Without thinking, Erik leapt into action. He took a running start and intercepted the fly away ball and before it could hit his little sister he jumped and spun a kick around to redirect the ball back at the group of rich kids. As he landed, he skidded into a slide on his side in the slightly slick grass before coming to a stop. He looked in relief as Emily was unharmed. He winced slightly as he got up and quickly grabbed his little sister and was going to quickly get out of the way of these kids before they could make a big deal about him touching their precious possession with his filthy low-class self.
The girl who kicked the ball was calling after him, but he knew what was going to happen and wanted to avoid it. He couldn't afford to buy a new ball for the kids since she probably thought he had contaminated it somehow. Although she was calling after him, he didn't stop. Suddenly he was surprised as she managed to catch up to him and he had his arm gently grabbed.
Slightly out of breath, she said, "Wait! Please! Are you or the little girl hurt? I'm sorry I wasn't looking carefully enough as I kicked the ball!"
As she spoke, there was a musicality to it and a slight inflection in her voice that sounded like it was sincere. He also noted that her hands were flying as she spoke. He didn't know what she was doing with them, but something about her manner of speech made him pause. He turned slightly, only after confirming that Tyler was still on the blanket with two of his sisters. They were looking at him and the girl, so since he wanted to set a good example of how to deal with the rich, he plastered on a fake smile and prepared to grovel.
"I'm not hurt. My sister is fine, I'm sorry she got in your way, I'll look after her better. I'm sorry I touched your ball…" He kept everything short and apologized for basically being in their sight.
"You sure? You're apologizing an awful lot! And for the record you have nothing to be sorry for, so I don't know why you're apologizing. It was my fault that I wasn't looking before kicking my cousin's ball. I'm sorry that I nearly hit your little sister. I know! Why don't you and your little sister join my friends and I as we play? I know my cousin was impressed with your kick, so am I for that matter! We can play a bit more gently so that your sister can play too." The girl chatted on and on. It was an odd feeling for Erik who seemed to be put more at ease the longer he listened to her.
"I'm sorry, but I have to watch my other siblings. I don't have time to play right now…" Erik looked over at Tyler who was with Heather and Sarah, while it seemed that Nikki had gathered Kylee and Kirsten nearby and was hovering near the blanket with his other sisters and baby brother.
"Oh, that's okay, your siblings can play too! So, which of them are your siblings and which are your friends?" The girl just kept on chatting. He couldn't shake this feeling of being relaxed around her and it was all too weird. "Oh, that's right! I haven't introduced myself! I'm Liona and those are my two best friends, Allison and Chloe and that is my cousin, Ethan." The girl introduced herself.
"Um, I'm Erik, and those are all my siblings…" He quickly turned away, not wanting to see the disgust and scorn on the pretty girl's face.
"Awesome! The more the merrier! Come on and invite them to play! Or did you want me to invite them? Either way, it will be more fun with more people to kick the ball around!" Liona chatted on.
"I'll ask, but I don't think they will be comfortable playing…" Erik was nervous now. He wasn't sure what to do in this situation. A rich kid was being nice to him and also inviting him and his siblings to play. He wasn't sure what this girl's angle was yet, so he was wary.
"Liona! What's the hold up!" One of the other girls called over as Erik, hesitated to go and ask his sisters if they wanted to play.
"Hold on, Alli! I'm trying to see if this guy wants to play with us! He's got a bunch of siblings too!" Liona shouted back.
Erik cringed as Liona shouted that he had a bunch of siblings. He quickly looked around and saw that nobody was even batting an eye at them when she loudly announced that fact.
"Sweet! Tell them to hurry on over!" The other girl shouted in return.
"I will, Chloe!" Liona called back.
"Liona, there's a girl my age!" The little boy popped out from behind Liona before running up to his sisters.
"Yup, looks like a couple of them are your age, Ethan. Why don't you introduce yourself and see if they want to play with us!" Liona encouraged.
All this was boggling Erik's mind as the little boy ran up to his sisters and excitedly chatted with them and encouraged them to play. He even offered his soccer ball to Heather who he thought was his age. Heather looked confused why this younger boy was being nice. He too was confused.
It didn't take long before Erik's sisters were convinced to play. Even Nikki was close to giving in and accepting the offer, but ultimately, she declined. She would rather look after Tyler than play. He didn't blame her. She had recently had a bad encounter with the last bunch of rich kids that had tempted her to join them to hang out. It was one of the reasons they had moved, besides the fact that he had been caught stealing again.
Nikki had fought back after being tempted to hang out with a group of rich kids who had then ganged up on her and tore her clothing just to humiliate her. She had gotten a new outfit for her birthday that these girls had purchased for her, and it was the first brand new clothing that she had owned in her life, and she was so happy and giddy over it. She made the mistake of wearing it out one day when they invited her to hang out.
They ridiculed and scorned her for wearing something above her station in life and proceeded to humiliate her by tearing it from her body. She had scratched two of the three girls across the face in self-defense, but of course it was their word against hers. Nikki had almost been accused of assault, but in the end, it was him that had taken that fall for her. He had come upon them doing this to his little sister right after he had shoplifted some much-needed diapers for Tyler who had only been a couple of months old at the time.
Their mom hadn't the money or the luxury of taking time off work after Tyler's birth, so she had gone right back after her mandated minimum paid maternity leave. Their state only allowed 3 weeks after the birth, which was the lowest paid time in the country, no matter if you were an omega. So, with him taking turns going to school, between him and Nikki, they were looking after Tyler. It was his day to take off, but it was after school hours, and he came upon these girls harassing his sister.
By him being in the same vicinity, he had been accused because he was an alpha, no matter that he hadn't presented yet. The big ordeal had drawn the ire of the shopkeeper that he had stolen the diapers from, and one thing led to another, and he landed himself community service for petty theft and a strike on his record for attempted assault. Now he was sure that Nikki wasn't wanting to trust these girls at their word and was protecting herself from getting hurt again.
With his little sisters eagerly invited to play by the little kid, he reluctantly agreed and so he and 5 of his siblings each joined a side and played with the rich kids' soccer ball. When it came down to it, he was actually really good at soccer, but he never had the opportunity to play on a school team. It was too expensive and required medical information that was up to date that his mom couldn't provide for them. Beyond the basic requirements to go to school, that was as far as their medical history went.
As they were playing, the ball was again kicked by Liona, the pretty leader of the group of kids and it went afoul. He quickly reacted and kicked it back, but since he was distracted looking at her pretty face as she laughed, he kicked the ball too hard, and it went flying. Over their heads and straight into the nearby water of the lake.