Southern Charm [✓]

Chapter Four

DEDICATION: to Danceitup for being an awesome friend and letting me eat cookies. =)

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By the time we were done eating, the sun had gone down and I was ready to go die peacefully in a hole. Hearing everyone, even Jess, talk about Tebow, Manning and Big Ben for hours can really do your head in.
Not that I have anything against football; I actually enjoy watching Steeler games and the Super-Bowl, but talking about all the moves, other than the awesome, flipping in the air ones, is really boring. Especially when your talking about all your signature moves.

Jess had to go home in the morning, and it seemed that Drew's new hang-out was my house. When he brought the whole team over to talk to Dad more about all his signature plays and pointers, I ran for cover in my sanctuary, hereby known as the basement.

I cleaned all the cobwebs (after multiple squeals of disgust) and managed to Swiffer the hard wood floors so they didn't look so dull. I also unpacked all the boxes, which still seemed endless even after they were all gone, and put my bed up all by myself. I was proud of the bed.

The walls were an off-white color, so I covered them in posters of my old track team while everyone was running. All the photos I took turned out good after I converted them into posters with the help of the all-mighty Walmart, but you could tell they weren't taken by a professional. Not that it mattered when you saw all the pictures of hurdles and all the frustrated faces of the team when they were trying to beat everyone else. Those had to be my favorites.  

Track had been my sport since middle school, when I gave up soccer and put together a small team of friends together so we could run around the city. When we got into the high school track team, we grew inseperable until Mom went into a coma. That's when I stopped running all together and spent countless days and night by her bedside, talking to her unconcious form.

I decided to get back into it once we moved, so I donned on my Nikes, blue tank top and black running shorts.
I went upstairs, stretching all the way to the top and made my way into the living room, where the football team and Dad were pigging out on pizza. I really hope they wouldn't become best friends with one another; that would suck for me.

"Daddy," I said, grabbing his attention and everyone else's. "I'm going running. I'll be back in a couple hours."
He smiled at me. "Trying to beat your record?" he asked.
I couldn't help but smile back as I pulled my hair into a ponytail. "Before the day's over, I'll have ran faster than Lolo."
He laughed, picking up another piece of pizza. "Make sure to bring your phone."
"Six years of soccer has to be useful for something, Dad."
He nodded solemnly. "Jess's ex didn't know what was coming."
My eyes widened. "How'd you know about that?" I exclaimed.
He smirked, which is something I really didn't like seeing. "I've been watching you." And that's the reason why.
I glowered at him. He glowered back, then we broke into smiles. I couldn't stay made at him for long and it was the same way around with him. "At least the ball made it into the net." All the football players chocked on their pizza and I smirked at them. "So don't try anything."
Logan laughed. "Wouldn't even think about, Em."
I laughed at the expressions on everyone's faces, for once not being able to completely ignore them. "See you guys later." I said, running out the door and shutting it firmly behind me.

While I was running, I couldn't help but think that all those egogistical, arrogant football players (excluding Logan, of course) might be making Dad happy. And if that was the case, then I know I'd happily put up with all the football talk. After Mom died, he closed himself off from hard emotions like happiness and opted for silence instead. Now, seeing him smiling and joking around with the jocks, I may have to start listening to all the plays and start partaking in all the stuff I usually would never do. Like going to games and wearing jerseys.

I never knew how much I missed all the things he used to do to embarrass me in front of friends and crushes until he didn't do it anymore and now I'd do anything for him to start doing all those things I used to find annoying again.

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I don't think I managed to out-run Lolo Jones, but I think I did pretty good for not running for months. I was sticky and icky by the time I opened the door to find every one of the jocks asleep on the floor, Dad on the couch, and Scream playing on the TV. I shivered as I watched five seconds of the horror movie that I swore never to watch before I managed to find the remote on the automon and flip the TV off.

I pulled the blanket that was draped across the couch down to cover Dad and kissed his forehead before moving downstairs to deal with all the school supplies littering my bed. I stuffed all the necessary things for tomorrow in my zebra backpack before collapsing onto the bed and falling fast asleep.

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Comment Challange:
What's your favorite way to get things off of your mind? Running like Emalie? Shopping like Jess? Drawing? Annoying people?

A Look Into: Chapter Five:
Em's going to school! Will she find friends and torment the jocks? Why yes, yes she will!

I've decided to be nice and give you the "Comment Challenge" and "A Look Into" every chapter from now on just to hold you off until I manage to find the time to write. \

If you're an awesome commenter and make me laugh, or if you make me a banner,  then I'll give you a dedication! Yes, this is  in fact called bribery.

Yeah, I know that I said I wouldn't be updated for a while, but I decided to give ya'll the privilege of one more fun read before school starts and you're forced to read Shakespear and Bronte all year.  Have fun waking up early and missing the bus!

~Emiaa