Chapter 2

Note: Alright, we'll give this a try. Sorry if I make any mistakes, or if it gets confusing at some parts. It's been a really long time since I've written something actually decent, let alone in 1st person point of view.

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Feist - Caught A Long Wind

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I was being punished.

It seemed that the part from last night's conversation with my mom about beating up one of the supposedly 'toughest' guys in school was being taken pretty seriously. She looked pissed that it had to happen in front of the principal but from the way she held her posture I could tell she was somewhat proud of me. My dad, of course, high-fived me and said it was a shame that I was caught in the act.

Janine, I prefer to call her that most of the time, hauled my butt to the backyard where we spent the next hour practicing training exercises. She showed me a few she wanted me to do, a couple of weight reps, and then last minute cardio.

Why did it have to exist? I hated cardio more than anything.

I was on my second lap around the neighborhood when I spotted him.

Now I definitely hate it.

Not wanting to turn around I kept running, his figure getting closer and closer. But he didn't seem to take notice of his surroundings because his head was leaned forward as if looking down at the sidewalk or texting. I caught up to him and saw that he was reading a book.

Without thinking I blurted out, "What are you reading?"

Slightly surprised, his head jerked up to look at me. His calm expression turning into a scowl. "None of your business." I spotted a hint of his accent in there. Then I noticed he was looking me up and down taking in my appearance. Now it was my turn to scowl.

He didn't look up. "If you're able to talk while working out then you aren't working out hard enough."

I realized I stopped running. Damn. Frowning, I just left him to his business.

. . .

"Don't you think it's a little exorbitant?"

"Not at all. Why do you ask?"

I eyed the huge plasma screen sitting in our living room. "I don't know. I just thought that since the house is already small as it is, wouldn't you want something more...cozy?"

Abe waved me off, "There's nothing to worry about, we hardly get visitors as it is. Plus your mother is almost never here-"

"You're never here too."

He put a hand to his chest, "You confound me with your words of pure-"

"Truth?"

"Hush child. You're ruining my dramatic evening." He casually walked up to the tv, observing it as though he were having second thoughts. "I think my standards are far too high...this plasma will not do!"

I sighed and started to say something about his pickiness when I heard the ringtone coming from his phone.

Oh, I'm a Gummy Bear

Yes, I'm a Gummy Bear

Oh, I'm a Yummy, Chummy, Funny, Lucky Bear...

I looked at him in shock, "What the hell was that?!"

"That's my new ringtone. I believe it's been the 'talk of the century'. Such weird tunes music productions are springing up."

I noticed he let it ring, not even bothering to answering it, "The purpose of a phone is to answer whoever is calling you."

"Yes, well the last few times I have picked it up, people have tried selling me things varying from knickknacks to vacations to Jamaica. One call stood out to me, and mark my words when I say I will never let anyone borrow my phone again. A rather 'generous' woman had offered up her services to me for the week and sent...interesting photos." By this point I was laughing hard. He was never one for women whoring themselves to men for money.

Then I heard the sound of pans clattering from the kitchen. For a moment I wonder how odd I looked. Janine walked into the living room and stared at me, raising an eyebrow.

"Rose, give your father a break! He went through a hard time!"

If anything, I laughed even harder. Then, when she saw Abe nearly choke trying to hold in his laughter, she realized the double meaning behind her words, "Cut it out! Both of you! That's gross!"

...

Note: Sorry for the short chapters, but that's how they're going to be for a while. Unless I have a sudden change of heart and we'll get longer chapters but no promises. We might be talking weekly updates but who knows? The mind works in many ways. Well...mine might just be lazy.

If you're all good, I might give a treat ;) and it's almost 1 am, so night all.

Thanks for the motivation guys,

Tatiana Belikova

Goode-Lover

timeignites

Emoroza

katkitty05

Mrs. Belikova