My Girl
Chapter 1

Sweat is dripping down my face. My pulse is racing, and my heart is beating fast inside my ribcage. I will never get sick of this feeling of weightlessness and pain combined.

It makes me feel good from head to toe.

Every inch of my body buzzes with an electric charge that can't be matched.

It feels good.

My breathing is getting rapid as my speed increases as I run the blocks surrounding my brother's new apartment.

I'm trying to kill time until he gets back, and running has become my everyday hobby since I got out of high school.

I was considered overweight when I was younger. It honestly sucks to be short because even though I didn't chow down on everything I saw, it meant my calorie intake was much lesser than the average woman.

One thousand two hundred calories a day is how much a person with my height should be eating.

There's only one problem with that, I'm a foodie. I'm a person who loves to snack while watching TV. I tried to diet before.

I tried to lessen my calorie intake, but the only place that landed me in the end was a hospital because I was wearing my body down.

My parents were furious and worried. They didn't know about the bullying that I had to deal with at school. My brother didn't understand why I wasn't happy with my body.

He didn't see the bullying most of the time because everyone in the school either was scared of my brother and Devon, wanted to date them, or wanted to be their friend.

So of course, when they were around nobody did anything but once they weren't, all bets were off and piggy pink, which was what they called me in high school because I was chunky and liked pink would once again make an appearance.

Once I had gotten out of high school, I was sick of my appearance. Everyone always says love yourself, but I couldn't. It was impossible when I heard comments and jokes everyday through out my school years.

I never even had a boyfriend until recently. I started working out, I don't really eat less, but I work out and make sure that I walk ten thousand steps each day.

The reason I'm running right now though is because I like to be moving, and I'm currently waiting for my brother to get back to his apartment so that I can have an important conversation with him.

My brother moved away from home two years ago. Him and Devon were currently attending the same college, and my brother recently moved out of the dorm room into his own apartment.

Which is lucky because that is the reason I'm here now.

I need a place to stay until I can replace a job and an apartment of my own. I'm secretly hoping my brother will offer to be my roommate. It would be a lot cheaper and much easier on me.

I mean, I did move out of our parents' house, and I did quit my job to come here.

He doesn't know any of this, though.

My parents are out of town for the weekend, their anniversary, and I took that opportunity to pack a few things. I hated doing that, but they would have asked too many questions.

Questions that I really wasn't in the mood to answer.

The reason for my sudden decision to move out of my parents' house and even out of our home town was because I caught my first boyfriend cheating on me with his cousins best friend.

I knew once everyone in our town had found out what happened, I would once again be the end point to hateful jokes and comments.

I wanted to be somewhere that nobody knew me, and the perfect place was also near my brother.

My feet pound down, slamming into the hard pavement of the sidewalk. My legs are starting to go numb, and I recognize that it was time for me to stop for the day.

I had texted my brother earlier, and he said he would call me when he got back home from football practice.

What he doesn't know is that he won't be needing to call me because I'll already be here waiting on him.

I jog up the driveway to the apartment building out of breath and complete exhaustion, settling in.

It's time for breakfast and by the smell of the body odor I'm now producing, a shower.

As soon as I jogged around the corner of the building, I saw Jake's car sitting there parked right in front of his apartment.

Dang, I didn't realize that it was passed 4 pm already. He must have just gotten back. I'm kind of nervous to talk to him about this.

Sure, he is my older brother, and I know he loves me, but being that we ran in different social circles for so long, we have not been close since we were kids.

I stopped moving and paused next to my brothers car and took several deep breaths, trying to get my body temperature regulated and for my nerves to calm down.

I have not seen my brother for a few months since he had come home to visit right before the new school year started. It was almost Halloween now, two months.

I have not seen my brother in two months and all though I won't admit it to my big-headed big brother, I missed him.

I miss the way we used to be when we were younger. He would sit with me at night so that I could fall asleep without being afraid of the dark.

He was just a very attentive brother until he wasn't.