The Middle | ✔️

Chapter 39 (Zach)

Zach

Noah's bedroom door slams closed, and Will runs both his hands over his face again. He feels bad about this, I can see that, but he needs to chill out. Noah will be fine, after the initial shock wears off.

"So, what made you finally decide to come clean about this tonight?" I ask him.

"Jamie and I are in Social Studies together." Will says with a sigh. "I tried apologising to her again yesterday, but she wouldn't hear it. It's a lost cause. So, I decided it was time to tell you guys."

I nod, because this makes sense. John hasn't said much, but he really likes Jamie. So I guess the story Will just told us while Noah was in the shower isn't sitting too well with John.

So Will and Jamie did date after all. Not for long, and they only fucked the one time, but still. It happened. I was right. Will's just told us about how they were seeing each other for weeks before anything happened between them, and after it did, he just completely cut Jamie off. Cold turkey, no further texts, calls, hook ups or conversation of any kind. Dick move on Will's part. He's just full of surprises. But, I'm a little impressed. Dating a girl to get into her pants then never talking to her again is very much my style. I like it. But I won't let on, for John's sake. And besides, Will obviously does feel really bad about what went down with Jamie, it's written all over his face right now. He says he did like her, and they had fun together, the usual shit.

But what's surprised me the most about all of this is the bet. Very bad form indeed, Mr Archibald. Using a girl for a bet is so not cool, even if it wasn't Will's bet. But he still knew about it. Terrible. I don't find it funny at all. Except I kinda do. It's exactly the kind of thing Adrian, Walker, Noah and I used to do. Immature? Very. But still, good fun.

"I can't believe your friends made a bet about you and Jamie sleeping together." John says quietly, shaking his head and looking down at his feet. "That's disgusting. It's no way to treat girls."

"I completely agree John." I throw in for good measure.

"I know you guys! I'm scum, okay? I know!" Will throws his hands up in distress. "This is why I wanna make amends with her now."

"And would you have apologised to her now if you weren't at the same college as her?" John asks. "If you really did just stop talking to her because you were too much of a coward to end things properly, would you have just carried on the rest of your life without apologising, or ever talking to her again, if you weren't at NBU too?"

This is a good question. I can assess how much of a dick Will really is based on his answer to this. I watch him with interest as he sighs and messes his hair up some more.

"It's complicated, John. There are other factors at play here."

"Like what?" John asks. "What could get in the way of you telling someone you're sorry for something bad that you did to them?"

"There's another girl!" Will cries out suddenly. My interest is peaked.

"And what does that have to do with..." John starts, but Will doesn't let him finish.

"There's another girl I was a dick to in High School. And I need her to forgive me too. I need her to forgive me more than I need Jamie to, so that's my focus right now." Will says, sitting back and putting both hands on top of his head, exhaling slowly. This whole thing is tormenting him, it's amusing, really.

"So what did you do to the other girl?" I ask neutrally.

"It's not important. It's in the past. I wanna fix it now though, I need to. And she..." He stops himself. John and I wait for a beat before Will finishes his sentence. "She likes Noah too."

Oh really? Very interesting indeed.

"So let me get this straight." I say, leaning forward against my knees. "You were a dick to Jamie, and now she likes Noah."

"We don't know that." John points out, and I wave a hand to silence him.

"She does, I heard them talking at the Grill." Will says quietly, glancing over towards the hallway in case Noah is listening. "The things she said to him were so much more than just friendly."

Okay, I definitely wanna come back to that later. But, I continue making my point.

"Okay, so you screwed Jamie over, and she likes Noah." I say. "And this other girl you screwed over likes Noah too?"

Will nods slowly, "yeah, and it's a problem. I've been trying to keep the other girl away from him, she's a little...crazy. But she's hot, totally hot, and I don't want Noah sleeping with her. Because she's crazy."

"What makes you think Noah would sleep with her?" I ask with a raised brow. He's been on his best behaviour since we moved here, as far as I'm aware. "Has he had girls back here?"

Will sighs, yet again, and brushes off my question. "Whatever, there's something between him and Jamie, and this other girl - her name's Madison, by the way - she and Jamie fucking hate each other. I'm trying to control the situation, that's all."

"This is other people's lives you're talking about, Will." John says, sounding pissed now. "It's not your job to try and control anything."

"I know, but...it's complicated, John. Trust me." Will says, before getting up to his feet. He's had enough.

"Are we meeting here before the beach party?" He asks us, and I shrug my shoulders. I guess so.

"Yeah, you're driving us to the beach, remember?" John reminds him, and he nods his head quickly. He totally forgot he offered to drive us. None of the rest of us know how to get there, so he better.

"Okay, I'll see you guys later then." He walks over to the hallway, opens his bedroom door, then he's gone. I look at John.

"You were right." John says to me.

"Seems that way." I reply, before standing up. "They're both sulking in their rooms now, we have no reason to be here. Come on, let's go get something to eat."

"Should we leave them?" John glances at the hallway, he's unsure. He thinks they might end up fighting. Over a girl? There's no way.

"Noah won't fight Will over something as stupid as a girl, trust me." I assure John, and he finally stands up. "Where do you wanna go eat? Marley's?"

"Yeah, Aubrey's going there with Kim after her Vocal class." John looks much happier now. "Maybe we'll bump into the girls."

"Sounds perfect, let's go." I grin at him encouragingly as we leave Noah and Will's dorm. "I'll call Noah later and see if he's finished sulking. I know he won't wanna miss the beach party tonight, it's all good."

I'm looking forward to having a private talk with Noah later now. From what Will just said, it sounds like Noah has been a bad boy since we moved to North Bridge. I know what he's like, so I don't know why he isn't telling me what he's been up to. But he did tell me about one girl. Jamie Hawkins. He fooled around with her (whatever that constitutes in Noah's eyes, they probably did everything bar total intercourse), and he told me about that. So why the secrecy about whoever else he's been sleeping with? Whatever the reason, I'm adding finding out to my 'to do' list for tonight, along with finding out more about this Madison girl, and fucking Kim. Hopefully.