Chapter 3

“Out of the woods” by Markus Grossalber is licensed under CC BY 2.0

P.O.V. Emerald Lockhart

The rest of the week is similar for me. Deal with Nalani and her crew, then working on homework, and training with Atlus.

It’s Saturday morning, finally the weekend and all I want to do is relax, but the boys will never let that happen. There is a club called The Emerald Dragon they are dragging me to tonight. We have been there a couple times prior, and it is great I’ve just had a long week.  

I roll out of bed and throw on a pair of shorts, a tank top, and my running shoes. I head downstairs and give my mom a kiss on the cheek. She is making Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes. My favorite.

We eat and talk about my plans for the night to go to The Emerald Dragon. She looks worried to let me walk out of the house, so I reach across the table and grab her hand and say, “What wrong mom?” As soon as I say it, she plasters a smile on her face and says “nothing Emerie, just a mom worrying about her baby!” as she gets up and starts putting all the dishes in the sink.

I get up and bring my plate to the sink and start helping her with the dishes. I slowly lean my head on her shoulder, “Thanks for worrying Mom. I love you, but don’t worry I’ll be with both the guys, plus I have all my dads training in my back pocket. I can defend myself.” She giggles at me and nods as we finish up the rest of the dishes.

She turns to hug me and kisses my forehead. I smile up at her and tell her I am going for a run, then I jog out the backdoor and head toward Atlus’ house to meet up with him and Dom. Our houses are about 5 miles apart, but there are woods behind our house’s that cuts the run to about 3 miles.

My headphones are blaring music in my ears and I am running like hell through these woods, jumping over tree branches and working on my parkour training. Atlus and I love to come here and train sometimes. We feel a connection to nature like no other.

There is a point in these wood that the trees break into to a big open space, and the sun just shines down around you. I stop here for about who knows how long and just close my eyes and soak in the sun, the noises, and the animals. It is so peaceful here; I could stay forever. Not a care in the world. It would be fantastic.

I finally decide to finish my run to Altus’ house. By the time I get there and knock on the door I am sweaty. Noah answers the door gives me a little smirk, then says “Atlus and your nerdy friend are outside” I step in between him and the door frame and poke my finger into his chest hard. “Don’t call him that Noah.” I take a step forward pushing his back against the door “Don’t think I won’t kick your ass.” He leans closer to me and whispers in my ear “I’d love to see you try.” Then he steps away from me and heads to his room. I just roll my eyes and head to their back yard. Ever since my 18^th birthday a couple weeks back Noah has this flirtatious thing, he tries to do with me. He never does it in front of Atlus because he knows that he would kill him. If this were 10 years ago it would probably make me weak in the knees because I used to have a huge crush on Noah, but now I just could never imagine myself with him. He is a good guy, but he is a player and not the guy for me. I don’t know if I will ever find that guy, but I know it is not him.

I get outside and I hear Atlus giving Dom tips about how to ask Liz out. I giggle and the boys notice me then get up to greet me with hugs, totally ignoring the fact that I am all sticky from my run. I sit down with them and turn to Dom, “so we are finally asking Liz out huh?” Dom blushes and shrugs his shoulder, then says, “I don’t know I want to but what if she says no?” I pat him on the shoulder and say, “How could she? You are the best!” He smiles and we talk about The Emerald Dragon. They love going there mainly to hit on girls, but we always have a good time together, plus they think it is super cool that the club has the same name as me.

After talking for a couple hours and working on schoolwork Dom heads home to get ready and Atlus packs a bag to get ready at my house. Then we head that way.

Once we get to my house I head upstairs to get in the shower and Atlus stays downstairs to talk to my mom. I shower fast and then I get out and blow dry my hair. I put on some natural makeup, then I curl my hair, and put on a deep green wrap dress that reaches mid-thigh and a pair of black lace boots.

I look at myself in my full-length mirror one last time before heading downstairs. I’m a little more excited to go than I thought, and I think this is just what I need.