Adoption Adjustmen ch 5: bonus! (Patreon)

Jumping off the swing when it was almost at its peak Kennedy landed in the sand a good two feet farther from the swing than McKenzie. “See I told you I could get further than you.” He grinned at the red headed girl. Despite his objections, being on the swing was fun. The feeling of the air whipping past him as he swung higher and higher, it felt freeing. It made him wonder why he had thought of it as a child's activity. McKenzie disliked it when he acted smug, he had said how boys were just better at physical things and she just knew that wasn’t true. She had sat with her mom to watch some of the Olympics and she saw other girls do incredible things she could only imagine doing.

McKenzie gave a shrug to the boy like it didn’t matter that he beat her, even though she was sure he only went farther than her because he was lighter than her. “You don’t have to pretend to be mature, you are just a thirteen year old girl.” She took a deep breath, offended by what he said. She was mature, everyone said so, who did he think he was? It wasn’t mature, but she stuck her tongue out at him anyways.

“You think you are so much better than me, then let's go play tag with Abby. Then we will see if you are a seventeen year old boy or just a ten year old girl.” Kennedy looked over to where the girl was when he last saw her. She was now running around the open field area of the park trying to make her way to a tree where a few other kids were clinging to it as another kid chased after her. He smirked, Kennedy knew he wasn’t strong or tough like some of the other boys he had been around, but he knew he was fast.

“Sounds fine to me, I will show you how much better I am.”

“Big sis, or big sister.” McKenzie said with her hands on her hips.

“Huh?”

“You have to call me that today, remember!”

“Fine. I will show you how much slower you are than me, big sis.”

“Better.” She said casually before running past him, slapping him on the back as she went by.

“HEY!” He yelled chasing after the girl. The two quickling got to the group of kids playing tag and joined in.

“Everyone, Kennedy says she is faster than everyone, so she gets to be it.” Kennedy put his thumb to his chest. “HE, I AM A HE!”

While he was yelling McKenzie calmly spoke to the group around them. “Yes, yes we all know you are a she.” He practically started to growl at the annoying girl.

“You know…” His words were cut off when McKenzie then yelled to the group. “EVERYONE RUN, SHE IS IT!” It felt like his eyes practically were popping out of his skull he was glaring at the red head so hard as she ran away. Giving chase he realized she was much faster then some of the other twerps and changed target to her little sister. Quickly he was on Abby tagging her on the back, but accidentally hitting her hard enough that she fell to the gross covered ground. The girl toppled to the floor, rolling over he could see tears in her eyes. He didn’t see so much as a scratch on her, but he didn’t want her running off and crying to Miss Miah.

“Hey, hey you are okay.” The girl sniffled and shook her head, holding onto her left leg like it was hurt.

“I want Mommy, take me to her.” It was much more of a whine than a command, but one he really couldn’t follow or didn’t want to.

“You don’t need to go see her, your leg looks okay. Also,umm…” Kennedy nodded to himself. “Remember we get to go have ice cream after this if we are all good. So you can’t go crying to her if you want ice cream.”

Still holding her knee Abigail pressed and held her lips together in a line. “I want a chocolate ice cream cone dipped in chocolate.” She mostly said to herself, but loud enough that Kennedy could hear.

“See, so you can’t go to her or you won't get any.” Kennedy knelt down to be closer to eye level with the little girl sitting there. “How about we go back to playing?”

“I want your shoes.”

“What?” He wasn’t sure he heard her correctly, because it was the oddest request he had ever gotten.

“I want your shoes, you can only run fast because you have sneakers on.” Abigail said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’m not giving you my sneakers, I’m not going around barefoot.” You little brat, he added mentally. He watched her take in a deep breath, holding it in as her lip started to quiver and more tears came to her as.

“Oh no, no, no, don’t do that.” He realized she was making herself cry as she stood up, looking around for her mother he was sure. “Okay, okay you win. You can have my sneakers.” He plopped down on his butt, before pulling the shoes off without unlacing them. The last time he tied them it felt like the laces on his beat up sneakers were ready to snap, so he tied them in a knot and just forced his foot in and out without touching them. “Here, take them.” He said holding out one of his shoes to the girl, who turned around with a big smile on her face. A few of the crocodile tears ran down her cheeks.

“Thank you Kennedy!” Abigail sat back down on the grass taking off her black thick strapped mary jane shoes. He was about to correct her about his name, but just waved his hand in the air, knowing it was a lost cause. Kennedy then started to get up when he heard another familiar voice.

“Where are you going?” The voice of McKenzie was dripping with attitude, and attitude he wanted to shove back in her stupid face. They had just started playing this game, that he only did to show her how much faster he could run than her, but he was more than done dealing with the two.

“To get a drink and then take a piss.”

“No.” She was still behind him, so Kennedy turned his head to face her as he stood up, slowly turning to face the girl four years younger than him.

“No? You are not the boss of me or anyone, McKenzie.” He instantly moved one hand up to protect his left ear as she stepped into his personal space raising her right hand. He was relieved when she didn’t try to grab his ear, instead she poked him in the chest.

“I said no, because you can’t go walking around in just those socks, you will get a hole in them and you are only borrowing them.” Kennedy looked down at his sock covered feet frowning. From his position he could see the younger Adams wiggling on the ground happily as she kicked her feet in the air a few times, his shoes on her feet.

“Not like I have another option now that Abby stole my shoes.”

“I did not! You gave them to me, stop fibbing!” Kennedy shifted so he could easily see both girls that he was more than fed up with. Abby was getting to her feet and puffing out her cheeks as she accused him of lying. It wasn’t like he wanted to give her the shoes, the brat gave him an ultimatum, not that she knew the word.

“You can put on Abby’s shoes, if your shoes fit her, then hers will fit you.” McKenzie said pointing down to the black shoes sitting neatly together on the thick grass.

“Pfff that isn’t happening.”

McKenzie gave him a big smile before turning to her little sister. “Abby, do you want to tell Mom that Kennedy is ripping your clothes on purpose?” The smaller girl thought about it for a second and then shook her head. “No.”  McKenzie let out a heavy sigh, while Kennedy gave her a smug grin that she wasn’t able to manipulate Abby to get him in trouble.

“I will if umm you give me your fruit roll up snack. I saw a bunch of them in the snack box.”

“You can have half of mine.” Abby nodded her head excitedly and went right back to looking for her mom in the group of adults.

“Come on! I will just take the socks off, then there is no problem, right?” It was McKenzie’s turn to fold her arms over her chest, like she had seen her mom do countless times when she was serious about something she said and they weren’t listening. “Without shoes on you could step on something and get hurt. Are you sure you are older? Because you don’t think things through.”

“Abby, don’t go to your mom. The two of you win… for now, I will put on your shoes.” Abby had just spotted her mom at a picnic table with two other adults, her back was to them.

“Kenzie said she would umm give me half her fruit roll up, I want your fruit roll up or I’m still telling.”

“Yeah I don’t care, sure whatever.” He was so over these two and this day and he didn’t care one way or the other about some fruit roll. The idea of giving fruit for a snack he thought was stupid, but if she wanted it she could have it. What he wasn’t expecting was for Abby to come up and give him a hug.

“Thank you! Let's go play so I can go fast!” She didn’t wait for an answer, just ran off pumping her arms as she went. The exchange baffled Kennedy, she acted like he was giving her a gift when really she was blackmailing him. He made eye contact with McKenzie before sullenly putting on the girl's shoes.

Looking up at McKenzie he gave her a glare. “There. Happy now?” While he scowled she gave him a big smile.

“Those look like the right shoes for my new little sister to wear. You can go potty now, but you should probably tell an adult.” She smiled a little bigger at the end before walking off towards the group of kids who seemed fine continuing to play their game of tag while they argued. He watched her go for a few seconds before standing up in the much younger girl's shoes. Kennedy wiggled his toes in the shoes, taking a few steps as he looked down, hating that they didn’t even feel tight on him. He made his way over to the picnic tables to get the drink he wanted, and to get away from the squirts, but definitely not to tell someone he needed to go potty… he wasn’t some little kid.