Dare to Be

2| Dylan

"You've been looking for this chick for a week. Is it really worth this much hassle?" Martins asked making me roll my eyes
"Yeah Joey, clearly chasing after his fake girlfriend is worth that much hassle" Peterson said
I turned to look a both of them with a snarky glare
It was true, I've been trying to find Zoey for the last week

You would think that a new transfer wouldn't be this hard to find but she is completely off the grid

I've had a look at all the majors that would cause her to be hanging around at 8pm, I've checked the library, I've even checked the science labs and I promised never to step foot in there after the first year

"Just give it up. If you were meant to find her, you would have" Peterson offered but I huffed

My parents didn't raise a quitter.

"Up to no good again boys?" Taylor asked walking over to us with her book in her hands
Taylor Peterson is Noah's little sister. She joined the college this year to study fashion hence the book
She wouldn't leave that anywhere
"What are you doing Sis?" Petersons asked
"I'm heading to the dance department. One of the girls there is helping out with one of the skating routines tonight" She said making all us shrug

"Wanna come along? Might see something you guys like" She teased, in all honesty.. I hadn't thought about checking any of the other smaller departments like dance, skating etc

"Eh what do we have to lose" Martins laughed as we started to follow

I think it's safe to say me and the boys had never stepped foot in this place the entire time we have been here
The corridors were riddled with people looking around, stretching or just laughing
The atmosphere here was certainly a lot better then we have in the locker rooms

"Taylor! What brings you here? I didn't think we had a show for a few months" A perky red head said making a B-Line to us
"You don't, don't worry Neve. I'm looking for Zoey, I just need to double check measurements for tonight" Taylor said

The moment her name left Taylor's lips both of the boys turned around to look at me with a smirk on my face

"Oh yeah, she's in her usual spot since she never you know" Neve said making me look at her with confusion
"Yeah yeah we got it Neve. See you later" Taylor said rolling her eyes

It was obvious that I had missed something,

After Taylor has finished rolling her eyes she headed down the corridor
The longer we walked the quieter it seemed to get until we approached a room that was awfully isolated
"Please be nice, Zoey isn't about to fall into your laps" She warned us all making all of us stifle a chuckle knowing that it wasn't a weak ago she had forced me to kiss her before running off

But I mean there was still a slim possibility that this wasn't even the same Zoey 

We walked into the room to see the same small brunette from the other day hunched over finishing off her bottle of water. From the sweat leaving her body right now I think it's safe to assume she's been here a while

"Taylor, hey" She said breathing out
"Are you going to act like you don't know who we are?" Peterson smirked making Zoey roll her eyes while Taylor looked to her brother confused
"If you know who they are then I sincerely apologise for whatever they did" Taylor said making me scoff
"Last time we checked, Zoey here was the one practically stripping off her clothes for Dylan in the carpark" Peterson said making Zoey instantly close her eyes, I watched her breathing pick up ever so slightly before she took a deep breath in calming herself down

"Is there something I can help with Taylor? I need to head out soon" Zoey said going back to ignoring us
"Yes I was wondering if you had your final measurements ready for me" She asked and Zoey nodded picking up her phone texting them to Taylor 

"Perfect! Right, I'll leave you to do whatever it is you do in here" Taylor giggled making Zoey copy
"Thanks Taylor" She smiled before briefly looking at me shaking her head 

"I'll join you guys in a sec" I said to them all making Zoey's breath hitch, Taylor turned to look at me with a glare before her brother grabbed her shoulder's guiding her out of the room not allowing her to object to me being here right now

"Look, I didn't mean to drag you into my small minor problem the other week. I hope that we can just forget about it and-" She started as she panicked, she begun to throw all of her things into the bag making me shake my head
"Will you chill for a minute and stop" I said making her freeze in and instant turning to look at me
"Right, now do you wanna explain what the hell was actually going on?" I asked
Surely I at least deserved that 

"Max and I used to date back in high school and it uh, it just didn't end well" She explained
"I knew that if he had seen me there and I appeared to be alone, it would have ended a lot worse then it did" She added making me tilt my head slightly
"It ended badly?" I asked earning a hum in response

"But regardless, he didn't believe it. You are off the hook and you can go on with your merry life without the dramatics I could have brought it" She said almost as if she was trying to bargain a way out of this herself 

"Zoey" I called making her take a deep breath in looking up at me
"This is going to be a one time offer, we can continue this under one condition" I said making her widen her eyes again looking over at me

"You're out of your mind" She said attempting to pass me
"Perhaps, but I think that this could and would help us both Zoey. But you walk out of that door and the deal is off the table" I said the moment her hand my contact with the handle

She froze instantly, I could tell she was doing that thing again. The one where she closes her eyes taking a deep breath in before coming back to her senses
"I can't, I'm sorry" she whispered sounding like she was trying to convince herself more then anyone 

But that being said, she opened the door making sure it closed behind her.