i would already have you up under my arm *
Want to know about the ever-so-amazing Zeke? Well, my life is pretty simple, for one, but I do enjoy living it. You could say I really really enjoy it, and that I don't mind showing that off to others – maybe a little too much. I just call it
confidence. So, I'm the guy at the back of the class asking the stupid questions just to annoy the teacher and the one who seems 'fearless' with almost everything. Yeah. Pretty much.
Not only do I like my life, and show it off to others ('You conceited jerk', you say? What?) I guess I am a little up myself. A little selfish, you could say. No, I don't think I'm better than you. I know I'm better than you. Not at everything, of course, I'm not very good at some sports. But…we'll get to that later.
Having fun so far? I thought an intelligent human being like you would do, although reading all this probably isn't full on adrenaline-pumping-excitement. Well, I reckon I'm pretty smart as well. Not quite an A+ all the time student, but definitely close. I'd say I'm a little more street smart than book smart, but that's only a little bit. I think I'm pretty good in both areas, to be honest.
One thing I love is music. I can play guitar, drums and a little bit of keyboard pretty well, although the only time you'll find me singing is in the shower, if even then. I do want to continue with music throughout my life, it's one of the passions I have.
That, and running. It's my favourite – well, it's not really one – sport, and I go running each day if possible to keep fit. Sometimes, my little sister Maddie will come, after she's finished babbling on the phone to her friends. That's the basis of our sibling relationship, really (if you can get her angry, it's a really good run. Just saying.) At school I'm on the track team, which fills in some time as well.
You know how I said that I'm not very good at a lot of sports earlier? Course you do, I'm awesome. Well, let's just say I have a fear. Not many people know about it, and I feel like it's the stupidest fear of all – I'm afraid of getting hit by a ball (It doesn't have a name, it's that odd). It does sound quite ridiculous, but it's true. I hate all ball sports, because I hate getting knocked out and/or injured in the face. Seriously – I have looks to keep up.
If you do decide to throw a ball at me, don't expect any "Oh, that's okay, I forgive you. Let's go play baseball!" anytime soon after. I'm known to hold grudges with people in they really annoy me. I've held one grudge for several years. Yeah, that was when I was five and developed the un-named phobia. I must've been one grumpy little kid. Heh.
Although, if we go back to my positive side, I think you'll enjoy working with me. After all, I've found that I like to work under pressure, and can be patient. I'm not saying I'm a good leader, though I reckon I would be, but I can control myself, and I don't tend to get all panicky in sticky situations. That being said, I wouldn't like to go to war anytime soon (Gotta look after the face, you know…)
i used up all of my tricks, i hope that you like this *
Five Years OldGo, Zeke! Step up to the base!" My coach told me, his voice full of enthusiasm and encouragement as he ushered me towards to the home plate. I was only a little kid, and although the baseball bat was extremely light, it was still pretty big in my hands.
My coach gave a final push towards the base, before I was alone. It was kinda scary, although it was hardly a competitive game. I tried to remember all the stuff we'd been taught at practice, but all the adrenaline was pumping, so my memory wasn't that great. I could remember Coach telling me to just go for it, "Don't be scared of the ball, just think of it as a spider. It's probably more scared of you than you are of it," He said. Good joke, Coach.
I turned towards the crowd, noticing my parents on the benches. Mum grinned broadly and Dad gave me the thumbs up. I gave them a smile back, before turning back to the pitcher. I loved my parents; they were so supportive.
The pitcher was probably only my age, five, although he surely was a strongly built kid. He raised his arm to throw the ball, and I raised the bat as high as my skinny arms could. We were only a few metres apart, so I should've been able to get the ball pretty quickly, but as I swung the bat, it missed completely.
Strike One! Good try, buddy. Have another go." The umpire called, lowering his voice after the first sentence.
The pitcher threw the ball again.
Strike Two! It's alright. Almost all of you new. You'll get it next time." The umpire said. Yeah, because if the kid pitching was new, he wouldn't have thrown it hard. He did throw it quite hard, actually, and it was unfortunate that he'd decided to throw the ball quite hard at me. Also quite unfortunate that I'd decided to look over to Mum and Dad before the third throw. They were so distracting, beaming at me like I was some sort of superstar; I didn't realize what was going to happen until I saw the look on Mum's face transforming from happiness to worry.
As I turned to concentrate on the ball again, I hadn't realized that the pitcher had thrown the ball without me watching. And, like I said before, he'd decided to throw it quite hard. I forgot that I was holding a bat, and could've tried to hit the ball, and the ball hit me right between the eyes. Next thing I knew, I was on my back, laying on the ground.
When I did get up, boy did it hurt. I didn't think a ball as small as a baseball could hurt like that, but it did. I had a small graze on my forehead where it hit me, but other than that, there wasn't any blood. Lucky that; I didn't need anything else to be afraid of.
Nine Years Old
I'd never seen him so happy before. It was almost crazy. He came home at 8:30p.m., grinning from ear to ear, clutching a bunch of stapled together papers in his hand. It was obvious how confident he was – it showed in his posture – and it made me want to be like him; to be successful and proud.Dad had always loved his business, sometimes he loved it more than anything in the whole world (Apart from Maddie and I, of course), well, that's what he told us.
He pretty much bounded into the living room, where I was playing a board game with Mads, and Mum was watching some soap opera. It gave me such a fright; but then I laughed. He was just really excited.
I got the deal, Liv! I got the deal!" He exclaimed, giving Mum an over-timed hug. She looked pleased for him, and asked what was going to happen now.
Well, she looked that way, anyway. If I was a little more observant, I might've noticed the concern in her eyes. She didn't like Dad working all the time; and with this new business deal, he'd warned that he might've had to travel.
They went away into another room to talk about it, and Maddie and I – like we usually did during these situations – went to listen at the door, or as close to the door as possible without getting caught. Our parents' voices were muffled, though I could catch some of it. Why did they always have to talk so quietly to each other?
Most of the stuff was along the lines of, "They want me to go to New York for a week or so, next month…", "…but Zeke's guitar concert comes up in that week, you promised him you'd be there…" and "Don't worry, it's just one concert; I'll go to the one next year. Plus, he's nine. He'll get over it. This is a great opportunity, Olivia; I've got to go for it whilst it's there." I couldn't actually believe it then. My own father was standing me up for some business deal thing.
Maddie and I went back to our board game, almost silently, after that, and neither of us said a word about it to Mum or Dad. Especially not Dad. I was really annoyed with him after the concert ordeal; well, at least he taught me how to hold grudges.
Fourteen Years Old
Parks. Funny places, they are, filled with people and dogs and sports and just all over happiness. If any unicorns showed up, I honestly wouldn't be surprised. Sitting on a park bench, you begin to contemplate these kinds of things.
I was only waiting for a friend, Liam, so we could go hang out somewhere in town. This was our usual meeting place. With a glance at the time on my phone, my heart sank a little. Maybe I shouldn't have come so early. Contemplating random stuff that might happen was only entertaining for so long.
Funnily enough, the stuff that gets contemplated never seems to happen. But the stuff that doesn't actually has a possibility. Like, I never contemplated that some girl would walk over and sit next to me. But that happened. I also never contemplated that she might be really pretty in a sweet, naïve sorta way. But that happened, too.
I kinda gawked at her awkwardly for about five minutes as secretly as I could, because I noticed her looking back at me a couple of times. I could feel her blue eyes scan over me gently; first starting off with my messy brown hair (I hadn't brushed it that morning) to my graphic printed tee shirt and finally down to my dark jeans.
Well, that's a bit random. I gave her a sort of glare, but it came out all awkward and probably very weird. She noticed that, too, and suddenly went all red and opened her mouth a couple of times before actually speaking, "Oh, uh, sorry for, uh, staring. I, I just really like your shoes. They're pretty awesome."
This made me go red. Like, bright scarlet. I gave a small, nervous laugh, "Heh, thanks. I like your shirt, it's cool. I'm Zeke. Hi." All my words came out quite quickly, so probably sounded like "HethanilikyurshicooiZeke. Hi."
We actually had a good conversation for the fifteen minutes I was waiting for Liam to arrive, and exchanged numbers when I had to go. Tess was a really nice person, and we started seeing each other a little more every week. She also went to the school I went to, so it was a huge bonus. She was one of the best people I'd ever met.
Almost made me want to go find a unicorn, and hug it. But not quite; that'd be extremely awkward.
I contemplated it, though.
Fifteen Years Old
I'm sorry, Zeke, but I don't think I can handle a relationship at the moment." Those fifteen words have stuck in my head since that moment, like they've been glued to my brain. I couldn't actually believe that Tess, the girl of my dreams, wanted to break up. I wanted to open my mouth to tell her that she was wrong, and that I could lay off for a while if she needed. But still, my mouth seemed to want to stay shut. I just had to accept the fact that it was over, and move on.
So, it had only been a five month thing, but it was still five of the best months of my life so far. It made me feel kinda guilty for adding so much to the phone bill afterwards. But, I guess I should've seen I coming – it was bound to happen eventually.
We didn't really talk to each other after that, and unlucky for me, Dad seemed to be in love with his business deals and whatnot, so I couldn't really talk to him about anything. I don't think he even knew about Tessa.
I wandered around the house aimlessly for a while that afternoon, trying to find something to do. I could've always talked to Lottie, but she was out, and Maddie was too obsessed with herself to talk to either. Mum was at the supermarket, so she was out as well. It gave me some sudden urge to just run away, although I knew I'd come back later on when I got hungry.
I went to the office, where Dad was sitting in his chair, clicking away at some spreadsheet. Seriously? He ignored his kids most of the time to look at a bunch of lines? "I'm going out." I told him, and he glanced over at me.
Hey?
I'm going out." I repeated, more clearly this time. If I looked all reserved about it, he'd get all in a worry.
Out where?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. At least he cared about that.
Outside. You know, that place with the trees and grass? I'm going for a run." So, I was a little sarcastic there, but he'd know I was safe. I hoped that he would remember what a tree was as well – if he didn't, then I'd be the worried one. He turned back to his computer, nodding.
Okay. Just be back here in an hour. And don't talk to strangers." He told me bluntly, as if me going for a run was just another everyday thing. I gave him a short goodbye before leaving the house, shoving on my shoes halfway down the driveway. I just needed to get away from everything, really. Dad's last sentence still stayed in my mind. How old did he think I was? Well, at least he still cared. I think.
It turned into a habit within a few weeks, and eventually I ended up signing up for the track team. Just to clear my head. Maddie decided she needed to be 'fit' as well, although she was pretty much just skin and bone as it was.
Read Zeke's full story at

relations *
The people I call my best friends
Hunter
Hunt, you're my best friend, and always will be. I know I do get a little over protective of you sometimes, but that's just because I worry. You are pretty quiet after all, and it can be scary. Just keep being who you are though, you're a great guy and a great friend (:
Tayten
Honestly, I don't know why you have friends, tree hugger dude, but you're fun to hang around. That first part sounds mean, but you're just so... odd (in a good way, kinda like mysterious or something) I guess. Still, we're pretty good friends, when you don't criticize my recycling routines. (:
Charlie
Lottie/Charlie/C.J./Whatever you call yourself these days, I'm glad to have a crazy friend like you. Although you still can't get that one chord, I'd be happy to help you out. You're one of the people I know best, and - wait for it - I'm sorry if I've snobbed you a couple of times over the years. We're still buds, right?
Carlin
Carli, what to say about you? You're so random, especially when it comes to all of that lovey-dovey stuff. Here's one thing for sure, I'll never understand you. That's sort of a good thing in a way, because it makes you so interesting. (:
James
Well, James. If there is one word to describe our friendship, if it's even one of those, would be 'topsy-turvy'. Don't pretend like that's two words, because it's one. And I'm always right.
I guess things are pretty awkward sometimes, but we can get along, and we have had good times.
However, if you do happen to throw a ball at me, you'd better watch out. Trust me, you might be able to beat everyone on the soccer field, but you haven't raced against a track runner like me yet. }=D
Chloe
Chloe, let me just say this - I'm really really glad we're still friends, and I do sorta miss the good times we had. I know I haven't known you as long as other people have, but I still feel like I know a lot. That song wasn't a joke, and I can't believe I actually built up the courage to sing it to you. You've become one of my best friends over the years, and I'm grateful for that.
Want to see your character here? Don't hesitate to neomail Leafy/leafykinsxx
The people I try to keep away from
Want to see your character here? Don't hesitate to neomail Leafy/leafykinsxx
The girl I might just have a little crush on
Want to see your character here? Don't hesitate to neomail Leafy/leafykinsxx
The 'one
Want to see your character here? Don't hesitate to neomail Leafy/leafykinsxx