It’s Almost Ruined by an Unexpected Arrival

It’s Almost Ruined by an Unexpected Arrival

The time had come for Zack, Chloe and Paris to head to Alfred’s, Monica wished him luck in his meeting with Heather and reminded Zack not to worry about his father tonight. Zack hugged his mother, her large breasts mashing against his chest before she kissed him on the cheek. Zack blushed as he pulled away and walked to his metallic blue sedan and left the driveway. Zack sighed, “Thanks for coming with you two, I don’t know if I could have handled this get together by myself.” Chloe rolled her eyes, “You would have been fine, but you know I will always be there to support you Zack.” Paris nodded in agreement, “We got your back Zack.” Zack chuckled as he kept his eyes on the road. The drive to Alfred’s wasn’t all that long and they arrived in a relatively short time.

Zack looked around the parking lot, to see if he could see Heather’s car. He spotted a car he thought looked like the car Heather had driven the other day with a spot open next to it. After parking Zack and the girls went into the building, waving to the friendly owner, Alfred Pryce. Looking around the three soon spotted Ashley waving at them excitedly. The three chuckled as they made their way over to Ashley, who was seated with Heather and Victoria. Heather and Vicky looked at the three friends and smiled, “Hey there guys!” Ashley was as bubbly as always, reminding Zack why most everyone liked Ashley. Vicky waved, being rather reserved as she usually seemed to be when in larger groups. Heather sat there, looking every bit the wealthy heiress, but rather than a smug, I am better than you, look she had a warm smile on her face as she beckoned them all to sit.

After everyone was seated Zack motioned to Chloe, “Just in case you don’t know this is Chloe McRose, my best friend since we were little.” Heather smiled, “It’s nice to finally meet you officially Chloe, of course we all know about your reputation on the soccer field.” Chloe blushed at Victoria’s vigorous nod of agreement, “I don’t know if you read the Speedy Scout but we write about you quite a bit after soccer games. You should let us do an interview this year since it’s senior year.” Chloe smiled awkwardly, “I-I’ll think about it.” Victoria beamed and Zack chuckled, “If Chloe does agree I suggest either you or Alice do it. I think Virgil might make her uncomfortable.” Vicky tilted her head, but nodded, “That wouldn’t be a problem, just let me know if you are up for an interview Chloe.” Chloe nodded shyly which surprised Heather, based on how she acted on the soccer field Heather assumed Chloe was more forceful and confident, but she didn’t want to pry after just meeting her.

Heather turned her attention back to Zack, “So, Vicky tells me you are going to do an interview with Miss Moreau for the opening edition of The Scout.” Zack blushed and nodded, “S-She didn’t seem too keen on the idea at first, but I somehow convinced her.” Heather smirked, “Oh, I am sure you did a great job of “convincing” her.” Zack’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head, before Ash lightly slapped Heather’s shoulder, “She is just teasing Zack. Her teasing and jokes are something you are going to have to get used to, Vicky still isn’t fully used to them yet.” Vicky huffed, “She has a good poker face, so it’s hard to tell when she is being serious half the time.” All of the teens laughed, but it was cut short by a new voice, “Well, well, well Ravers I never expected you to associate yourself with this rabble.”

The group of six looked over to see one of the worst two people at Azure Rocks High, in their opinion at least and they knew plenty of other students shared that opinion. Harrison “Harry” Cullen was 18 like the rest of them with short dark brown hair which could almost be called black and icy blue eyes. He was handsome and intelligent, but once one got past the outer layer they would see a condescending, disdainful and some might even say cruel human being. He was Zack’s cousin, Zack’s maternal aunt Madelyn having married Harry’s father Hendrik Cullen. Next to him was Heather’s rival on the cheer squad Naomi Collins, she had long brown hair, dark green eyes and smallish breasts. She could definitely turn heads, but like Harry her outer beauty hid a spiteful and petty bitch.

Heather glared at the two, “I guess they let anyone into Alfred’s these days. Wouldn’t you prefer to be brown nosing in the more ritzy establishments Cullen. Oh, by the way I think you got a little of that brown on your nose, you might want to wash that off.” Ashley and Vicky stifled giggles as Zack, Paris and Chloe held their breath. Zack had no idea why Harry looked at him with disdain, while Zack didn’t like his Aunt Madelyn’s uptightness, he still loved and respected her, even though he rarely saw her. He had no idea what had happened between his Aunt and her family to make her so distant, but that distance seemed to have given Harry the wrong idea, or at least that was what Zack had at first thought. After so many years in the same school, Zack now knew that Harry was just a self-aggrandizing prick. Zack did his best to shield Paris and Chloe since he was on the outside of the booth.

Harry glared at Heather, “Perhaps you should think about associating with more successful people, Ravers. People might start getting the wrong idea if they see you with this useless trash.” While Zack had gotten used to Harry’s disdain and tended to just let it go, Heather was not nearly as nice. The Ravers heiress scoffed, “What, do you mean people like you Cullen? Perhaps you should take your own advice and stop hanging out with this failure of a cheerleader, but I guess one of your friends is successful, Duncan is likely to be elected student council president, so I guess one out of 2 isn’t bad.” Harry held up his hand before Naomi could go off, he didn’t need the humiliation of being thrown out of Alfred’s because of one of Naomi’s outbursts. However, Heather continued before Harry could speak, “As for the people I associate with: Ashley turned down the co-captain position, Victoria is the editor of the school paper, Chloe is a star soccer player, I am sure Paris has some secret talent she is hiding and Zack is the new star reporter for The Speedy Scout who has already landed his first interview. So tell me again how the people I am hanging out with are failures, and even if they didn’t have those accolades I would still prefer to hang out with them over a prick like you.”

Heather gave her trademark smirk at Harry’s shocked expression, “We aren’t at school Cullen, so I don’t have to bite my tongue and play nice, so how about you take your bimbo and leave, or stay and have a burger, your choice. Either way, leave us alone and if I catch even a whiff of you trying to pull some shit on Zack or any of his friends, there will be hell to pay.” The look Heather gave Harry chilled even Zack to the bone and caused Harry to huff in an attempt to save face before he and Naomi retreated out of Alfred’s. Heather sighed and shook her head, but just as Zack opened his mouth to say something Heather stopped him, “First of all Zack I know you are a good guy, nice to a fault unless someone hurts someone you care about. I am not saying that is a bad thing, but in cases with people like Harry Cullen you need to show a little backbone, just like you did by trying to turn all of Harry’s disdain onto yourself, but I am not going to let that self-entitled little prick ruin our first night of our friend groups getting to know each other. So yes, I did need to do that and trust me what I said about playing nice at school was true, so I have been holding onto that for a while now and it feels good to get it off my chest.”

Zack blushed, “W-Well th-thanks, I don’t know what his problem is with me. I know my Aunt isn’t close to our family and can be uptight, but not to the extent where Harry would look at me with such disdain.” Chloe gently rubbed Zack’s back, knowing that he was likely feeling guilty for how he had treated Heather. Heather smiled as she seemed to recognize this, “Look Zack, don’t compare yourself to Harry over what happened with us. You were simply afraid of upsetting your parents and afraid I was like everything you feared. The difference is you and I are making the attempt to change that and you were and never have been a self-entitled prick. You are a better man than Harrison Cullen could ever hope to be.” Zack smiled awkwardly as both Ashley and Victoria nodded in agreement, Vicky’s agreement making Zack’s heart soar with hope. Heather clapped her hands, “Now that that is all over let’s say we get something to eat so we can officially get this evening started!”