Tattered Blinds

Chapter Fourteen

Alex

Well now I know that Emma is willing to do something for me, I thought to myself. That's a good start, but that's the thing, only a start...

I walked into my kitchen and got out all the things I needed to make a turkey sandwich. I took it all to my room, I didn't want to take any chances of getting a disease. I made it on my desk and took the est of the stuff out to the kitchen to be refrigerated. I quickly ate it and then I put on some good running shoes. 

Being a football player I had to be in shape and I had to keep fit. So every other day I went jogging around a few blocks. I didn't have to, but I knew that the star football player had to keep that position, so I made sure I kept it. And of course, the girl liked my abs, so that was a major plus. "Mom, I'm going for a jog, see you later," I called to her. 

"Will you bring me the bag of potato chips in the cupboard?" She called to me. I pretended like I didn't hear her and just walked out the door, she really didn't need potato chips, at all. She was three hundred pounds of pure... well, woman? 

The heat was like a wave of fire being blasted on my face first, then my whole body. I started out and passed by lots of out neighbors who liked to wave at me. They always knew when I would be by, so they came to say hi to me. It was like a ritual, say hi to the jogger! I was the only one on our street who actually cared about fitness, so I guess they were what I dare say 'proud' of me. 

The thing that I liked about jogging around the block, was that I got to jog past Emma's house. She usually saw me, but today  I was guessing she would be working on homework. I was so tired, it was so hot and I just wanted to turn around. 

I walked in the house and was cooled down by the air conditioning. I looked at the time. It was five-thirty. I hopped into the shower before practice, yes silly but I didn't want to go to practice smelling, so I would just take two showers. 

By the time I had gotten out of the shower and changed and one of my assignments done, it was time to leave to go to the school. I had to give myself a good thirty minutes, because I had to walk to practice, my dad was gone with the car, and they would never take me. They thought football was just a waste of my time. They obviously didn't know anything about me, I wanted to be a professional football player when I grew up, and I  worked hard to reach that goal. 

I was at practice early, which was good. I had to be there early, but when I walked up Elijah was there. I walked up to him, I just wanted to talk to him, not start anything with him. "Heard you were hanging out with Emma today," I said as politely as I could, which wasn't very polite. 

"Whoa, bro, don't get mad because she likes me and not you..." Elijah said. 

"Bro? Who you callin' bro? Do I need to remind you of what happened in third grade?" I asked him. 

"Calm down, jeez!" Elijah said. I kept walking closer to him every time he took a step back. 

"Well, I don't think the whole thing with you and Emma will work out," I said. 

"What are you going to do, tell her I'm 'bad?' Oooh, I'm scared!" 

"I've been friends with Emma for a lot longer than you ever have!" I didn't budge one bit, just looked at him. 

"Alex, when we start dating, I will make sure she stops talking to you," Elijah said. "I have the whole thing planned out." 

"Well thanks for sharing, I'll just tell her that." 

"How much you wanna bet she won't believe you?" Elijah asked. 

"She will," I said getting furious. 

"I don't know, I think she will think you're just trying to keep her away from me because I don't like you," Elijah said to me. I didn't have anything to say back. Luckily, I had the authority to make him run laps and do push-ups. 

"Two-hundred push ups, thirty laps around the field, now!" I barked at him. He flipped me off before he started to run. "Make that one-hundred laps around the field, and five hundred push-ups, and I want that done before tomorrow's practice ends!" I hollered to him. I did that partly out of jealousy, but it had to be done. 

Coach showed up and asked me why Elijah was running around the field. "He was starting to get snappy with me, then he decided the need to flip me off, so I gave him a punishment," I said confidently. 

"Nice to see you bringing out your rough side, get 'em stretching," He replied. 

"Yes sir."