Where do we go from here?

Now mid-morning, the rest of the stragglers made their way out of Ravers Manor. Zack caught a ride from one of the remaining basketball players and made his way to his house. The confused guy was basically silent the whole time still trying to process all that happened in the past 24 hours. He gave a friendly wave and sluggishly walked through the front door. A move he instantly regretted after seeing the look on his parents faces. He was so caught up with everything else, that he completely forgot that he never checked in with them last night to let them know where he was. Daniel was prepared to read him his rights before Monica gently grabbed her husband by the wrist and gave him a knowing look. Monica had a gift for reading her kids and could see that something was off and trying to lay down punishment right now would do little good. Monica motioned with her head for Zack to go to his room and made it clear that they would all talk later.

“Were we this bad and moody in high school?” Daniel absentmindedly asked to an amused chuckle from Monica.

“We were way worse! Count your blessings that neither kid inherited everything from us.” The loving wife gently patted her husband on the arm before walking in the other room. She did agree that in just the first week of senior year, Zack’s had a pretty rough time. ‘Maybe it’s time to call in some reinforcement.’ Monica thought.

___

Zack all but collapsed on his bed not even taking the time to take his shoes off or empty his pockets. After staring at the ceiling for several minutes, he pulled his phone out to text Ashley. It still didn’t sit well with him that she didn’t say a single word before leaving. “Can we talk?” the text said. Minutes and then hours went by without a response. Zack couldn’t wrap his head around how they could such a magical night and then she goes radio silent after. He did his best to convince himself that she was probably busy, or her phone had died. Regardless he still felt a bit hurt and confused.

The weekend **** by, and Zack still hadn’t heard from Ashley. Chloe and Paris both checked in on him a few times but saw no hope on cheering him up. Zack didn’t tell them the whole story, but it wasn’t hard to figure it out.

___

Before he knew it, Monday morning had arrived, and he was going have to face it all. A part of him wanted to hide from it, while the other part was actually anxious to finally see Ashley and figure out what’s going on. The confused boy texted Ashley to see if she needed a ride but still received nothing. The ride to school with Paris and Chloe was much more quiet than usual. Once arriving, they all awkwardly went their separate ways. Zack circled Ashley’s locker a couple times to no avail. He finally gave up for the time being and walked to his own locker.

As Zack moped around, another student entered the school with zest. Amber actually looked forward to the day and what her future could hold. She walked up behind a tired Harrison and tapped him on the shoulder. The cocky guy turned a bit annoyed by her chipper mood so early in the morning “Hey. Do you have what I asked for?”

“Nope.” The energized future cheerleader said with a smile. Harrison was a bit confused and now even more annoyed. “I did, but I deleted it.” The blonde continued seeming to gain confidence as she spoke. “I’m not going to do it.” She declared as she turned to walk away. Harrison was now more lost than before. As Amber exited, she turned once more with a giggle. The empowered girl spoke up, “I don’t think I ever liked you? Oh, in case you were wondering, Zack DEFINITELY got the better genetics where it counts. I get why you are jealous of him now.” With that she bounced away leaving a furious Harrison standing alone wondering how this all backfired. Before Harry could react, he turned to a snickering and possibly interested Naomi and Sharon. There was no way he was going to let this go.

___

Zack felt a surprised tap on his shoulder as he had all but buried himself in his locker. He instantly turning around with a high hope of who it was. To his disappointment, it was Heather. A thought that showed just how off he was at the moment as most anyone would kill to have Heather approach them. She seemed slightly less forward than usual as she addressed him.

“Hey… Have you heard from Ashley? She ghosted my calls all weekend.” Heather asked with both confusion and a tad of hurt. Zack tried to suppress his emotions and could only shake his head to answer the girl. Heather sighed trying to figure out what was going on. “You didn’t pull any weird shit, did you?!” she now asked with her eyes staring straight through the boy.

“No? I mean no of course not!” He wanted to defend himself further but didn’t want to give away details about the night they spent together. Heather could tell that he was being honest and nodded her head to ease the guy a bit.

“Well, if you see her, tell her to call me!” Heather’s anger and frustration was showing which caught Zack off guard to know that she cared so much. She gave him one last look over her shoulder as she left, “Don’t fuck this up Zack.” Zack took a deep breath to calm himself, heavily wishing it was easy as Heather just made it sound.

___

Zack turned back to his locker to grab his book for first period. This time it was a tug at his shirt that caught his attention. He turned to look at a beaming Amber staring up at him.

“Hey you! I told Harry that I was done with him. It actually felt great!” The chipper girl continued as she inched closer and closer to Zack. Zack was a bit caught off guard but was happy to see such a change in her emotions from the broken Amber he saw a couple days prior. He smiled and gently rubbed her arm. Amber’s cheeks turned blood red in turn and locked her eyes on his. “So, I probably don’t have any friends anymore, and you mentioned that you could introduce me to some new ones?” She nervously continued now looking at the ground. She hoped she wasn’t being too forward.

“For sure! Find me at lunch.” Zack reassured her. Amber was barely able to hold in her excitement and leaped forward wrapping her arms around him tightly. Zack was now unsure if she was ever going to let go. Amber finally released and smiled eagerly at the kind guy. In parting, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. She turned with a wave before scurrying away.

___

Next it was Chloe who had an unexpected guest at her locker. As she walked up to it, she saw Kevin Jackson leaning next to it. She did her best attempt at looking confident and approached Kevin. “I’m starting to think I need Paul’s help to keep you away.”

Kevin laughed and grasped his chest in fake pain. “If that’s the case I can probably find him for you.” He said pointing and turning as if he’s walking away. Chloe instinctively grabbed his arm and pulled him back. The flirty pair smiled and watched each other carefully. Kevin took a deep breath and decided to take a chance. “If you’re not doing anything else and still need my protection from drunken idiots… Maybe you’d want to hang out Friday night?” Before a shocked Chloe could answer, Kevin pulled two tickets out of his pocket for the local pro soccer team.

“That’s a dirty move Jackson! I haven’t made it to a single game this year and I’ve been dying to go. I’d probably even go with Paul if I had to.” She added with a proud grin as she continued to tease the guy. Kevin laughed and stepped a bit closer to the feisty redhead.

“So is that a yes?” Kevin did his best to hide his nerves as he asked. Chloe nodded her head and smiled bigger than Kevin think’s he’s ever seen her do. “Do I need to ask Zack for permission?” he half teased while also kind of meaning it. He valued the budding friendship that the two guys shared and didn’t want to do anything to mess it up.

“As if. Zack has to ask for my permission!” Chloe proudly exclaimed. Kevin again couldn’t hold back his laugh and wondered why he had never taken the time to get to know the surprisingly bold girl before.

“I’ll pick you up at 5.” He smiled and gently squeezed her hand before heading to his class. Chloe did her best to hold it together until he was out of site. She was pretty sure he just asked her on a date and that means that this is her first date. She hasn’t focused much on guys as she dedicates most of her time on soccer and her friendships. She wasn’t sure why the star basketball player would be interested in her but even through the skepticism, he seemed to be genuine. Zack had always talked highly of him which means a lot to Chloe. She may take a chance this one time.