Notes: Huge thanks to the Amazing Mari for the assist and to SuperSammy for the awesome feedback. You're the best, ladies!
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated.
Hope you enjoy!
Sticking Together (A McRoll in the REAL World Story by Mari and Ilna)
"It's so funny going to school after school," Angie said, holding Steve's hand and swinging their arms back and forth as the family walked toward the kids' school.
"That is a fun thing about Open House, isn't it?" Catherine agreed.
"And this Open House has DJ's scavenger hunt!" Angie exclaimed.
"Well, it was more than just me who came up with activities on the scavenger hunt," DJ said. "But it was really awesome that everybody liked the idea so much when I told them about it."
"That's because it's a very good idea," Catherine said.
"A very very good idea," Angie added.
Steve grinned. "Very very."
"Is it going to be like the scavenger hunt we did at my preschool, DJ?" Angie asked.
"A little bit," DJ said, "but with more activities instead of just finding places in the school."
"Fun!" Angie said.
"Angie!" a familiar voice called and Angie immediately whipped her head around, squealing when she spotted her best friend Ashae with her family.
"Ashae!"
The two girls ran to meet each other, throwing their arms around each other in exuberant hugs even though they had only left school about two hours ago.
Steve and Catherine greeted Raina and Justin, Ashae's parents, while the girls pulled DJ toward them and started peppering him with questions about the scavenger hunt.
"How many activities are there?"
"Do we get to go into every room in the whole school?"
"Is there a prize for finishing first?"
"Girls, how about we find out for ourselves?" Catherine said, nodding to the front door where families were streaming in and being greeted by school personnel.
"Let's go!" both immediately cried, hurrying toward the door.
Once inside, they stopped at a set of long tables where the office manager and assistants were seated handing out papers to families.
"Welcome to Open House, we're so glad you could make it," and older woman said with a warm smile.
"We're ready for the scavenger hunt, Mrs. Clark!" Ashae announced.
"Very very ready!" Angie echoed.
"I bet you are!" the office manager replied with a little chuckle. "The A-Team is always ready for anything, aren't you?" As the girls nodded, she looked over their heads to smile at DJ. "And there's the scavenger hunt master himself. Are you ready to take part in your creation, DJ?"
He grinned. "Very very ready," he said, and Angie and Ashae giggled.
"Here's one for each family," Mrs. Clark said, handing a paper and a small pencil to Angie who immediately passed them to DJ, and to Ashae who gave them to her mother. "I hope you have lots of fun tonight!"
Steve looked over DJ's shoulder, glancing down the list. "Can we do the scavenger hunt in any order we want or do we need to go in order?" he asked.
Mrs. Clark looked at DJ. "Do you want to take that one, DJ?"
He nodded. "We're supposed to go in order. There are different papers that have the scavenger hunt activities in different orders so that everyone doesn't go to the same place at the same time."
"That makes sense," Raina said.
"It was Ms. Cato's idea," DJ went on, nodding over to where the assistant principal was talking with another family. "That's why the papers are different colors."
Angie looked at the paper in DJ's hand and the one Ashae's dad was holding. She beamed. "Ours are the same color!"
Mrs. Clark winked. "I figured you might want to stick together."
"That was very thoughtful, thank you," Catherine said as the girls clasped hands, bouncing in place.
"I haven't seen Michael yet, DJ. Do you know if he's coming with his family?"
DJ nodded. "They're coming, but his sister had a soccer game so they're going to be a little late."
"Well, I'm sure you'll cross paths at some point," Mrs. Clark said. "Best friends have a way of finding each other." He smiled and nodded. She beamed at both families. "Have fun with the scavenger hunt and enjoy Open House!"
"Looks like we get to start in the gym," Steve said, nodding to the paper.
DJ grinned. "This is gonna be a fun one."
"You got that right, DJ," a tall, broad-shouldered man with a large grin said. "Welcome everyone, come on in."
"Hi, Mr. V!" Ashae and Angie said.
"Well, if it isn't a couple of fabulous first graders! I know you two are going to have fun with this." He held up a cloth bag and gave it a shake. "Reach in here and pull out a letter. One for each family."
Ashae pulled a plastic L out of the bag and Angie pulled a W.
"Okay, remember those letters," Mr. V said. "You see the piles of beanbags in all four corners of the gym? You've gotta find two beanbags with your letter on it. Once you find them, head to the middle of the gym for a family relay race."
"With the beanbags on our heads!" Angie said, pointing at some of the other families who were already doing the relay.
"You got it, Captain Angie. Go on, now. See how fast you can find your beanbags."
"Let's go!" Angie cried, and she, DJ, and Ashae hurried toward the nearest pile of beanbags, dropping to their knees and starting to frantically hunt through the pile.
"This really puts the hunt in scavenger hunt," Justin said as the four parents joined them.
"I found a W!" Angie cried, holding up a red beanbag.
"Hang on a second," DJ said. He winced. "I think it's upside down." He turned it the other way. "See? I think it's an M."
"I think you're right, buddy," Steve agreed.
"And I think this is gonna be harder than it looks," Raina said, eyeing the massive piles of beanbags around the gym.
Eventually both families found their lettered beanbags and moved to the center of the gym for the relay. Steve stood in the center of the gym, balancing a bean bag on his head next to DJ, while Catherine and Angie stood at the far side of a marked-off 'lane'. The McDonalds were lined up in a lane near them.
A squeal of, "You got this, DJ and Daddy!" from Angie had everyone grinning as Catherine, unable to hold back a laugh, watched Steve's intense focus cause his eyes to narrow.
DJ wobbled, almost toppling over, the bean bag slipping from his head. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, catching it just in time before resetting it.
"It's all about balance, buddy," Steve told him. "Keep your eyes straight ahead, don't look down and focus on Mommy."
DJ straightened his posture and took off for where his mother and sister waited with Steve right at his side, the bean bag on his own head not wavering a millimeter as he strode for the spot where they'd swap the bags with Catherine and Angie.
The crowd erupted in applause as all the teams advanced and Catherine clapped proudly, her eyes gleaming with affection at the look of absolute concentration on DJ's face.
When they reached the line, Steve knelt and placed his bag on Angie's head and said, "Don't run. Walk with your head straight and spot like you do at gymnastics. Eyes and head up, focus on that welcome poster," he said and pointed across the room.
"Got it, Daddy!" she said with an expression that was all Catherine's when she was focused on a task.
"Go, baby girl," he said with a grin and as Catherine took the bag from DJ and placed it on her own head, she was off next to Angie back towards the starting line.
"Woooo!" DJ cheered as the two walked confidently with their heads held high.
When they got close to the line, Catherine cut her eyes toward Angie. "Ready, baby girl?"
Angie grinned. "Ready!"
"Now!" Catherine said and they both spun around, taking their last two steps backwards and blowing kisses to Steve and DJ who couldn't help but grin and cheer at the final flourish.
The four met in the middle of their lane and DJ gave Angie a high five as Steve shook his head with a smile. "That's the way to finish a relay race."
As the family moved to the art room for their next activity, Steve linked hands with Catherine, their smiles reflecting their amusement at Angie's ever present competitive streak as she said, "What's next again, DJ?" excited at the prospect of another activity. "We can try to win another game!"
"The art room," her brother said with a smile. "We're gonna do another activity."
"Yay!" she cheered but then noticeably slowed her step and glanced behind her.
"They're coming," Catherine said, guessing the reason. "Ashae just had to use the bathroom."
Angie nodded and they joined other families in the room with tables covered in paints, markers, and colorful buttons. "Welcome friends," Ms. Richter, the art teacher, greeted everyone. "Today, we're going to make buttons that you can wear and take home with you."
"I love making buttons!" Angie offered, and Mrs. Richter smiled.
"I know you do, and so many of our friends have made really fun ones, so that's why we're sharing this activity with our guests today." Looking up to see the another family enter, she winked at their child. "I think there's room at Angie's table for you all," she told Ashae and her parents, causing a gasp of excitement from both girls.
"Ashae! We're making buttons!" Angie beamed and offered a hug to the best friend she'd seen not five minutes before, making both sets of parents grin.
As soon as Raina, Justin, and Ashae took seats, both girls selected bright red buttons, while DJ meticulously sketched a design on a blue one. Steve, on the other hand, lifted a blank one and reached for green, brown and tan markers.
"Daddy, I think I know what you're doing," DJ said with a smile, nudging his father's arm.
Steve chuckled, "Can't fool you, buddy," as Catherine grinned and shook her head. "Camo, Commander?"
"Absolutely." He returned her smile as Angie beamed at him and said, "Good pick, Daddy!"
"Clearly they know their daddy," Mrs. Richter said as she passed their table.
"Daddy was a SEAL and he wore camo lots of times," Angie offered, even as she drew an image of a dog, cat, and goat on her own button.
"And that's Cammie, Pumpkin, and Felix," the teacher chuckled with a glance at the adults, "And Ashae, that's your favorite horse, Pickles."
"Looks like you know your students." Raina grinned. "Especially these two with their favorite subjects."
"I've seen many interpretations of these beautiful animals."
"And we can show our buttons to Pickles and Cammie, Pumpkin, and Felix," Ashae said as she carefully added a mane to her horse.
"They love seeing our drawings," Angie agreed. "It makes them very very happy."
"And that's what art is all about," Mrs. Richter said and she complimented DJ's illustration of a Cubs player. "Great work, all of you. Enjoy the drawing and when you're all finished, Ms. Aioki will seal up the buttons and add a pin back." She gave a little wave to her paraprofessional before moving to the next table. "While she's doing that, you can search the room for a drawing of yourselves that you did earlier in the week. Have fun!"
The art classroom buzzed with excitement as parents and children began to finish their buttons and start the search. Angie tugged on Steve's arm, her eyes shining with anticipation. "Daddy, I can't wait to find my picture!"
Steve smiled down at her. "Okay, let's do this!"
Catherine grinned at Ashae, "Ready to find your artwork?"
Ashae beamed. "Yes, I'm ready to find my picture, too!"
As the hunt began, children and parents scattered throughout the room, searching for their artwork. Angie ran towards a wall adorned with colorful drawings, pointing eagerly.
"Daddy, I found it!" she exclaimed, indicating her depiction of herself in a princess tiara and a tac vest, fighting bad guys with a sword.
Steve kneeled beside his daughter with a chuckle. "That's perfect, baby girl."
Angie giggled. "See, I'm helping catch bad guys and I'm a princess knight."
As Ashae and her parents joined them, DJ emerged from the other side of the room with his mother, waving a drawing of himself running on a baseball field triumphantly. "Look! My portrait's right here!"
Catherine smiled, ruffling her son's hair. "Beautiful job, DJ! You captured the spirit of the game perfectly."
Back at their table, the two families were admiring their artwork when suddenly, a voice boomed from the doorway. "This sounds like the place to be!"
Everyone turned to see the principal, Mr. Roundtree, standing in the doorway with a look of amusement. His eyes crinkled as he took in the scene.
Steve winked at DJ. "Looks like this part of the hunt just became the talk of the school."
Catherine chuckled and added, "We are having the most fun, aren't we?" to which Angie agreed, "It's the most fun day at school yet!"
As the families and Mrs. Richter erupted in laughter, Mr. Roundtree shook his head gently. "I have to say, this is the enthusiasm I love to see. Carry on, friends!"
As the hunt continued, accompanied by giggles, exclamations, and the occasional triumphant cry, Steve, Catherine and Ashae's parents guided the kids to pick up their finished buttons.
Pinning them on, the children beamed as they said goodbye to Ms. Aioki and Ms. Richter and headed out for the next phase of the hunt.
In the music room, the families got to search for photos of musical instruments hidden around the room and talk about each. After they'd found them all, they headed to the computer lab where the kids showed their parents how they logged onto their school Explore account and then completed a series of questions on where to find different tools and learning games. In the library, the challenge was to find a favorite book of a family member and DJ showed everyone how to look up the titles on the catalog.
"Here it is!" Angie said, finding The Mitten by Jan Brett, a childhood favorite of Raina's.
"Good job, Angie!" Ashae said, hugging her. "We have that book at home, too."
"I remember that one," Catherine said. "Such detailed illustrations."
"DJ!" they heard, and looked across the open concept library to see Michael and his family waving.
The three families quickly joined up, exchanging greetings.
"How was your soccer game, Zoe?" Catherine asked.
"It was awesome," the middle-schooler, still in her uniform, replied. "We won 3-2 and I scored two of our goals!"
"Yay, Zoe!" Angie cheered, holding up both her hands for high fives.
"And how's your first Open House as a student, Emma?" Steve asked Michael's younger sister. "Are you having fun?"
The little girl nodded. "We just went to my classroom!" she said with a bright smile.
"You have Mr. S, right?" Angie asked. She pointed to herself and Ashae. "We had him, too! He's the best kindergarten teacher ever!"
"Ever!" Ashae echoed, nodding her enthusiastic agreement.
"We're going to our room next," Michael said to DJ. "What's your next room?"
DJ grinned. "We're going to our classrooms, too!" He looked at Angie. "Is it okay if we go to my room first so we can go with Michael?"
"Of course!" Angie immediately said. "Can we, Mommy?"
"Absolutely," Catherine replied. "That's very kind, baby girl."
Angie looked at her best friend hopefully. "Is it okay if Ashae comes, too, even though she doesn't have anyone in Mr. Garcia's class in her family?"
The parents looked at each other and shrugged.
"I think it's probably fine," Steve said. "Best friends have to stick together, right?"
"Right!" all four kids agreed, beaming.
"We're all finished here so let's head upstairs," Raina said.
They waved to Ms. Porter, the school librarian, who was helping another family find their book, and headed toward the stairs together.
"This scavenger hunt idea was really fantastic, DJ," Nick, Michael's father, said.
"I love how all the rooms have had some kind of 'hunt' theme," his mother, Rebecca, agreed.
"The beanbags were my favorite so far," Michael said.
"Yeah, that was totally fun," DJ said. "Mr. Garcia wouldn't tell us what the activity in our room is going to be. He said since we were helping figure out what was going on in the other rooms, he wanted at least one to be a surprise."
Angie squealed at the possibility of a new surprise.
"Hey, come on in, everyone," Mr. Garcia said, spotting them from the doorway.
"Mr. Garcia, is it okay if my sister's best friend Ashae and her family come in with us?" DJ asked.
"Totally okay," he said with a welcoming smile for the new family. "Any friend of Angie's …" He held up a fist for Ashae to bump and then offered his hand to Raina and Justin. "Jerry Garcia. And yup, named after exactly who you're thinking."
"Thanks for letting us crash," Justin said.
"What's the activity, Mr. G?" Michael asked.
"I decided on a little game of I Spy," his teacher replied. "But everyone's answer sheet will be different because I want you to write down your last name," he explained to the kids while handing DJ, Michael, and Ashae a clipboard, "then as a family you're going to find something in the classroom that starts with each of the letters. Make sense?"
"Whoa, cool!" DJ said, already writing McGarrett on the paper vertically. "It'll kind of look like one of those poems … what are they called again?"
"Acrostic poems," Mr. Garcia answered. "And you're exactly right. It's like an I Spy acrostic poem mash up."
"Desk!" Michael said suddenly, pointing. "For D!"
Mr. Garcia chuckled. "I guess the game has begun."
Steve nodded. "And we've got a longer name, so let's get going."
"Multiplication chart!" DJ called, pointing to a large poster on the wall.
"Magnets!" Ashae said, and soon words were flying back and forth
"Fun idea," Catherine said to the teacher.
He smiled. "I had to try and live up to the great scavenger hunt idea DJ came up with. I love how he's always determined to help, even with big projects like Open House."
Steve nodded, smiling proudly as he draped an arm over Catherine's shoulders. "That's our DJ."
"Ms. Lane!" Angie and Ashae called, running toward their classroom.
"What am I going to say, girls?" their beloved teacher asked with a knowing smile and raised eyebrow.
The two girls slowed and looked at each other. They smiled sheepishly at their teacher. "Walking feet," they said in unison.
"That's right," she said. "But I am glad you're so excited to come back to your classroom after school." She looked at the rest of the families as they joined the excited girls. "And I'm very happy to see you all."
"What's our activity, Ms. Lane?" Angie asked eagerly.
"I'm afraid it's not quite as exciting as some of the other activities," she admitted. "A pretty standard classroom scavenger hunt, but I know you two will love showing your families all the important parts of our room."
Angie and Ashae beamed.
"This has been the most fun Open House ever," Michael said.
"I agree," came a voice behind them. They turned to see Mr. Roundtree, the principal, joining them. "There's just one problem …" he said, looking very serious.
DJ looked nervous, biting his lip. "What?"
Mr. Roundtree grinned broadly. "How in the world are we going to come up with anything half as fun for next year without you, DJ?"
DJ relaxed, grinning back. "I guess I'll just have to come back and help you brainstorm ideas."
Mr. Roundtree laughed and held up a hand for a high five. "That's what I like to hear."
Hope you enjoyed!
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