Puzzled Past

The Mischievous Visitor

Zacharys POV:

She wasn't at school today... Or yesterday. She didn't even bother texting me during the weekend to explain why she stood me up.

But she honestly doesn't owe me an explanation. In fact she probably finds me annoying and views me as a desperate guy looking for some attention.

I'd like to believe I'm not annoying, but maybe I am a bit desperate, but I'm desperate for answers... Not secret, just the bitter truth of everything.

I know there's things my family won't tell me, and I wonder if they know that I know.

I feel left in the dark... Drowning in 'protection'. Yah, that's the word.... P.R.O.T.E.C.T.I.O.N. 

Protection...

But something about that girl...

***

Grace. 'What an interesting name' I thought to myself as I read off the sticky note, stuck on the binder filled with tests and home work that she had missed over the two days she's been missing.

And for me, it hasn't gone unnoticed. So I did some runs around the school searching for Graces teachers, asking for any homework I could bring over to her.

They all thought my efforts were 'sweet'...

Soon after school I made my way to the candy store, what I do every Tuesday and Thursday after school. I picked up some Sourpatch Kids, Gum, and a chocolate rose.

I guess, you can guess who it's for...

I wouldn't want to put too much effort into this friendship if it's only going to freak her out...

But something tells me it won't.

And I also don't care about 'going to far' to show her my commitment to friends.

You may wonder why I bother so much to be her particular friend, and I wonder the same thing.

But I have a good feeling about her. One I just don't understand.

*** Graces POV:

"Come on Grace, you need to take your medicine." My mother insisted, with a bitter tone.

Yah, I'm sick... I caught a cold, while out in the rain with Chace the other day.

But that's not the only thing wrong with me... My parents think I made myself mentally ill. But realistically, that's not true nor what happened.

While life changed for Zachary, things changed for Chace, but life changed for me, too.

After the accident, I lost my appetite... I was pulled away from Zachary Blaine's life by his and my parents, I constantly wondered 'Why Couldn't It Have Been Me?', I was always moody, and I soon became a recluse, I lost friends, gained friends, then lost those friends,too. I didn't trust them, I didn't want friends of pitty, I just wanted Chace and Zachary back...

But when I noticed most hope was lost, I painfully learned to move on.

So you can imagine how I felt learning that Zachary Blaine would be attending my school, After surviving without him, for what felt like SO long.

I wasn't excited for many reasons, but a part of my old self was over drenched in joy and a brand new kind of hope...

I guess that part of me... Will die with me.

***

I was laying in bed reading 'Star Girl' while my mother brought in some soup and crackers. She placed it on my desk, the only empty surface in my room, then she began to talk...