Riddle Middle

Chapter 26: Judgment

Zack (1st person)

I was anxious for school to end the entire day. When it finally did, I ran outside rather than waiting for my friends. I found Lauren and ran up to her. "Hey Zack," she said. "Hey, uh... W-Would you... Or d-do you..." I stammered. I looked behind her and saw Smiley. She wasn't that close to us. I leaned to the right a bit to see Smiley. Of course, Joy was there too. She shoved Smiley over, but she caught her. Smiley wasn't far off the ground, and Joy was holding her above it. "Were you asking me something?" Lauren asked. "Yeah, yeah, I just... I'm sorry, I have to see if my friend is okay," I said. I ran around behind Lauren and over to Smiley. I realized that Joy was holding Smiley above a bed of cacti. Yeah, I don't know why that was in someone's yard. I ran over to them. "Joy, what are you doing?!" I yelled. Joy didn't answer me, she just loosened her grip on Smiley. I don't know what I was supposed to do, but I did the only thing I could think of. I dove under Smiley and onto the cacti.

If that wasn't painful enough, Joy dropped Smiley on to me. I don't think she meant to do that, because she backed away nervously. Lauren ran over to me. I was just barely managing to keep myself together. Smiley rolled off of me, but that didn't make the pain any better. "Zack! What happened!? Are you okay?" Lauren said. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I can't really describe the pain. Yeah, a bunch of needles were digging into my back, but there was more than that. It felt like they were embedded in my back. By now, my eyes were starting to water. She helped me up, and some of the cacti were stuck to me. Lauren hesitated. She grabbed one of the cacti on the side that didn't have needles and gently pulled it. I made a small whimpering sound. Lauren looked to Smiley, who nodded. She yanked the cactus out, and I screamed. That was embarrassing, since it was a bit higher than I would've thought. The side of the cactus that was in me didn't have needles anymore. She put that down on the sidewalk next to her. She grabbed my shirt, but she hesitated. "Can I-" she started. I nodded before she could finish. She lifted my shirt a bit and winced. "W-What?" I asked. "I- I don't know what to do..." she said. "I think you're supposed to cover gauze in glue, then put it on the spines. I don't have either of those things," Smiley said. "Yeah, I don't have those either... I guess we should try to get Zack home," Lauren said. Lauren gently lifted me. I could walk, but I basically pretended I couldn't. That couldn't've worked better, because now she was carrying me. Well, kind of.

Phil, Phred, and Pico saw us, and they ran over. "What happened?!" Phred asked. "Joy tried to drop me in a cactus bed, but Zack fell in instead," Smiley said. My friends all helped me back to my house. I'm not saying the only reason I helped Smiley is because Lauren was watching, but that was a nice bonus. Anyway, I got all of the spines out, and I guess I was okay. The next day, I decided I couldn't wait, so I approached Lauren before school. "Hey Zack. Are you doing okay?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Weren't you gonna ask me something yesterday?" she said. "Y-Yeah... I was gonna ask if you would.... Or, if you can..." I stuttered. She looked questioningly at me. "I- It's about the dance..." I said. "Did you ask the girl you wanted to go with?" she asked. "Well, I-I'm trying to," I said. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Wait, is it... Is it me?" She asked. Finally! I nodded. "Oh! Well, now everything makes sense," she said. "So... Do you want to?" I asked. "Sure, Zack, I'd love to!" she said. To be honest, I wasn't really expecting her to say yes.

"Yes! Err... Cool," I said. She smiled. "Hey, losers!" Someone said from behind us. I turned, and I wasn't surprised to see Joy. "What do you want?" I said. "Remember this?" she said, holding up her phone. She must've recorded me talking to Lauren for the first time. "Crap, you recorded me?!" I said. If you know me, you know what I really said. At the 'I'm Zack, but you can call me Zack' part, Lauren laughed. I can't say I blame her, it was pretty hilarious. Of course, I didn't find it that funny. She stopped laughing when I slammed into the locker. "Why? Why are you trying to ruin my life?" I asked. "I'm not ruining your life, I'm making other people laugh," she said. "By ruining my life," I said. "Yeah, well... Whatever, aren't you gonna try to stop me?" She said. "No, it's not worth it," I said. Lauren grabbed my hand. "Pff, I... I... Whatever, you're no fun," she said, shoving past me.

"Uh, wait! Does that mean you're gonna show anyone else?" I called. "Well, you don't care, so yeah, I will. I might as well post it too," she said. "Wait, I..." I said. "You what?" She asked. I sighed. "Well, what do you want from me?" I asked. "I won't post it if you do this for me," she said, holding out a piece of paper. I hesitated. The bell rang. "Yes or no?" she said. I considered what would happen if I did or didn't. "Five... Four... Three..." she started. "Two..." she said. I snatched the paper. "Good. Give it back to me tomorrow," she said. "Okay..." I said. I looked at what she gave me. It was a 3000-word essay. Why wouldn't it be? I didn't know they gave you those kinds of assignments in middle school. I knew I'd be up all night working on this. I don't know why, but I felt like crying. "Hey, you don't have to do this," Lauren said. I looked up at her. "How? If people see that video, I'm done for," I said. I sounded a bit squeaky when I talked, so that was embarrassing. "That's not true. What about your friends? They'd still be there," she said. "No, they'd see what a loser I am and leave me..." I said. "Not if they're really your friends," she said. "What if they're not? I'll be alone..." I said. "I'll still be here," she said. My voice was a bit choked. "No, I need to do it," I said. "Do you want any help?" She asked. "Really? Y-You're willing to help me? Y-You just said I shouldn't do it..." I said. "I don't think you should do it, but I understand if you want to," she said. "T-Thank you..." I said. She gave a small smile. The second bell rang. "We should go now," Lauren said. I nodded, and we walked to homeroom together.

When we got to lunch, Lauren sat with me and my friends. "Dang, that was fast," Phred said. He didn't quite say dang, but whatever. "Yeah, I know," I said. We just talked for the rest of lunch, and the rest of the day was boring. After school, we all walked home together. When we got to my house, Lauren stopped too. "What's going on?" Pico asked. "Oh, she's gonna help me with homework, that's all," I said. "Liar," Pico said. "What? No, I'm..." the more I thought about it, the more I understood why he thought I was lying. I guess it's a bit suspicious if some girl I just met was coming to my house. If you don't know what I mean, then I don't know what to tell you. "What are you really gonna do?" He asked. "Oh, shut up," I said. Pico didn't say anything, but he did raise his eyebrows at me. I tried to ignore him, and I walked Lauren to my front door. I unlocked the door and stepped inside of my house. Lauren followed. Bryan shot out of the kitchen and barreled towards me. I pretty much forgot about him until now. Bryan hugged my legs like he always does. "Aww, is that your brother?" Lauren asked. "Yeah... One second," I said. I grabbed Bryan's arm and walked him to the kitchen. He looked at me questioningly.

"Who's that?" Bryan asked. "She's-" I started. "Ooh, is she your girlfriend?" he asked. "Yeah, as far as I know... Can you just, try to act normal while she's here?" I asked. "Why?" he said. "What if I give you this?" I asked, opening the cabinet and getting a candy bar. That was supposed to be mine, because I'd bought it, but I figured it was worth it. "Ooh! Okay!" he said, grabbing it. He ran back out and into where Lauren was. I followed to make sure he acted decent. "Hello, I'm Bryan," he said, holding out his hand. Lauren giggled and shook it. "I'm Lauren," she said. "Well, nice to meet you," he said. I didn't know he was capable of acting like that. Lauren laughed again. "Nice to meet you to," she said. He gave a small nod and walked back over to me. "Wow, that was really good! Why aren't you always like that?" I said. "Maybe if you gave me more candy bars, I would be like that more often," he said. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind, then," I said. Bryan went into the living room, and I went back to Lauren. "Wow, he's really... Polite," she said. I nodded. "But does he ever act like a kid?" She said. "Yeah, I just... I wanted him to be normal around you," I said. Lauren gave my hand a small squeeze. "Well, don't stop him from having fun," she said. That's the first time I've heard anyone say that. "Anyway, should we start?" She asked. "Yeah," I said.

I went through the living room and into my room. I enjoyed working with her, and in a way, I'm glad Joy gave me that essay. It gave me an excuse to be around her. Well, not that I need one. It took us a good five hours or so to finish it. It was around eight when Lauren told me she had to go. The essay was pretty good, if I do say so myself. The next day (Thursday), Joy approached my locker. "Well, do you-" she started. I handed her what we wrote. "Hm, not too bad," she said. "Thank you?" I said. I'm guessing that was a compliment. She walked away, and I thought I was in the clear. At lunch, I sat with Lauren and my friends. "What's Joy doing?" Pico asked. I turned. She was in the middle of a crowd of kids, holding up her phone. Yeah, I'm done for...