some of those big Lego type building blocks. Uncle AJ went a little overboard…I think his shopping habit got the best of him, not that any of us were surprised! He bought 6 hats (Why 6, I’m not sure), 4 pair of sunglasses (I should have expected this), a few outfits, swimming trunks, a movie, some pool toys, and he went in with Nick on that PW truck. Nick and AJ outdid everyone except for me and Leighanne.
Okay…my hand is cramping…no more gift list…it’s all written down in his baby book anyways. Believe me, Leighanne has a very detailed and itemized list of exactly what each person got for him! I’m just glad that I didn’t have to do all that writing! The most important thing is that Baylee had a BLAST! Nick and AJ chased him all over the place, teaching him how to drive the truck, and then they got on their knees to play basketball and baseball with him! Everyone spent the afternoon eating and watching those three. Sure everyone jumped in, here and there, to play with Baylee or read him a story, but Nick and AJ were on his heels all day. It was pretty amusing to see AJ join in the festivities…you’d swear that he acted like a kid all the time. It kind of makes me wonder if Nick put something in AJ’s drink. I’ll have to look into that possibility!
Okay…I can’t write anymore and it’s been a long day, so I am off to bed.
-Brian Thomas Littrell
“Psst…hey,” Morgan’s voice brought me back to reality, as she slowly opened my window. She has climbed through my window a million times and I’d say, about, 50 percent of the time she did what she did tonight. I couldn’t help but snicker as I watched her tumble to the floor, ripping the hem of her shirt that had gotten caught.
“Morgan,” I knelt down beside her, helping her sit up. “We have got to work on your grace.” A deep red flushed to her cheeks, as she stood and tried to straighten her torn shirt. “Here, you can borrow my jersey.”
“Thanks, Baylee.” She gave me a weak smile, before turning towards the bathroom. She came out a few minutes later, wearing my school jersey and carrying her torn shirt. She tossed it in the waste basket, before plopping onto my bed.
“I’m surprised to see you here so late,” I sat next to her. The clock read 8:23…there was only 37 minutes left before our usual bedtime.
“We totally did our Algebra wrong and we have got to fix it!”
“O my gosh, Morgan, that’s it? I thought something was wrong!” I sighed, lying back, on my bed.
“Seriously, Bay, we’re going to get the whole assignment wrong because our first answer doesn’t satisfy both equations, so we miscalculated the system of equations and that means that the simultaneous solution is wrong, so the intercept method is out of whack which, in turn, means the set of coordinating axes in our graphing isn’t going to be right.” She paced the floor with wide eyes, waving her hands in the air.
“Morgan,” I tilted my head, looking up at her. “Go home and go to bed. We can go over this in home room, tomorrow.”
“This is serious, Baylee, don’t blow me off!” She turned to look at me. Her face looked as if she thought I didn’t believe her, or something.
“I know, Morgan. I’m not trying to blow you off, but it is time for us to get into bed. We do get up at 4 am, you know. Besides, you know this stuff confuses me and you have to spend a lot of time explaining it. We have home room, right, before Algebra…we can work on it then.”
“Fine,” she sighed, heading back over to the window. I stood, walking up behind her. I wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her into a hug.
“Good night, Morgy,” I rested my chin on her shoulder, for a moment, before letting go of her. “Sleep good. I promise to focus in home room, okay?”
“Okay, good night,” she nodded slightly, re-opening the window. I watched her climb down the tree. After seeing that she reached the ground safely, I took of my shirt and climbed into bed.
Sleep overcame me, quickly, and before I knew it, it was morning. My alarm screeched, making me jump. Rubbing my eyes, I hit the snooze button and covered my head with my pillow. That was a mistake because I woke up, 15 minutes later, to Morgan jumping on my bed.
“Wakie wakie, Baylee!” She wildly pounced around, then plopped onto my, unsuspecting, stomach.
“Ugh! Get off me! I’m trying to sleep,” I groaned, wrapping my arm around her waist. I rolled over, pulling her off me and causing her to lie next to me. I snuggled my head into her shoulder. Throwing my leg over hers, and keeping my arm around her waist, I tried to keep her from getting up. Honestly, I was NOT in the mood for our run…I just wanted to sleep for another hour.
“Baylee?” I heard a faint whisper in my ear, but I made no attempt to open my eyes.
“Hmmm?”
“You gotta get up, we have to get ready for school,” I knew it was Morgan’s voice floating into my ears. I slowly opened my eyes, to see her sitting on the edge of my bed. I groaned, stretching my arms, over my head.
“You went on the run by yourself?” I raised an eyebrow, after seeing that she was drenched in sweat. An immediate sense of guilt washed over me.
“Yeah, you were pretty beat. You fell asleep, using me as a pillow,” she giggled lightly, standing up.
“I’m sorry, Morgs. You should have just rolled me onto the floor,” I sat up, rubbing, the sleep from, my eyes. “I would have gotten up.”
“Blah, blah, blah. Just get up and get ready for school.” She smiled, before leaving my room.
I groaned, slipping out of my bed and heading into the bathroom. Making my shower quick, I got myself ready and met Morgan downstairs. I smiled, when I saw her.
“Look at the new outfit, that momma got for me!” Her smiled lit up her face, as she twirled around in a circle.
“Wow, Morgan, that’s really cute! I like that shade of yellow, it looks good on you.” I opened the door for her and we headed towards school.
“Yeah, at first I wasn’t too sure about the skirt, but I like how it’s real flowy like,” she giggled. Morgan is not really the type to wear skirts, but the soft yellow lace was, actually, very casual looking. It was paired with a matching tank top and flip-flops…it looked nice.
“Well, it looks very nice, Morgan,” I smiled as we approached Sean’s street.
“Holy hell! Who is this, Baylee? And, where is Morgan? Doesn’t she still walk with us in the morning?” Sean jogged up to us and grabbed Morgan into a hug.
“Shut-up, Sean!”
“If it weren’t for that messy bun, that you have your hair in, I wouldn’t have known it was you.”
“Stop it. I don’t look any different, besides the skirt.” Her cheeks flamed, as Sean and I, each, slung an arm around her. We walked, all the way, to school with her sandwiched between us.
I stuck pretty close, to her, all day because I was afraid someone would try to destroy her outfit or something. I am glad Jason was still expelled…I knew he would have found a way to stain it or rip it. Some of the kids, in our school, are really mean to those they classify as the ‘outcasts’. Morgan falls into that ‘outcast’ category but they never seem to bother her, if I am around. I’m not sure what it is…I mean, I know that I’m popular and on the football and basketball teams but, I guess, I don’t understand what everyone has against Morgan. Sure, she’s a brain instead of a rah-rah but that shouldn’t automatically make her a target…then again, I guess, maybe people are actually jealous of her. After all, looks can only get you so far, right?
Anyways, the day slipped by without much event. As promised, I paid close attention, during homeroom. Morgan was right…we did do our homework all wrong, but, we got it fixed in time for Algebra class. Soon we were back to my place and we did our homework.
“Hey guys!” Mason came rushing into the living room, just as Morgan and I finished up our school work.
“What’s up?” I closed my books, shoved it into my bag, and looked up to my cousin.
“Since it is Friday, Nick and AJ are taking the three of us out!”
“Really?” Morgan smiled widely, looking from him, to me and back to him.
“Yeah…karaoke and pizza!” Mason laughed, before running off, to get ready.
“Sweet! Friday is 90’s night!” I jumped to my feet and pulled Morgan to hers.
“You do realize that we are going to, have to, do a Backstreet Boys song,” she giggled.
“We always do!” I smiled, as we climbed the stairs and headed into my room. “Which one should we do, tonight?” We found it very amusing to imitate the guys because they always tried to stop us, from doing it. The faces they made were hilarious too, because Morgan and I over dramatized their signature moves, making them look like goofs.
“I don’t know. Do you think we could get AJ and Nick to do ‘Genie in a Bottle’ again?”
“They did that last time,” we both started laughing, loudly. “Maybe we should talk them into ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’.” I changed shirts, quickly, and Morgan went into her room, to change out of her skirt and into jeans. After we changed, we all climbed into Nick and AJ’s vehicles. Morgan and I rode with Nick, while Mason went with AJ and Riley.
“Oh my gosh! Turn this up, Nick!” I shouted, bouncing in my seat. The first verse was almost over, but I couldn’t help starting to sing, “Fat cat came to play, now he can't run fast enough!”
“You'd best stay away, when the pushers come to shove!” Morgan took over, and was bouncing along, with me.
“Zoot suit riot!” Nick yelled, over the blaring stereo, as he turned it up more.
“RIOT!” Morgan and I backed him up. “Throw back a bottle of beer!”
“Zoot suit riot!” Nick rolled down the windows, as AJ pulled up next to us at a red light.
“RIOT!” Morgan and I waved our hands in the air, bopping our heads, to the beat of the music.
“Pull a comb, through your coal black hair!” AJ had turned off his radio, Nick turned up ours, and now AJ was belting out the words along with the three, of us. It was only a matter of minutes, before we pulled into the karaoke club, still blasting the end of Zoot Suit Riot. Karaoke night was always a ton of fun!
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks you to everyone who has been reading along, I am glad that you all seem to be enjoying the story! A special thanks to those of you who have left me feedback...you know who you are! *muah* I love you all.
Chapter End Notes:
The lyrics are from Zoot Suit Riot (obviously) by Cherry Poppin Daddies. LOL, I hope someone got a laugh outta that!
