In Your Arms // Mike Vitar

chapter twenty three

maggie urban.

Everyone was back in the gym and in their spots as the break came to an end. Mr. Deacon was walking around the gym with the microphone that now worked, asking people what they wanted for Christmas.

I prayed for him to not come over to us, but my luck, he did. I felt everyone's eyes on us which creeped me the heck out.

"Mr. Mike Vitar," he spoke, holding the mic in front of his face. Mike glanced at me nervously and laughed before turning back to the principal, "what do you want for Christmas?"

Mike thought for a moment before grinning again. He leaned close to the microphone, "a million bucks would be pretty nice," he joked. I laughed at him.

"That does sound nice," Mr. Deacon spoke. He suddenly turned to me. I became nervous.

"Miss. Maggie, what about you?" He asked. I sighed coming up with a serious answer.

"For my brother to be safe and partying as hard as he can this Christmas where he's stationed," I smiled up at him. He laughed, which caused me to become confused. I looked over at Mike and Johnny who had the biggest grins on their faces. When I looked back up, Mr. Deacon was heading back to the stage where Mr. Johns was also heading. He suddenly face planted into the stage.

The gym went silent, but I could heard Johnny's loud laugh fill the room which caused more people to start laughing. I couldn't help but laugh myself at Johnny. He was so dumb it was funny.

Mr. Johns got up, brushing the fall of. He then walked over to the display of Christmas boxes that decorated the stage like nothing bad happened, and may I say, one of them was really big. He struggled to grab the biggest one which was the size of him, but pushed it to mid stage in front of the screen.

Is this was I think it is? A smile rose to my face. I looked over at Mike, seeing him smiling and looking at me still with Johnny. Beside me, Taya grabbed onto my arm.

"This is for you, guys!" Mr Johns yelled. As I waited for the surprise to be revealed, the school gave Mr Johns a countdown. On one, he pulled a string and suddenly balloons came out of the box as it tumbled down. I sighed. It wasn't what I thought I was.

My smile faded. I started to put my head down but Mike continuously started to nudge me.

I looked back up on stage to see a figure standing there. I darted my eyes at the figure to see if I could get a better look. That's when I suddenly realized who it was.

Tears immediately poured from my eyes. My brother stood in front of everyone with roses in his hands. I could hear the football players, who absolutely loved my brother, screaming as loud as they could and running up to see him.

"Go see him," Mike whispered to me. I quickly wiped my tears away. I thanked him as he helped me gently up from the ground. I ran to my brother on the stage, pushing through the football team who actually let me through.

I wrapped my brother into a tight hug, hearing everyone in the gym cheer. A smile was plastered on my face with tears still pouring out of my eyes. Derek picked me up from the ground while still holding me tightly.

"I missed you so, so, so much," I sobbed. He suddenly pulled away, smiling at me. He quickly wiped the tears away that were falling from my face.

"You've grown up so much," he whispered. I started to smile. He set me back on the ground, being gentle with my shoulder, "hey, lets go sit down."

   I nodded my head while looking up at him with the biggest smile on my face. I couldn't believe he was here. It's been forever.

   We started to walk off stage, but as we got off of the stairs, Kai came running and almost knocked Derek to the ground. The both of them started to laugh while Kai screamed uncontrollably.

   "It's you! It's really you!" Kai shouted. He jumped off of my brother and stared at him, fixing the glasses on his face, "wow, I can't believe it! It's you!"

   I nodded my head in agreement. I couldn't believe it was either.

  Derek placed his arms around both Kai and I as we walked to our spot on the floor. He knew where to go. He saw Johnny and Taya waving at him like maniacs.

   We eventually sat down. Kai stayed with us for awhile until he decided to go back to his friends. Taya and Johnny both tackled Derek to the ground, which was quite funny.

   I sat in between Mike and Derek against the wall so we were in anyone's way.

  "So, you're Mike," Derek said, looking over me at the boy. Mike nodded his head and extended his hand. Derek grabbed ahold of it and gave it a firm shake.

  "Yessir. Uh, thank you, by the way, for your service," Mike politely spoke. I felt my smile grow. He was so adorable.

  Derek grinned, "of course," he spoke, "by they way, I'm a big fan. We'd watch The Sandlot over and over again on base. I can never get over that movie," he laughed. I bit my lip nervously, "you're killing me Smalls! Bro, how was it like working with Marley Shelton? She's one foxy lady!" I rolled my eyes at the boy.

   Sure, Mike knew I was a fan. He saw my shirt the first day of school. But I wasn't sure if he was freaked out about that, ya know? My eyes traveled over to screen again. I got intrigued back into the movie not realizing my brother was trying to talk to me.

   I quickly apologized. I felt bad.

  "You're favorite movie, huh?" He asked. My cheeks turned red. Was he talking about the sandlot?

  "Sorry, what?" I asked him, baffled.

   "A Christmas Story?" He questioned. I felt relief wash over me. I nodded my head.

   "Always. We'd stay up watching it every Christmas Eve with mom as kids," I answered. I rested my head on Derek's shoulder. He placed his arm around me.
  
   "We can do it this Christmas Eve if you'd like," he suggested. My smile grew. I slightly nodded my head.

   "Works for me."