Somewhere Only We Know

Chapter six

It was cold.

It was supposed to be the start of summer, and yet Zackary found himself shivering and trembling at the bus stop near his art school.

He was cold, he was uncomfortable, his phone was dying, and the only book he had deemed interesting enough to read he had forgotten on the bus. He had truly been hit with a wave of bad luck since the moment he stepped out the door of his apartment at seven thirty in the morning.

He slammed a hand against his forehead. He had forgotten his charger on his desk back at home.
The worst part of it all was that he actually had academic school in twenty minutes, and the bus was announced to arrive late, which would only result in him being late.

Then again, he could just walk, but it would take twenty minutes, and he would just arrive forty-five minutes after his first class.

He groaned out loud at the empty road before hopping around in place and pacing around in nervous circles.

Zackary had fun dragging his gym bag on the floor, ruining the light blue color it held. He contended with ripping a few petals from a nearby flower and throwing them in the air like confetti. He lay down on the bench with his arms hanging as if he were a dead corpse before standing back up again and kicking his gym bag.

Finally, the bus arrived, and he eagerly got in but felt his smile drop when he saw that the driver wasn't the usual. Kevin.

"Um, excuse me, sir?" He cleared his throat, and the driver, a rather thin and pale man, side-eyed him. "Do you know where the driver, uh, Kevin, is?"

"He's got issues." He replied harshly, pressing a button and slamming the doors of the bus shut, and Zackary jumped at the sound. "Get a seat."

"You're no boss of mine." Zack mumbled as he headed to the back of the vehicle, being careful not to make eye contact with the kids from his school that were sitting together and staring out the window or discussing random, non-important stuff.

That morning was unusually quiet. It was truly unsettling for Zackary, who was used to so much noise and chatter. Andy and Sam were nowhere to be seen, and Nolan had avoided Zack for some unknown reason, but he didn't really care. He would avoid himself too, given how little he had slept at night and how big the black circles under his eyes were.

It was weird; Jared hadn't spoken to him in days, only saying hi in the hallways and waving at him from afar. It felt awkward. Candice and Jamie as well. They actually hadn't shown up at all for the whole week.

It was also peculiar that Sam and Andy had been skipping school much more often. both of them, without Nolan. Maybe if Zack paid more attention to his social life and actually tried to make an effort to hang out with his friends, he'd understand. too late for that.

When he approached the school through the back, since there was a door there that led directly to his English class, he rapidly regretted his decision the second he heard some loud voices.

"Stop acting stupid." Jared smiled, patting the shoulder of Haruka? His fingers closed around the fabric of the other boy's shirt, making him wince in pain.

"I'm not acting stupid. It's been going around, and rumors are often true. It has nothing to do with me."

Jared's eyelids lowered dangerously, and for a moment, a shadow passed over his features, making him look five years older than he actually was. Zackary had never seen Jared act serious before. It was different; it was shocking. Was this serious face a fluke, or was it what truly hid behind Jared's smile?

"Don't act like you don't know." Jared hissed as he harshly jabbed a finger against Haruka's chest, his expression slowly turning back into his usual calm demeanor with a sideways grin that looked sour. His expression had changed so quickly. "You're just like them all, and you're in this as much as I am."