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“It’s a bit weird. Y’know, it’s my first time in America, and now I’m meeting your family for the first time. I mean, my first time meeting you in person wasn’t too long ago, and you met my family then.” Michelle Clayton-Scott commented as she and her partner, Cherri Arrow-Shepherd, walked through the woods to where Cherri’s family were currently situated.
“Hey, there’s a first time for everything,” Cherri playfully nudged their partner, “But I think our family dynamic is a bit simpler to understand compared to yours.”
“Uh-huh, and how many adopted siblings do you have again?”
“…Four…”
“And how many of them look like you?”
“I mean, Felix and I kinda look alike. To be fair, the bar is low. He’s the only one I share a skin tone with…roughly anyways, but I did dye my hair to look kinda like Gwen, and I’ve taken style inspiration from Hope.”
“What about…oh, what was the other guy’s name…Luke?”
“Oh, Luke? I guess growing up adopted by two dads is something we have in common, although I think he calls them his “foster dads”, so I don’t know if he was actually adopted. Anyways, we’re here now.”
Cherri pushed both of them through a bush to reveal a small campsite. There were four different RVs, one of which was their own, that they shared with Hope. Two men, one muscular and bald wearing a blue apron and t-shirt and one wearing a red sweater and missing one of his arms, sat at the campfire, waving at the two as they approached.
“Hey, Pops. Hey, Dad. This is my girlfriend, Michelle.” Cherri introduced the two men as they and Michelle both sat down on a bench.
“Ah, I’ve been wondering when we’ll get to meet her,” The bald, muscular man smiled, extending a hand for Michelle to shake, “I’m Ben Arrow-Shepherd, and this is my husband, Jacob Arrow-Shepherd.”
“It’s nice to meet you both,” Michelle grinned widely.
“I’ll call the rest of the group when I’m finished cooking dinner. For now, both of you kids, just relax and enjoy the fire.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Please, just call me Ben.”
“That is like half of one of my dad’s names, so no, thank you.”
“Oh, you have two dads yourself?” Jacob, the man in the red sweater, cocked one eyebrow as he took a sip of his beer.
“Yeah, I do. They’re actually in the city right now, meeting up with one of my dad’s old coworkers. I call them my aunts and uncles even though they’re not really my aunts and uncles.”
“Don’t worry about that. Cherri does the same with Priya and Zander.”
“Did someone call my name?” An Indian woman with long, brown hair emerged from one of the campervans wearing a yellow top and a white coat.
“Sorry, Aunty Priya, we were just talking about how Michelle calls her dad’s old coworkers her aunts and uncles, and Dad pointed out how I do the same with you and Uncle Zander,” Cherri explained, a little flustered by Priya’s sudden appearance.
“Oh, your girlfriend’s here. I never knew that. Zander, come say hi.”
A man with black hair and a matching leather jacket emerged from the same campervan as Priya did. The couple then sat beside Jacob to enjoy both the warmth of the campfire and the conversation that was happening.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Michelle. We’ve all heard so much about you over the…how long have you two been dating again?”
“Two years. We started dating around the same time I started high school, remember?”
“That’s right. Now, I remember. What about you, Michelle? Are you in high school as well?”
“Yeah, I’m actually doing my last year of my GCSEs next year. I’m considering whether or not I wanna do my A-levels afterwards.” Michelle explained.
“I’m assuming your GCSEs are similar to our SATs?”
“I’d say so. I don’t really know much about the American school system.”
“It is pretty much the same as the SATs.” Cherri clarified.
“See, this is why I love your kid. They’re so much smarter than I am.” Michelle chuckled, nudging Jacob playfully.
“Hey, you might not be the smartest academically, but I’m sure you've got some other smarts,” Ben reassured her.
“I mean, history is pretty much my passion. I love learning about ancient civilizations and how people used to live back then.”
“Oh, so I’m sure you’d get along well with Felix.”
“Well, I actually hope I can get along with everyone here.”
“Speaking of which,” Ben stood up straight as he removed the hot dogs from the grill in front of him, “Hey! DINNER’S READY!”
Once Ben finished his sentence, several people came out of the campervans. Michelle could recognise some of them, but others were a bit more unfamiliar. Another couple sat on the empty bench opposite Ben and Jacob, while a boy who came out of the same RV sat next to Cherri. Hope, pretty much the only one she recognised given that she and Cherri shared an RV, sat next to Priya and a man in a wheelchair pulled up beside the new couple.
“Michelle, this is Gwen and Pierce and their son Arthur, who’s the same age as us. I’m sure you know Hope since we share an RV, and that over there is Felix.” Cherri explained, pointing to each person as they sat down.
“Wow, that’s certainly a lot of people.” Michelle chuckled nervously as she took her plate from Ben. She took a look at it, noticed the hot dog and baked potato, and moved the hot dog onto her partner’s plate.
“It’s not as much as your family. Remind me of how many- hey, what’s wrong with the hotdog?”
“Oh, nothing. I just forgot to mention that I’m vegetarian.”
“That would be my fault, actually, but since that's the case, here.” Cherri grabbed their baked potato and put it on their girlfriend’s plate.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure Pop will throw on another baked potato if we need it.”
“I think two hot dogs is enough food for you, Cherri, especially with the lunch I heard the two of you had.” Ben laughed.
“Yeah, I had a big lunch. You didn’t have much, though, Michelle.”
“The salad was the only thing I could eat,” Michelle jokingly whined, “Besides, I’m sure all this potato will fill me up.”
“Oh, trust me when I say Ben always gets the best potatoes for whatever the time of year is.” Felix, the man in the wheelchair, chuckled as he picked at his potato with a fork.
Michelle turned to look at Felix and almost fell out of her seat. She was not expecting him to be missing almost everything below his hips. She tried to collect herself, which elicited more laughter from Felix.
“Girl, you’re fine. You can ask if you want.” He responded, throwing his head back in laughter.
“Oh, okay…so…what happened to you?” Michelle asked, feeling bad for asking but feeling somewhat comforted by his approval.
“Got chomped on by a lizard man when I was in college. Y’know, normal college stuff.”
Michelle laughed along with the joke about his backstory before she slowly realised that he wasn’t exactly joking about the “lizard man” part. She looked at Cherri for an explanation for what exactly was happening.
“Guys, I…I haven’t exactly…explained everything to Michelle.” Cherri looked around, a little flustered.
“Cherri, what’s going on?” Michelle asked, confused.
“Michelle, I…I need to tell you something. You see, supernatural creatures like werewolves, vampires, and even demons are all real. That’s actually how I got the scars on my face, and my dad lost his arm and his wife. Don’t worry, though; not all of them are bad. Priya and Zander are both werewolves, and Pierce is a vampire. Oh, um, Hope is also a demon, but she is the one who killed the demon queen back in the day…or so I’ve been told.”
Michelle froze for a minute there. She could not believe this. This had to be a joke, right? She was just being pranked. Surely, the camera crew would come out of those bushes any minute now.
But there were no camera crews. There was no one pointing and laughing at her for falling for a silly prank. There was a sombre silence, indicating that this wasn’t a joke. The only thing she could muster up was a small “oh” in response.
“Don’t worry, kiddo,” Jacob scooted over to their bench and put his stub of an arm on her back, “That’s a completely normal reaction to finding this out. Most of us have had that reaction at some point, and most of us have lost something because of the supernatural. You’re lucky to figure this stuff out on your own.”
“Is…is it just an America thing or?”
“From what we know, there tend to be supernatural creatures all over the world. An old friend of mine was from Romania.”
“An old…supernatural friend of yours?”
“Yes, he was a vampire.”
“W-wait, aren’t vampires supposed to be immortal?”
“Not if you chop their head off. That’s what I threaten Pierce with sometimes.” Gwen joked.
“Do you actually?”
“Nah, I love him too much to do that to him.”
“Well, erm, this is certainly an eventful evening. D-don’t worry, I’m not leaving, but…thanks for telling me all of this.”
“As I said, it’s best you know now before something happens to you.” Jacob reached over his other arm and gave Michelle a pat on the shoulder.
“True, I don’t know what I’d do if Cherri got killed on the job.”
“Oh, they’re not allowed on the job since their face got slashed. Not until they’re an adult, at least.”
“I can still defend myself if someone attacks me,” Cherri stuck their tongue out at their dad, “Anyways, pops, any chance I can get another baked potato?”
“You’re not full after those hot dogs? Alright, one more baked potato coming right up. Anyone else?” Ben sighed, getting up from his seat and stretching.
“I’ll take one, sir,” Michelle spoke up before remembering Ben didn’t like being called Sir.
“At this point, kid, just call me Pops. You’re part of the family now, after all.”