"Man…I need to at least bike ride some more," Phil said, nearly out of breath as he got off a treadmill.
"Just because your shoulder's all banged up isn't an excuse for you to just ditch working out all together," Colt Cabana said, lifting weights.
"I know, but with Emma, she's been my focus…not keeping my stamina up," Phil said, before taking a drink of water to help him catch his breath.
"You gotta at least get a lower body work-out in so you don't lose your metabolism," Colt said. "You might be all good for now, but your metabolism eventually catches up with you, and before you know it, you'll be all fat and trying to rehab so you can get back into the ring's gonna be hard."
"I know, I don't know how those other guys in the locker room with kids do it," Phil said, shaking his head as he got onto a bike.
"Easy," Colt said, pausing from his weight lifting, "They aren't ever home, they don't have to deal with their kids or wife, maybe once every now and then, but still."
"True…" Phil said, starting to think slightly, before starting the bike.
"Hey," Colt said, pausing again, and causing Phil to stop. "Have you figured out what you're gonna do after you start wrestling again? Who's gonna watch over Emma?"
"You know…" Phil began. "I really haven't given it much though. I won't be wrestling again until the summer, so I may take her on the road with me, but I still haven't figured out what to do when school starts back up. It's not like she has a mom to stay with her at home or anything…"
"Have you thought about home-schooling her? Like, take her on the road with you all the time with a tutor or something?" Colt asked.
"Actually, yeah," Phil said. "But she'd be the only wrestling kid on the road. Everyone else has their kids back at home with the wife in a regular school. I don't want her getting lonely and only being around a bunch of athletes all the time…"
"True, she is around that age and there are some young guys…" Colt shrugged as Phil looked at him.
"She's never going to date a wrestler, never, no way in hell would I even let her think about dating some guys like us," Phil said.
"Guys like us?" Colt asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Man, you know what I mean…" Phil rolled his eyes, starting to bike again as Colt just chuckled, then continued weight lifting.
"All I'm saying is-"Colt began, but was interrupted by Phil's phone starting to ring. "Well that's a cockblock."
"Ugh," Phil grunted, rolling his eyes. He picked up his phone, then looked at it and raised an eyebrow. "It's Emma's school…"
"Well you better answer it, Emma could be sick or something, I hear there's a stomach flu going around," Colt said, putting down his weights and taking a break.
Phil shrugged, then answered it.
"Hello?" Phil asked.
"Yes, Hello," A male voice on the other side of the phone answered. "Is this Phil Brooks, father of Emma Brooks I'm speaking to?"
"Yes, this is he," Phil said, feeling quite suspicious.
"I'm Dr. Manning, I'm the Vice Principal and head of discipline over here at your daughter's school, Capone Jr. High," The voice said.
"Oh, well, hi," Phil said, now rather confused. "Can I help you?"
"I'm sorry, but your daughter, Emma, has just gotten into a fight in the hallway during our passing period," Dr. Manning explained.
"WHAT!" Phil immediately shouted with rage.
"Yes, she came into contact with one of the 8th graders and got into a fight, the two refuse to admit what the fight was about, exactly, but the 8th grader IS being treated in medical care," Dr. Manning explained again.
"Is Emma okay?" Phil asked, slightly calmer. After her heard the older 8th grader was in medical care, he could only imagine what happened to Emma.
"Don't worry, Emma's all fine. I just sent her to go grab homework and other stuff from teachers," Dr. Manning said. "We have a zero-tolerance for fighting over here at Capone Jr. High School, Mr. Brooks. We have to suspend Emma until Wednesday and she can't come in contact with the school until Thursday when she's allowed to come back. I need you to come and pick her up now to start her suspension."
"Alright, yeah, sure, I'll be right there," Phil sighed, hanging up his phone and getting up.
"What did that little rugrat do now?" Colt asked, grabbing his water bottle and taking a sip.
"She got into a fight at school with an older kid and now she's suspended," Phil grunted, rather pissed off as he started grabbing his stuff and walking out of the gym. Colt quickly followed.
"Is she okay!" Colt asked, concerning.
"Yeah, but the girl she got into a fight with isn't…" Phil sighed, getting into his car as Colt got into the passenger seat. "You know, you don't need to come."
"I do, I gotta make sure you don't kill her," Colt said as Phil rolled his eyes.
The two made the drive over to Oak Park to Capone Jr. High. The drive was silent, other than Colt singing along to some songs on the radio, which annoyed Phil. Then, the two got to the school.
"Get in the backseat, I'm gonna go get Emma and when I get back, I want her sitting up front," Phil said, getting out of his car, then slamming the front door.
He angrily marched into the school and into the front office, where he saw Emma sitting in a corner with all the stuff she would need. Emma was slumped into a seat with her arms crossed, looking against a wall, with a rather pissed off face. Phil just looked at her, equally pissed off as she was, maybe more.
"Mr. Brooks?" A voice said, redirecting Phil's attention from Emma to a tall man in a suit. "I'm Dr. Manning, we spoke on the phone."
"Oh, yeah," Phil said. "Can I take her or what?"
"Right after you sign a couple of papers real quick," Dr. Manning said.
"Alright," Phil said, sighing.
He followed Dr. Manning into his office where he signed papers confirming he was aware of Emma's suspension and other stuff.
"I'm sure you're aware this will go on her record," Dr. Manning said, as he slipped all the papers into a drawer.
"She has a record?" Phil asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Everyone here does," Dr. Manning explained. "However, we can't let parents see them until they enter high school."
"Whatever," Phil sighed, rolling his eyes. Then, he walked out of the office and over by Emma. "Come on," He mumbled out as Emma got up and followed him outside.
They both walked outside to the car and got in. When they got in, Colt gave Emma a disappointed look, but Emma just ignored it, put her feet up and continued to cross her arms and frown with a pissed off look on her face.
"If I were you, I would start talking now," Phil said to her, sternly as he started driving. Emma didn't make a sound, yet alone eye contact. Phil sighed. "Okay, fine, be quiet now, but once we get back home, you have a LOT of explained to do…"
Cliffhanger ;) Haha, I wanted to get a quick little update up. I have a busy week, but I also have a 4day weekend coming up (Friday and next Monday I have off) and I may not go Thursday, but my week is busy and I probably won't update this until Friday or sometime this weekend, just wanted to let all you readers know Review, please! Like I said, next chapter should be up Friday or at least Sunday and it'll show why Emma got into a fight and what it was about. Hope you enjoyed