Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy as always.
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support!
Hope you enjoy!
End of Summer Fun (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"I know it's not bumper tubes, but we still wanted to do something as a summer fun day for the kids before school starts," Catherine said as she and Jenna walked toward the backdoor of the beach house, each with platters of food in hand.
"This is perfect," Jenna replied. "A back-to-school potluck, nice and casual, everyone together to celebrate the end of summer."
"Exactly. Anything else could undercut the kids' generosity and that amazing gesture they made."
Jenna beamed, the thought still bringing a proud smile to her face.
As they opened the backdoor, they heard an excited, "Mo! Co-ee!"
"More?" Cody asked, still holding on to Angie after guiding her down her waterslide. "That's, like, the tenth time already."
"You're not moving from that spot for a while, my friend," Danny said. "Angie has a longer than average attention span thanks to you know who." He motioned with his thumb toward Steve at the grill.
"Yeah, you're stuck," Steve agreed, smirking.
"Co-ee!" Angie insisted, smacking his arm.
He sighed, smiling. "Okay, okay, here we go," he said, lifting her to the top of her slide.
She squealed excitedly, clapping. Spotting Catherine, she stuck one hand out in a sideways wave and called, "Mama!"
"I see you, honey," Catherine said, smiling at her.
"Eee!" Angie cried as Cody guided her down the slide into the pool. She slapped her hands in the water happily. "Mo!"
Cody chuckled and lifted her to the top of the slide again.
"Looks like Angie's recovered from her first earache," Jenna said as she and Catherine set the platters of fruits and veggies on the table.
Danny snagged a carrot stick, dipping it in the creamy ranch before taking a bite. "Won't be the last," he said.
"Oh definitely not," Jenna agreed. "All my kids got them when they were little. Dylan and Jacob were the worst, poor things. Both had to have tubes put in."
Steve looked over from the grill, his brow furrowing.
Beside him, Catherine ran a hand over his back. "She's only had one earache," she said quietly. "No one's suggesting tubes yet."
He relaxed, though she knew he'd be researching ear tubes later that night.
"Angie was a trooper, weren't you, honey?" Joseph said as he joined the conversation, stepping over by the slide where Cody was still patiently lifting her up and sliding her down.
"Hardly cried at all," Steve confirmed.
"That's my girl," Grandma Ang said from her seat at one of the deck tables.
"Wait till her molars come in," Danny said, wincing in anticipated sympathy. "Gonna need every ounce of that McGarrett/Rollins fortitude to get through that."
"Luckily that's exactly what she's got," Elizabeth said from beside Grandma Ang.
"Oh, I wasn't talking about Angie," Danny said. He pointed at Steve and Catherine. "I was talking about those two."
"Thought we were doing water balloons after we ate," Steve said when Chin paused to wring out his wet t-shirt before stepping onto the deck.
"You really thought a tub full of water balloons was going to stay untouched out there?" Chin asked, quirking one eyebrow.
Steve shrugged, acknowledging the point.
"You don't seem to have fared very well," Joseph observed, eyeing Chin's wet clothes.
"There was a little shakeup with the teams mid-fight," Chin explained, glancing back to Kono who walked up behind him while the kids continued running around on the beach with Cammie, Scout, and Smokey. "Somehow it turned into everyone against me." He eyed his cousin as she stepped up beside him. "Any idea how that could have happened?"
"Don't know what you're talking about, cuz," Kono said with an innocent smile. "But I hope you brought an extra set of clothes."
"Don't bother," Steve said, smiling wryly. "There's another tub of balloons in the garage."
"So, Grandma Ang," John said as he took a seat with a full plate. "What do you think about Cole Hamels joining the rotation?"
"If he keeps pitching like he did on Sunday, he can stay," Ang said.
Carrie grinned. "Ooh, the Grandma Ang seal of approval." She chuckled. "Well, conditional seal of approval at any rate."
"He definitely had to pitch well given Scherzer's lights-out performance," Danny said.
Joseph nodded. "And that gem of a pitchers' duel got a little lost after Bote's grand slam."
Elizabeth shook her head in amazement. "What a moment. Bottom of the ninth, two outs and two strikes. That was just incredible. Talk about the ultimate grand slam."
"Only way it'd be better is if it was in the World Series," Catherine said, her eyes bright.
Ang smiled knowingly. "October's right around the corner."
John nodded to Joseph across from him. "What do you think about Javy's MVP chances?"
"He's gotta be at the top of the discussion," Joseph said. "Leads the league in RBIs, twenty-five homers and counting."
"More than that," Elizabeth added. "He's grown into a complete player."
Joseph nodded. "He's a helluva baserunner, and he's such a versatile defender. He'd be the top player on almost any team at either second, third, or short."
"I don't care if he wins MVP," Ang said, "I'm just glad he's stopped swinging at pitches over his head."
Elizabeth chuckled. "She's exaggerating, but not much. He even walks occasionally this season. Very occasionally, but … it's happened."
"Plus, he's just damn exciting to watch," Joseph said. "He's a one-man highlight reel."
"Speaking of one-man highlight reels …" Jenna said as Jacob ran across the sand holding two water balloons, his head tossed back as he screamed with glee. Tripping over his own feet, he pitched forward into the sand, both balloons popping against his own chest. He rolled to his back immediately, laughing hysterically. Jenna chuckled, shaking her head. "Make that a one-man blooper reel."
Danny grinned. "Never a dull moment with Jacob around."
Angie went down for a nap after everyone had eaten. She tried valiantly to stay awake, but the excitement of so much of her family around and the countless trips down the waterslide with Cody had finally worn her out.
On the deck, everyone relaxed and chatted as they let their food digest. Grace and Casey sat beside each other at one of the tables comparing the class schedules they received that week, excited that they had at least one class together.
Jess looked over their shoulders after refilling her lemonade.
"Ohh, you've got Ms. Sandberg for Physics," Jess said. "She's so awesome. She changes her hair color, like, every other week."
"Sweet," Casey said as she and Grace nodded appreciatively.
"And she is totally the best teacher," Jess said, sitting down with them. "Physics was so hard but she really explains stuff so you can understand it."
"Wish she'd been my teacher," Gabby chimed in from the next table. "I had a rough time with physics."
"Really?" Grace asked.
"Really. I just couldn't get a lot of the concepts. On tests, I used to take whatever I thought the answer was … and put down the opposite. To this day I have to nightmares about the ball on a string question."
"Ball on a string?" Grace asked.
"If you swing a ball around on a string in a circle and let go, which way does the ball go?"
"In a straight line," Casey said.
Elizabeth, sitting beside Gabby, nodded. Gabby sighed. "You're already ahead of me, you're gonna do fine." She shook her head in resignation. "Definitely not my favorite class. But we did have one cool assignment. We got to work in groups to pick out five scenes from movies, tv shows, or cartoons that defied the laws of physics and explain them in class. Now that I think about it, that would have been a lot easier nowadays in the age of YouTube."
"That sounds kinda fun," Grace said, looking at Casey. "Maybe we could tell the teacher about it."
"Yeah," Casey agreed, her eyes alight. "Do you mind, Gabby?"
"Of course not," Gabby said. She grinned. "Just as long as you don't make me explain which clips my group used."
"Ready for high school, Dylan?" Adam asked the now fourteen-year-old boy.
"Yep," Dylan said, not showing any sign of nerves. "I'm going to join the robotics team. Last year they came in second in the whole state!"
Chin smiled. "And with Dylan on the team, first place is in the bag, right?"
"Yeah!" Dylan agreed, giving him a high-five.
"What about classes?" Leilani asked. "You're not nervous about any of those?"
"Nah," Dylan said, shrugging. "Either Cody or Casey had pretty much all my teachers so they told me about them."
Jenna sighed. "I can't believe this is my third child in high school. Weren't you just starting kindergarten a few years ago?"
"That was me, Mom!" Jacob said, grinning as he missed the wistful tone in his mother's voice.
She smiled at him. "I know, honey. I just meant, time flies."
"What about you, Jacob?" Adam asked. "Fourth grade now, right?"
"Yeah!" Jacob exclaimed, then his shoulders sagged. "But I wish I had Ms. Lane again this year."
"I know you do," Jenna said sympathetically. "She's been a wonderful teacher. You were so lucky to have her for three years."
"She's the best teacher ever," Jacob said. His face brightened a little. "She said I could come to her class and say hi anytime!"
"And I'm sure you will," Catherine said, smiling at him.
"Just wait till you get to middle school," Kaitlyn said from the corner of the deck. "Then you'll have seven different teachers every day."
Jacob's eyes widened. "That's a lot of teachers to remember."
"Yeah, but you get used to it," she assured him. "I'll help you."
He smiled broadly. "Thanks!"
Steve nudged Cody beside him. "Gearing up for your big debut as a student senator this school year?"
"Yeah," Cody said. "I've been talking over the summer with some of the other people on student government so we can start to figure out what we want to do."
"What are you going to tackle first?" Joseph asked.
"Well, we have some ideas, but after all the usual orientation stuff is done, we're going to hold some town hall meetings like the governor does so other students can tell us what they think are the biggest issues. And we created a forum online so people who can't get to the meetings can still voice their concerns. That way we can prioritize how we spend our time."
"That sounds like an excellent plan," Elizabeth said.
Cody ducked his head a little, smiling. "Thanks." He looked over at her. "One thing I was thinking was to look for ways students can get involved in the community. I thought maybe some could do volunteer work at Tutor Time sites."
"That's a great idea," Elizabeth said, her eyes brightening with excitement. "The more tutors we have, the better the student:tutor ratio will be."
"Hey, speaking of Tutor Time," Danny said, "What was the final total raised at the auction?"
Elizabeth's smile grew even wider. "Well, our goal was $10,000, but with the Allens' summer fun day jar donation, and Kamekona and Esther's donation of their profits for the night, the auction day total was just over $15,000!"
"That's incredible!" Gabby exclaimed.
"Amazing!" Kono added, as others chimed in with their own exclamations.
"I was completely overwhelmed," Elizabeth said. "I can't thank you all enough for helping, and for providing such incredible things to auction off."
"It's a great cause," Steve said, "and I think we're all committed to doing everything we can to help it succeed."
"Definitely," Catherine agreed, and the others echoed their agreement.
Elizabeth noticed Kaitlyn biting her lip and looking down. "What is it, Kaitlyn?" she asked gently.
Kaitlyn looked up, surprised. "Oh … I was just … $15,000 is a lot of money."
"It is," Elizabeth agreed. "Everyone was very generous."
"It's just that … our $100 doesn't seem like all that much now …"
"$100.37!" Jacob corrected.
"Oh, honey," Elizabeth said. "Every donation is equally important, no matter what the amount is. Because the very act of donating to Tutor Time shows that you support the program and especially the kids the program is going to help. That's the bottom line, not the number of zeroes on a check or anything like that."
Jenna put her arm around Kaitlyn. "And remember how people kept coming up to us after the auction and saying they thought donating spare change was such a good idea, they were going to do it, too? Your idea inspired others."
"It did," Elizabeth agreed. "And it gave me another idea. I was waiting for the right time to tell you all, but since the auction, I've been talking to local business owners, telling them about what your family did. I asked them if they would consider keeping jars at their businesses to collect change from customers through the year. And guess what? So far every single one has said yes!"
"Really?" Kaitlyn said, her eyes widening.
"Really."
"I'm guessing you started with the shrimp king and queen," Danny said with a grin.
"I did," Elizabeth confirmed, smiling. "And they've been helping to spread the word and gather commitments from other business owners they know." She looked back at Kaitlyn. "So you see, something that you and your family started has already multiplied and will continue to grow and support Tutor Time long after your very generous $100.37 donation has been spent."
"Wow," Kaitlyn said, her smile growing. "I never even imagined something like that could happen."
Jenna squeezed her shoulder.
"Believe it," Elizabeth said. She looked at the Allens and Grace. "But even though you all have done so much, I do have one more favor to ask you."
"What?" Kaitlyn asked.
"We need to design a sign to go with the jars at the businesses and I was hoping you all would have some ideas."
"We can do that!" Kaitlyn said immediately. She looked around at her siblings and Grace. "Right?"
"Totally," Dylan said.
"The name of the program should be really big on the top," Casey said.
"We should put pictures of kids and tutors on it so people can see who they're helping with their change," Grace added.
"It's gotta be really colorful so everyone will want to look at it!" Jacob exclaimed.
"Aunt Catherine, Uncle Steve, can we use your computer to start working on it?" Kaitlyn asked excitedly.
"Sure, honey," Catherine said. "Go right ahead."
"Come on, let's work in the dining room," Kaitlyn said, motioning the others to follow her inside.
"I think they just gave themselves homework before school even starts," Danny quipped as the backdoor closed behind them.
"What about the other tub of water balloons?" Steve belatedly asked.
"Don't worry," Joseph said with a grin. "They've gotta take a break sometime."
"And this time," Chin added, "it's every man, woman, and child for themself."
Steve smiled broadly. "Sounds like summer fun to me."
"This whole day has been like our best summer fun days," Cody said. "My favorites were the simple ones where we just got shave ice or something and hung out together."
Jenna smiled. "Mine, too."
"Well said," Steve added.
Cody grinned. "Doesn't mean I'm not going to enjoy pelting you with water balloons this year."
Steve laughed. "You're on."
Hope you enjoyed!
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