Lost Time

3

Victoria Mathews

Zach and I go through similar family problems. My parents are divorced. I live with my Mom, but sometimes I go with my Dad. I see my Dad almost once month. I was kind of young when it happened so I don't quite understand how it happened in the first place. It was after we moved to Virginia. It was probably in 5th grade. Again, I don't remember. Dad still comes to my concerts and things and that makes me happy. Let me tell you about my family.


My brother is 21 and lives with his girlfriend, Christine. My brother's name is Hunter and he still lives in Virginia. My older sister is 25 and she lives in New York City, writing and selling books. Her name is Amanda. My Dad's name is Patrick, he's 44 and he's an alcoholic. It's disappointing but the only life I have to keep in check is my own so I don't really worry about it that much. My mom lets me go see him because it's the right thing to do. My Mom is 43 and her name is Margo. She's a photographer for a popular magazine company here in Virginia. My mom and I are really close. She helps me handle things like She listens. She's my best friend. Me on the other hand, I'm 15. I don't have many responsibilities. Okay, let me rephrase. I don't get many responsibilities. I'm a sophomore in high school and I can't drive, I don't have time for a job, and I always have school to worry about. Besides, I think everyone has their own problems in life and mine aren't that bad.

Okay, time to get to what we've all been waiting for. The only reason I would get emotional about hugging Zach, is because I needed it. I needed to know if he felt the same way. I'm convinced, but I don't want to be wrong. And it hurts because I want to do what my heart wants but I also don't want to ruin something great.I don't have anything wrong with my brother. He isn't moving but I had to come up with some excuse as to why I was getting all emo on him. I didn't want him to see me upset like that. I've seen him break down before, not that that's a bad thing, I just know how I'm supposed to react. I don't think he would know what to do.

The next day I met him before school in the parking lot. There wasn't really a better place to go. My school is filled with a bunch of weirdos. Either people are kissing and slamming each other up against the lockers, or they're doing their homework; before school that is. There really is no in between. I got there a few minutes before him. When he got there I gave him his jacket back.
"Here. I... forgot to give this back to you." I smiled and handed him his jacket.

"Thanks." He smiled back. His teeth were so straight and bright. I blushed and looked at the ground.
"Okay, so I was thinking that we could ditch third period. Together. I have Mr. Cowell. He never knows I'm there anyway."
"History? Yes he does! Your teacher is your basketball coach, Zach!"
"Shit, you're right." He paused for a second.
He put his hands in his letterman jacket pockets. "Okay well what's your third period?" He asked.
"Communications. I can't miss that class, I already have a bunch of work I have to do! I'm not ditching third."
"Okay, I have an idea."
"Zach-"
"Hear me out. What if we ditch second period because it's before lunch, not the class that gets split because of it." He explained. So, basically you have first, second and then third period, but lunch is twenty five minutes after third period starts. Then you get an hour of lunch time, and that' when people can leave campus and all that other stuff. After lunch you

go back to third and then fourth after. Pretty basic.

"Alright. I can miss second." I said a little worried. I had never ditched before.
"Okay great." He said happy. I smiled too. We made our way back to the school. The bells rang.
"Meet me by the tree in the back of the school." He said finally.
"Okay." I smiled quick and said goodbye.

Okay, I know what your thinking and you're right. It's not the best idea, but we needed to talk. Yeah, we might be caught, but I was with someone I wanted to be with.

I got to first period and I couldn't focus. All I could think about was how I could be caught and taken off the Cheer Squad. I break some rules, but this was crossing the line, in my opinion. I was in my Chemistry class. I don't personally like the class. Infact, I'm terrified. Every time the teacher calls on me, I feel attacked. I feel like everyone in that room is going to judge me based on my knowledge.

The bell rang. I saw him heading out the doors before me. I grabbed my books and I went to get him. I ran so fast I could have nearly tripped on my other foot. I finally caught up to him, I was out of breath.
"Hey Vic." Zach said smiling.
"H.. Hi" I couldn't breathe.
"You good?" He asked. We walked out the doors.
"Yeah... sorry just... shit-" I said breathing heavily. I don't like running unless I want to. The only reason I did was to catch up with him. We were somewhat silent until we got to the tree. I was nervous but I didn't know why. I guess it's because I was worried I would get in trouble.


We sat down and he pulled out this 12 pound bag of Sour Patch Kids. My eyes widened.
"What... the hell?" I said laughing.
"You're gonna eat all that by yourself?!" I laughed.
"I thought we could share it!" Zach said. He ripped open the top and handed me this large amount. I liked the yellow ones, he liked the blue ones. He stole all the blue ones from me and I took the yellow ones from him.
"So. Algebra test next week. Sounds like a-"
I cut him off
"Shit load of hell" I huffed.
He laughed.
"I'm actually good at algebra, so.... I'm not worried!" He laughed.
"You're actually the worst!" I laughed. I threw a sour patch kid at him and he screeched. He grabbed a handful and threw it at me. I screamed and fell backwards onto my back. I lay on the grass. He got on his hands and knees and came face to face with me. He looked straight into my eyes. His eyes were gorgeous and his eyelashes were long and dark. His eyes were mysterious but an open book at the same time. He reached his arm over me and above my head. I leaned in slightly. He grabbed more sour patch kids, sat up and shoved them into his mouth. What just happened? Was it my fault? I sat up and looked at him. He turned and looked down at me.
"Are you going to share those?" I asked raising one eyebrow.
"Yeah, I guess, if I have to." He huffed.
He paused and smiled at me. We continued to talk like nothing ever happened. He was telling me about basketball and all this other stuff he liked to do even though I already knew everything about him. He told me how he has started to write his own songs and play the guitar. I thought that was neat, ignoring the fact that I really can't do anything. I told him about how my friends and I haven't been getting along and how all they want in life are the things they aren't prepared for yet. He told me about his friends wanting to do things he doesn't want to include in but he does it anyway because of peer pressure. I guess we both go through the same problems. He has friends who want to go and break the rules all the time. He doesn't want to but his friends make fun of him for it.

The bell rang.