Huntington Avenue | ✓ [PV REWRITE]

Part I: Chapter 18

༻✺༺

Chapter 18 | ❝ Oh, come on, August-! ❞

Friday, October 5th, 2018 - 11:29 a.m.

PASSING THROUGH THE double doors to the cafeteria had become a normality to Zach. Previously, his ears would have been attacked by the numerous conversations flocking throughout the large room. Now, it was hardly a blink of an eye for him. He knew his way to the usual table he and his friends sat at by heart.

Zach carried his backpack on his back and kept his rather cold hands into the pockets of his jacket as he walked to the table which was already occupied. He was able to hear Harper, Mason, and August speaking about something already, which was probably a completely random topic when it came to them. Zach continued on with his way towards his friends.

Unbeknownst to the unseeing teenager, the three of them had bought two pizzas, breadsticks, and chicken wings - boneless and bone-in - from Dominoes. The three of them had prepared everything for lunch, including drinks.

"Hey, Zach!" Harper happily exclaimed as his friend sat down.

Zach smiled while setting his backpack next to his chair. "Hello, everyone."

"Hi, Zach!" Mason greeted him while August gave him a quiet wave. "Since you have your consultation today, we thought we'd get some pizza and other stuff as a good luck....thing."

"A gesture," August whispered, correcting him teasingly.

Mason snapped his fingers. "Aha! That's it—a gesture."

"Thanks, guys," Zach replied earnestly, his already prevalent smile growing a bit wider. "It means a lot to me that you care so much, but it's honestly not a big deal."

"Not a big deal? This is huge for you!" Harper refuted Zach's claim. "This could be life changing for you when it works out."

"If," retorted Zach.

"When," Harper confirmed with a smirk before changing the subject. "Would you like any pizza? We have pepperoni and cheese. We also have chicken wings, bone-in or boneless, and garlic breadsticks."

"Uh, can I have two slices of cheese and a breadstick, please?" he asked politely.

"Yeah, of course," Harper replied while getting Zach his food.

Zach, despite receiving pizza and a breadstick a couple of seconds later, opened his backpack and took out a bag of chips. "Would anyone like some chips?"

"Ooh, me!" Mason and Harper chorused in unison.

Zach rolled his eyes at their antics and put his bag of chips into the middle of the table. Due to her voices projecting from across from him, he knew exactly where they were sitting. Likewise, August was sitting on the side of the table to Zach's right, simply eating his boneless chicken wings and writing in his notebook.