Uncertainty and Confusion

Still recovering from the shock of seeing Jennifer there, Zachary kept his cool as the Azure Nobles observed a grinning Harrison Cullen entering the dining hall behind the other teenagers. His maternal cousin that a lot of people at Azure Rocks High disliked with a passion. The same couldn’t be said about his teammates, though.

“What the hell that fucking idiot is doing here?!” Heather shook Zack’s arm, frantically whispering. “I thought only one team per town was allowed!”

“Well, do you recognize any of the people with him?” Grace jabbed.

“Shh, calm down, they’re still talking,” Ashley gestured at Heather from her seat at Zack’s other side.

Zack’s attention was mostly aimed at the beautiful white-haired girl that looked like the leader of that group as Tish Hardaway began introducing the team captains. She and her husband had explained that the new team was acting as a substitute to the Blackbridge group who couldn’t come for some reason, but explained very little of what was going on there.

“I want to know how she got such a diverse group,” Zack muttered. “I mean, with Harry there, we can surmise not every team member comes from the same city.”

“Check out the reactions at the other tables,” Ashley said, quite used to observing people’s expressions for her matchmaking schemes. “Some of them look as angry and shocked as we do.”

“Think white-haired chick pulled a pain in the ass from each town?” Heather inquired, already realizing how she could check out the information with someone she knew in that hall.

Madison nodded as Zack got called by Tish and had to stand up and wave. “Yeah, looks like it. I can see the glares and sneers,” the brunette said, frowning deeply. Grace just scowled, her parents were friends with Harrison’s, and every once in a while she got subjected to the displeasure of having to socially interact with him.

“Here comes Jennifer,” Gavin said as a way of getting his friends to stop talking about Harrison Cullen. He absolutely didn’t want to remember the times Zack’s cousin made fun of him, not in Wicket Valley of all places.

“Oh, right,” Zack grinned widely as his former babysitter walked over to their table with a playful smirk on her freckled face.

“Surprise!” Jennifer White bellowed before throwing her arms around the boy, her large breasts pressing against his chest. Zack felt her shapely form as he hugged her back, blonde hair covering his face while the young man cursed his horny dick again.

“Dammit, Jennifer!” He laughed, pulling back so he could see her clear-blue eyes. “So this is why you didn’t answer any of my calls for the entire month?”

The 24-year-old chuckled, releasing her. “Pretty much, mister, couldn’t let you talk me into coughing up sensitive information, you know?” She told him, moving over to hug Heather as well. She had saved the brunette heiress in the woods a few years before, when she worked as a park ranger in a town near Azure Rocks. Now a cop in her hometown, she had been Zack’s babysitter and neighbor for a few years, back when he was approaching puberty.

Together with Hannah, the two stacked, mischievous blondes had been Zack’s legendary crushes for a long time. Still were in several ways.

“Alright, I can’t stay, duty calls,” Jennifer said, glancing at Tish Hardaway near the front of the room. “I just wanted to greet you guys,” she said, her gaze scanning the table before she waved. “But we can find some time to chat over the week, I’m sure of it. Bye!”

Just as fast as she came, the athletic woman left, and Zack enjoyed the sight of her toned ass in the snug jeans she was wearing.

Heather grinned at a young man across the dining hall and leaned in toward Ashley and Madison. “So, Peter Grayson from Redwater is here,” she said in a sing-song tone, smirking at the shocked expression on Ashley and the confused one in Madison’s face.

“Who?” The hazel-eyed brunette inquired.

Ashley turned in the direction where the Redwater table was located. “Peter Grayson is a guy Heather had some… passionate… flings with in the past,” she informed their fellow cheerleader who had never heard about the story. “The blonde one?” She smiled conspiratorially at her busty friend.

“Yep,” Heather nodded, looking in the same direction and letting out an amused snort. “Makes sense he’d be in a team full of girls.”

“Kinda cute,” Madison said, even though she preferred guys more like Zack.

“You’re gonna go talk to him?” Ashley inquired, giggling.

Heather’s trademark smirk was in full **** as she stood up. “Well, what do you think?” She asked while walking purposefully across the room toward the Redwater table. Besides a reunion with Peter, she fully intended to ask him if he knew anyone in the white-haired girl’s team, just to see if she could confirm her theory.

Madison regarded Zack as he shared a whispered conversation with Gavin and let out a sigh. “Alright, I think I’m gonna go check out the place,” she told Ashley, and then disappeared amidst the crowd that was starting to form in the hall.

A minute passed until Zack ended the chat with his best male friend and blinked twice in confusion at realizing their table was missing two members. “Uhn…, where are Heather and Madison?”

Grace scoffed. “Maddie wanted to check everything out and Ravers went to see her boytoy,” she tediously explained.

“Boytoy?” Zack immediately got worried for his cousin, turning to Ashley for an answer.

The petite blonde responded by standing up and urging him to follow her. “C’mon, let’s get some air too, I’ll explain everything,” she told her old friend, who let out a tired sigh before doing as she told him and following her out of the dining hall.

Left alone at the table with Gavin, Grace couldn’t feel more bored if she tried. Social gatherings had never been a strength of hers, and without internet connection, she found herself with nothing to do besides hyperventilate and hope that the welcome party ended as soon as possible. Frack, I hope the actual mysteries feel less… stuffy than this place.

Gavin, on his end, even after leaving his old ‘talking to girls’ issue in the past, thanks to Zack and Chloe, his best friends, he was still afraid of trying to talk to Grace. She had always been too harsh and stern as the president of the computer club at school, and the sheer skill she displayed actually gave her that right, he decided. She was hot, any geek worth his keyboard would say so, but he preferred to stay quiet and avoid her wrath.

"You know you can't be shaking around me all the time if we wanna do this, right?" Grace's exasperated voice took him out of his internal musings.

"Huh?" Gavin replied, but before he could really answer, Taylor and Hannah approached their table.

"Guys, you aren't mingling, c'mon," Hannah spoke, almost in a whining tone.

"Han, be nice, okay?" Taylor told her bestie, being more used to the hang-ups her brother's friend sometimes suffered from. She had no idea Grace was like that too, or perhaps the blonde was just antisocial, she didn't know Zack's newer friends too much.

"Well, aren't you gonna tell them?" Hannah pressed. She was sympathetic to Gavin’s problems, but she wanted to go have some fun as well. It was the first night since training started that she'd be able to let loose again.

"Not yet," the blue-eyed brunette answered her friend and fellow staffer before turning back to Gavin. "A few other staffers and I, we've talked about something. An idea that I think might be fun for you, well, for both of you, I guess."

"What is it?" Gavin asked, intrigued by how she talked about it.

Taylor smiled. "We're still putting it together," she responded. "I'll need you to trust me. Do you trust me, Gav?"

Gavin stared at his long-time crush and found himself smiling like a fool. "Yeah, of course I do, Taylor."

She beamed at him. "Great, I'll come pick you up in a while," she said, and then turned. "I think it'll be fun for you too, Grace, but no pressure, it's up to you."

Grace just nodded, Zack's sister seemed to be a cool person, and well, anything was better than staying rooted to that chair for the rest of the night.

"See you guys," Hannah waved at them and couldn't resist shaking her ass for a moment to tease Gavin, earning Taylor’s elbow on her arm as they walked away.

Just outside the dining hall, Zack couldn't help but notice that the heat hadn't diminished in the slightest as the afternoon sky slowly hinted at its intention of moving into evening, but he didn't have the time to dwell on that, as Ashley seemed rather apprehensive to him. She was impatiently rubbing her hands together and biting her bottom lip.

“Ash?” He tentatively asked, in case she didn’t want to talk about what was bothering her. However, she turned to him and Zack could see how upset she was. “Tell me what’s wrong, please.”

The blonde actually smiled at him. “It’s nothing, really,” she tried to reassure him. “I’m just being silly, that’s all. I’ll be better in the morning.”

“Ash,” Zack repeated, walking closer to her and staring into her familiar crystal-blue eyes. “If it’s making you worry like this, then I’m sorry, but it’s not silly,” he put a hand on her arm. “You know you can trust me.”

Her expression softened, a small smile threatening to appear, but he could see she was still uneasy. “You shouldn’t worry too much. Like I said, it’s silly,” she explained. “It’s just that… seeing all those people from other places, they’re probably all obsessed about this mystery thing, it made me ask myself again what am I doing here.”

Zack grimaced at her admission. “Ash, I told you before we left Azure Rocks, my goal here is to spend a fun week with my friends. It doesn’t matter if we’re gonna win or finish dead last,” he said. “I know I told Madison and Grace we were gonna win, but that’s the only way they can stay motivated. First, we have fun and enjoy this week, then we see what can be done about winning, sounds okay?”

A bigger smile reached his petite friend’s cute face at his words. It still wasn’t her customary best one, but Zachary was happy to see she seemed to have gotten a bit more relaxed. “Alright, but it’s gonna be on you if we don’t win this thing,” she let out a chuckle. “I won’t protect you from those two.”

Zack laughed. “That’s cool, it’s one of Heather’s jobs, actually,” he leaned in closer to whisper. “But don’t tell her, please.”

Ashley snorted and laughed hard at her co-best friend’s expense. Only Zack could make her laugh in a tense situation like that. At that moment, Peter showed up, coming from the dining hall, and grinned at seeing them together outside.

“Hey, guys, uhn…, hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he said, gauging their expressions.

“Oh, nope! Nothing at all, Pete,” Ashley was quick to respond, though there was a faint blush on her cheeks that neither boy noticed. “Don’t you worry!”

“Yep, what she said,” Zack quickly nodded as well. “Uhn…, is something going on, Peter?”

Peter chuckled to himself and pointed to a blond guy about his age standing in front of the dining hall. “No, I just wanted to introduce you to that guy I mentioned before,” the older boy explained. “You got some time?”

“Sure, let’s go,” Zack grinned as well.

“Cool!” Peter nodded and began walking toward the other boy, but just as Zack was about to follow him, a hand tugged his arm back and he found himself engulfed in a hug by Ashley.

“Ash?” He whispered, his arms slowly wrapping around his old friend’s slender waist, feeling her fit body pressing against his.

“I just wanted to say thanks,” she said, smiling up at him and making Zack realize just how cute she was. Not that he hadn’t noticed before, of course, but when it came to Ashley, he kind of tried not to. “You know, for cheering me up?”

He let out a chuckle, palms feeling the warmth of her back through the t-shirt she had picked up for dinner. “Of course. You’re the light of our team, Ash,” he said, missing the big smile that spread on her face. “Letting you stew by yourself isn’t an option for me.”

“Thank you so much, Zack,” she answered, her voice muffled by his shoulder. “But like I said, I’m fine now, you can go see Peter’s friend.”

“You sure?” He inquired, pulling back to look at her face and try to ascertain if she was really fine.

“Yes, now go!” Ashley giggled, a bit bashful after his display of worry for her. She lightly pushed him away with a grin and nodded again. Zack laughed and returned the nod before pivoting on his feet and jogging after Peter.

Ashley frowned as she realized they never talked about Heather’s mysterious affair from out of town as she had promised when they left the dining hall. Well, there’s always later. Or Heather can do it herself.