"Okay, what's on the menu tonight?" asked Casey who was at the table alongside Austin and me with James on her lap.

"Anything but pasta," said Mom as she went around the breakfast table, pouring orange juice before she took her own seat.

"Ohh! Ooh! Ice cream!" James squealed.

"Chicken pot pie!" I said at the same time.

"Hamburgers!" Austin yelled.

Casey raised an eyebrow. "Those are all wildly different suggestions. Let's at least find some common ground."

We looked at each other before coming to an agreement as we blurted out 'Pizza' to my aunt.

"All right. I fear we're all out of pepperoni and cheese—" Mom said while examining the refrigerator for the necessary items.

"I'll do it! I'll do the shopping," Austin said helpfully. "As long as you write down what we need, 'cause I literally have no idea what exactly goes into preparing a pizza."

"There's cheese," Casey said obviously.

"Tomato sauce!" I volunteered.

"We're going to need some yeast and a bottle of olive oil for the crust. If you want to just buy a premade dough—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Austin said, holding up his hands. "Everyone calm down for like two seconds! Morgan, write this down before you forget it!"

Mom sighed. "Austin, if you'd rather I just do the shopping—"

"No, no! You've got enough on your plate already. Let me do it. Just make me a list," Austin reasoned before adding, "Grocery shopping isn't hard! Besides, this is me you're talking to."

"We know..." said Casey, unamused.

"Can I go shopping with you?" I asked, instantly between Mom and Austin.

Before Austin could agree, mom answered first.

"Don't you have some schoolwork that needs to be done?"

I sighed, staring at her knowingly eyes. "I guess so."

Austin stared down at me with a smile and said, "Maybe after you have done your futile homework."

"It's not futile. It's her childhood education," Casey pointed out.

"I prefer the more hands-on learning experience," said Austin.

"Ohh, is that what we're calling it," Mom said in a mocking tone, eliciting a few giggles.

"Anyway," Austin butted in, instantly changing the subject. "What movie are we going to watch for family movie-night?"

"Whatever movie the kids want," Casey said generously. She cast a teasing eye at me. "As long as it's age appropriate, of course."

"Aunt Casey," I softly groaned before being taken into mom's arms where she placed a small kiss on my forehead.

Casey smiled and took a sip of her juice. Then glanced at her watch and almost spewed the liquid everywhere. "Whoa! We better be going. James and I have a date with Phil."

"Daddy!" James smiled, jumping up with enthusiasm.

Casey nodded encouragingly while taking a hold of his small hand.

"Yeah, I better be heading out myself. I'd stop by the supermarket later this afternoon." Austin said, leaping up from his seat.

"What time should we all meet to make pizza tonight?" Mom asked as the other members of the household all shoved their chairs back into the table.

"I dunno, like 9 pm or something," Austin said nonchalantly.

"9 PM? That's way too late for James to eat dinner!"

"9:30's sleepy time," James volunteered this information cheerfully.

"Quite frankly, it's too late for anyone to be eating dinner," Mom said under her breath as she cleared dirty breakfast dishes from the table.

Casey checked her watch again before picking up the small body who wrapped his small arms around her neck. "Everyone here and in the kitchen by five-thirty, okay? Movie at seven."

"Okay! Sounds great!" I happily agreed. Family night was always filled with fun and laughter throughout the entire house. It was one of my favorite family traditions.

Casey smiled and gave me a kiss on the cheek before giving mom a farewell hug, then left out to her car. Austin followed after being handed the hand-written grocery list, waving us goodbye and closed the door behind him.

As scheduled, everyone met back in the kitchen at five-thirty promptly. Phil helped with Aunt Casey's coat and draped it over the back of her chair as she and James sat down next to me. Austin then swooped in from the hallway as Mom looked up from her prepping on the counter.

"Hey, did you get all the ingredients we needed?" Mom inquired.

"Sure did," Austin smiled. He placed the plastic bags onto the counter and out came several ingredients: a loaf of bread, tomato sauce, shredded cheese, and a few sweets.

At that moment, I started to doubt not tagging along on the grocery shopping trip. Maybe my uncle would've gotten the necessary pizza ingredients.

Phil picked up the package of Oreos and said, "These aren't even remotely ingredients for a pizza."

"Where's the pepperoni?"

"Pineappwe?" James asked innocently.

"Pineapple on a pizza?" Austin and I scoffed.

James happily nodded, patting his small belly. "I wove pineappwe!"

"Austin, when you were in the grocery store and you picked those up, did you think to yourself 'Ah, yes, this is exactly what goes atop a pizza?'" Casey asked sarcastically.

"Hey, I just got what I could find from the list," Austin said, handing the slip of paper to Mom. "So I might've grabbed a few extra items for myself."

"Why the loaf?" asked Phil.

"I thought maybe we could toast the bread and substitute it for pizza dough," Austin explained while rubbing the back of his neck.

Mom peered down at the list and read over a few of the listed items aloud. "Pizza dough, tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni and peppers..." Then looked back at the counter. "You only got two of the items on the list."

"Ish pineappwe on there?" James wondered.

"I doubt it, kid."

James poked out his lips, leaning backwards against his mom. "No pineappwe..."

Mom sighed and tucked the list into her pocket. "I think it's wisest to order in a pizza."

"Or two," Casey hinted.

"Ohh, can my pizza have pineappwe on ith?" James's eyes grew big and wonder-y.

"Yours can have pineapples on them," Phil said decidedly. "In fact, let's make that three."

James jumped up and down with excitement.

Mom picked up the phone. "Thin crust or regular?"

"Regular," Everyone said at the same time as James piped up from the back, "Thin crushth, pweashe!"

Mom looked at James and chuckled before including that little bit of information to the orders.

"I'm going tho go chooshe a movie! Coushin sophie, come on!" I was dragged away by an excited James.

I shared a smile with the others before disappearing around a corner. When the pizzas arrived, we comfortably ate copious amounts at the table. James enjoyed the pineapple pizza all to himself, to everyone else's relief.

Before long, once popcorn was made, we moved into the living room. Casey sat with her head on Phil's shoulder, whose arms wrapped around both her and James, who sat on her lap with his head resting against her shoulder. Austin sat on the floor, leaning against the couch. Mom wrapped her arm around me, holding me close where I laid rested against her chest.

It was a pretty great movie-watching experience. As the end of the movie played, James was singing along to the end-credits song, jumping up and down with all the energy of a little kid while I and the others talked amongst ourselves about the animated feature.

Later that evening, uncle Austin and I were seated on the floor in front of the flat screen both armed with a ps5 controller.

"Are you two ever going to stop playing that game?" Casey asked from the couch while fiddling with a pillow. James slept next to her with a blue fuzzy blanket covering his small body.

I didn't even notice she had said something as Austin ignored her. He had finally got his player in the right spot and- "Goal!" He pumped his hand into the air. "And I win!"

I dropped my controller in my lap. "Lucky shot."

Austin stuck his tongue out. "Don't be such a sore loser."

"I think I said something like that to you last week after a certain combat game. Silver's not that bad, huh?"

Austin pretended not to hear me. "So, another game?"

Casey threw the pillow at Austin's head. "Don't you dare. You two have been playing that stupid game since we cleaned up."

"It's fun," I said quietly.

"You're the one who said you didn't want to play," Austin told her.

Mom looked up from her textbook. She was sitting in the armchair. "Soph, Austin, we came to spend quality time as a family, not stare at a screen."

"So what would you like to do then?" Austin asked as he turned off the set.

When no one offered any ideas, I decided to speak my own.

"Well...um...how about a board game?" I suggested, slightly raising my shoulders. "We have some, right mom?"

"Of course." Mom closed the book and stood up. "I think I have Sequence, Yahtzee, Sorry-"

"Which we aren't playing," Phil decided.

Casey rolled her eyes. "Just because I win?"

"'Cause you win every single time," he explained before shoving his phone into his pants pocket. "And you always benefit from other people's cards."

"Well," Mom started, regaining the couple's attention. "I also have Trivia-"

Austin smiled. "Let's play that one!"

"Trivia?" I asked.

"It's a question game. Let me go find it." Mom disappeared into the hallway and came back with a cardboard box.

"I haven't played in years," Austin told us.

"Probably haven't noticed a board game since video games came out," mumbled Casey. Phil and I giggled at this.

"Like you ever suggest playing them either!" Austin then looked at Mom. "You won't even play card games with me, Morg."

"I don't play with you because you cheat," Mom clarified, sitting the box onto the coffee table.

"Do not!" Austin bit his lip and pouted.

"That doesn't work on me." Mom poked him on the nose. "You're not that cute anymore, little brother."

Motioning her away, my uncle and I then joined the rest and sat down next to each other at the table.

Mom pulled off the lid of the box sitting in front of her. Carefully putting her hands inside, she lifted out the thin, blue board and placed it in the center of the table.

Phil reached out and grabbed the rules.

"I thought this was your game, Holzhauer?" Casey sat down next to Phil and looked over his shoulder.

"It is! I'm just making sure they," Phil jerked his thumb to the woman. "didn't change the rules on me."

Casey rolled her eyes.

I watched as mom began setting up the cardholders that came with the set. "Now, the first thing we need to do is choose the colored token we want."

She pointed to the tiny coloured circle piece that was lined up on the board. "Since pink is your favourite color, you can have that one."

I smiled at her and placed the little piece on the starting point closest to where I was sitting.

"I want the orange!" voiced Austin, leaning over the table.

Casey swatted his hand away as he reached out to touch it.

"Hold it," Casey frowned. "Ever heard of ladies first," she said before turning to their sister. "Would you like to choose next?"

Mom beamed at her. "That is very thoughtful of you. I think I might choose the purple."

Austin slumped back on his hind as mom moved the purple token closer to her. Then leant forward again, eyes focused on the orange piece.

"Phil, would you like to go next?" Casey asked after selecting the yellow.

"Aww, c'mon!"

"We're going in order around the table now." Casey turned to Phil before Austin could protest further. "You can choose any you like."

Phil scratched his head, peering at the remaining line up of tokens. "Hmmm... I think I'd like the—no, not that one. Maybe I'll have the—hmmm..."

Every time Phil's hand would hover over the orange piece, Austin would suck in his breath, only to release it when he moved to another.

"I'll take... —orange."

A gasp came from Austin's side of the table as Phil ushered the little orange piece forward. His mischievous eyes glinted as he watched Austin's face turn a deep scarlet. However, at the last minute, he shook his head.

"Actually, little Auzzy can have the orange. I'll take the green."

Me and the others tried our best to stifle the giggles as Austin shot us an exasperated look before happily taking possession of the orange token. Finally, the game was about to begin.

"Remember, the goal is to fill up your token with as many of these wedges as possible," Mom said, pointing to the center of the board. "Once you have at least one of each color, you then have to roll the die and correctly answer a final question. Answered correctly, you'll ultimately win you the game."

I glanced at Mom. "Who goes first?"

"You may."

All eyes turned to me as I picked up the small cube. Shaking it in my fists, my tongue poking out from my lips, I threw it onto the center of the board. Then moved forward the five paces the die showed.

"You've landed on the Science category," Casey said, peering at the icon underneath the pink token.

Austin's eyes lit up as he saw the category, and he seemed to smirk as he saw the disappointed look on my face. "Are you going to answer this one, or can we have it?" he asked.

Crossing my arms, I smiled at the man. "I'm going to answer it." It wasn't my favorite subject but my grades in Mrs. Holloway's class is almost perfect.

Austin almost looked sad, but his eyes sparkled as he read the question. "What does a vector describe?"

I smiled. "I believe the answer is magnitude and direction."

It was almost comical the way my uncle's mouth opened and closed. "Y-yes, correct."

I leaned forward and grabbed the green pie piece before placing it into my token.

Austin hung his head and picked up the die. Rolling it across the board, his face lit up once more as it landed on a six. "Excellent, this looks like a fun category. I'll take it."

"It's a history question. Where and when was the first cardboard box made for industrial use?" Phil asked.

Austin was silent for a moment, chewing on his bottom lip. I smiled to myself, already knowing the answer.

"Oh, er, hmmm, that is tricky. It was probably, er... Could you repeat the question?"

"Where and when was the first cardboard box made for industrial use?"

"Ok, I'm going to guess...England, 1800."

Phil shook his head, and peering at the card, said, "Close; the correct answer is England, 1817."

To my surprise, Austin didn't look too disappointed that he had gotten it wrong. "Huh, I suppose you learn something new every day," he said, smiling.

"Your turn, Mom."

Mom took a hold of the die, and rolled it.

Casey's eyes lit up as she saw the topic. "Literature. Who wrote The Iliad?"

"Homer," mom answered doubtlessly.

Casey blinked and nodded, unsurprised. Literature was my mom's best subject, not to mention that she does teach it for a living.

"Alright, Cas, your turn," Phil said, handing her the small cube.

She gave the die a good shake, then rolled it across the board. She watched with interest before moving the yellow token forward each step.

"Art. Do you want to take it?"

Thinking it over briefly, she said, "I'll take it."

Austin smirked at her. "Which other painter is often associated with Francoise Gilot?"

All eyes were on her again, and she straightened her back. Then said, "Henri Matisse."

"Incorrect," Austin shook his head. "Picasso."

Fixing a smile on her own face, she folded her arms. "Well art's never been my strongest subject."

As the evening grew later, the game was then beginning to grow intense.

"Come on, Phil... you've got this!"

"Er, is it too late to pass?" Phil asked.

"Yes!"

"Ok, ok, just let me think," Phil said, rubbing his forehead. "Ok, five?"

"Correct!" said Mom.

"Bloody hell, really? Yes! Take that, Austin!" A small, pink pie piece from the 'entertainment' category flew into his token, leaving him one point in front of uncle Austin.

"Well done!" Casey said, nodding her approval.

"I think that deserves a special treat. Excuse me."

No one complained when mom exited out of the living room to enter the kitchen. The smell of freshly-baked cookies wafted throughout the room as mom walked over with a tray in hand, and everyone perked up.

I took the cookie offered to me and took a bite, marveling at the way the chocolate chips melted in my mouth.

Smacking my lips, I rolled the die. Then moved my little pink token forward four paces, landing on the 'sports' category.

"I'll answer it," I said, picking up another cookie. As much time I got stuck watching the guys sit around watching sports on television, I should have this one in the bag.

"Ahem, Soph. In American Football, a touchdown is worth how many points?"

"6!"

"Correct!"

I placed the orange wedge into my token, putting me in second. So far, my uncle Phil was in the lead.

As Austin rolled the die, Mom reached forward and grabbed the question card. The commotion died down, and all eyes focused on her as she fixed a firm look on her brother who looked right back at her.

"Alright, this is a Geography question. Do you want to take it?" Mom asked.

"Absolutely."

"Ok then...," mom nodded. "How many countries are inside the United Kingdom??"

"10!?"

"Did you even think about it?" Mom sighed. "The answer is 4."

"Are you sure??" Austin said almost in disbelief.

"You can check the card yourself if you want," Mom said, handing it over.

I watched as Austin peered at the answer, shaking his head. Looking up at the ceiling, he rubbed his temples.

"Well, I'll be..."

Mom sighed, taking the card back and replacing it in the pile.

This was it: the final round. Everything until that moment rested on this next answer, and with the second batch of cookies all consumed within five minutes of their arrival at the table.

Casey grinned, "I'm going to go with... —The Battle of Antietam."

I glanced at Austin, well at least a blur of him, as the man read the answer card. "Correct!" he said.

As Phil's turn came up, I yawned with closed eyes.

"Maybe we should call it a night," Mom said, staring at me.

I shook my head, stifling yet another yawn. "No, I want to finish playing."

My eyes managed to refocus as I watched my uncle Phil roll the die. We both had one last question, and when I saw his token land on the 'Sports' category, my heart sank.

"Do you want to take this one?" I asked, trying to keep my voice alive.

Phil answered with a slight nod.

"Okay, What country has competed the most times in the summer Olympics without winning any medal at all?"

Phil looked up at me, his eyes blank as he mouthed the question.

"Philippines?" Phil asked with uncertainty.

I sighed, knowing he would have it right even before I glanced down at the card.

"Cor—wait, no, incorrect." I blinked as the answer glared up at me. "Liechtenstein."

"Aww!" Phil groaned. "I would've never guessed that."

"Alright, Soph, this could be it. Are you ready?" Casey asked, handing me the die.