I was walking through a field of purple wildflowers, feeling the warm breeze kiss my skin and watching the rays of sun turn the air golden. I could smell the fragrance of spring in the air, damp and wet. I walked up to a large tree, holding my fingers up against the moss covered bark. I wasn't searching for anything in particular, it felt more like I was exploring. I heard a faint thumping, it was rhythmic and quick. It seemed to becoming from inside the tree, so I gently pressed my ear against the wide trunk.

The thumping was growing louder now, too loud. It annoyed me. I wanted the silence to be back, the peace and quiet the rest of the meadow held. I decided to ignore it, and walk away.

Thump, thump, thump.

Even though I was moving in the opposite direction of the tree, the noise was still piercing my ears.

"Seren? Don't make me kick down the door, because I will." Zane's voice finally brought me back to reality, leaving my feelings of peace and happiness in the meadow. I groaned as my eyes opened, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. The walls were a dark grey, trophies and posters decorated them. The bedding I was bundled up in smell like guy, somewhere between Axe body spray and expensive cologne. It smelt good. Was this how Zane smelled? I'd never been close enough to notice.

"Seren!" Zane's voice called again. I rolled my eyes as I unwound myself from the blanket and walked over to the door. I tried to turn the doorknob, but it didn't budge. It was then I remembered that I had asked Zane to lock the door. I mentally facepalmed as I remembered everything I said to him, so much for keeping a low profile.

After unlocking the door, I swung it open to find Zane with his fisted hand in the air like he was mid knock. He dropped it quickly, watching me like he wasn't sure of my next move.

"Hey."

"Hi." I responded, turning back to the bed quickly enough that my hair fanned out around me. I searched for my clothes, noticing that I was in Zane's. They were extremely comfortable and I didn't want to take them off, but now that the Ativan had left my body, I wanted to get out of this house as quickly as possible.

"It's almost 10. I'll give you a ride home." Zane said awkwardly, it was clear he didn't know what to say now either. I nodded as I laid eyes on my clothes, laying on the end of the bed. Zane understood what I was doing as I grabbed them, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"You feeling better?" He asked as I exited his room, feeling exposed in my own clothes. That didn't make sense, did it? I wore this all day with no issues, but now that I was alone with Zane in his house, and sober, I felt self conscious.

"Yes." I didn't. I felt worse.

"Good." He smiled at me as he led me up the stairs into the main level of his house. I wasn't curious this time as he led me through the hallways, I kept my eyes pointed towards the ground.

"Oh Zane, there you are." I heard a woman's voice ring out as we made our way past the kitchen. "And you must be Seren."

Zane's mom was beautiful. She seemed to be in her mid forties, with long brown hair the same shade as Zane's. She wore high end business clothes, designer I'm sure. She was smiling down at me, and I could almost feel the motherly energy radiating off of her. She strode over to me, placing her hands on my shoulders. She looked my face over, her lips never budging from the same smile she had when she first saw me.

"Zane told us you have some relatives staying at your house with a baby, and you haven't been able to sleep because of it. Did you get some rest darling?" I nodded, trying my hardest to smile back at her. She stared at my face once more, seemingly searching for something. I guess that's where Zane gets it from.

"You really are a very beautiful girl, Seren. Your mother must be very proud of you." She told me in a soft voice.

"She passed, actually." I said, and I'm sure everyone in the room noticed the emotion that didn't come with my words.

Zane's mom's smiled just for a moment, before returning. "I'm sorry, dear. But still, proud."

I nodded, even though I was one hundred percent sure my mom was anything but proud of me.

"Thank's for letting me come over." I said as sweetly as possible, trying my hardest to not let the ice show.

"Oh, it's not a problem. My name is Rachel, it was so nice to meet you." She said as she let go of my shoulders, turning to Zane instead. "It's just nice to see a girl leave through the front door and not through my son's window."

"Mom, stop." Zane groaned out, covering his face.

"What?" Rachel said before turning back towards the fridge. "It's the truth."

"Okay, we're leaving now." Zane muttered as he strode towards the entry way. I gave Rachel a small wave goodbye before following in his direction.

Zane put on the same type of music that we had listened to on the way here, turning it up loud enough that there was no need to make conversation. Not that I would have, anyways. I was throughly surprised that Zane wasn't bringing up what happened earlier. He questioned something as minor as me trying to go swimming, but not taking my clothes off in front of three teenage boys?
Neither of us made any attempt to talk, until I noticed he was pulling into a fast food restaurant.

"What are we doing?" I asked warily. He couldn't have waited until his ride home to stop?

"You slept through dinner, you didn't eat lunch, and I'm willing to bet money you didn't eat breakfast, either." Zane said as he pulled the car into a parking space.

"I'm not going in there." I told him. This place was a popular hangout for kids from our school, due to its free wifi and proximity to the skatepark.

Zane barely paused at my words before driving through the park spot and pulling his car into the drive through. For once, no more question Seren about every single thing? I'm impressed.

"What do you want?" He turned to me and asked after he pulled up to the podium. I shook my head, I didn't want anything. I wasn't hungry. He sighed before turning back and ordering. "Chicken nuggets, fries, a cheeseburger, and a coke. Thanks."

"Here." He handed me the bag of greasy food once we had pulled back into a parking spot.

"What? I said I wasn't hungry." I pushed it back towards him.

"You haven't eaten all day. When's the last time you even ate?" Zane questioned, reaching into the bag and pulling out each item individually and placing them on my lap.

"Yesterday." I said as I picked at a french fry.

"Wow, you didn't even try to lie this time." He seemed impressed.

"I'm not eating this." I muttered. "I'm not hungry."

"It's not healthy to not eat all day." Zane replied, frowning at me.

"It's not healthy to smoke, or drink or do drugs, but I do those anyways." I didn't really care what was healthy, truthfully. I cared if it felt good while doing it.

"Well, you need to eat if you want to keep doing those things." He said as he leaned back in his seat.

I rolled my eyes again, shaking my head. I realized I wasn't going to win this one, so I unwrapped the cheeseburger. I examined it before taking a bite, and I was surprised at how good it tasted.

Zane watched me as I ate, leaving me with a couple minutes of silence. I was about to turn the music up louder, when he started talking.

"So, as my friends let you know earlier, I used to go to Hawkings with them." He stated, and I turned my head towards him in surprise, because he had seemed pretty intent on keeping his past a secret this afternoon.

"My parents wanted me to have a public school education. Gavin, O and I had all gone to middle school together, along with our friend named Henry." He smiled as he said the last name, but it wasn't a smile that reached his eyes. "We had a lot of fun. Typical friend group I guess, but then uh..." he scratched his ears, and I wondered where his hesitancy was coming from. "Henry died."

It was my turn to study Zane this time. He tried to hide it, but I could tell how torn up he was over this. The edges of his lips were pointed downwards, and his eyes had glazed over.

"After he died, I went through a bad patch. I drank a lot, partied whenever I could. I started fighting, I looked for any opportunity to get into a fight. If another guy even looked at me wrong, I'd hit him. Started failing my classes. It was bad. O and Gavin didn't have a clue how to help me, even though they tried. I ended up getting expelled after showing up to school drunk."

He shook his head like he couldn't believe his own actions. "My parents basically told me to clean my act up, or go to reform school. So when I started at our school, I tried my hardest to be a completely different person. It worked, surprisingly. I haven't been in any trouble since I started."

He looked proud of himself as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He glanced over at me, maybe to see if I was still listening. "Anyways, none of the group knows that, except Cain. He doesn't know the full story, though."

I nodded crumpling up the burger wrapper and stuffing it back in the bag, along with the chicken and fries. Zane took the hint that I was done, and started the car. He was silent again as we drove, and I thought about what he said. It didn't take long for me to realize why he told me. He wants me to tell him all my sad stories. It doesn't really matter what he tells me, though. I can never tell him what happened.

My dads car was in the driveway as we pulled up to my house. I hadn't ended up calling him, and it was almost a testament to our relationship that he didn't bother to check and see where I was.

I stepped out of the car, grabbing my backpack out of the backseat. I paused before closing the door, and looked back at Zane. He was watching me as I moved and I could tell he was still worried about me, even though he had no reason to be.

"My mom died in a car accident when I was three." I told him, watching as his face morphed from surprise to confusion. "That's why I don't have a car. My dad is terrified of me driving. I don't even know how to drive."

I didn't give him time to react before I closed the door and walked away.