I'm Not Your Protege, Just Your Kid

Today was Saturday and in about another hour at 11 Brian was going to come over. Since Matt has the biggest muscles out of all the guys here we nominated his house as the place for Devon and Brian to out bench press each other. Later on around four this afternoon, Zack and I were going to face off each other in a game of baseball.

All of the guy’s girlfriends were going to be cheering the guys on, except for Gena, because she had to go into work. Can’t you guys just feel the happiness radiating off of me?

Seeing as how Zack has no one to cheer for him, I took it upon myself to invite Gabby to the baseball game later on today. I can’t wait to see the look on Zack’s face when she walks onto the field when we’re playing.

I walked out of my room and into Devon’s across the hall. He was watching T.V and I lied down at the bottom of the bed, watching whatever movie he was currently focused on. I felt him nudge me and I looked up at him.

“What?” I asked.

“Do you think I’m going to beat Brian today?” he asked. I just shrugged and he glared at me.

“What?” I asked.

“You could’ve at least lied and said yes,” he mumbled.

“Sorry Devon. I honestly have no idea because Brian has some pretty big muscles,” I pointed out.

“You’re right. I have no chance of winning today,” he groaned and threw himself into his pillows. I rolled my eyes and crawled up next to him. I just patted his back and told him that everything was going to be alright.

“Cheer up Devon, it’s not like it’s going to be the end of the world if you lose today. I mean I have to go against Zack, and I’ve never played baseball a day in my life,” I said to him.

“That’s true. At least I won’t lose by myself right?” he said, now picking his head up from his big bundle of pillows.

“Exactly,” I said, trying to make him feel better by agreeing. “Now come on Dev, let’s go downstairs to get something to eat,”

He nodded and shut off his T.V. He followed behind me downstairs where Zack, Jimmy and Leana were sitting. We took a seat on the couch next to Zack and started watching whatever they were watching.

“Hey kiddo,” Zack said and ruffled my hair. I slapped his hand away and tried to fix back my hair.

“Ouch Jayden, I was just saying hi,” he said while rubbing his now red hand.

“You can say hi without touching me you know,” I explained.

“Well maybe I don’t want to,” he said and stuck his tongue out.

“Oh be quiet before I chop off that tongue of yours,” I retorted and crossed my arms.

“You’re such a bitch,” he mumbled.

“And you’re old,” I said with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes and tried to prevent the tiny smile he had from breaking out on his face. I saw Leana looking at me and I raised an eyebrow at her. She sent me a cheesy smile and I saw Jimmy chuckle to himself.

“What?” I asked her, honestly wanting to know why she was staring at me. I’m pretty sure she was talking about me to Jimmy.

“How’s Noah doing?” she asked.

“Why would I know how he’s doing?” I asked after shrugging my shoulders.

“I don’t know, I just figured you would,” she said.

“Who’s Noah?” Zack asked, looking from Leana to me.

“Her boyfriend,” Leana teased.

“Boyfriend?!” Zack asked.

“No Zack, he’s just a kid from school,” I grumbled.

“Yeah right,” Devon scoffed from next to me.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“It’s so obvious that you guys like each other,” he said.

“I don’t like him!” I exclaimed.

“That’s not what it looked like at the mall the other day,” Leana added.

“What happened at the mall the other day?” Zack asked, desperately wanting to be a part of this conversation.

“Nothing,” I answered quickly.

“Yeah right. Noah’s girlfriend walked up and I swear Jayden was about to stab her right then and there,” Leana explained.

“Oh really?” Zack asked.

“No, not really,” I said trying to defend myself.

Why couldn’t they just understand that I didn’t like Noah? I just don’t like his girlfriend, Erica. Stupid, plastic bitch.

Holy shit! Where the fuck did that thought come from?

“Alright, let’s just drop this subject,” Zack said after seeing the look on my face.

“Thanks,” I said to him.

“No problem,” he said and went to ruffle my hair again, but when he saw my facial expression he took back his hand and gave me a sheepish smile.

The doorbell rang and Zack got off the couch to answer the door. A number of voices traveled throughout the house and a minute later I saw the rest of the gang walk in the house.

“Hey guys,” Devon and I said to them.

A chorus of ‘hey’ came back to us and everyone took a seat. Leana huddle the rest of the girls together and I’d see each one of them glance up at me occasionally. I rolled my eyes and already knew that they were plotting something against me. I crossed my arms and slumped down in my seat.

“What’s wrong?” Johnny asked me on his way back from the kitchen.

“The girls are discussing her boyfriend,” Jimmy shrugged from the corner.

“Boyfriend?!” Matt, Brian and Johnny yelled together.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” I said.

“He better not be,” Matt said and cracked his knuckles.

“Oh, quit trying to look tough,” I rolled my eyes at Matt.

“Whatever,” he mumbled.

“So, are you guys ready to go?” Brian asked.

“No, I have to go change real quick,” I said and ran upstairs. I went into my room and took out some clothes to change into. I took off my sweatpants and pulled on some short denim shorts that reached a little above mid-thigh. I took off my baggy shirt and pulled on a black tank-top. I threw my hair up in a ponytail and put on my sneakers.

“Come on!” Brian yelled.

“Hold on!” I yelled back and grabbed my cell phone off the side table. I ran back down the stairs where everyone was waiting for me.

“Ready!” I yelled.

“No you’re not! Go put on some clothes,” Zack said.

“What are you talking about? I am wearing clothes,” I said and looked down at my outfit.

“No you’re not,”

“Yes I am,” I argued and put my hands on my hips.

He opened his mouth to argue back but Val just slapper her hand over his mouth. “Just leave her alone Zack. She has a nice body so let her show it off,” she reasoned with him.

“Fine,” he huffed and walked out.

“Thanks,” I said to her and followed everyone out.

“No worries, you have to show that gorgeous body off to Noah,” she winked at me.

My mouth fell open and she wrapped her arm around me, leading me towards Matt’s SUV.

We pulled up in front of a white two story house with a wrap around porch and the beach sitting right behind it. I climbed out of the car with Johnny and Lacey right behind me. Everybody else got out of Brian’s truck and followed Matt and Val up to the front door. They opened the front door and the sound of a dog barking met my ears. A golden Labrador came running from around the corner and started trotting around Matt’s feet.

“Hey Bella,” he said and patted the dog on top of its head.

The dog wagged its tail and went towards its bed in the corner of the family room. Matt walked down a hallway towards the back of the house and stopped at a door. He opened it up and we were exposed to a fairly big workout room. On one side of the room were all leg machines and the other side had a number of machines that worked out your upper body and there was a stand holding various weights, ranging from small to really big in size and weight.

“Holy shit Matt, how much do your work out?” I asked.

“Not much,” he shrugged.

I gave him a ‘yeah right’ look and he chuckled. Devon walked over to the shelves full of weights and picked up the biggest one. Half of his body immediately went down from the sudden weight and he struggled to pick the weight back up. I went over and helped him pick up the weight. My arm strained under the pressure and we managed to put it back on the shelf.

“God damn, how heavy was that?” I asked.

“I don’t know let me check,” Devon said. He looked at the weight and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

“How much is it?” I asked.

“300 pounds,” he said.

“Good lord, Matt’s a beast when it comes to lifting weights,” I said.

We headed over to the two weight benches where the guys were setting up the weights for Brian and Devon. When they finished Brian took off his shirt and got on the bench with Jimmy behind him as his watcher. Devon kept on his wife beater and lied down on the bench. I got behind him and took my position as his watcher.

“Alright, you both have the same amount of weight which is 250 pounds,” Matt explained. “You both will start on the blow of my whistle and bench press until the other gives up,” he finished explaining.

I nodded in understanding and gave Devon a small prep talk.

“Jayden, I’m not going to win,” Devon mumbled to me.

“Of course you will Devon, I’ll make sure of it,” I reassured him.

“You sure?” he asked me. I just nodded and he gave me a weak smile.

“Alright, you guys ready?” Matt asked.

“What are the rules?” I asked.

“There’s none,”

“Alright,” I said with a smirk.

Brian and Devon placed their hands on the dumbbells and got ready. Devon took a deep breath and Matt blew his whistle. Everyone was cheering on their desired opponent, no doubt boosting their confidence.

It’s been about thirty minutes and it looked like Devon was already getting tired, while Brian was still going. I bit my lip, trying to think of something to help Devon win. I saw Michelle sitting on Val’s yoga ball and talking with Lacey. An idea came into my head and I walked over to her.

“Hey Michelle, can I talk to you?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said. “What is it?” she asked after I pulled her out of ear shot from everyone.

“I need to help Devon win,” I flat out said.

“Okay, but what do you need me for?” she asked.

“Well, I’m assuming that Leana told you about Noah right?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said.

“Well, if you can flash Brian to make him lose, than you and the girls can invite Noah and maybe invite him to the baseball game later on,” I bargained, trying not to gag on my own words.

“Deal!” she said excitedly and shook my hand. “I have to go tell the girls,” she said.

“Alright, but hurry up because it doesn’t look like Devon is going to last any longer,” I said after looking at Devon struggle.

“Okay,” she said and ran off towards the girls.

I walked back over to Devon who was sweating up a storm.

“Don’t worry Devon, you’re going to win,” I said to him as I watched Michelle walk over.

I could hear what she was saying to him, but all I know is that when she flashed Brian for a quick second I already knew that Devon won. Brian became so sidetracked that he faltered and the dumbbell came back down on him. He pushed it off of him and Michelle walked back over to the girls. She winked at me from the other side of the room and I gave her the thumbs up.

Matt blew his whistle and Devon placed his dumbbell back where it belonged. Devon got up from the weight bench and hugged me. He was so happy that he won, that I didn’t yell at him for getting his sweat on me.

“Hot damn! I won!” he yelled.

“Congratulations,” I said to him.

Brian was still on his bench and bickering with Michelle for distracting him. I started laughing and continued to hug Devon. I was yanked away and was now facing the girls who all adorned the same big grins.

“What?” I asked, fearful of what they were going to do.

“Time for us to call your lover boy,” Michelle said.

I groaned and was forcefully dragged away. Hopefully I wouldn’t regret this stupid deal that I made with Michelle all for Devon.