Is it really worth it?

Masie stares at the text message before calling Sarah, worry etching her thoughts.

Ring.... ring.... 

"Masie?" Sarah asks. 

"Yes? Are you okay? Why'd you want me to call you?" Masie asks, leaning back into her pillow. 

"I just found the hottest man on planet Earth, I swear." Sarah says, a hint of excitement heard over the phone. Masie chuckles. 

"Do you have a picture of him or something?" Masie asks, interest flickering in her thoughts.

"Oh my gosh, yes!!! I have too many to count already. How many do you need? Do you need cute or handsome? Submissive or dominant? I have varieties of pictures of this man." Sarah says, giggling in her last few sentences between words. 

"Hm... how about dominant but cute?" Masie answers, looking at her nails as she goes to the messages app, the call still going on. She notices as a picture loads from Sarah. Masie's jaw drops, her eyes going wide. 

"Oh.. my.." Masie swallows hard. In front of her had to be the most intriguing man she had ever seem.

Knock, knock, slam!

Masie's jaw drops even lower as she looks at the wall. Hold up, did the ghost find him attractive to? Masie stares at the man's wide shoulders, and partially fit stomach. It was fit but comfortable to cuddle as it seems, strong and firm hands. Masie stares at the leather pants sinched around the guy's waist, and the cute expression on his face. 

"So.. what do you think?" Sarah asks, cooing like a baby over the phone. It takes Masie a minute to get her voice back, but she answers. 

"He looks.. really.. really nice." Masie says, a small giggle escaping her mouth as she keeps looking at the photo. 

"I'll leave you to fangirl, but here's something you should know." Sarah says. Masie listens for what Sarah needs to say. 

"That is Matthew's cousin, and he's coming to our school." Sarah says, bursting out in laughter and ending the call. Masie's jaw goes back to it's dropped state. 

Matthew's cousin? Oh my gosh. To our school? Masie cups her mouth in shock as she keeps staring at the picture, her eyes traveling over every inch of the man. Somehow, she seemed reluctant to add this as problem 2. Was it really worth it?

'Snap out of it, Masie. This is absolutely a problem.' Masie's inner dialogue reminds her. Masie only sighs and opens her notebook up again, and begins to write.

'Problem 2.

Matthew's cousin is coming to the school. Totally hot, but this doesn't mean no trouble because Matthew's also cute, and Matthew's a fighting, troublemaker machine.

1) Matthew's cousin could also be a jerk and we'll have 2 people to worry about

2) Abby gets interested in him instead and Matthew finds out, making him and his cousin enemies, causing even more ruckus.

3) The guy gets with Sarah for some reason and Matthew doesn't like it because Abby's said something bad about her and I already.'

Masie couldn't find anything else to write about him since she didn't know much about the guy. But she knew she would have a page full of information about him whether she liked it or not.

...................................................................................................

Looking back at the fight she witnessed earlier, Masie decides to practice the moves the girls did. All she saw the 2 men do was throw rocks, and that won't be enough if she wants to learn some fighting skills to deal with the jerks at school, or anywhere else. The world wasn't pretty, really.

....................................................................................................

Finishing up the book she was assigned, Masie's face lights up. The book was so troublesome to her, those 567 pages. Her class had been assigned it on Wednesday. Though it was fast to be reading 567 pages in such a short time for others, Masie was partly disappointed in herself. She had always had a huge talent in reading, writing, or talking quickly and understanding most of the information in it, and she felt like she hadn't read it fast enough this time. But she was done with the book, so she didn't quite listen to her thoughts at the moment. 

"Masie! Do you want to come look at some old photos of grandpa?" Masie hears her dad asking from downstairs. Contemplating it, but agreeing, Masie was quick to respond. 

"Sure!" answers, getting up from her bed and walking down to her dad. On the table laid some old printed out photos, thin layers of dust covering them. Masie blew on them gently, careful to not damage or bend anything. Looking at one photo in particular of her dad and her grandpa on a hiking trip, a little interest sparks in her. She recognized that place. Her family went camping there every single year, and it was by far the thing she always dreaded. Of course, she loved the memories, but the hike made her lungs feel out of air, and her head always felt like a drum was beating inside of it when they reach the campground. It takes multiple miles of hiking up and down mountains and hills to reach the area with good views. Was this why her family did it every year?

Looking at another one, it was of her and her grandpa on a chair, baby Masie giggling with her eyes closed as grandpa's mouth was open as if he was saying something about me. It was a bit blurred, like the person taking it was shaking slightly. Remembering the audio she listened to of grandpa in front of the school, realization struck her. Her brother must have taken this photo while her dad recorded the audio. A smile tugs at Masie's lips as she knew she had such a special moment to remember not just by photos but by audio. She knew not every family had such luck, and she would treasure such a chance greatly. 

"Look at this one." Masie hears her father say. She look over, and notices that it was her dad and grandpa fishing. Masie laughs as she notices her father's young and disgusted face. 

"I had to hold the slimy fish with my own hands. It was pretty bloody, too." Masie's father says, grimacing at the photo. Masie even hears a little tap upstairs as if the entity found the situation hilarious as well. The conversation between daughter and father was cut short when her mother asked for Masie's father to help with some random thing from work. Masie sighed. Her mother liked spending time with her dad, for help or fun. It made Masie happy knowing that they were at least happy with each other right now. 

Looking through photos over and over again, she realizes how much her grandpa was a family man. Always posing, laughing, or just in general holding or pulling a family member close was 9 out of 10 times usually happening in the photos. A trace of mourning enters her heart but leaves again as another cheerful photo is looked at. Masie felt like she was floating somewhere in her life, and nothing would happen now. She felt like she knew everything would be okay. Deep down, Masie knew that wasn't true, but she took the feeling happily to at least savor it while she wasn't in the thick of whatever was going to happen.