Knight

07

Mason Maloney

My whole body was on fire as I lied in the soft grass of the football field. I felt like I could barely breathe even though my breaths were deep. Ross stood over me with his hands on his hips shaking his head.

"You need to be able to do this mile," he said sternly, looking at the stop watch on his phone. "You can't take a break on your second lap."

"I can do what I want," I answered back snidely, still breathless.

"Hell yeah you can," Pete said as he walked over to us.

Pete couldn't run the mile quickly either, but he could still do it faster than I could.

"You need to fix your mile time too," Ross told Pete with a serious look.

Pete waved him off. "It's fine, I can improve it by a few seconds and pass."

I closed my eyes and put my head back down on the grass. Running could be classified as one of my least favorite things to do. I could think of a million other things I would rather be doing. There was no way Ross was going to get me to run another mile tonight. Besides, we had to leave the field soon for the football game.

"Get up, Mase," Ross pulled me out of my thoughts.

I opened one eye and groaned as I saw Ross and Pete standing over me. I held my arms up, signaling for them to grab my hands and pull me up. Ross and Pete pulled me up into a standing position before Pete handed me a full water bottle. I nodded at him graciously and chugged the water.

"We have to get out of here, the football players will be here soon," Ross said as I finished off my water.

I just nodded, feeling too tired to even speak. I was really out of shape despite not being overweight.

"Your place, Mase?" Pete asked with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes but nodded anyway. We took Pete's car from the field to my house. By the time we were at my house, I was done feeling like I was dying.

"Hey, boys," my mother said cheerfully as the three of us walked into the house.

"Hello Mrs. Maloney," Pete said politely, giving her a quick hug.

Once we were safely in my room, I smacked Pete hard on the head, causing him to cry out in pain and Ross to start laughing hysterically.

"Stop your obsession with my mom," I told Pete sternly.

I didn't remember when it started, but Pete has had a crush on my mom for a while. Not only was it strange, it was completely gross and I wasn't okay with it.

"She's a good looking lady," he answered with a shrug, throwing himself down on my bed.

"She's married to my dad," I reminded him.

"Minor detail," Pete replied, waving me off.

It wasn't a minor detail, as Pete called it, but I was done discussing his strange attraction to my mother.

"You're disturbing," Ross told him with a disgusted look, sitting next to him on my bed. Pete just shrugged with a smug smile on his face.