The Chemistry Test

16. marijuana and ryan gosling

Day Eight

It was all a blur.

"Zoe."  Mark shook my shoulders, his facial features wobbling in my vision.  "Look at me."

I had no recollection of moving from the bleachers, nor did I remember a time my heart beat at a normal rate as I curled my fingers around the metal fence bordering the lacrosse field, unable to tear my eyes away from the gurney supporting him.

Zak.  He was my one and only thought; the blue galaxies of his irises concealed by eyelids when they should have been trained on his lacrosse game.  The corners of his lips, known for hinting at genuine smiles couldn't have been slacker, and even his disobedient locks of dark hair were plastered to his forehead, limp as the rest of his body.

A wall of marijuana blasted through my senses as Mark enveloped me in his arms.  I allowed the fence to slip through my fingers as I brought them to press into Mark's shoulders. 

"Zak."  My voice crackled, muffled against Mark's collarbone.

"He's okay."

The slam of the ambulance door was a deafening clap of thunder.  In a matter of seconds, it was gone.

Zak was gone.

"He's going to the hospital."  I muttered, each word trembling in my breath.  "The ch-chemistry test.  If Zak isn't okay-"

"Zoe, relax. He's okay. He's-shit-I'm not sober enough for this."  

Zak's name rang in my ears from the mouths of my peers, some of them fiddling with their cell phones-probably documenting the incident on social media-while others remained silent on the bleachers.

Hunter's dark curls bounced as he leaped over to us. Although his exterior appeared foggy and disfigured through the clouds in my eyes, his voice broke through the mesh of the crowd clear as glass.

"Hey, guys." His teeth sparkled snow white against the sunset backdrop. "Gwyn needs you up there, man." He cocked his head in Gwyn's general direction. "She's gonna blow a fuse."

Mark dragged a hand over the side of his face. "Dude, I'm s-so s-stoned. I can't."

Hunter's russet eyes drifted from Mark's to meet mine. He pressed his palms together in a pleading gesture and exhaled a cloud of white into the frigid air.

I pursed my lips at them.  My mind whirred with images of Zak's injured body laying on the gurney, how still it had been. I could only be in one place at a time, and the only place I desired to be was beside Zak; not with Mark's stoned alter-ego, or among Gwyn's posse of adoring followers. I had to make sure he was okay. The chemistry test came before all else.

"I'm going to the hospital to see Zak." I asserted with determination, willing my teeth not to chatter from the nip in the air.

"I'll come."  Mark blurted.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Mark."

"She's right."  Hunter added, clapping a hand on Mark's shoulder.  "Come on, buddy.  I'll take you and your girl home."