Z

“What the fuck are you two doing…”

Both boys looked over at the doorway to see the tall Asian boy standing there with his mouth wide open, shocked at what he was seeing.

Z’s room was in the same hall so when he saw the lights on in here while knowing Dixon was outside, he had to check what was happening. The cousins inside both had different reactions. Mark was instantly worried about where this could lead to while Jackson just tried to work out who this was.

“Getting justice…” Jackson explained, continued to search Dixon’s room.

“We can explain,” Mark said, putting his hands up, “Just please don’t tell Dixon.”

Z started to inspect the doorway and the broken door, the lock completely ruined, “You broke in? Now you’re stealing 400 dollars worth of coke, What’s there to explain?”

“He’s a fucking ****,” Jackson called out without hesitation, “I don’t care what happens to his stupid door.”

“I know, I know, but…” Z started to speak until he realised what he had just done.

“Wait? What? You know what he’s done?” Mark started to question him.

It was accidental slip of the tongue but Z had blown his cover about the fact that he knew what he had done to Maple and probably other girls too.

The Asian boy held his lips shut, realising it was better just to come clean.

“Look I saw what happened to your blonde friend,” he admitted, “I was there that night, I know what he did.”

Mark had flashbacks to the night in question and how he saw Z with Macca and two other girls smoking outside of the Eagle Nest. At some stage that night, he must have been outside and witnessed what went down.

“Dude, you’re the witness we’ve been looking for?!” Mark exclaimed, “We can put this guy behind bars with your help.”

Jackson had joined them at the door after hearing their conversation.

However, Z hesitantly took a step backwards, “I… I… I can’t.”

“Come on man, grow a pair, why are you protecting a fucking ****,” Jackson piped up.

“He’s had a tough life, I’ve known him for a long time… he’s dad beat him as a child and he still does it now,” Z explained, giving them a bit of an idea about the guy’s background history.

This didn’t change anything. Although he may be right about Dixon’s home life, it didn’t change what a terrible person he had become, thinking he had the right to treat people like dirt, especially women.

“Look… I won’t tell Dixon what you’ve done here tonight and we’ll call it even but I’m not going to the cops.” Z said before stepping backwards out of the room and leaving them to do whatever else they wanted to his personal living area.

It wasn’t the response they were looking for but at least they had an opening now.

Could they somehow convince Z to testify for Maple?