𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 ; zach herron

F I V E

Zach was a part of her everyday life now.

He was like a constant thing she expected to see every day. He'd walk her to school, spend lunch with her in the library, and walk her back home. Then, they'd spend their afternoons together and he'd leave before her mother arrived home from work.

She liked spending time with him. Loved it actually. He always brightened up her day with his warm smile and charming charisma. He had a way of making her laugh and making her feel happy. She no longer felt the sting of abandonment when she thought about her father. Or the stab of sorrow she used to get from her mother's icy stare and her bare acknowledgement of Sabrina's existence. Finally, after so many years, she no longer felt lonely.

At last she had a friend.

But it was a Friday morning when things started getting strange.

Zach and her were just getting to school when he asked, "So what do you want to do tonight?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. You wanna watch a movie?"

He grinned, the dimple on his left cheek making an appearance. She tried not to stare, but it was nearly impossible not to. She almost tripped a second later and decided to blame it on his hypnotic smile.

"Finding Nemo?" he suggested.

She groaned in annoyance. "Zach, we watched that movie last week! Three times!"

"Hey, don't pretend you didn't enjoy it Sabrina. Finding Nemo is a classic."

"As amazing as it may be, can't we watch something else?"

"Fine," he sighed dejectedly. He thought for a moment, then his face lit up. As he smiled mischievously down at her, she just knew that she was going to hate whatever came out of his mouth next. "How about a scary movie?"

She blanched. "A scary movie?"

"Yeah," he said excitedly. "You know, with a lot of blood and killers and screams. It'll be awesome!"

She wasn't so sure 'awesome' was the correct term for it. Sabrina wasn't afraid of many things- spiders were the only thing that really freaked her out- but she had an incredibly wild imagination and the last time she saw a scary movie, she wasn't able to sleep well for an entire week. She never watched a scary movie again after that.

"Uh, I don't know Zach..."

"Oh come on. It'll be fun!"

She thought it over, but then felt her blood pressure drop from the vision she saw of Zach seeing her so terrified. She could just imagine it now. Her sitting in a ball position at the corner of her couch underneath the blankets and pillows, as if they would protect her or something. Yeah, so not gonna happen.

"I don't think so, Zach."

He took her hand then and pulled her to him. She gasped as she crashed into his chest. He looked at her pleadingly, his chocolate brown eyes growing larger by the second. It made him appear as if he were impersonating a baby seal.

"Please Sabrina? If you watch this with me I promise you can choose the movies we watch for the next two weeks."

She was still a little flustered over their closeness, but was able to mange a, "Deal."

"Thank you," he said while hugging her in the process. "You're the greatest and don't worry, I promise to protect you from any scary monsters."

Thank God he was still hugging her because the blush that overtook her face was not flattering at all. She punched his shoulder. "You're making a lot of promises there buddy."

"They're promises I intend to keep. You of all people should know I never break my promises, Sabrina."

He pulled back a bit and she did as well, but when he kissed her on the cheek she froze in shock. He had always shown affection to her before, but it was just simple things like holding her hand, giving her a hug, or playing with her curls. He has never given her a kiss.

And it wasn't a fast kiss either. His lips lingered there. The softness of them igniting her face in a bright red that spread down to her neck. Not to mention her skin tingled all across her body like she'd just been shocked with electricity.

"I'll see you at lunch," he whispered. He kissed her softly one last time and walked away, winking at her over his shoulder.

She just stood there, waving after him like an idiot while trying not to gape in surprise. She knew she had always felt something for Zach that went deeper than friendship, but now that he had kissed her? Her brain felt like it had melted and her heart seemed to be trying to explode out of her chest. What made the whole thing even more ridiculous was that he didn't even kiss her on the lips! He kissed her cheek for Christ's sake! She really needed to get a freaking grip.

"Hey Sabrina."

She turned to find her lab partner Aspen Loeffler. She was a beautiful girl who treated Sabrina very nicely. Before Zach, she was the closest thing to a friend Sabrina had.

"Hi Aspen. What's up?"

"Nothing much. Who were you just waving at?"

Sabrina looked to see where Zach had gone, but he had already disappeared. Wow, he's a fast walker, she mused.

"Oh that was my friend Zach."

Aspen looked at the direction Sabrina was pointing at and then back at her. She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "Zach?"

"Yeah, Zach Herron. He's in our grade."

"Um, there's no Zach Herron in our grade, Sabrina."

She suddenly got a weird feeling then. "Of course there is. He's tall, with brown hair, and chocolate eyes."

Aspen shook her head. "I've never seen a guy like that before."

The bell rang, signaling the students to head to class. And as Sabrina walked to her homeroom she became more and more puzzled. The uneasy feeling in her gut increasing.

Zach had been attending school for three months now. How had Aspen not seen him before? The high school wasn't very large, on the contrary it was small compared to other schools. Everyone knew each other here so how is it possible that Zach had passed under Aspen's radar.

She'd have to ask Zach tonight.