Sick Little Games (Zack Merrick)

• Some Kind Of Living Nightmare •

AN// Merry Christmas (:

{ t w e n t y s i x }

I walked into school alone, having no idea what I'm going to do today. Nobody from the popular group has spoken to me since the thing with Jack.

Jack also hasn't spoken to me since that thing either.

My mom, embarrassingly, had to force me to get out of bed this morning. It didn't take a lot, I'll admit, she's still really mad that I stayed out all night on Saturday.

She thinks I was with my friends doing something stupid and when I told her I was at the beach she didn't believe me anyway. Like Jack, she also thinks this move has sent me 'off the rails'.

Being alone at school is something I'm used to anyway, obviously not at this school but I was always alone at my private school; everybody was. We were kind of, alone together. We were all there for each other but we didn't speak until it was necessary.

Everyone was too focused on their studies back in my private school, because most people paid to go there. I went there because my mom was good friends with the principle.

So anyway, as different as this school is, walking alone through the halls of it, is not. I actually quite like being alone, I mean it's better if I have my phone with me to play doodle jump, or my guitar, but I'm going off topic...

I kept my head down, passing all of the stupid lockers and people leaning against them talking. I don't know why there are still people talking; the late bell for first period has already rung. Maybe if I wasn't dreading today then I'd have come in on time.

Math. My first class of the day, just great. The problem is that I sit next to Mariah, or near Mariah in all of my classes. Every, single, one. I don't even know what she's thinking really, maybe I'm overreacting to this entire situation and I'm just panicking for nothing like I usually do, but there's this little voice in the back of my head-

My foot collided with a door, it opening unexpectedly causing me to tumble into the room. I caught myself after a second or two though, looking up.

"Way to make an entrance." I heard the undeniable voice of Mariah mutter.

I looked up to meet her gaze, my brain going 100mph as I took in her sickly sweet smile. I realized I had fallen into my first class when I awkwardly locked eyes with the teacher.

It felt weird to have everyone look at me, the teacher motioned to sit down in a free chair and everybody's eyes followed me as I went to sit in a place that another boy usually sits.

Mariah burnt a hole into my back as I slid into the chair, and only when the teacher started talking again did peoples attention turn to the lesson. I could already sense that this day was going to be--

*

--hell. This day, so far, has been absolute hell. In every one of my classes i had to beg and bribe people to swap seats with me. Nobody wanted to willingly sit by Mariah and I found out why quite quickly. She'd started to torment the people I would make swap with me, making me look like an accomplice and the bad guy.

I've also had an awkward encounter with Jenna; she stared me down and tried to trip me up as I walked past her in the hallway. I'd caught Oli glaring at me, I've lost count how many times and luckily the rest of them are just ignoring me.

I haven't seen Zack nor Vic yet though.

I highly doubt I can avoid them all now. I walked into the cafeteria, my head hanging low as I stood in line to get food. With Mariah I barely ever stood in line, usually she'd pull me out, make me put the horrible food back and have me share Zack's or hers. Standing here now makes me realize how much I liked skipping the queue.

"Hey, you're Justice, right?" I heard a boys voice behind me. I turned, recognizing him immediately and a smile broke out onto my face.

"Jail buddy!" I exclaimed with a giggle. Long black hair, small figure, big dark eyes, yeah, this is him. Now that I look at him clearly I recognize him from Jack's group of friends.

See, his friends aren't all innocent too, a nagging voice played in the back of my mind. I tried to push the petty thought out of my system.

"It's Kellin," he corrected shyly, looking around us in the queue to make sure nobody overheard my exclamation. His face turned from embarrassed to serious very quickly as we shuffled forwards in the line. "I'm in your science class, I saw whats been happening with you and uh, Mariah." I nodded, not understanding why he was even bringing this up in the first place. "Are you okay?"

I laughed despite his serious expression causing him to cast me a glance of confusion.

"Its nothing, kellin. Thank you for your concern, that means a lot." I answered, shuffling forward and leaning over the girl in front of me slightly to try and see my options. Slimy pizza, sandwiches, a red, lumpy mystery that I definitely am not willing to risk. A sandwich it'll be.

"Well, do you want to sit with my friends and I at lunch?" Kellin spoke again causing me to turn to him. He had the same innocent look on his face, along with an inviting smile but as lovely as his offer was, he sat with Jack and I really don't feel like being in that situation right now either.

I politely declined, telling him maybe another time and then it was my turn to pick my food. I grabbed the closest sandwich to me, paid and left the line.

My eyes raked until they came across an empty table at the back of the room, well practically empty. One girl sat there, her head buried in a book and earphones tangled around the cover of it. That can't be too bad, my best option.

I stayed silent as I passed both Jack's and Mariah's lunch tables, focusing on just walking towards the table. The girl glanced up at me as I sat down, raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow and then put all of her focus back onto the book. No words needed to be said, I guess.

I unwrapped my lunch and just as I took a bite, the chair next to me scraped across the floor, and a smiling Vic appeared in my line of site as he sat next to me, placing his own lunch on the table.