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To Jaz's delight, the next day they were allowed to travel to Oasis Springs Desert Bloom Park for their club meeting. Above anything else, Jaz was really excited to spend some time with their best friend, Colin. It was hard to spend more than a few minutes together at school, so hanging out at club meetings was at the top of Jaz's list of favorite things to do. After a big, relieved hug from Colin, they set out to enjoy the day.
They played some soccer, swung on the swings, and then played some Space Pirate. Then, Jaz noticed one of the newest club members, Pierce, seemed to be trying to get Jaz and Elsa's attention.
Walking over to him, he hailed them enthusiastically, and asked them if Elsa had told them the news. Baffled, Jaz shook their head.
"I'm afraid to tell you, I'm going to have to leave the club. I am very glad for the offer to join, and you guys are amazing, but I know it's currently kids - only, and my birthday's coming up this week." Pierce explained. "If it's okay with you, I'd still like to be friends, though!"
"Oh." Jaz replied, taking a moment to take all the information in. "I'd forgotten you were older that us, Pierce! I've had such a good time getting to know you. Good luck in high school!"
"Thanks a bunch, Jaz!" Pierce replied, and wandered off to talk to other club members.
Elsa, who appeared to have other things on her mind, asked Jaz if they had any ideas of who could replace Pierce in the club, now that there was an extra spot.
"Shouldn't you be deciding those kind of things, Elsa?" Jaz asked, confused. "Aren't you the leader?"
Elsa's face fell. "Jaz, I really wanted to talk to you about that. I think, truly, you would be a better leader for the club at this point."
"Wait. What??" Jaz asked, stunned. "You're a great leader, Elsa, why would you want to step down?"
"Well, it's no secret that I'm older than you by a year. That, and my parents are sending me across town to a private school, so I'm not sure I'll be able to put my full attention into being a leader. I'm not leaving the club, and I'll still try to make meetings on Saturdays, but.. yeah, I just think you should be the leader, not me. You're the one everyone looks up to, after all."
"I am?" Jaz squeaked.
"Definitely." Elsa said, decisively, "I've already talked to everyone else, and they all agree you're the best choice. So, what do you say?"
"Um... sure. I guess I can give it a whirl. At least I have your excellent leadership skills to pattern mine after." Jaz replied with a smile, "I guess that's why you were asking me who I thought would make a good new club member, huh?"
"Yep!" Elsa replied with a smile. "So, you have anyone in mind?"
Jaz thought for a moment, and then an idea occurred to them. "Give me a minute, I think I know who would be perfect."
Jaz wandered away, made a quick phone call, then waited by the front of the park.
"Get this, Penny." Jaz said excitedly when their foster sibling, Penny Forrester, arrived at the park. "There's an open spot in the club. Would you be interested in joining?"
Penny broke into a smile, "I can't believe that you're asking me to join, of all people. I'd love to!"
"Cool!" Jaz replied, then pointed out the other club members, suggesting that Penny go get to know everyone.
Colin came over to congratulate Jaz on being club leader now, then, since nobody was around, he leaned in close to whisper, "So, we really need to talk, huh? My Dad got remarried and his new wife is already expecting. I feel like they're replacing me and my other siblings, since we chose to stay with Mom. And.. seriously, what's been happening with you to make you so cheerful? Is everything okay?"
"Things are great. In fact," Jaz said, waving Penny over, "This is one of my new sisters, Penny. Penny, meet my best friend of all time, Colin."
Penny broke into a smile, and greeted Colin happily.
"New sisters? Now I really need to know what's going on!" Colin replied with a chuckle.
Jaz pointed at the chess tables, which were almost empty, and suggested a round of chess with some chatting on the side.
Colin readily agreed, and the two waved a temporary good bye to Penny, who seemed perfectly happy to go mingle with the other club members.
Jaz insisted on catching up with Colin's life first, and Colin spilled all the details. He even mentioned that seeing Jaz doing so well as non-binary was inspiring him to maybe pursue coming out as trans. Jaz broke into a smile, and ran around the side of the table to give him a hug. "That would be amazing, Colin! Congratulations!"
Colin hugged Jaz tightly. "Now, I absolutely have to know. What happened to make you so much happier??"
Jaz launched into the whole sad story about Kayla Bliss and Gemma coming to the Malone's "rescue". Jaz expressed their worry about their other siblings, and even poor Marnie, in their new places, but especially how much Jaz was missing the twins.
"Why don't you contact Kayla, and ask for their numbers, that way you can check up on everyone. Maybe you can even go visit them sometimes?" Colin suggested.
"Oh, Colin, what a great idea!" Jaz replied, "I didn't even think of asking her."
The conversation continued, the chess game ended (with Jaz as the winner), and Colin and Jaz joined the other club members for some more playtime.
By the end of the day, Jaz was exhausted, but happy. It had been a busy day, but by far the best part had finally been being able to catch up with Colin. After a big hug goodbye, Penny and Jaz headed home to Willow Creek, chatting happily about the day.
Wendy had food waiting for them, and they watched some cartoons while eating. Then, with tired but happy souls, both climbed the stairs to go to bed.
Author's Note: Sorry I'm behind a few days, I'm working on catching up. I had a major inspiration slump this past week, and, on top of that, when I moved the kids to their new homes, I used the "adopt child" interaction on MCCC. Unfortunately, this resulted in EVERY relationship - family, friend, etc, being wiped from all the kid's memories. By the time I noticed it, it was too late to revert the save. So it took AGES of painstaking work to fix the family and friend relationships for each and every Malone kid, which didn't help my writer's slump any. I'm happy to report, everything is now fixed, though, and inspiration is coming back (as evidenced by being able to finish writing this today. I will have another chapter up later, too.)
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