Gone

Chapter 6.

I woke up to the obnoxious ringing on the alarm on my phone. I rolled over and sighed.

First day of school.

I walked past my window, tempted to open it up in hopes of seeing Liam. But I can't, not after what I decided last night. After I left the party, everything hit me. I can't be something with Liam because I'm not allowed to be. The only people I'm allowed to date are in the group. If Liam would have came last year, me and him could have worked out. I could come over to work on homework and we could eat cookies and hang out with his mom. I'm a new person now and being around Liam, is just a constant reminder of exactly who I used to be.

When I finish my breakfast, I head out to the driveway. Another requirement of the group is getting picked up every morning by one of the boys. I was okay with that, hell it was better than my mom taking me.

"Hey do you need a ride to school?" Liam's voice startled me. I turned around to see him putting his backpack in the backseat. He had a short sleeved button down shirt and khakis on.

"No, a friend is picking me up." I turn back around so he doesn't see me eyeing his perfect body.

"I'm sorry about last night, I barely remember-"

"Don't worry about it, Liam. Really." It came out harsher then I really intended it too but I needed him to back off now. He had to remember what he said to me.

I didn't need to turn back around to know he had a frown on his face. I heard his car door shut then pull out of the drive way.

Minutes later Zak's red street bike is pulling into my driveway.

"Is everyone taking shifts with picking me up?" I say as I hop on the back.

"Nah. Expect Zayn tommorow and for the rest of the school year. He told me about your fight. I told him to suck up his shit and say sorry. You know how Zayn's a man of few words. Hopefully he takes my advice and gets his act together."

I knew there was something I always liked about Zak. He's so sensible when it comes to everyone else's problems.

"I don't know.. He seemed pretty pissed off. And I sort of slapped him.."

Zak whipped his head around, his blue eyes wide and a surprised smile on his face. Zak was also the most violent one.

"You what? No wonder Zayn didn't say much. You got balls, kid. I can tell you no girl has ever done that. Why did you slap him though?"

I couldn't tell him Zayn's true intentions. There were too many bad things that would come out of it. Zak would surely beat the shit out of Zayn and their friendship would be ruined. And who knows how that would leave the group.

"He made fun of me being a virgin." It wasn't technically a lie because he did say he was tired of waiting for me.

"Oh." Zak averted his eyes down, defiantly uncomfortable with my answer. "You know, I was Mariah's first." His voice was just barely louder than a whisper as his eyes met mine. The bright blue in them dimmed.

"She never told me that."

"I'm surprised she hasn't, especially since we're not together anymore. But the point is, I didn't deserve her virginity. Not just because I was only a prop to make her parents mad but because I'm not a good guy and she should have saved it for someone that truly cares about her." Zak still held his eyes on me as he talked. I was glad he was talking to me, I knew he couldn't talk to any of the boys because they'd just laugh at him.

"You are a good guy, Zak. You did truly care about her." I put my hand on his arm in an attempt to comfort him.

"I think the problem was that I cared too much and look where it got me." I wanted so badly to scream at him that she did care about him and wanted him back but it wasn't my place so I kept quiet.