And Who Are You? e.d.

"Here, let me help you cool down a bit." -4

I hear my alarm going off and all I want to do is fall in a hole and die. My head feels like a bear mauled me and then left me for death. I crawl out of bed, take some Advil, and hop into the shower, trying to wash away the night before. I get out,  and want to dress like I'm homeless but I don't want to draw attention to myself so I put on leggings, a nice shirt and riding boots. I also throw on my glasses because I'm too lazy to put my contacts in. I brush out my hair before it dries so it won't get all frizzy and knotty. I grab my phone and jet out the door, thankfully avoiding my mother in the process. As I'm walking to school, what happened the night before finally hits me. I stop in my tracks and everything replays in my head. Truth or dare, Derek, The fight, and Ethan. Oh my God, Ethan was in my house during... I have to explain it to him! What if he tells everyone? What if he spreads rumors? Oh god. I walk quickly to school but then realize that the twins will probably be late anyway so I walk at normal speed. I get to the school with 15 minutes to spare before bell rings, but I don't want to mingle so I go straight to the classroom. I start to walk through the door when Peyton is sitting on the desk with her arms crossed looking straight at me. I look down and tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.
"Hi.." I say.
"Zoë, what happened last night? Tell me everything!" She says in her peppy normal tone.
I laugh, I thought she was mad at me. Right after I laugh, Lexi and Sydney walk into the room and we all sit in our little square of desks.
I go over with them what happened, or as much as I can remember but I leave out the part about my mom.
"Woah." Lexi sits back in her seat.
"Woah is right!" Sydney says.
"Do you think he likes you?" Peyton asks.
"No, I don't think so. I think he was just being nice. Humane yanno? Making sure I was okay."
They all nod and then the bell rings. I check my phone to more texts from my old best friend.
V: you okay??? your mom???
V: zo please text me back I'm worried
V: I'm seriously about to fly to New Jersey right now
Z: please don't. i am okay. my mom more or less. just haven't had time for social media or texting.
I put my phone back in my bag and Mr. Ray runs in.
"Sorry class, alright who's here and who's not?"
He scans the class room and then shakes his head when he sees the two empty spots in the front of the classroom. "Of course." He mutters under his breath.
He begins teaching and I space off, thinking about if Ethan told anyone about what happened while he dropped me off. I wonder where he's at? Right as I actually start to look at the notes on the board, the door opens and in comes the two missing boys. My eyes interlock with Ethan for a few seconds and I can't determine what his expression is. I turn my head away from staring too long and look at the wall. The rest of class goes on, and before I know it, the bell rings. I pack up my stuff quickly so I can catch up to Ethan and try to put my brain to rest. I run out the door and see Ethan walking away with Grayson.
I quickly walk up to them and tap Ethan's shoulder. He turns around and Grayson gives me a look that I can't decipher.
"Can I, um, can I talk to you?" I look at the ground and tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.
He turns around and tells Grayson to go on, he'll catch up with him.
"Make it quick." He says sternly.
"So about last night, I wanted to explain what you heard. I, uh, w-"
He cuts me off as he sees tears start to well in my eyes. "I don't want to know."
"Oh, okay." He starts to turn away.
"Um, Ethan?" He looks back.
"You haven't told anyone about it, right?" I look at the floor.
He walks up to me and gets so close our faces are almost touching. "Do you really think I would do that?"
I turn my head a little bit. "I-uh, well,"
"Spit it out. Do you trust me or not?"
"You haven't given me a reason to.."
He almost throws up his hands. "Yeah because saving you from almost getting raped and taking you home so you felt better doesn't mean anything." He turns and walks away from me, fists balled up.
What just happened? Does he really care that I don't have trust in him? Is he gonna tell people now? I shake my head and go sit in the lobby of the school. I skip my next class period and sit out there and draw. I get a few sketches finished when a middle aged lady walks up to me and picks the papers up.
"You're really good. What's your name?" She asks.
"I'm Zoë, I'm new here." I look at the ground and tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.
"I'm Mrs. Rivera. The art teacher of the building. I'd really like to see you in my classroom sometime. I understand that these are nude drawings, but we don't have a restriction on that here. We welcome all art." She smiles at me.
I smile back but don't say anything.
"Well, if you'd like to check it out, I'm classroom 407." She puts my papers down and walks away. I think that's where I'll be spending my free time. The bell rings and I pack up my papers and walk to lunch.
I greet my friends at the table we sat at yesterday.
"Another apple and water? Girl go get a slice of pizza!" Peyton laughs.
I laugh too and we start talking about how are days have gone. I see Peyton do a full 180° so I do too. Grayson and Ethan walked into the room, but God almighty do they look gooooood. Zoë, shut up, what is with you?! We chuckle a little bit and return to our normal position.
"Grayson is so hot." Peyton says.
"Eh, I'm more of an Ethan girl." Lexi replies.
"Excuse me, who are you talking about?" We all turn our heads to see Julia standing behind us.
"I, uh, no one." Sydney chokes out.
"Mhm, well Zoë, seems like you're getting a little warm with Ethan there." She winks and takes a step closer to me.
"Um, no, he just helped m-"
She cuts me off. "Here, let me help you cool down a little bit." She takes her iced coffee and dumps it right over my head.
"Hmm, much better." She laughs and walks away.
The whole lunch room is staring at me right now, including Ethan. I run out of the school and collapse to the ground and begin to cry. A few minutes later, Peyton, Lexi and Sydney all run over to me.
"That was such a terrible thing of her to do." Lexi says.
"Hey, at least Peyton and Lexi did her just as dirty." Sydney says.
I look up at them through tear filled eyes.
"Well, you know that spaghetti I was eating?" Peyton says.
"And that cranberry sauce I had?" Lexi says too.
I look at them with wide eyes. "You didn't."
"Peyton went up to her, took a handful of her spaghetti and rubbed it all over her shirt and then Lexi poured the cranberry sauce over her head. And then I might have said 'fuck with us!' as we ran away." Sydney says.
We all burst into laughter but then I get serious. "You guys didn't have to do that, she's gonna be terrible to you guys now too."
"Hey, friends stick together." We all hug.
"Zoë? Are you okay?" My head shoots up to see Ethan behind us.
The girls stand up and give me a look before walking away.
I stand up and tell him I'm fine before starting to walk away. He grabs my arm then turns me around. "Zoë."
"Look, I just need to go home and change."
"Let me take you." He offers.
"Thanks, but I can walk." I turn around and start to walk down the side walk.
But before I know it, I'm swept up off my feet, thrown over his shoulder and taken to the parking lot.
"Ethan, remove me from your shoulder right now."
"Or what?" He says, with a little bit of play in his tone.
"Or this." I bite his back really hard causing him to cuss in pain.
"What was that for?!" He sets me down rather abruptly.
"For touching me when I didn't want to be touched." I cross my arms.
"God damnit Zoë." He pulls his shirt over his head and off his body, and then bends around to check the bite mark on his back.
I'm not gonna lie, I definitely checked him out. His body is literally a gift from the gods and there's no denying it. He's toned, and his skin is a nice tanned/olive color. I look at the bite mark, and realize that I definitely broke skin, seeing little trickles of blood coming up.
"Okay, you owe me. Let me take you home."
"Fine." I comply.
We walk to his car in silence and we climb inside. It's one of those new looking jeeps that everyone likes so much. The drive to my house is silent.
We pull up to the curb and I start to get out of the car. "Do you want me to come in with you?" He says softly. Almost as if he's scared for me.
"I'll be fine, it's just my mom."
He looks at me with worried eyes but then waves me off.
I walk up to my house and open the front door quietly and slowly. I tiptoe up the stairs and put on sweatpants with a sports bra and a zip up hoodie. I run over to the shower and bend over the side of the tub and rinse out my hair. I dry it off and then throw it into a bun and then put on my glasses. If this doesn't scream homeless, I don't know what does. I pick up my phone and walk out of my room, only to be greeted by my mother with a bottle of Jack in her hand.
"Leavin-leaving so soon?" She hiccups.
"Mom, I have to go back to school."
"The fuck you do! Stop leaving me! Why does everyone leave?!" She takes her hand and backhands me as hard as she can.
I nearly fall to the floor. Tears well up in my eyes and she notices what she had just done.
"Baby girl, I'm so sorry, give momma a hug."
"No, I'm leaving. I'll be back later." I run down the stairs and out the door, basically flying into Ethan's jeep.
"Go." I say looking straight.
"Jesus Christ, Zoë! What happened?" He looks me up and down.
"Damn it Ethan, I said go!" I yell.
He looks a little taken back but puts the car in drive and then pulls away from my house.
"Wanna tell me what the hell happened back there?"
"Not really," I say, looking out the window.
"Why? Because you don't fucking trust me? Jesus Christ Zoë your lip is fucking split open!"
I pull out my phone and notice the gash in my lip. It's bad but not deep. I open his glove box and pull out a napkin. I dab my lip and most of the blood goes away but it's still bleeding. I look out the window and see that we passed the school.
"Ethan, school is back there."
"Yeah I know."
"So take me there."
"No."
"And why the hell not?" I turn to him.
"Because. I'm gonna take you somewhere."
Great, he's a lunatic that's gonna kill me. I sit back in my seat and he turns up the music. Somebody Else by The 1975 comes on and I start to hum the music.
But I hate to think about you with somebody else.
Our love has gone cold,
You're intertwining your soul with somebody else.
I sing softly.
I notice Ethan looking me over but am too exhausted to call him out on it.
A half hour or so later, we arrive at a long dirt road that leads into the woods.
"Great, so you are gonna kill me."
He laughs. "Not yet." Then winks.
We drive a little down until we reach a dead end. He gets out of the car and I follow. We walk for about 10 minutes through some bushes and trees until we reach a large flat rock that dives into what I'm guessing is a cliff. We climb on top of it, and I look down to see a huge lake surrounded by forest.
"This is beautiful, Ethan."
"You're the first person I've ever taken out here." He says.
I look at him. "Why'd you take me out here then?"
"Because I trust you, and I want you to trust me too." He looks at me.
I look down and tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.
"Why do you do that so much? I noticed you only do it when you get nervous or something makes you uncomfortable."
"I guess I might as well start from the beginning." I say and look out at the lake.

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AN: yaaass!!! They're finally vibin on each other. Now you'll finally get to know Zoës story! :) probably will update within the next day!