Huntington Avenue | ✓ [PV REWRITE]

Part II: Chapter 19

༻✺༺

Chapter 19 | ❝ Rome wasn't built in a day. ❞

Monday, December 17th, 2018 - 9:27 a.m.

THE HALLS OF Oceanview High were eerily silent. They were quieter than usual—the conversations amongst peers dying down, and Zach could not help but think he was the cause of it. Before he walked down the halls, everything appeared to be normal, but once he exited his AP Biology class a few minutes prior, that all seemed to change.

Zach was confused as he continued his short trek down the hall towards his Trigonometry classroom. Why was it so quiet? The tranquility was peaceful to him, however, he surely remembered things being louder than they were at that moment. Things simply did not change that quickly.

He spent as little time as he could around his peers and was glad to quickly slide into his classroom without a second thought. He was a bit early, which was nice, so he got to get his things together before the rest of the class arrived. Zach placed his laptop on the desk in front of him while the classroom began to fill. He felt himself subconsciously smile as a familiar face sat down in the desk directly next to him.

"Hey, Kelsey!" Zach exclaimed with more enthusiasm than he thought.

Kelsey was the complete opposite to his surprise. "Hey."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," she clarified, forcing a smile upon her gorgeous face. "I just had a lot of homework last night and I stayed up late to do it."

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Zach. He did not mean to interrogate, but he was a bit concerned by Kelsey's unusual demeanor.

Kelsey nodded. "Yeah, of course. Are you?"

"Just tired."

The blonde girl frowned. Unlike a couple of days ago, she knew exactly what was going on with him. Kelsey assumed his nightmares had not been getting any better. It was obvious with the dark circles forming underneath his eyes which seemed to be more black and blue like a bruise each day. It was a wonder how no one else seemed to notice them.

"I'm sorry," Kelsey attempted to sympathize. "Has it not gotten any better?"

Zach shook his head and pretended to focus on the laptop in front of him. "No, it hasn't. In fact, it might be getting worse. I don't know what to do."

"Have you tried-" Kelsey began, but she was cut off by Mrs. Roberts entering the room.

The petite teacher with her blonde hair in a bob sauntered into the classroom with a friendly and uplifting smile on her face. Despite the positive nature of the woman in front of her, most of the class stifled a groan at the thought of math. She set her supplies down on the desk in front of her and began to address the class—her eyes bright and cheery enough to light up the room.