Teacher's Pet

.:Chapter Ten:.

The month and a half until Zacky's high school graduation crawled by at an unbearably slow pace, but soon enough, it was time for the senior class to leave the school they had become so familiar with. The rest of his year was constantly talking about how they'd actually miss the school; Zacky, however, couldn't wait to graduate. He would, quite literally, have a hot date waiting for him once he left the building.

"You excited?" Matt asked as they were in the boy's locker room with Jimmy and Johnny, putting on their robes and their graduation caps. Zacky raised a brow at him. "Oh, come on, you think Val wouldn't tell me? I know about you and Mr. Haner, don't even try to deny it." A devious smirk came upon Matt's pink lips, causing a soft blush to sprout on the shorter boy's cheeks.

"Yeah, I guess.. I'm just happy to get out of my parent's house, y'know? I really hate them.. And I know hate is a strong word, but there's no other word to describe how I feel about them." Zacky's voice was low and bitter as he spoke about his parents. He couldn't wait to be back in Brian's arms. He couldn't wait to hear his deep, smooth voice. He just couldn't wait.

"I understand, Zee." Matt nodded, glancing over in Jimmy and Johnny's direction; the two boys were whipping at each others heads with towels, laughing and shouting playfully as they were apparently trying to rid one another of their graduation caps. "My parents aren't the greatest in the world either, but, y'know.. I don't mean to sound condescending, but they're not as awful as your parents." The tall boy spoke slowly, seeming to choose his words carefully. It seemed like, here lately, one wrong move would set Zacky off into a tear-filled rage.

"No, I agree with you. My parents are disgusting." Zacky laughed dryly, fixing his cap onto his head. Jimmy and Johnny bounded over to the other two seniors, obviously done with their towel-whipping game.. For now.

"You dicks almost ready?" Jimmy grinned widely, knowing that Matt hated the word 'dick' with a passion. "We've got about ten minutes until we walk, and I don't want to be late! I wanna be out of here as soon as possible."

"You're impatient as hell," Johnny remarked quietly, rolling his amber eyes.

"Yeah, we've been ready." Zacky smirked, sharing a knowing glance with Matt. "We were just waiting for you two lovebirds to finish whipping each other like some Fifty Shades of Gray shit, is all." At the sound of 'lovebirds' both Johnny and Jimmy blushed from head to toe. Matt chortled, shaking his head as he flashed his brilliant, dimpled smile.

"Come on, let's go to side stage so we're not late when they start calling us to walk." Matt piped up, still chuckling from the expression on the other boy's faces. Zacky grinned, scratching the back of his neck as he followed his best friends out of the boy's locker room, heading to the side of the auditorium stage to await his slowly approaching graduation, as well as his freedom.

During their graduation walk, Zacky kept glancing towards the crowd, searching for any familiar faces; surprisingly enough, his parents had actually showed, but they weren't smiling like everyone else in the crowd. They were wearing frustrated scowls, almost as though they wished Zacky wasn't graduating just yet so that they could keep him around longer. He only tripped once or twice on his way up to the stage to receive his diploma, and he was proud of that. He was also proud of the fact that he wasn't one of the students that had to make a huge speech, because public speaking definitely was not one of his strong suits.

The hazel eyed boy hung around his small group of friends, laughing and sharing good memories with them as well as their parents; his parents had left already, not even saying goodbye to their son. Zacky had always gotten along with his friend's parents, and sometimes he had even contemplated asking one of them to adopt him. They had all changed back into their jeans and t-shirts to be more comfortable after their walk, and now, the short boy was searching the parking lot every so often to see if he could find a man that had promised he'd be there.