Chapter Eleven: Labor Day/ Calvin in Charge

Liz awoke the next morning and realized that it was Labor Day, the day of the competition. Hurriedly she dressed and went to the kitchen, where she found her mother cooking pancakes. "No Labor Day Cup, then?" she asked, confused.

"Well, your father took Nigel and Kyle to compete. No one else wanted to go, not after last night with Sarah and her date," her mother said, sighing. "Your father still hasn't learned to let go."

Much as she hated her dad's training regimen for the Labor Day Cup, she found that she had actually been looking forward to competing, just for the fun of it. Still, she felt relieved that she didn't have to go. For personal reasons.

"Hey, the Chiseler's got my wallet!" she heard Jake cry in the other room, where he and Henry had been straightening things up. This was followed by a thump and a crash as they hurled things at the rat.

Liz, Kate, and the rest of the kids rushed into the room to see a gaping hole in the wall above the rat's hole, where Jake had hit it with his skateboard. Inside the wall, numerous items could be seen, many of them dusty and deteriorating with age. Henry pulled out a stuffed bear that Liz recognized as Nora's and Mike pulled out some long-lost underwear. Wrinkling her nose at it, she couldn't help but smile at the look on Mike's face as he held up his prized Spider-man briefs. Then Henry pulled out a folded, wrinkled old sheet with the words "Team Baker" painted across it in faded blue lettering. "Look," Kate said as she took it from Henry, "Our old team flag."

"From the year we lost to the Murtaughs by two points," Henry remembered, smiling at the worn piece of cloth.

"Yeah, because Mom fell in the sack race," Mark pointed out.

Kate laughed. "And Daddy carried me all the way home. Those were good memories." She stopped and looked around at all her children. "Dad wants to be a part of every single one of them, which is why he has such a hard time letting go. But you remember that no matter what Daddy says, whether he's in a good mood or a bad mood, you're his favorite team…"

Liz couldn't help but smile as she allowed the memories of her father come sweeping back. She could see on the faces of her siblings that the same thing was on each of their minds. "You know," she said softly, feeling their eyes turn to her, "I think, after all the time that Dad's put into us, we should return the favor. Let's go help him win that Cup."

Liz's words galvanized the family into action and they rushed to get dressed and jump in the cars to make it to the Labor Day Cup in time to compete. Both Charlie and Kate honked their horns to get Dad's attention as they clambered out of the vehicles and raced across the sand to greet him. Out of the corner of her eye, Liz saw Calvin standing with his family, watching her, but she pushed all thoughts of him out of her mind and allowed herself to be swept up in the Baker family group hug.

"Hey Murtaugh!" Tom Baker called across the beach, "This is our year!"

"Let's see what you've got, Baker!" Jimmy called back before turning to pay attention to Mike Romanow as he announced the beginning of the competition.

Liz remained distracted through the first couple of events. Try as she might, she couldn't keep her mind off Calvin. And seeing Rachel watching him from the other side of the beach didn't help salve her emotions, either. After the sack race, Calvin cornered her off to one side, while the archers set up for their competition. "Liz, look, I didn't have a choice in this. Dad set up this thing with Rachel Zimmerman, but that doesn't mean that –"

"Calvin," Liz interjected before he could continue, "You did have a choice, and you chose to go along with what your father lined up for you. I don't hold that against you, but stop trying to explain it all away and make excuses for your behavior."

"That's not what I was going to say…" the words died on his lips as Liz shook her head and walked back to join her family and cheer for Nigel and Kyle, who'd won the archery contest.

Liz managed to evade him for a couple more events, but after Charlie lost to Anne in the egg race, she saw him slip past his father and make his way toward her. Rachel grasped his arm to stop him, but he shrugged her off and continued his path. Liz frowned and tried to duck into the crowd and lose him, but before she could do so, she felt his strong hand come down on her arm and pull her toward the trees. There was dangerous glint in his eyes and his mouth was set in a firm line. "Calvin, let me go," she demanded, struggling against his hold.

He stopped suddenly and pushed her into a tree, his hands closing on her shoulders, holding her there. "No," he said sternly. "Not until you hear me out." He glared at her until she stopped resisting. "Now I know that you don't want to believe me, but you have to, because I meant every word I said yesterday in the woods. My dad set this thing up with Rachel because she's rich and pretty and, for some reason, he refuses to see what kind of person she really is. I told the truth when I said that I didn't get a choice in this decision – Dad made it for me – but you never let me tell you that just because he didn't give me choice, doesn't mean I'm actually going to go along with it."

"That doesn't explain why you never told me about it, and why you took me up there to tell me all that stuff about why you loved me," she snapped.

"Do you want to know the real reason I went up there? Why I told you all of that? Why I admitted that I loved you?" he asked, his eyes angry.

I love cliffies! Of course, this is the third of four chapters I'm posting basically at once, so it's not like you have to wait very long for the rest of Calvin's rampage. :)