Pink Motel

7

As soon as Dominic had left, I stood up from my previous uncomfortable position from the floor because I had heard footsteps coming close. I exited the reception building and practically ran all the way to my form. In two minutes, would be late. As I sprinted there, I paused to take a breath and found Zoe. She had a smile on her face and was carrying her books.

"Hey." She faced me. I smiled in return and pulled her along with me to run to our form class. She yelped as I dragged her, almost stumbling flat on her poor face. We arrived and we dumped our bodies on the hard chairs, panting from all the running.

"Not even a good morning to me huh? What is this, an episode of 'Gone with the wind' because we sure as hell ran as fast as the wind in heels!" Zoe whispered angrily. I almost choked up from laughing and panting at the same time.

"Sorry about that. Good morning. We ran because class starts in; five...Four...Three...Two..." And exactly one second later, our teacher walked in. Zoe glared at me.

"Mik, it's okay if we were late for a few seconds! Plus I was getting some juicy gossip from Valery! And you know, gossip isn't free!" Boy did I know. My back still ached from all that crouching down.

"Speaking about gossip, do you know who Dominic Vodrero is?"

"Duh." Snorted Zoe. I repeat, Zoe snorted.

"Did you know that she's dating Kyle?" I asked her, ignoring her snorting reaction.

"Ever since the summer."

"And do you know she has something to do with this Zack guy?" I continued. But I immediately stopped. Zoe had paled, like a ghost at midnight. She had completely stopped blinking. "Uh...Zoe? You there?" I felt like she was sucked into another dimension, her soul whisked away and her body standing next to me. That sounded very creepy. "Snap out of it!" I shouted loudly. She then began to blink violently, then she slowed down and focused her eyes on me.

"Do you know which Zack she was talking about?"

"What do you mean?" I wondered.

"There are two Zacks in our year. Zack Marble and Zack Valioti. One is a normal kid, and the other one is a frat kid. Do you know which one she was talking about?" I was confused as to what Zoe had to do with this but I replied anyway.

"The frat kid. Yeah definitely the frat kid. The receptionist who spoke to Dominic said that he was a frat boy with low grades. Is that Zack... What did we call him again? Sorry Zoe, I forgot."

"Valioti."

"Kay, thanks." I finished. But then I remembered our situation. 'Why are you so confused?"

'Zack Valioti." She repeated. I had never been more confused in my life. "He's... Well... He and I were... You could say we were kind of an item. We met in sixth grade. I hated him and he hated me ever since. But then our feelings for each other grew rapidly. The good way. In year nine, we both confessed to each other, and he had finally asked me out. We were the school's cutest and best couple ever since. You know, I loved him, and he loved me. But then it ended really badly before the summer. Ever since then, you can say that he's... Changed?" She finished, with a warm look of despair on her face.  This was news to me. Zack and Zoe? I had to admit, they did sound like an adorable couple, but from Zoe's point of view, Zack sounded much like a sweetheart who became influenced by other bad influences.

"Would you like to change our subject? I don't mind you know." I asked politely. Hurting, confusing and making Zoe remember her ugly memories was the last thing on my list. In fact, it wasn't even on my nonexistent list.