(REWRITING) What Not To Do

4- Do Not Eavesdrop

"Come on, Lil, this was your idea." I called to my best friend as we ran.

My pace slowed to a jog and I turned around to face her.

She glared at me. "It's not fair, Jade. How is this still so easy for you?" She huffed out.

I stopped and let her catch her breath. My breathing was slightly off, but I was still feeling okay after our small run.

"We haven't even gone two miles yet!" I exclaimed.

For soccer practice, we usually warmed up with a three mile run. Lily and I liked to train ourselves to run at least four miles before each season, but I was obviously much better off than she was at the moment.

My breathing was heavy, due to all of the running, but I wasn't struggling the way Lily was.

She placed her hands on her hips and looked up at the clear, blue sky. "Maybe we can cut our run to just two miles today."

I shook my head with a smirk. "Nope. Sorry, babe, we're running four."

"You're going to kill me." She said with a groan.

I patted her shoulder and smiled. "At least you'll die in the presence of your best friend."

~ ~ ~

I entered the house and closed the door behind me. "Grams, I'm home!" I called out.

My muscles were exhausted from the day. After our run, I forced Lily into numerous sets of push ups and sit ups. She hated me for it, but I knew she'd be grateful when the season started.

I always pushed myself to the very top of my limit when it came to soccer. The sport meant a lot to me; it was basically the only thing that I was good at.

Sure, I made good grades in school- when I actually studied- but soccer was the one thing I didn't have to try so hard in. It came naturally to me.

I put every ounce of myself into soccer, since it obviously wasn't doing well in any other area of my life.

I yawned tiredly and turned to head up the stairs when the sound of heavy paws on the hardwood floor caught my attention. I turned to see a five year old, white Labrador bounding towards me and I gasped.

"Gizmo!" I exclaimed with a smile. I got down onto my knees and wrapped my arms around the dog, ruffling his fur.

It had been months since I'd seen Gizmo. The last time had been when Jaxon... wait.

My eyes widened and I shot up, catching Gizmo off guard. I raced to the kitchen and a huge smile stretched across my lips.

I ran towards my brother and jumped at him. I caught him by surprise, but he still managed to catch me and keep himself from falling over.

"Jaxon!" I exclaimed. He laughed at my actions and hugged me tightly.

"Jade." He said with a smile.

I pulled away from him. "What are you doing here?"

My brother was supposed to be off at college. He went to MIT and was currently two years away from his Master's degree in Microsystems engineering.

He shrugged with a grin. "I came to visit my baby sister, of course."

His smile was convincing, but something in his eyes told me that this visit wasn't the result of homesickness. I looked over to Grams, who was sitting at the kitchen island with a blank expression.

"What's going on?" I asked, looking between them.

"Well, Grams was just telling me about the new sunflowers in her garden and-" Jaxon began, but I cut him off.