Silas was teasing me by eating slowly, slower than I knew him to normally eat. Still, in three bites, the cookie was gone.
I stuffed the rest of the cookie into my mouth, the red and white sugar crystals falling from my lips back onto the plate. Before I’d finished, I grabbed another one.
Silas reached for one more, but I moved the plate away by tucking it almost behind me on the counter, keeping a wide grin on my face as I chewed.
Silas smirked and then stepped closer. “Hey,” he said.
I lifted my foot until it was in the middle of his chest and pressed it against him, holding him and the plate away while trying to finish...and not laugh, choke and die.
Laughter erupted from the two doorways to the kitchen. Nathan had was standing next to Kota in the dining room entryway, his face reddening as he snorted with laughter. Victor stood at the opposite end on the living room side. He chuckled and his fire eyes sparked to life.
North rolled his eyes but still smirked.
Kota crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter. “Come on, Silas. You can get more if you want.”
I quickly braced my foot and leg against Silas’s chest and then tucked the plate more behind me, out of his reach. Then I lifted another cookie and shoved it into my mouth.
Silas leaned against my foot, smirking, but then started pressing against my leg a little at a time using his strength and weight. He was testing me, but I put every ounce of energy I had into holding him off.
I laughed and then choked a little on the cookie in my throat. I coughed but didn’t give up the fight.
Silas froze immediately and then eased off of my leg. “Give me some.”
I passed him a cookie and then picked up another two. Again I grinned, and coughed, a bit of sugar stuck in my throat.
Victor moved around so he could pick up the milk and hand it to me. “Drink,” he said.
I put the cookies onto the plate and then took up the milk, drinking, eyeballing Silas with a wary gaze over the glass. He finished his second cookie but then held his hand out, but I was busy drinking. I gave him a piece of a broken one before I picked up more for myself.
Kota rolled his eyes. “You’re going to let her cheat like that?”
“She almost choked,” Silas said, holding his ground. My foot was still on his chest, but he wasn’t fighting anymore. He looked at me with pleading eyes. “Come on, Sang. Let me have a few.”
“No-o-o,” I said with a chuckle, but then stuffed another cookie in my mouth.
North looked at the timer. “Fifteen seconds left.”
With that, I ate one and a half more cookies. I offered Silas another half.
He rolled his eyes, but then leaned down and let me feed him the cookie from my hand.
North said stop when the time was up. I’d eaten four and a half cookies and Silas had eaten three.
North shook his head. “Well, at least you didn’t puke.”
“I didn’t have to get sick if Silas didn’t actually eat them all while trying to win,” I said and slid off the counter. “Besides, there’s still some cookies left over for everyone else.”
North smirked and poked me in the shoulder. “Smart ass.”
Kota groaned and shook his head. “Silas,” he said. “You let her cheat and get away with it.”
Silas lifted his shoulders in a heavy sigh. “Look at her face,” he said. “She wanted to win.”
I grinned, offering around the plate of cookies freely now that the contest was over.
Silas turned to Kota. “Are you telling me you can resist her?”
The way he said it, made me still because I wanted to hear Kota’s answer.
“You can’t baby her,” Kota said, although he said it with a smile. He gave me a different look than I was used to. It reminded me of Mr. Blackbourne: challenging, making me want to sit up straighter. “Make her play fair,” Kota said, keeping his eyes on me.
“It was just cookies,” Silas said. “Besides, now she has to ask me a favor.”
I reached for the glass of milk to give myself a moment to think because I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to what sort of favor I’d ask of Silas.
“Do you want to give them to her, or have her earn them?” Kota asked.
He was smiling, but the way he straightened his stance and sent a challenging look my way told me he was talking about more than a cookie-eating contest. “Play time is fine; I’ll give that to you. You might not always be around us, though. You might need to play by the rules. Not everyone will understand or be accepting of your cheating.”
His suggestion hinted at my future within the Academy and possibly a future that put me on another team. I put the glass down, looking for someone else—anyone—to provide a little reassurance.
However, the others kept their heads down, looking at their feet, or the counter, or something else—anything that wasn’t me. Clearly the possibility of me being on another team was something they all knew about and considered to be a possibility. Were they worried about the outcome at the end?
The playful mood was broken. Somberly, I put the plate down on the counter. How could I believe if they didn’t?
“Sang!” Gabriel cried out from the other room. “Did you eat yet? Come see.”
KOTA’S FEARS
North begged me to eat some bacon and drink more milk. He suggested I avoid toast since that was just more carbs on top of the sugar I’d already had. He sat next to me at the table, eating his own bacon and sliced peaches. “You’re going to crash hard in an hour and sleep through the whole thing.”
Erica paused while clearing her plate and cup from the table, waving a hand toward his face. “Don’t fuss at her so much,” she said. She had on her large gray T-shirt with yellow USMC lettering across the front and gray sweatpants. “It’s Christmas, you big grump. Let her relax.”
North bowed his head. “Yes, ma’am.”
Erica winked at me and then went to the kitchen. She left her dishes in the sink, grabbed one of the sugar cookies and headed toward the living room.
Already mostly full on the cookies, I could only get in so much bacon before my stomach was weighing me down. I drank some milk and then a cup of water.
I had to skip the coffee by the end of it; I was too full. Silas seemed to have forgotten his promise to make frappes.
I was the last to finish eating, so when I got to the living room, the others were already gathered around, admiring the gifts and the stockings arranged in front of the fireplace. The coffee table had been pushed into the hallway, leaving us room to sit on the floor. The television in the entertainment center was on, showing a Charlie Brown’s Christmas movie, but the volume was muted. Some presents along the wall reached the edge of the entertainment center, blocking part of the view, but no one seemed to be paying attention.
Still in bare feet, I stepped into the room, dazzled by the scene in front of me: the gifts wrapped in countless colors, the glittering tree, the overflowing stockings, and the boys at the center of it all. My brain couldn’t focus on one thing, possibly from the cookie-induced sugar rush.
Or maybe I was just excited. I’d never had a real Christmas before, where I was actually looking forward to not only receiving gifts but seeing what everyone else got.
Erica was on the couch at one end, with Jessica at her feet. Erica combed and redid the braid in her daughter’s hair while Jessica sleepily stared off at the presents. Kota was on the other end, leaving a space in between. He was watching the movie, his eyes occasionally darting at the others.
Luke, Gabriel, Nathan, and Silas were on the floor in front of the presents, making guesses as to what might be inside the boxes. It was funny to see Silas in the middle, not really talking, but taking in what Luke, Gabriel and Nathan argued over.
While North remained in the kitchen, finishing up the last of the dishes, Victor came in, looked around, and then eased himself to the floor where the coffee table had been. He sat quietly watching a
nd listening to the others as they speculated.