"Hey" Callie heard the smile in Jude's voice when he answered his phone that night.
"Hey, how's school?" Callie asked.
"Great, I just got to write a paper on Shakespeare, I think this summer I might take a Shakespeare class this summer" Jude said.
"At home though right? You can take an online class or something, your still coming home right?" Callie asked.
"Yes" Jude laughed.
"Hey it's not a crime to want my baby brother home for the summer, we miss you" Callie said.
"I miss you guys too" Jude said.
"I wanted to ask you something, you worked really hard in school when we first got here." Callie said.
"Yeah momma told me about Harry" Jude said.
"Momma said she wasn't sure if it was worth it for Harry, that since he would not be with us long it might just stress him out for no reason. But She didn't know how long we would be with them at first. I mean, I know why she did it. But did you think it was worth it?" Callie asked.
"I mean back then I just wanted to be able to go to the same school as you, and then as everyone else in the house. How much would it suck knowing that everyone was going to a nice charter school and I got bused off to the public school everyday. I was really glad about that. It was hard work, I know momma put a lot of effort into it too, but now I see that it was worth it. It was all worth it." Jude said.
"So even though right now it is just more pulling teeth and getting him to fight, when he gets older he will see it was for the better?" Callie asked.
"Yeah, I mean you guys don't get the benefit from that like momma did"
"It doesn't matter, as long as he does" Callie sighed.
"Ok buddy so there are going to be a lot of people here, if you get overwhelmed just let us know ok" Callie said as she walked up to the door.
"We're here" Callie called.
"There you are come on it" Lena said from the kitchen.
"Hey" Brandon smiled coming from the living room with Megan to greet them. Elizabeth ran for the kitchen as Mariana scooped her up.
"Hi! you must be Harry!" Mariana said walking over to give Callie a hug. Before she knew it everyone was surrounding them.
"Guys, this is Harry, Harry this is my family, you know my moms and this is Brandon, Megan, Mariana, Sam and Jesus" Callie said.
"hi" Harry whispered. Everyone started talking to him at once Callie felt Harry back up into her from all the people.
"I think Harry is a little freaked" Callie said finding Will out on the back deck with Brandon, Sam and Jesus after dinner.
"Where is he?" Will asked
"He is sitting out on the front porch, he doesn't want to talk to me" Callie said.
"Let me try" Will said patting Brandon's back and going back into the house. Callie followed him stopping in the kitchen were Lena and Mariana were washing the dishes.
"Hi big guy, how's it going" Will asked sitting down on the front step next to Harry.
"Good"
"It's pretty loud in there huh?" Will asked.
"Everyone talks so much" Harry said making Will laugh.
"Yeah, they all like to talk a lot. When I first started coming to family dinners it took me a little while to get used to it. The key is to avoid the big groups" Will said.
"It's always a big group" Harry said looking back at the house.
"At dinner yes but they all usually focus on the same thing. After dinner is the key to finding the right group" Will said narrowing his eyes pretending he was talking about something important.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked intrigued.
"Well, there's the groups, you got the moms, usually Lena, Megan and Callie, they like to clean up the kitchen and talk about boring things like babies. Stef and Mariana like to sit in the nook and drink wine, now this group is a big no no because after the dishes are done they form one big group. Jude and Jesus like to play video games when Jude is home, so they would be a fun group. Sometimes Jesus will play basketball, that would be fun. Brandon likes to play his piano and I bet he would love to show you. Frankie likes to play soccer and be in the back yard. It's all about finding the right group" Will said.
"Can I hang out with your group?" Harry asked.
"You bet" Will smiled leading him back through the house out to the neck.
"Hey! there you are" Brandon said as Jesus picked up the basketball.
"Hey Harry, you want to play?" He asked.
"Yeah" Harry smiled stealing the ball from him.
"Hey, should we go? is he doing ok?" Callie asked coming out to sit between Will and Brandon.
"Oh yeah, we had a long talk about the whole crazy dynamics of this family and I told him the secrets" Will nodded.
"Good…wait secrets?" Callie asked.
"We are not crazy!" Brandon said.
"Oh yeah this..little crazy" Will smirked.
"Hey!" Callie laughed.
"Ehhh, he's kinds right" Brandon said sitting back stretching out his feet.