Chapter 14

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Over the next two weeks, Zac floated around campus with the feathered wings and golden halo that our classmates projected onto him. Apparently, the whole "bullied ugly duckling transforming into a badass tattooed swan" narrative was very appealing to the masses. Principal Pratt even called Zac up to the front office to check on him and offer his support. Principal Pratt clearly had no idea that Zac was playing everyone. The irony of their meetings made me want to roll my eyes. Hard enough to snap out of my sockets.

Zac's warm reception on campus starkly contrasted Trick's complete cancellation by our peers. I tried to talk to my half-brother about it at home, but he gave me the cold shoulder every time. I knew the shit at school was really getting to him when he chose to shut down instead of reacting in his typically brash and violent manner. Not surprisingly, Trick's contempt for Zac now cut deeper than ever.

Little did Trick know, however, I was probably the only person at Ashton Wellesley who saw Zac for what he really was: A wolf in sheep's clothing. No one else seemed to notice the devil horns that were holding up his phony halo. I didn't tell my half-brother anything, though. I was totally on board with these recent developments.

So far, Zac was doing a fairly good job at honoring his end of our agreement. There had been no new anonymous posts on Sassy, and he always showed up on time to work on our project at the library. The two of us bickered nonstop, but, somehow, miraculously, shit still got done.

On Tuesday, we were back in the library again. My Latin teacher, Mrs. Weisman, once described me as "relentlessly driven" and "hyper-focused" in a rec letter I requested for a summer program. She probably had no idea those very traits of mine would come in so handy with a partner like Zac.

The idiot was currently flicking crunched-up balls of paper at me. They bounced off my head one after another. I kept working. At this point, I had grown accustomed to his attempts to derail our progress. When he finally grew bored of flinging tiny projectiles at me, Zac folded his arms on the table, laid his head down, and just stared ahead aimlessly.

"Are you going to Aleah's Halloween bash?"

Without taking my eyes off my laptop, I replied, "I think so, yeah."

"Who are you going with?"

"Probably Nat and Amari."

"You guys dressing up?"

"Yes."

"As what? A slutty nurse? Slutty witch? Slutty doorknob?"

Ha! Slutty doorknob.

I chuckled in spite of myself. "Honestly, I dunno. Nat's in charge this time. We take turns every year to plan out each others' costumes."

Zac closed his eyes and yawned. In bored tones, he asked, "How come you never wear makeup?"

Just to be a brat, I responded, "Because I don't need it. Some of us get to roll out of bed every morning as a perfect ten."

He opened one eye and smirked. "You're pretty, but not that pretty."

"Whatever, loser. I know I'm fucking gorgeous. Do you have any idea who my mom was?"

"Uh, no? Am I supposed to?"

I pulled up a quick Google image search, tilted the screen towards Zac, and said, "Meet my mom, Ariana Donati."

Zac leaned over to get a better view and then glanced over to study my face. He held his gaze for a while. "Okay, I can see resemblance."

I turned the screen back towards me and started working again.

In a quieter voice, he asked, "She passed when you were about ten, right? That must've been rough."

I paused and stopped typing. "Yeah, it was... rough... for sure. She was my whole world."

A messy, chaotic world full of bad men and drugs and alcohol, but I never doubted that she loved me. I had to grow up a lot faster than most kids because of my mom's crazy antics. Yet, to this day, I doubted that anybody could ever love me as much as she did.

"Does it get easier? I mean, I know this doesn't really compare to your loss at all, but my dad's been gone for about four years, and I still miss him."

I looked at him sympathetically. "I know, I heard about his sentencing. Nine years, right? I'm sorry your family had to go through something so difficult."

He shrugged. "Don't be sorry. My dad fucked up. He should be prison."

I bit my lip, wanting to say more but not wanting to overstep on such a touchy subject.

"Out with it, Cate."

"What?"

Zac shot me a knowing look. "I can tell you're dying to speak up about something, and it's killing you to hold back."

I smiled sheepishly. "I just wanted to answer your question."

"Oh, yeah?"

"You asked if this kind of thing ever gets easier. My answer is 'yes' and 'no.' I don't feel the pain as sharply as I did in the first year, but the feelings of missing my mom, wishing I could still talk to her, laugh with her, those thoughts never go away. I've just learned to hide them better."

He suddenly smiled at me, but there was sadness in his golden eyes. "Did you know I had the biggest crush on you in middle school?"

I laughed softly. "You know I do! I practically stalked Evonne to extract that juicy little morsel, remember?"

He laughed, too. "What I wanted to say, though, was, obviously, you're real easy on the eyes, but I didn't like you because you inherited some genetic lottery from your mom. I liked you because you were always so strong. Like nothing in life could ever knock you down. You were the only one back then who ever stood up for me. Did you know that? Everyone else was too scared of Trick. I feel, like, if your mom could see you now, she would be so fucking proud."

Fucking hell.

That was quite possibly the sweetest thing a boy had ever said to me.

My heart skipped a beat. "Stop it. You're gonna make me blush."

He flashed me a lopsided grin. My stupid heart melted a little more when he said, "Maybe I wanna make you blush. Maybe... I still have a crush on you."

I scoffed and tried to make light of his loaded comment. That was one minefield I definitely wasn't ready to cross yet.

"Well, keep that shit to yourself, buddy, because we still have a fuckton of work to do!"

***

The next day, I arrived at school as though I was walking on clouds. It was fucking annoying. I had officially become one of those simple-minded, starry-eyed bitches that I used to love making fun of. My mind swam with thoughts of Zac, and, if I was being completely honest with myself, AP History was slowly becoming my favorite class, and it had nothing to do with Mr. Tilton's riveting lessons on the aftermath of World War II.

As I rounded the hallway to first hour, however, I saw something that snuffed out my starry-eyed glow in an instant.

Zac was leaning over a tall, attractive redhead by a row of metal lockers. She was taller than me by far and noticeably more smiley and agreeable. The way her face tilted up towards him like a goddamn sunflower made me think that the girl probably didn't possess an abrasive bone in her body.

Her perfectly curled auburn locks cascaded halfway down her back, and her wide-set green eyes appeared almost cat-like. She might've even been the same girl from Aleah's party, the one whom Zac had been double-timing with Brit. The only other redhead I knew of at Ashton Wellesley was Nat, and she had just chopped off all her hair and dyed it jet-black.

My heart lurched when I saw that their faces were practically touching. Zac murmured something in her ear that made her laugh. Thirsty bitches had been lining up for a piece of him the moment he came back to Ashton Wellesley, but, aside from the heavy-handed makeout sesh with Brit and Red several weeks ago, he hadn't shown much interest in anyone except me.

Or so I thought.

I clenched my jaw and sped past them towards class. Feeling angry, hurt, and embarrassed, I wondered if the fucker called her 'babygirl' as well. Maybe she was the one he was actually crushing on. Maybe she had been endgame all along since that night at Aleah's lake house.

I felt like a fucking idiot.


You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net