They talk about Victoria

Once they were seated near the dock’s edge with only a small table between them, Zack and Ashley glanced at each other, both looking like they had something to say.

“I have something that I want to ask you,” He said, beating her to the punch. “It’s about Victoria.”

Ashley raised an eyebrow, wondering if he had made a choice and wanted to ask her stuff about her best friend. “What about her?”

“Gavin told me a story this morning, on how Chloe got her problems with her body,” Zack began. “Turns out it was Victoria who gave her those issues by saying something hurtful about her chest.”

The blonde frowned, surprised at the unexpected reveal. Although, knowing Victoria, she had a pretty good idea of what had happened. “When did it happen, Zack?”

“According to Gavin, it was about,” Zack trailed, trying to remember the exact number. “Seven years ago, I think, we were all eleven.”

“I know what happened,” Ashley smiled. “One thing you need to know about Vicky is that her parents pressure her to be the best in everything since she was a little kid, that’s why she has the highest grades amongst us, along with Gavin.”

It was Zack’s turn to frown. “I don’t get it,” He said. “How does it have a connection to the thing with Chloe?”

“Look, when we were about eight years old, being too smart started getting to Vicky’s head and she began to make fun of the other kids,” Ashley recalled. “What I think that happened was that Vicky somehow got jealous of the size of Chloe’s breasts and lashed out at her.”

“Strange,” Zack chimed in. “She never seemed like that to me.”

“She began to get better when we were thirteen,” Ashley clarified and then chuckled. “Although she still does get a little cranky whenever someone gets a higher grade than her in school, remember two weeks ago when Heather got that A in Literature?”

Zack laughed. “Yeah, that was really funny.”

The two of them laughed for a few moments before Ashley got a serious expression when she remembered the reason she had pulled Zack aside in the first place.

“Zack,” She began and paused, as a way to get his attention. “I need to talk to you about Victoria and Heather.”

The young man gave a faint smile. “I was wondering when you’d come to talk to me about that.” He said, nervously.

“Look, I don’t wanna fight you or pressure you to anything, but,” The blonde tried to reassure him. “They’re my best friends and I don’t want to see either of them getting hurt.”

“I don’t want too, it would kill me to see them get hurt, especially by me,” Zack said. “It’s just that I have to be careful to not end up making the wrong decision.”

A small smile formed on Ashley’s lips. “Don’t take too long, Zack,” She advised. “They won’t wait forever and then you’re the one who’ll get hurt.”

Zack threw a grateful smile at the blonde. He thought about asking her about Brandon in his behalf, but a loud voice coming from below startled both of them.

“Hey, little kid number one and little kid number two!”

“It can’t be.” Mumbled Ashley, looking down the rails only to see her older sister Hannah cackling madly and Zack’s sister Taylor stifling a laugh.

“You said you were coming tomorrow!” Ashley stated, getting up and rushing to the flight of stairs that would lead her to the ground.

“Correction, I said that we could come today or tomorrow,” A still laughing Hannah said. “Turns up we came today.”

Ashley grinned. “I’m glad you did.” She then hugged her sister as Zack sidled up to them.

“Hey,” He greeted his sister, hugging her as well. “Had a good trip?”

“What?” Hannah turned to the Bishop siblings. “You don’t see us for, like, three days and all you can ask is if we had a good trip? Really, Zachary?”

Zack smiled, catching her playful tone. Not so long ago, he would have turned into a Gavin-like stuttering mess just by being near Hannah, but now that he grew up and moved on to more realistic targets, he found out that he could feel quite at ease around the sexy older blonde.

“Sorry,” He said, clearing up his throat. “Oh, I think I’m gonna cry, I couldn’t sleep at night thinking about the moment you two would show up, that’s how much I missed you. Better now?”

The three girls watched his act with gaped mouths and when he finished, all three almost fell to the floor laughing. It took a couple minutes before the laughs subsided. Zack observed them with a fond smile on his face.

“Glad to see I can amuse everyone.” He said, crossing his arms.

Hannah smirked and pinched his cheek. “Of course, you’re our little clown.” She said in a baby voice.

“Alright, let’s stop harassing my poor little brother,” Taylor intervened. “That’s my job.”

“You’re no fun.” Hannah stuck out her tongue playfully.

“Speaking of older sisters’ jobs,” Ashley piped in. “I need to talk to you, like, right now.”

Hannah raised an eyebrow. “Sure,” She said. “Let’s go there by the lake.”

The Bishops observed the two of them walk away for a few moments before Taylor turned back to her brother with a curious look on her face.