Modern Family: New Life-Chapter 65: Lily the champion

A few days before school started, Andrew was lying on the living room couch, flipping through a comic book and checking his phone to reply to Pippa, as he was chatting with her.

He had already gone for a run in the morning and was now taking advantage of his free time to rest.

Suddenly, his father, Cam, came in, bouncing with excitement and an energy that sometimes surprised Andrew.

It's true that he always has energy, but when it comes to football and training, not all the time like his father.

"Andy! You have to hear this! We have something really fun on tomorrow's calendar! Lily's daycare is organizing a family event. It's going to be great!" Cam said excitedly.

Andrew looked up from his comic book and stretched on the couch.

"A daycare event? Why...? Why would they organize something during the winter break? Don't they have vacations?" Andrew asked, not very enthusiastically.

"It doesn't matter why! You're going! You'll meet Lily's friends. It's important that we be there," Cam said, laughing.

"I doubt she'll even remember this event... She's only eleven months old," Andrew said.

"Why do you sound like Mitchell?" Cam asked, frowning at Andrew's lack of enthusiasm.

At that moment, Mitchell entered with a cup of coffee in hand and a calm expression, very different from Cam's.

"It's because our son is sensible like me. This event isn't really for the babies—it's for the parents, so they'll donate money to the daycare," Mitchell said with a smug smile, already knowing what awaited them when they got there.

"Oh, oh, I get it. At some point, they'll ask you to donate whatever you can with some cheap excuse, right?" Andrew asked.

"Exactly. And the worst part is, the babies won't even remember this kind of event, but everything is designed to make the parents feel obligated to contribute," Mitchell said, nodding.

"Tsch, damn thieves," Andrew muttered as he went back to reading his comic book. His parents were already paying a fee for Lily's daycare.

"Exactly," Mitchell said, nodding.

"Oh, come on! It's not that bad! This is for the good of the daycare and for Lily! You two have no heart!" Cam exclaimed dramatically, throwing his hands up. He gave Mitchell and Andrew an offended look before leaving the room.

"Now we have to go, don't we?" Andrew asked, looking at Mitchell.

"Yeah... Otherwise, he won't talk to us for days. It is what it is," Mitchell said with a small smile, shaking his head.

"Great," Andrew muttered.

The next day, they went to the daycare event at ten AM. It was a very cold morning, but luckily, the place had heating.

The room was decorated with colorful balloons, and cheerful music played from a speaker in the corner, blending with the laughter and murmurs of the parents, all carrying their babies.

Andrew watched all of this while yawning. The daycare teacher—or whatever she was called—had a lot of energy, but the most annoying part was that every word she said was filled with an excessively childish tone, almost as if she had to simplify everything coming out of her mouth so it could be processed by the tiny minds in the room—the babies—completely forgetting that she was speaking to the parents.

"Hello, moms and dads! We're going to start with a super fun activity so our little ones can have lots of fun!" the teacher said in a high-pitched, cheerful voice.

Andrew let out a sigh, rolling his eyes while rubbing his face with one hand. It was clear this was going to be a long day.

The daycare woman, with her overly high-pitched and enthusiastic voice, started preparing the games for the families. Andrew, who had nothing better to do, decided to take things seriously.

Why not? After all, Lily was his little sister, and even though she was just a eleven-month-old baby, he wasn't about to let another family win. Competition was in his nature, and that was something he owed to his role as the most disciplined older brother.

The first game involved the babies stacking small blocks—an activity meant to help with their development and something they had already been practicing since starting daycare.

Andrew knew his little sister didn't understand conventional instructions. After months of playing with her at home, he had developed a signaling system that, in her own way, Lily had learned to interpret. Basically, the signals were as if he were training a dog, but he did it with love and patience.

Following her brother's signals, Lily clumsily stacked three blocks into a tower and won the game.

"We did it, Lily!" Andrew exclaimed, while the other parents watched in silence, not quite understanding how it had happened.

"Nice, first place!" Mitchell said, not caring about Andrew's methods. The only thing that mattered was the victory.

They moved on to the next game, which involved the babies completing a small obstacle course. As expected, Lily was the first to finish, once again following Andrew's instructions. A proud smile was already forming on his face. However, the other parents were starting to look at him strangely, as if he were some kind of expert in "training" babies.

Then came the highlight of the event: the crawling race. All the babies were lined up at the starting line, and, as expected, the parents began calling their little ones with exaggeratedly sweet and loving voices.

"Come on, sweetheart! Let's go, my love!" Cam said with an over-the-top smile, crouching down to encourage Lily.

But Lily, like any baby, simply sat where she was, looking around, completely disconnected from the chaos around her.

Andrew, who was feeling increasingly uncomfortable, noticed that the other parents were calling their children and decided it was time to take control of the situation.

"Let me handle this!" Andrew exclaimed, pushing Cam aside.

He then began to whistle in a strange way—a sharp and peculiar sound he had discovered in his free time to grab Lily's attention when playing with her at home. It was an odd whistle, but it worked, and that was all that mattered.

Suddenly, as if she completely understood what was happening, Lily lifted her head, locking eyes with her brother. After a few seconds of hesitation, she started crawling at full speed, crossing the "finish line" before the others, leaving the other parents staring in shock. Andrew grinned widely, clapping enthusiastically as the little girl made her way toward him.

"Well done, Lily! That's it, champ!" Andrew said with a mix of pride and amusement, gently patting her head.

Even Cam and Mitch looked at Andrew in confusion. It was the first time they had seen this trick in action—if it could even be called that.

The daycare teacher, who had been watching the game from a distance, approached to congratulate Lily. "Great job, Lily!" she said with a wide smile, trying to regain her composure after the confusion caused by Andrew's unorthodox methods. "And great job to everyone else, too! You all did amazing—you're all champions!"

'Of course they're not champions,' Andrew thought.

The parents clapped lightly, some smiling at the relaxed and cheerful atmosphere. But Andrew, still focused on Lily, let out an exaggerated cough and asked, "So... where's the prize?"

"Oh, no, dear. This isn't a competitive game. Here at daycare, we focus on making sure everyone has fun and participates. We don't want to put the pressure of competition on them at such a young age. Our goal is a healthy environment where everyone feels welcome," the teacher said kindly, shaking her head.

Andrew stayed silent for a moment, processing her words. He couldn't help but glance at Mitchell, who met his gaze with a small smile, as if they were thinking the same thing.

"Not even a stuffed animal?" Andrew asked, and the teacher simply shook her head.

"Okay... I get it," Andrew said with a forced smile.

After a while, the event finally ended. The family headed home in the car. Andrew settled into the back seat next to Lily, who was strapped into her car seat. Cam sat in the passenger seat, while Mitchell was behind the wheel. The soft hum of traffic and the murmur of the wind outside filled the moment with quiet background noise.

Andrew pulled his backpack from the car floor and started rummaging through it. He had brought water, some notebooks, and colored pencils, just as the daycare had requested. As he searched, something strange caught his attention. At the bottom of the bag, buried among some papers and supplies, was a white rabbit plushie.

It wasn't Lily's.

Confused, Andrew picked it up, staring at the plush toy with a frown.

"What is this?" he asked quietly, not knowing how it had ended up there.

Cam, who had been watching through the rearview mirror, immediately furrowed his brow when he saw the plush toy in Andrew's hands.

"Andrew! Where did you get that?" he asked, his tone filled with concern. "Did you steal it?!"

"No! I didn't steal it. It must have ended up in my backpack by accident," Andrew explained, trying to justify something that clearly didn't make sense.

"That's not okay, Andrew! The teacher explained why there was no prize. You shouldn't have taken a plush toy, even if Lily deserved one," Cam said.

"I didn't steal it..." Andrew murmured, looking genuinely confused.

Noticing that the situation was escalating, Mitchell decided to step in. "Relax, guys. It's not a big deal. With how much we pay the daycare and with all the plush toys they have, taking one isn't the end of the world."

Cam shot him an incredulous look but eventually gave up. Returning it would be awkward.

Andrew couldn't stop staring at the plush toy, wondering how it had gotten there. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind. A name popped into his head: Lily.

His gaze shifted to his little sister, who, surprisingly, looked back at him. Her Asian eyes met his for a few seconds before she turned forward again, completely oblivious to the "conspiracy" Andrew was now contemplating.

'What?' Andrew thought, confused.

The situation turned into an inside joke in his head as the car drove on, and soon, his thoughts drifted to other things.

...

A few days before classes resumed, Andrew was at his uncles' house.

"Everyone's going, Mom," Haley said in a pleading tone, following Claire around the house.

Andrew, who had been sitting on the couch, lost in thought snapped back to reality and started paying attention to Haley and Claire's usual argument.

"I don't care. Your father and I are not letting you go to a party full of senior boys. Especially not with that walking 17-year-old hormone you're dating," Claire said.

Phil, who was sitting at the table working on his laptop, made a face as if he didn't want to get involved, but his eyes lifted slightly at the sound of the argument.

"We're going to be supervised!" Haley said, trying to sound more convincing but failing.

"Oh, really? By who?" Claire replied, raising an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced.

"By Spencer Patine's uncle," Haley answered.

'Who the hell is Spencer Patine?' Andrew thought, trying to remember. He never went to parties, even though the popular kids always invited him. He considered those invitations a waste of time. He preferred staying home playing video games with Leonard and Howard or watching movies and doing other things with Pippa.

"Who is Spencer Patine?" Claire asked, frowning, clearly confused.

"You know, the guy with the arm," Haley replied casually, as if that was enough of an explanation.

"What happened to his arm?" Phil asked, setting his laptop aside for a moment, now interested in the conversation.

"His uncle is Toby's uncle," Haley said.

"Oh, Uncle Toby. I'll add him to my list of creeps," Claire said with a mocking smile.

"Oh my God!" Haley exclaimed indignantly, frustrated that nothing satisfied her mother.

"Okay, stop. I can help," Phil said, standing up and grabbing Haley's arm to calm her down before she started screaming like a lunatic.

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"Sweetheart, your mother is worried you'll get your heart broken when Dylan goes off to college," Phil said, with the confidence of someone who thought they had just solved everything.

"What does that have to do with anything? Besides, he's not going to college," Haley said, crossing her arms.

"That's not—" Claire started but quickly stopped, turning to Haley with wide eyes. "Wait, he's not going to college?"

"He has a band, okay? He's going on tour," Haley said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh... this just keeps getting better and better," Claire said, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Why is it that nothing I say is ever enough for you!? Why do you always have to make everything sound ridiculous?!" Haley replied, frustrated by what she saw as her mother's constant distrust.

"Because you have to understand..."

"Alright, everyone! Calm down," Phil said, stepping in between them and raising his voice. Both of them fell silent and looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Let's go back to the beginning. What happened to Spencer's arm?" Phil asked.

Haley let out an exasperated noise, unable to believe what her father had just said, and stormed off to her room. Claire looked at her husband as if trying to understand why he was focusing on that topic now.

Claire noticed Andrew. "Why are you here today, Andy?" she asked curiously, shifting her tone completely as she addressed him.

"Uh... well, I... I need to talk to Haley... though I don't think now's a good time," Andrew responded, placing a hand on his chin as he debated whether he should go to his cousin's room, knowing it was like stepping into the lion's den.

"Go ahead, Andrew. She's different when it comes to you. She's always more open with you. Don't worry, I'm sure she'll listen to you," Claire said with a slight smile.

[Claire's Comment]

"You know, at first I was worried about Haley and Andrew. I wanted to know how attached she was to him, you know, with the whole jealousy thing, and if that relationship was crossing any boundaries. But I've realized it's not what I thought. Haley isn't jealous of Andrew in a romantic way; she just sees him like an older brother. She has that protective attitude, like a toxic sister, if you can call it that. She just wants to make sure that whoever is with her cousin is someone appropriate, she's not trying to get involved in his life. That, at least, puts me at ease," she said with a relieved smile.

"I must admit, even I'm a little toxic with him..." Claire admitted.

"I'm his aunt, and of course, I care about him like he's my own son. But sometimes, I can be a little... demanding. Like with Haley's boyfriends, I'm the same with the girls Andrew dates and will date in the future. It's inevitable, you know? He's an incredible guy, a football prodigy, and I care a lot about his future. I don't want anyone distracting him from his goals," she sighed.

After a few seconds of silence, as if searching for the right words, she continued, "I love seeing how well he gets along with everyone, but I also have to make sure the person he's with is the right one. Will she make him happy? Will she support him the way he deserves? Or will she just be there for convenience or something superficial? I always ask myself these questions."

Claire then smiled more calmly, as if convincing herself of what she was saying. "But with Andrew, I don't have to worry so much now, because he's with Pippa. She's an incredible girl: studious, intelligent, beautiful, kind, social, a 10 in every way! I feel like there couldn't be anyone better for him. She supports him, makes him feel good, and I know she'll make him happy."

Her expression softened even more, but the concern for her daughter returned to her face when she remembered that she had told her that her boyfriend wasn't going to college and was going on tour with his band.

[End of comment]

"Really? She didn't seem to be in a very good mood," Andrew said doubtfully. He had seen Haley angry, and it was intimidating. Although, now that he thought about it, he had never seen her seriously angry with him.

"Yeah, go ahead. She won't do anything to you, especially when it comes to you," Claire said with a smile.

"Alright," Andrew said, getting up from the couch and walking toward the stairs.

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