ANGEL DOWN [ JACK x ZACH ]

six

track 1: perfect illusion by lady gaga.

track 2: younger by ruel.

track 3: why should i be sad by britney spears.

track 4: dazed & confused by ruel.

track 5: natural by zayn.

track 6: starstruck by lady gaga.

" baby now that we're alone, you gotta request? would you make me number one on your playlist? "

"Can I have your number?"

Zach looked up from texting his mother, "What?"

"There's a party this weekend and you can only go if you're in pairs, do you want to go to it? With me, obviously." told Jack. Zach's face lifted into a smile, "Sure, here."

Zach delicately took Jack's phone into his hands and typed his number into a contact, adding a random photo of himself that he took on the spot. He handed the phone to Jack, "There."

"I like your photo." laughed Jack. 

"Thanks, I had to make it legendary."

"I'm honored."

They continued conversation, all until one boy interrupted a joke Jack was about to make.

"Hey, uh, who are you?" asked the random boy while nudging over to Zach. Zach furrowed his eyebrows, "Yeah, could ask the same about you."

"I'm Daniel."

"Okay..."

Jack just peeked over Zach's shoulders and shook his head, "What?"

"Woah, did the famous Jack Avery just speak to me, Daniel Seavey? Shocked, nonetheless. I'm just asking who is the boy beside you, it's the new big thing in school. Everyone is wondering who you are." told Daniel sarcastically.

Zach looked at Daniel with wide eyes, "Big thing?"

"Yeah, it's the biggest thing on the school's twitter. Look," Daniel took his phone out of his pocket and opened twitter, showing Zach a twitter page named, 'Shriveled Paper'.

"That's a random name." told Zach. 

"Not if you know the meaning to it." shrugged Daniel.

Zach just looked at him, "What's the meaning?"

"You think I know? Jack's the one that created the saying." said Daniel nonchalantly while scrolling down the feed.

"Who owns the account?" asked Zach curiously.

"No one knows."

"So how did Jack come up wit-"

"Hah, found it. There's a whole thread about Jack and 'who the hell is that kid he's sitting with?' Funny, really."

Zach grabbed the phone out of Daniel's hand and swiped through the thread, seeing multiple photos of Jack and him laughing and smiling, and even one with Zach looking out the window and Jack glancing over at him. The captions were all, 'Jack has never looked happier!' or 'this new kid looks rude.'

Zach snorted, "How am I a new kid? I've been going to this high school since I was a freshman."

"What're you?" 

"Junior. Jesus." sighed Zach, "Can I look through the comments?"

Daniel immediately grabbed his phone back, "No, god no, the comments are the worst."

"C'mon, I don't have an account! Can I please?" he whined.

"Nope." and Daniel shifted back into his seat.

How bad could those comments be?

~

Zach climbed into Jack's car, the smell of roses and nature filling his nose swiftly. Jack smiled at him, "Hey."

"Hello. How far away is the party?" asked Zach while putting on his seat belt. Jack concentrated on the road, "Not too far, ten minutes maybe?"

"Who's house?"

"His name is Jonah Marias, he's our school's quarterback. He throws these huge parties once in a while, they're really fun." told Jack while making a turn. 

Zach nodded, "The guy with the really nice jawline? Wait, and those like -- I think Harry Potter themed shirts?"

"Yup, that's him."

Zach never ever paid attention to the so-called "popular" people in his school. All he paid attention to was his grades and his classes. His only friend was Auston, but he couldn't even think of the man without wanting to rip himself apart. Jack was his friend.

But Jack was extremely popular. Like, really, really, well known. It's always his name on teacher's tongues, his name on those drama pages, Zach was amazed. 

"Jonah. That's a nice name. Suits him." he rambled on. Jack gave Zach a questioning look, "Okay..."

Zach sighed, "Did you know about the twitter thing? Shriveled Paper?"

Jack instantly wanted to shut himself out of the situation, "It's hard to not know a lot of things."

"I didn't know you were this well-known." told Zach sincerely.

"I'm not fake though." said Jack, his eyes filled with hope. "I may be this popular, and rumors can go around all they want, but I am not fake. And I do not treat my friends falsely."

"I know that."

"Daniel knows a lot." mumbled Jack.

"Knows a lot of what? You surely know more." It came out more harsher than what was meant.

"Him and his friend Corbyn know every single thing about this school. They know things that can screw you over. Corbyn is a mastermind." warned Jack.

"What does Shriveled Paper mean?" asked Zach while changing the subject.

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it. "Nothing."

Zach wanted to know. How deep could the "saying" 'Shriveled Paper' be?

"Doesn't it ever get annoying?" pried Zach again. "Treated like you have no feelings."

Jack stopped at a red light and looked over at Zach, "Yeah."

And that's how that conversation ended, leaving Zach starstruck.

Starstruck.

~~~~~~~~

i love this chapter