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All I Have To Give Chapter 6 �Mom! Dad!� Aaron and Angel yelled as they ran ahead of the rest of us after school that day. �Hey Mom, Dad,� BJ said as she unloaded her book bag on the seat of a barstool in the kitchen. Leslie had said hi then headed up the stairs to her room. �Hi Jane, hey Bob,� I greeted. �Oh Shelby, thanks for coming. We need to plan this party. I haven�t even started barely, but we have enough time. Could you make a guest list? And maybe keep it under 30 or so?� �Sure,� I went to the drawer and grabbed a pad of paper and pen. I sat on the barstool and thought, then wrote: Carters (7), McLeans (2), Brian, Kevin, Doroughs (4), me (Shelby), Waters (4), Leons (4), Tommy, Tim, Freddy, Dennis, and Obie. The last 5 people were the Backstreet Band. The Water�s were Kyra and her family, and the Leon�s were on the other side. Brian and Kevin�s family didn�t live in Florida, or I would have invited them. That came up to 29. �I got 29 people!� I declared after I was done. �Who?� Bob asked and I read him the list. �Yeah, that sounds good. Do you want to invite your family or your boyfriend?� I thought about that for a minute. �No, I don�t think they�d feel in place.� I also wanted, as weird as it may sound, my two lives separate. My family and home life was one life, my real personality was with the Carter�s and my friends. �Alright, but if you do, just say.� �I will.� I spend the rest of the afternoon helping out, though we had as much as we could get done that far in advance in a few hours. Us kids had drawn a picture of what the backyard should be decorated like, then written a shopping list of everything we�d need. �The one time Nick�s drawing skills would come in handy, he�s not here,� Leslie grumbled as she erased some more and drew a little bit more. They invited me for dinner (jeez, seems like I�m eating there every night) but I declined. I needed to study for the next day�s finals and should spend some time with my parents. As I was getting my stuff Jane said, �Thank you so much for helping. Do you think you could come over the day before the party and help set up?" �Sure, but I may be over here some more before that,� I laughed. �Well, you know you�re always welcome here. You�re part of the family.� �Thanks Jane.� I headed out and thought about how cool the party was going to be. Carter parties always were and something unexpected always happened. Sometimes it was good, like when Ginger, who was Bob�s child from a previous marriage, called and said she was engaged. Sometimes bad things happened, like when Aaron burned his hand on the grill, then froze it when he stuck it in the freezer, all within 10 minutes. I laughed at all the crazy things I had been around over there. It truly was home.Next: Chapter 7 |