our long game | josh matthews

karate and photography

"What, is there a fabric shortage at your school?" jessie asked her

"you let sophie wear what she wants" emma brought up

"and sophie's also a senior in high school" i spoke in third person

"No, you are gonna go back upstairs and change before I count to three." jessie said and emma didn't move "Okay, I'm gonna count now. "Here comes the counting." she trailed off not counting

"One." zuri whispered to jessie from behind as her ravi luke and bertram cowered by the fridge

"Yeah, I know." jessie muttered as zuri backed up "One. Two. Two and three-quarters. Three!" she finished

"She's never gotten to three before. What happens now?" zuri asked us

"I always assumed some kind of explosion." luke said looking around

"Must. Not. Hurt. Kids." jessie grunted as she picked up a metal spoon bending it in half and my younger siblings all screamed and ran upstairs

"George Spoony!" bertram cries grabbing the spoon

"Okay, Emma? I need you to go upstairs and change into something a little more... More." jessie said with a shaky voice holding her composure

"Fine. I'll go change into a snow suit." emma somewhat agreed and stormed upstairs

"Good! Maybe you'll sweat out whatever's gotten into you!" jessie seethed taking a few breaths

"Ok, um look at that Cassie and Kallie are downstairs... bye." i said awkwardly and headed for the elevator grabbing my bag

later that day i came home a little later then my siblings leaving ravi to ride up with emma who was still in a mood

i hung out with cassie and kallie to get pictures with them for my project and when i did get home surprisingly it was a calm sight

i went up to my room to see emma in my jewelry box and my closet wide open "emma! what are you doing?" i asked

"looking for your silver necklace." she told me still digging "you mean the one on my neck? i told you, you can't wear it." i said and she slammed the box closed

"fine. where are your black doc martens?" she asked "i didn't hear a please. so no." i told her and she scoffed storming out

~~~~~
the next day i sat in the park where zuri was having her belt test and i grabbed a smoothie while my camera hung off my neck

i sat in my phone texting josh until i heard voices behind me "soph, what are you doing here?" i turned to see luke and ravi

"getting pictures for my project." i said snapping a picture of the two who blinked a few times after the flash went off

"wow that's bright." ravi said as they rubbed their eyes and we turned to the belt competition

as we watched her hand shook and she ran away and luke went after her and ravi sat next to me but he flinched "you alright rav?" i asked and he nodded

"yeah my belly button pricing just hurts." he told me and i raised a brow "why on earth would you do that?" i asked

"cause i feel like no one's paying attention to me, jessie and bertram have been so focused on emma i feel like i don't exist." he told me and i sighed setting my camera aside

"so you felt like you had to be a 'bad boy'" i asked and he nodded "ravi your don't have to be a bad boy to get attention. you'll be getting bad attention. plus we all love the good, smart ravi." i told him making him smile

"i have an idea. after this competition we can go do whatever you want." i said and he thought for a moment "can we go visit mrs kipplings baby's at the sanctuary?" he asked

"of course." i nodded and he hugged my and after we pulled away zuri ran over to the board pushing a blind girl away

she took a breath and broke the board as i snapped a picture and everyone applauded

she then ran over breaking the bench behind her as i got a picture of that and her getting handed her yellow belt

but she scared her whole class and her teacher who gave her all the belts and his wallet who ran away after

she came over to us with a smile and turned to luke with a smile "who's the chicken now?" she asked

"i knew you could do it." he said hugging her and i turned to flash off my camera as i took a picture

"you did? but you called me a chicken"

"a good sensei knows how to motivate his student. i just needed to get you angry enough to forget how scared you were"

"thank you sensei, it has been a honor to learn from you." she said as they both bow'd

"congrats zuri. i would like to give you a high five but i'm afraid you'll chop my hand clean off, and it is difficult to play chess with a hook." ravi told us making us laugh

"im proud of you z." i told her hugging her "now pose for my project." i said and stood back as she posed "wait- is your flash off?" she asked and i chuckled "yes."

she nodded and posed again and i took a picture of her then her and luke then her luke and ravi

~~~~~
when emma and jessie got home we all went to ice cream and i finished off my project with a picture of all of us with our ice cream