Chapter 10: A Day with
Zac
I wake up a little bit confused about where I am. And then I remember I am at Luke Parker’s house and I jump up excitedly. And then I remember about his secret girlfriend and I slump back down. And then get back up when I realize I have school. I get ready quickly and walk into the kitchen and see Luke already at the table.
“Hey, I made toast,” he says
. His head is down as he finishes some last minute homework.
“Thanks,” I say as I sit next to him.
We eat our breakfasts in silence and when we finish he packs up. “Come on, let’s go, we will be late.”
The radio blasts music all the way to school
. “I’m Glad You Came” by The Wanted comes on and Luke changes it.
“You don’t like that song?” I ask him.
“I like the song, I just don’t like them.”
“Why?”
“Zac hates them and the hatred rubbed off on me,” he explains lowering the volume.
“Well, why does he hate them?”
“I don’t know, why don’t you ask him today when you hang out with him?” He starts to crack up. “Just kidding don’t ask him. He will go off on a rampage that doesn’t make any sense. It’s hilarious though.” He continues to laugh and his laugh is contagious so I laugh too. “I guess Zac just doesn’t like that kind of poppy, boy-bandy music.” We arrive at school and get out of the car.
“Thanks for the ride,” I say.
“Don’t mention it,” Luke smiles. “Oh by the way, you are going home with Zac so meet him at spot B12 when school ends.”
I nod, “How will I get back to your place?”
“Around like, seven I will pick you up.”
“Gotcha, okay.”
We walk together in one direction towards the school which feels weird. Then once we step on campus we part. I find Jessica and Daisy at my locker.
“Hey, so how was night one of you two being roomies?” I ask forgetting about their fight.
Daisy rolls her eyes and Jessica sighs, “I’m sorry! But I really like him! Why can’t you be happy for me?”
“Be happy for you?”
Daisy scoffs. “It’s my brother I caught you making out with on my couch! I can’t get over that. And now since you guys are dating you’ll come over to my house to be with him, not me. I don’t think I can deal with it.”
“Then we won’t hang out at your house-.”
“You don’t get my point, do you?” Daisy laughs in a bitter way and walks away.
“Well, bye to you too!” I call after her. “What the heck happened
last night?”
“She wouldn’t talk to me all night.
And in the car this morning I tried to not be all lovey-dovey with Lance but he kept grabbing my hand and I think that just made her angrier.”
I sigh and the bell rings. I tell Jessica that she needs to make things better between her and Daisy fast because I do not want to be in the middle of this. We say bye and go to first period.
The lunch bell rings and I regretfully walk to our table.
Our table is crowded. Jessica and Daisy are as far from each other as possible, with Hayden, Zac, Nolan, Luke and Lance all squished in between them. There is just enough room for me to squeeze on the end next to Zac. Since when did the seniors sit with us?
Kelsey come
s into the cafeteria and sees that the table is totally full. Nolan shrugs at her to say sorry and she walks to another table.
“God,
Lance having a girlfriend makes him such a snooze. All he does is talk to her,” Hayden is saying. Lance and Jess ignore him because Lance is trying to steal fries off her plate and she keeps trying to stop him in a fake way that won’t actually stop him. Daisy looks like she might be sick. They are way too cutesy. Hayden sees me sit down and adds, “Maybe I should get a girlfriend.” He stares at me a little too obviously.
“Hello to you too
, Hayden,” I say.
“Hey it’s Jenna!”
Zac says. “Luke told you my parking spot, right?”
“Yup, he did.”
“Good.” He takes a bite of his mac & cheese. I shudder. Cafeteria food is nasty.
“So how was your night at
Luke’s? Anything fun happen?” Hayden winks.
“Yes actually,”
I respond. “We played videogames.”
“You like
videogames?” Nolan asks shocked.
“I love
videogames. What? Is that weird?”
“No, just usually girls don’t,”
Nolan shrugs.
“Jenna is good at them. She killed me in Black-Ops like 20 times,”
Luke laughs.
Nolan
and Zac smile and nod, approving.
“Yeah well actually that isn’t saying much, since
Luke isn’t the best gamer out there,” Zac starts.
“Hey!”
Luke yells.
“Sorry, but it’s true
. When you come over today we’ll play and then you can really put your skills to the test.”
Nolan
chimes in, “And when you come to my house tomorrow, you, Kelsey, and I can battle.”
I laugh, “I guess I am going to be playing a lot of video games this week.”
“On Saturday we won’t have time to play video games,” Hayden says.
“Why is that?” I question.
He lowers his voice and smirks, “We will be too busy doing other things.”
Zac
, Luke, and Nolan cough and I roll my eyes. “Right, sure Hayden.”
“Wait, why are you going to all of their houses this week?” Daisy asks.
“Because my master wants me to,” I say, nodding in Luke’s direction.
He laughs, “Because I feel bad that
they wanted her but I outbid them.”
Daisy rolls her eyes, “Hey, you guys aren’t going to be sitting with us everyday right? This is a one-time thing?” I see her glance at her brother and her best friend snuggling at the end of the table.
“Why are you so mean to us Daisy? We have known you since you were a little baby, running around naked except for your diapers,” Hayden says. All the boys laugh at the memory.
“That’s exactly why I hate you.”
The final bell rings and I walk to parking lot B. I count 12 spots and can’t believe my eyes at what is parked there. A big, black motorcycle with flames painted on the sides. I should have seen this coming.
“Have you ever ridden one before?” Zac asks me from behind, startling me.
“No, actually, I haven’t.”
“Oh, well that’s okay, you can just hold on to me,” he smiles and hands me a red helmet. “I brought this for you.”
“Thank you,” I smile. “I would hate for me to fall off and crack my head open
. That wouldn’t be attractive.”
Zac
laughs, “Just hold on to me and you won’t fall off,” he pulls on his leather jacket.
“So tell me do
all motorcyclists have to wear leather jackets while riding one?” I ask as he slides his leg over the bike.
“No, but it looks cooler,” he laughs at how stupid it sounds.
I nod, “That’s what I thought.”
I kick one leg over the
seat and wrap my arms around Zac’s waist. It felt weird but good at the same time.
“You nervous?”
Zac asks me.
“A little bit,” I admit.
“Awesome.” He revs the engine a couple times and we reverse out of the parking spot. He drives for about 15 minutes. The first ten minutes or so I can barely catch my breath. Then finally I start to relax and enjoy the ride and we pull up to a driveway.
“Are you okay? I could feel your heart pounding really fast the whole way,” he asks concerned, pulling off his silver helmet.
“Oh, yup I am all good,” I laugh. Wow, that’s embarrassing.
He laughs and I follow him into his house. Compared to
Luke’s it was a huge house. Two story and no porch. The inside was polished and clean. There was a big wooden stair case as you walked in. I followed him to the right, into the kitchen and dining area.
“Jenna, this is my mom, mom this is my friend Jenna,”
Zac introduces us.
A really pretty lady with dark hair shakes my hand, “Nice to meet you, I’m Patricia.”
“Nice to meet you too,” I smile.
“So what are you two up to?” she asks.
Zac shrugs, “Nothing mom, just hanging, playing video games.”
“Okay well have fun! But keep it PG please. I don’t want one of your sisters coming home
to see something I would block out on HBO!” she laughs.
“
Mom!” Zac yells.
“Oh did I embarrass you in front of your lady friend?”
“No not at all,” Zac says sarcastically. “C’mon,” he says grabbing my wrist and tugging me out of the room.
“It was nice to meet you,” I call laughing.
“You too dear!” she calls back.
Zac
shoves me into his room and I keep laughing so hard that I fall on his bed.
“It’s not funny!”
Zac yells at me. I keep laughing.
He sits down next to me and I finally catch my breath. I wipe my eyes and sigh, “Oh that was good.”
“Well, now that you have met my mom, time for some Black-Ops,” he rubs his hands together.
Two hours later, we near the end of our final match and I beat him pretty badly.
I say, “I thought you were supposed to be good at this?”
“Shut up!” he exclaims, tackling me on the bed. He pummels me with a pillow. I shove it back at him quickly and it catches him off guard. He falls on his back on the bed. We lay there laughing until finally we both can sit up. It get
s quiet and Zac and I look at each other. And then, next thing I realize is he is leaning forward, about to kiss me. I quickly lean back and he jumps back and looks at me sadly.
“I am sorry,” I say
my eyes unable to meet his. “But, I can’t.”
He nods slowly, “I understand.
I was hoping I was wrong but I know you have feelings for Luke.”
“What?”
“Don’t deny it,” he smiles. “I can tell by the way you look at him.”
Uh-oh. “Does
Luke know?”
“Of course not,” he shakes his head. “If someone likes you, you
are always the last to know and everybody else will figure it out first.”
“Wait are you talking about just me?
“Well not just you. I mean if one person likes another person, the person who is liked is the last to know.”
“That’s true isn’t it?” I ask laughing.
“Yes. Like how you probably don’t know that I like you a lot. And so does Hayden.”
I am speechless. “No
Hayden just wants me because I’m the Last Girl.”
“Maybe,” he nods. “But, he also has developed some feelings for you. And they won’t go away until he gets you.”
I sigh, “Great.”
“I’m sorry I tried to kiss you. It was out of line.”
“No, I’m sorry I moved away.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I understand. You aren’t the first girl I have been rejected by.”
“Who else has rejected the amazing Zac Madison?” I ask intrigued.
“Too many to say,” he smiles.
I grab his arm and look at his watch. “It’s only 5:30. We’ve got plenty of time.”
He sighs and we talk about everything. His past rejections and girlfriends, his past years at high school, how he met the boys, his first kiss. We would sometimes go
off on tangents as well. It was fun and funny and the next hours went by in a flash. At seven I get a text from Luke saying he is here to pick me up.
Zac
walks me to the door.
“Thanks
Zac, I had a lot of fun,” I smile and hug him.
He wraps his arms around my neck, “Me too, we should do this again.”
“We should,” I say, and I stand up on my tip-toes and kiss him softly on the cheek. “Bye.”
I turn and walk out the door as I hear him whisper behind me, “Bye, Jenna.”
Chapter 11: A Day with Nolan
Luke and I both sleep through our alarms the next morning. Forty minutes before school starts, around the time we are supposed to leave, he barges in my room, or his sister’s room, in a panic.
“Jenna! Wake up! We slept in!” he yells turning on the lights. We rush to get dressed and skip breakfast. Ten minutes later we are on our way to school.
“We must have stayed up too late last night, huh?” I laugh and he nods. We stayed up until two in the morning watching funny videos on YouTube. We get to school and I have no time to find Daisy and Jessica, not that I wanted to. They would just not talk to each other the whole time.
“What class do you have?”
Luke asks.
“English.”
“Cool me too, we can walk together.”
I get butterflies in my stomach. He just said we can walk together. Wait, why am I freaking out about this? I spent all night with him hanging out!
“So who’s your teacher?” he asks me.
“Mr. Bribe.”
“Oh! I loved Mr. Bribe! He was so amazing!” Luke smiles.
“I know! He is so funny, he is one of my favorite teachers,” I agree with him.
“Aw, I miss him. Compared to AP Literature, his class was a breeze.”
“You’re taking AP Lit?” I ask looking up at him.
“Yeah,” he laughs, “Not doing too well in it but I like English.”
“That’s cool. I love to write,” I say as we enter the gloomy hallway.
“Like what?” he asks. That when I start to notice people looking at us. I mean, since the Slave Auction people usually look at me with hatred when I walk by. But now people were looking up from their conversations with jealousy, not hate. Luke notices too and says, “Just ignore them. People are stupid.”
I don’t know if he realizes that they are looking at me because I was with him or if he thinks it was because of the auction as usual. “I like to write fiction.”
“That’s cool. Well here’s my class. I will see you later tonight, okay? Meet Nolan at the flagpole in front of the school, he walks home.” Luke says as he opens his classroom door. I nod and say bye.
Two boring class periods go by and then it is time for lunch. I make my way to the lunch area. I was excited to sit with the boys again, they were fun.
As I am about to enter the courtyard, I run into Daisy leaving, “Hey, what-?”
She grabs my wrist and pulls me into the other direction, “I can’t take it anymore, let’s eat in the library.”
“But-
” I pull away.
She turns around and glares at me, “Come on, Jenna! I sat in the library with you before the auction!”
I sigh. She was right. I look back at our table and see them all there laughing. I envision Luke looking over at me winking and gesturing for me to come sit next to him, the wink reminds me of Hayden and his face pops into my mind. God damn it, Hayden, ruining my daydreams.
Even though I don’t want to, I follow Daisy to the library and we eat silently.
School ends and I walk to the front
, running into Zac on the way.
“Hey, Jenna,” he says catching up to me.
“Hey, Zachy,” I say jokingly.
“
Zachy?”
“
Uh, yeah. I don’t know how that just popped into my head. Just ignore that. So what’s up?” I change the subject.
Zac
laughs, “You’re so weird but it’s cute,” I feel myself blush. “When do you think you can hang out again?”
I shrug, “I don’t know.
Luke has got me booked until Tuesday. And then there is the second auction where I probably will be stuck with Hayden for a week, but after that then I can for sure.”
He looks at me
strangely and says, “Oh come on, Hayden isn’t that bad.”
I look at him wide-eyed, “Are you kidding?”
He laughs again, “Okay well if you don’t want to stay with him that badly I can try to outbid him. But he has a lot more money than me so I don’t know if I will be able to.”
“Aw, thanks
Zac. But you don’t have to waste money on me.”
“It’s not a waste, but I’m sorry I can’t beat him,” he sighs.
I laugh, “It’s okay,” I feel the urge to give him a kiss on the cheek but restrain myself. I see Kelsey at the flagpole.
“I have to go, I will talk to you later
,” I say to him.
He nods bye and walks away. I walk to Kelsey, “Hey!”
“Hey!” she says jumping up and down. “I hear you are hanging with me and Nolan today.”
I nod, “Just until seven.”
“Cool!”
“So
how has it been, living with Nolan Hanson?” I ask leaning against the wall surrounding the large metal flagpole.
“Really fun actually,” she smiles.
“Really? He hasn’t tried anything with you?”
She rolls her eyes, “Oh, I hate those stupid rumors about the Slave Auction. That the guys try to hook up with the girls all the time. They actually don’t.
Nolan is a really nice guy, most of them are.”
Hayden
flashes into my mind. If that was true then why does he make all those creepy ass comments?
Nolan
joins us, “Hey ladies.”
Kelsey laughs, “Hey
Nolan.”
He starts walking up the hill and we follow. “
Where were you at lunch today, Jenna? Everyone missed you.”
I feel warm inside. Everyone missed me? “Aw, how sweet. I had to sit in the library with Daisy. She can’t stand to see Jessica and
Lance together.”
“Oh yeah,
Lance told us how she won’t talk to either of them at home. It must be hard for her to see them together,” Nolan says glumly.
“It is,” I agree.
“I’m a little in the dark here,” Kelsey says. “Mind filling me in?”
Nolan
looks at me so I say, “Daisy’s best friend is dating her brother and let’s just say she isn’t too happy about it.”
“
Oh, Jessica and Lance! Everyone is talking about them.”
Nolan
looks at me surprised, “Everyone?”
“Yeah,” Kelsey nods. “All the freshman anyway.”
“What do they say?” I ask.
She pauses, “Not the nicest things.”
We continue to walk up hill for 20 minutes and I wonder what everyone is saying about Jessica. We finally arrive at a house the same size as Zac’s. It looks similar to Zac’s actually. Same layout just different furniture and colors. Nolan says that his parents are at work so it was just us. We instantly go to his bedroom and he hands us each game remotes. “You weren’t kidding? We are actually playing?”
“Of course,”
Nolan smiles and turns on the system. “I’m scared to though. Zac always beats me and he said that you crushed him.”
“I did crush him. And then he attacked me with a pillow because of it,” I smile recalling the memory, and Kelsey and
Nolan laugh.
“Well hopefully it won’t come to that today,”
Nolan smiles and starts the game. “But I make no promises. It might really hurt my self esteem if you win.”
An hour later and
Nolan is already over the game. I beat him and Kelsey. I am kind of offended that they think that they will be better than me because I am girl. I like to prove them wrong.
“What made you so good at video games?”
Nolan asks shutting down the system.
“My dad is a huge gamer so when I was little he would make me play with him all the time.”
“Lucky! I wish my dad made me play video games,” Nolan wines.
“What is up with guys and videogames?” Kelsey asks me. I shrug.
“I don’t know either, just something about them is so addicting.”
I start to leave the room, “Okay well, I’m going to use the restroom real quick.”
“Okay have fun,” Nolan says.
I stop where I am standing and look at him, “Who has fun in bathrooms?”
“Well,” Nolan says blushing, “I am sure some people have fun in bathrooms.”
Kelsey smacks him on the arm and I laugh, “I am glad you did that Kelsey, because if you didn’t I was about to. What a weird ass thing to say
.”
Kelsey and
Nolan laugh. I leave and go to the restroom. I didn’t even need to use it, I just wanted a break. I really wish I could be at Luke’s right now, even if he has a secret girl friend he won’t tell me about. All last night I tried to get him to open up and tell me about her, just to see if I was right, but he never did. I will eventually. I fix my hair in the mirror and breathe. I make my way back to ‘Nolan’s room and walk into see him and Kelsey smacking lips on his bed. Quite intensely, I might add. I slowly back out of the room, keeping as quiet as possible. I definitely did not see that coming. Well, there goes Luke’s plan of making Nolan start to like me.
I wondered if I was with
Luke right now, would we be doing anything like that? Or would we be searching cat videos on the internet? Then I remember he might have a secret girlfriend. After a few more minutes of me waiting for them to finish, I realize that they were showing no signs of stopping any time soon. I think of Zac’s mom and decide to have a little bit of fun with this situation.
I pound on the door, “Hey sorry to interrupt but I’ve been waiting a while and I am getting bored.”
Kelsey and Nolan pull away from each other and blush. I sit in between them and grab the television remote, “Let’s see what is on T.V. shall we?”
Seven rolls around and I say thank you and bye to Nolan and Kelsey. Nothing nearly as fun happened like it did with Zac. I get into Luke’s car and he starts to drive, “So how did it go?” he asks.
“Well I do not think
Nolan will bid on me at the second auction, that’s for sure.”
“What happened?”
Luke asks glancing over at me.
“I walked in on him and Kelsey making out.”
He flinches and then laughs, “How pleasant.”
I laugh, “
Well good news! Zac said he will try to save me from Hayden.”
“Well that’s good! See, the plan worked!”
“Half of it,” I sigh.
“So what do you want to do tonight?” he asks.
“I actually have a lot of homework I need to do.”
“Want some help?”
“You want to help me do homework?” I ask laughing.
“Not really,” he smiles.
“Then you don’t have to.”
“Good,” he says wiping his brow, “I barely passed the first time.”
I finish my homework at around ten and am really not tired enough to go to sleep. I knock on
Luke’s door, “You still awake?” I whisper.
“Yeah,” he whispers.
I open the door and sit on the edge of his bed, “What’cha doin’?”
“Watching a movie,” he says as he stares at the screen of his laptop.
“What movie?” I ask trying to peer over the screen.
“21 Jump Street.”
“Oh, I love that movie, it is hilarious.”
“You want to watch it with me?” he starts to adjust the pillows next to him and makes room for me.
“Yay! Movie night,” I jump up and sit beside him.
We watch the movie and at some parts it got pretty awkward because it was really dirty and
there was a lot of talk about sex in it. But he would laugh really hard and that would make me laugh. I don’t think I have ever laughed that much at a movie.
Half way through though,
Luke dozes off and his head falls on my shoulder. At first I am pretty shocked, but then I relax. It felt right us lying there together, even if he was unconscious. I feel this urge to kiss him, I mean, the past two days all I have been seeing is people making out. It just makes me think more about Luke and me. I can’t kiss him right now when he is asleep! That is so creepy. But maybe if I kiss him on the cheek? Oh, what the hell.
I bend down and peck his cheek. I feel weird after, I don’t know why I felt the need to do that so much. Like I expected him to wake up and be madly in love with me or to feel magical fireworks.
When the movie ends, I shut off his computer and try to get up without waking him. I soon realize that there is no possible way I can, so I make myself comfortable. I lay my head on top of his and stretch my legs out. Like this, I fall asleep.