Chapter 3

The annoying buzzing of my alarm clock woke me. My limbs were like the heaviest objects in the world that it took me a solid two minutes to move and to silence the noisy thing.

Contented of the quiet, I laid in my bed and stared at the white ceiling full of glow in the dark stars. A sigh bubbled out of me, "Two more days before school," I murmured with my just-woke-up raspy voice.

"Kat! Come down already, we're going to be late!"

Ugh. Who got late when they were only going for a run?

"Don't make me come up there!"

Apparently my brother did. Why was I going with him again? Oh, right I lost on a freaking Mario Cart video game bet. If he would've just let me win and didn't had to be a hardass, I would've left him alone after I made him help me with my ten-page paper about Marie Antoinette. But noooo, he just had to beat me and take me to freaking run when the sun itself was just waking up—not even one of its rays peeked from the dark-blue horrizon. He even made me set the time on my alarm clock, to which I thought wouldn't be of no use until the school started.

I heard Leib's pounding footsteps on the stairs of our humble home. Not a minute passed and my door swung open, revealing my hyper big brother, who was dressed in gray free-arm tank and dark blue track pants. The light on his smiling face was enough to brighten my lamp-lit room.

He wasted no time launching himself on the bed and started bouncing. "Wake up, sunshine!" His booming voice filled the room.

Gah! I presented him my back, curled to my side, and slipped my blue blanket over my head.

"You lost the bet so you have to honor your word,"

I grunted. Where were we, in the olden times?

He somehow managed to find my shoulders over the blanket and started to shake me. "Come oooon, little sis. You cannot just stay here all day, that's what you've been doing since summer break started. It's turning you into a hard core hermit."

I whipped the cover off my face to retort and to get air. I was suffocating under there. "For your information, I went out with Les yesterday." Leib's hold disappeared.

"Yeah, you walked to the beach and returned after an hour." He deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest.

Why you little—I grabbed the dolphin-stuffy beside me and hit him with it.

He just laughed and dodged while I tried my best to smack his pretty-boy face.

"I'll wait for you downstairs," he cheerily said and skipped out of my bedroom.

I looked up at the ceiling and plead for a rain to disrupt Leib's plan. Not that I was not athletic, but I was just complaining. I like to run sometimes—okay, when I really needed to burn fats—but not on breaks. All I wanted to was wake up late, chill, eat, stare at the sunset seated on the sands by the beach, eat, sleep, and the cycle went on and on and on until school started again.

"Kat! Did you flush yourself in the toilet?"

Gah, he was so impatient! I heard my Dad yell at Leib to tone it down. We were such a lovely and energetic family in the morning.

I irritably rolled my blanket into a ball and punched it before I stomped to my bathroom. Brushed teeth, showered, and changed into black jogging pants and red oversized tee. Barefoot, I went down the stairs to find my running shoes.

"Jeez, did you even comb your hair?" Came Leib's voice. He was seated on the peach, flowery couch backed on the white wall beside the stair rails.

I shrugged, "You were rushing me." To prove that I didn't care that my hair was still dripping wet, I flipped it in his direction hoping to spray him with some water from my hair and tied it in a high, messy ponytail.

He stood up and walked towards me and handed me a tuna sandwich.

I looked at him like he had grown toes on his face. "Seriously, we're not going to have a decent breakfast?"

How will I be able to run with just tuna sandwich in my system? I needed egg, bacon, and maybe some white rice if we had any.

"You don't want your stomach full when you go runnin'," came his answer, still handing me the sandwich.

I begrudgingly grabbed the food and started eating it. I love food. Food is life, but with my brother towing me out of the house, I couldn't be with the love of my life in the morning.

"Leib, couldn't you wait until tied my laces?" And stepping on them every time was a pain in the butt.

He stopped and put his hands on his hips like a reprimanding mother.

I handed him my food, got down to one knee and started lacing my shoes. "Why are you in such a hurry anyway?" A ping in my mind told me something interesting. "Or is this rushing somehow related to your unrequited love?" I got up and couldn't help a chuckle bubble out of me when I saw his flushed face. Gotcha, big brotha!

"What unrequited love?" With that said, he started walking.

I caught up to him, snatched my sandwich from his hand and giggled. "Oh no, my brother seemed to have forgotten something vital! I need to make him remember! Does the word April mean something to you? Not on a word level but a deeper one. Like, does that word remind you of ogling someone in your Chemistry class or purposely removing your shirt during practice to impress someone because you knew that that someone was watching?"

Oh, I wonder if he could get any redder at this point. It was fun to tease my brother because he was so transparent.

Leib was captain of defense in our school's football team. All around good guy, and a jock with brains and pretty face. He was one of the guys that girls targeted to be their boyfriend but I never saw him with someone, just with April Mabry since my freshman year. I kind of wondered what their relationship were—since I took my role as a nosy sister seriously—but he told me they were just friends. So sad for my brother.

Aaaand speak of the devil.

"Hi, guys!" She called, jogging towards us in all her track pants and jacket clad glory. Our houses were just five neighbors away, such convenience for Leib but he never took advantage of it.

April was a petite girl, the top of her head reached Leib's chest, I think we had the same height, but I always feel that I was a bit taller than her. Her blacker than black hair reached the middle of her back when it was not tied in a ponytail or a bun, which was most of the time. She was cute in a "nerdy girl with a good heart and a good body, knows it but still get good grades" kinda way and it was obvious that she liked my brother back. When will one of them man up—or woman up—and just lay it out there? These two were like a drama where most of the episodes were focused on the leads trying to convey their feelings for each other but doubted of being answered the same way, and then in the end they finally realized that they both liked one another. They kissed for the first time and that was it! The viewers' expectation were lifted so high to only plummet down the dissatisfaction lane. I hope it would end that way for them but more kisses.

I grabbed the opportunity that dangled in front of me. "I see you found a new jogging buddy, so I'm gonna return to my comfy bed and resume my sleep." I turned around and started to the direction of our house.

"Not so fast, lazy person." He pulled the back of my shirt and dragged me beside him. "The bet, remember?" He said while he smiled at the approaching April.

Why couldn't he just let it go? I mean, he would be spending the time with the person he liked and possibly his future wife.

"Leib, this is your chance to tell her how you feel, why the freak are you compromising it? Besides, I have papers to work on," I told him mimicking what he was doing—smiling at April.

Her eyes sparkled as she reached us, "Hi, Kat," April greeted me and immediately shifted her gray eyes to Leib. "Hi, Leib."

Oh, all that was lacking was a cheesy music and a slow-mo to focus on her pink, pouty lips as she smiled up at him, and me fading out of the background of course.

My brother seemed to have swallowed his tongue.

"Hi, April. Are you going for a run too? What a coincidence!" I think I sounded too sweet.

She hooked the stray hairs on her temple to the back of her ear. "Yeah, Leib called me last night." Her eyes once again slid to my brother, who was now smiling down at her.

O my gosh, talk about unfiltered tension! I feel like I should take a walk somewhere and leave these two alone, but Leib was still gripping the back of my shirt.

"Shall we go?" Was all my brother said before he started dragging me with him, April flanked his other side. Her smile might as well be the sun because it was so bright.

Fifteen minutes of walking and jogging, and I was feeling like the third and fourth wheel of a car. So, I decided to lag behind and let them on their own. I tried to leave—like a lot of times—but every time I attempted, Leib would give me that evil eye glare that told me, he would give me a load of crap later. Why wouldn't he let me leave? I was not his chaperone for tree's sake!

At the moment, they were talking, and laughing. I was sort of happy for Leib but the same time still irritated that he dragged me into ru—

Black obscured my vision, something restrained my legs, something covered my mouth, and I felt being lifted up. The last thing I remembered was a crackle and my muscles in tremor and I had no way to control them.