The Haven High Book Series (Wattys2017)

Chapter 12

Hey guys I decided to up a chapter a couple of days early because I was bored and I'm just shy of the reads I had hoped to accomplish before my one month anniversary tomorrow. I would have had them too if the site hadn't lost the book for nearly two days. I might up another chapter tomorrow too. We'll see. Enjoy!

Zach woke up the next morning super early for a change. It wasn't even light outside yet, but try as he may he couldn't fall back to sleep; so, he crawled out of his tangled covers. When he looked back at his crumpled and twisted bed sheets he realized he must have tossed and turned all night.

With a yawn, he rubbed his eyes sleepily and staggered to his bathroom and when he turned on his light it hurt his sleep deprived brain. He squinted, as the glare seemed to burrow into his head. It was then that he became conscious of a dull throb in the front of his skull. As he splashed water on his face, and scowled at himself in the mirror, he worried that his powers might get the better of him again today.

"Okay Angel Boy you got this," he said aloud to the empty room, but his voice bounced off the walls sounding hollow and unconvincing even to his ears.

"Shake it off," he continued to encourage himself as he turned the nozzle in the shower and stepped in to the scalding hot stream. He jumped back in shock, but soon relaxed and let the hot water cascade down his back and shoulders. The steam and heat soon did the trick and relaxed his tense muscles and helped him clear his jumbled thoughts.

He exited the shower twenty minutes later determined to go downstairs and start breakfast. He wanted to treat his dads. He was still feeling guilty about the half a dozen almost lies he'd told them over the weekend. A knot formed in his stomach when he thought about the fact that he still hadn't told them he'd quit the team.

He pushed the thought away though because it intensified his headache. Taking a few deep breaths he was able to dull the pain and with that reprieve he quickly got dressed then exited his room and snuck quietly downstairs. Once in the kitchen he was able to keep the worrisome thoughts at bay with the mindless task of preparing: pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, and coffee. He liked cooking; he was a good cook and he knew it. So did his dads.

It wasn't long before the aromas of the carefully prepared meal started wafting from the kitchen and soon after his Dads showed up at the door looking bedraggled and sleepy.

"Hey," Matt yawned, "To what do we owe the honor of this rather miraculous early morning repast?"

"What your overly educated father, means to say is: Hey what gives; did the aliens that replaced you not get the memo that you're normally a late riser?" Chris snorted at his own joke.

As one dad went to pour two cups of coffee and the other began to set the table they all had a good early morning chuckle.

Zach placed the prepared food in the center of the table and joined his dads. Dishing up a heaping plate he thought about how he should be ravenous. His growing body always was, but he lacked the appetite at the moment to swallow even one bite. He knew this was the moment. He had to tell his dads about the team before school so that they had a limited window of opportunity to grill him on the whys of it.

He took a deep breath and raised his head to find that both of them were staring at him intently – of course they were; he couldn't hide anything from them. How was he going to lie if they asked him straight up what gives?

He teared up when they both reached out to hold his hands -- at the same time as they reached to hold each others.

"Firstly, "Matt cleared his throat and said, "we want you to know that you can tell us anything. Nothing you can say will ever change the way we feel about you. And secondly, if there's something really wrong we'll figure it out together."

"And," Chris interjected as he gave him a reassuring look, "thirdly, if it's something that you did, you've gotta know there's nothing that you could do that is so bad that you can't tell us, right?"

Zach almost laughed when they squeezed his hand to comfort him at the same time.

"I know," Zach said, "I just don't want you guys to be disappointed in me." He pleaded.

"Okay now you're really scaring us," they said in stereo as one looked at the other.

Matt announced, "just go ahead and tell us so we can work through this together."

There was no help for it he would have to jump in with both feet or chicken out all together. He took a deep breath and blurted out, "I quit the team."

His Dads looked at each other and gave a collective sigh of relief.

""Why; we thought you love the game?" Chris said in disbelief.

Here it was. He reminded himself that partial truths do the trick.

"I did . . . I do, but I've got so much school work coming up with extra assignments and new classes and it's really important to me that I'm able to keep up. I'm finding it stressful these days to juggle all that."

Zach let out a happy sigh to realize that he'd done it, and he hadn't had to lie.

"Do you need a tutor son we could get a tutor if you think it would help?"

Zach thought no human tutor was going to be able to wrap his or her head around this, as he told them the entire truth this time.

"No Lauren's got that covered. In fact," he continued "We'll probably be spending even more time together here or at her place trying to get me caught up."

Both dads seemed to smirk at his words as one cleared his throat and asked, "Are you sure that's the only reason for you spending so much time together."

"Har, har, har," Zach rolled his eyes at them.

"I'm also thinking about taking Martial Arts training, Lauren says it's a great way to focus the mind. There are classes after school that offer a Phys Ed credit. I checked it out on Friday; it looks really interesting. And the best part is since it's part of the curriculum; it won't cost a dime"

Zach was surprised at himself -- had he really managed to explain his dropping out of basketball, and his having to stay later at school without ever having to lie about it? If this panned out he would have to rethink the being a terrible liar thing.

He realized it worked when both his dads visibly relaxed and started dishing up their now cold breakfast.

It was confirmed when one of his dads said, "Sounds like a great idea."

The other piped in and squeezing his hand again, saying," We're proud of you. You're really starting to mature and think these things through yourself. You're really making some good life choices."

Zach couldn't help but smile. God he loved these guys.

With his appetite renewed he attacked his plate like a ravenous animal, all the worries of the day ahead forgotten -- for the moment.  

********************THANKS FOR READING***************

If you liked this chapter Vote, Comment, add, this book to your reading list, or suggest it to a friend. Thank you all for helping me reach my goal of 1000 reads by the end of the month. I have another goal of 2,000 reads and 500 votes and 500 followers by the one month anniversary on 7th of July. Just one more days. 

Stay tuned, because you're going to want to read more; Zach's finally going to be introduced to the magic wing soon. What do you think it's going to be like?

A/N still looking for a name for a magic shop run by witches. Something like MissSpelled ? And Go . . .

Best suggestion gets a virtual hug.