The Black Hoodies [bxb]

t h r e e

We neared the nurse's office. I knew exactly where it was, as I'd come here way too often back in freshman and sophomore years. I was just a clumsy person. The nurse and I were on a first-name basis.

"Hey, Linda." I said quietly, regarding the middle-aged woman seated behind a large desk.

"Zen! It's been a while, how are you doing?" She asked, looking up as if she could see me. Mrs Dilling had been in some sort of freak accident that had rendered her blind. She refused to speak of it, though, and didn't like sharing details about any of it. "Treat me like you would treat a classmate." Was what she would say.

"Good." I instinctively answered. "Ish."

"Oh?"

"He twisted his ankle." Jonah cut in. "In gym. We were playing basketball, and-"

"Is it swollen?" She interrupted.

I looked down. "Yep."

"And can you move it?"

"Not really."

"It's probably sprained. That's out of the range of what I can do here at school, so I'm going to call your parents to come pick you up. Are they busy at this time of day?"

Zen suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable at his parents being mentioned. "Uh... they're..." he searched for the right words. "They won't come to pick me up."

Mrs Dilling raised her eyebrows slightly. "Oh? Maybe try calling them, yeah?"

"No, he'll ignore it. And he won't come, anyway."

"Zen, I can't do anything for you here at school. You need professional medical help, and that's more than we can offer at a school clinic. I want you to try and call your parents."

He sighed in defeat, and Mrs Dilling handed the phone to him. I looked around the room at the bland health posters to make it seem like I wasn't paying attention to Zen punching in the phone number or speaking into the receiver.

The phone rang for a few moments before picking up. "Hello?!" I winced at the unnecessarily loud shouting. Zen flinched and instinctively pulled his head away from the phone so his ears wouldn't be blasted off.

"Hi, dad."

"Oh, it's you. Um... Zach, was it?" If there was such thing as having your voice sound like cars running over gravel mixed with a lion roaring, this was it. The gruff sound was enough to send tingles down your spine. It was so different from Zen's voice.

"Zen."

"Right, right. Zeb. What do you want?"

"I sprained my ankle, and-"

He was cut off by a loud, hoarse laugh that made you want to curl up into a fetal position and cry. "Are you saying you want me to pick you up from school? Are you saying you want me to do you a favor? After I saved your bratty ass from dying?"

"Dad!" His voice was weak, and I could tell he was obviously bothered.

"Shut up, brat! Do you really think I'm in the mood for being your back-up plan for the stupid shit you do? Am I just the person you turn to when your shitty ass needs saving? Do y-"

"Dad, please." His voice quivered.

"Stop fucking interrupting me! God, you'd think your mother would've taught you better manners!"

Why did I wish I had the superpower to teleport so I could punch this guy in the face...

"I'm sorry, I-"

"I said shut up! I'm not picking you up from school, you got that? I didn't raise you to be a quitter! Man up and deal with it!"

Zen sighed audibly. "Okay. I'm sorry for bothering you. Bye dad, love you."

"Humph." The line clicked and went dead.

Writing this long chapter filled me with DETERMINATION~

ahah but seriously this was longgggggg

Thanks for reading :3