Huntington Avenue | ✓ [PV REWRITE]

Part I: Chapter 15

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Chapter 15 | ❝ Are you hiding something from me? ❞

Monday, October 1st, 2018 - 11:32 a.m.

THE FOOTSTEPS OF Harper, Mason, and August could have been easily heard by Zach, who was currently sitting alone at his table in the quiet corner of the cafeteria. He was in the middle of a sandwich he had brought along with some chips and his water. Zach was careful to ensure there was no soap in his water bottle this time.

When the sound of three chairs scooting across the floor and a bit of chatter caught Zach's ears, he instinctively turned towards the trio. "Hey, guys!" He greeted them with a smile.

Harper plopped down in his seat across from Zach and replied, "Hi, Zach! How's everything going with you?"

"Things are going fine," Zach responded cheerfully. "How about you three? How were your weekends?"

"Mine was good. I played some volleyball in my backyard a couple of times to get some practice," Harper exclaimed.

Mason was the next in the list of replies. "I read a lot and listened to music, but that was about it," he stated, smiling.

August was once again writing in his leather notebook. He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose as he concentrated. The boy was not exactly blocking out the world around him, but decided to view it from a listener's perspective. An elbow in the arm from Mason startled him.

The boy with glasses sighed as he realized he was expected to talk. "I wrote a little bit.....and did school, but that's it."

"What about you, Zach?" Harper decided to shift the conversation towards his friend.

Zach shrugged. "Well, I got a haircut yesterday," he noted. It seemed to be much more than a haircut occurring during the weekend since he was hiding his smile a bit.

Harper was a bit suspicious. "Hm, it seems like it was more than just a haircut, which looks nice, by the way."

"Thank you. Well, I really did need a haircut. My bangs kept getting in my eyes every time I took a step," Zach protested humorously with a laugh.

Mason decided to press, "Zach, what's really going on?"

"I actually have an ophthalmologist appointment on Friday," he revealed, choosing to use the rather large word he learned from his mother.

Harper and Mason appeared to be extremely confused. They looked at each other with quizzical expressions before turning back to Zach expectantly. The silence caused August to look up from his notebook and watch his friends with a faux bored look.

August's blunt voice resulted in all eyes landing on him. "An ophthalmologist is an eye doctor."

"Oh-" the two confused boys dragged out the word simultaneously. After a brief moment of hesitation, Harper became even more puzzled. "Wait, what?"