Since Forever

Chapter 2

Zac's POV

"Zac, please come have dinner!" Mum calls.

I slowly make my way downstairs. We're having one more family dinner before I leave for camp tomorrow. I know I should feel special, but I don't. I would rather sit in my room bingeing YouTube or playing Valorant or blasting music loudly enough to annoy my sister Amelia.

I slide reluctantly into a seat next to Amelia and tuck in my chair. If I eat quickly enough, I can probably get back up to my room in time to do at least one of the aforementioned things before I leave for camp. Don't get me wrong, I love camp, I'm just not looking forward to it as much this year. Mum thought it would be fun to invite a bunch of my school friends along. I understand why she did it, and it's a nice idea but it's hard to appreciate that when you think how stupid it is in reality. Camp is like my sanctuary away from school and by bringing along a bunch of people who know school-Zac, it is effectively ruined.

"Great. Thanks. Have a good one." My dad, George, hangs up the phone and sits down across from me. "Hey, buddy. Have you finished packing?"

I nod even though I haven't. The plan is to pack in the morning and by 'pack' I mean throw all the stuff on my floor into a suitcase and hope some of it is clean enough to wear. "What's for dinner?"

"Macaroni and cheese," Amelia tells me, grinning. Dad makes the best mac 'n' cheese ever.

I grin back. "Awesome." My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket to put it on silent.

"What did we say about phones at the dinner table?" Dad says tiredly.

I see the caller ID and groan internally. "It's Madison. I have to take this." I stand quickly and walk away from the table. "Hey Madi."

"Don't 'hey Madi' me," Madison fumes. "I am so mad at you right now."

My brow furrows. What did I do?

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Uh..." I stammer.

Madison scoffs. "What do you mean, 'uh'? Aren't you going to apologise?"

"For what, exactly?"

Madison is silent and I know I've said the wrong thing. Of course I'm supposed to know what I did wrong.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" she screams into the phone. I hold it out at arm's length. "You just cheated on me and you're asking what you did wrong? What is wrong with you?!"

I stare at the phone in confusion. When did I...? Then I remember. Alicia Martin, janitor's closet, two weeks ago. "I'm really sorry I made out with Alicia. I—"

Madison cuts off. "YOU WHAT?!"

I redden. "Did you mean Eloise? That was ages ago."

"ELOISE?! What the fuck, Zac?! I meant Laura!"

"Ohhh," I say. "Sorry. I uh..."It isn't that I meant to cheat on my girlfriend so many times. Madison just isn't quite right for me and I never really remembered to tell her that.

"If you want to see other people, fine, but the least you could do was tell me about it." I can imagine Madison's furious expression as I listed less than half of the girls I cheated on her with. She would be red in the face, with very angry eyebrows pulled so close together that she could barely see out from under them. "It's over!" The line goes dead and I put the phone down. Now I'm single. How about that.

I make my way back to the table.

Dad holds out his hand. "Phone."

I put my phone face-down next to my plate. Dad retracts his hand slowly.