Be Brave | Zach Mitchell [OLD VERSION]

[12]

"Hey, don't hate me because I'm the sane one."

---

School had restarted and Elle had tried her best to become friends with someone that wasn't Zach or his friends. And she did. Cara Stephens had befriended Elle on her first day. Her bright personality and happy persona had quickly won Elle over. The pair found themselves fast friends and soon spent most of their time together. It had been a month of the new year and the pair of friends were having a sleepover. 

"Okay, so would you rather only eat one type of meal forever or never be able to eat pizza again?" Cara questioned, turning her head towards Elle who had been engrossed in the movie. 

"Only eat one type of meal forever," Elle replied without much thought.

"But wouldn't it get boring?"

"I guess but I can't give up pizza, Cara, it's pizza, it would be my one type of meal," she exclaimed. "What would you do?"

"Give up pizza," she responded, swiftly. 

"I'm rethinking this friendship," Elle joked. She let out a short squeal as a pillow hit her in the face. Cara had thrown it and had sent her a playful glare. "Hey, don't hate me because I'm the sane one."

"Hardly," she quipped. 

---

Elle was home again, deciding to bake, which usually ended up disastrous for her. Despite this, she searched for a recipe. She eventually chose one. 

Zach had arrived at her house as she grabbed her keys to go to the store. 

"Hey, babe," he greeted. 

"Oh, hey, Zach," Elle spoke, smiling as she walked to him. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I was about to head to the store, do you wanna come?"

He agreed and the pair made their way there. They grabbed a shopping cart.

"Valentine's day is coming up soon, what do you want to do?" Zach questioned. 

"I don't really mind, if I don't get a day off of school, it's not a holiday," she joked, shoving the chocolate she needed into the cart. Then she grabbed some more, just for snacking. 

"How about we watch movies and lounge around at yours? We both know Owen and Claire will be out, so we can watch whatever we want," he suggested. 

"Watch movies and eat our weight in junk food? Sounds like a good idea, we can order pizza or Chinese or both," she agreed. 

"It's a date."

There was a pause as Elle found the sugar and placed a bag into the cart. 

"What are you baking?"

"A chocolate cake, but it's gonna be like four layers," she explained. 

The pair arrived back at Elle's house and began baking, getting flour and sugar everywhere.

"Do you wanna stay round?" Elle asked. 

"Will Owen be okay with that?"

"Yeah, he's pretty chill."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Okay, Owen's staying round Claire's tonight, so he won't know," Elle corrected.

---

The pair arrived back at Elle's house and began baking.

Elle learnt that Zach liked to eat cake batter.

"Zach, stop, otherwise the cake is going to be tiny," Elle whined. 

"Then let's just eat the batter and forget baking the cake, it takes too long," he suggested

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Fine, but I'm going to eat all the leftover icing," Zach told. 

"And when you throw up it better be in your own house," Elle joked, rolling her eyes at him. 

"My stomach is made of stone," he argued.

"Maybe you should see a doctor about that," Elle quipped. 

"You're not that funny," Zach deadpanned. 

"'That funny', that implies I'm a little bit funny." She sent him a big smile.

"No, you're not," he replied. 

"You wound me, Zachary," she gasped, clutching her heart dramatically. "You don't get the rest of the icing now."

He pouted, causing Elle to roll her eyes once more. 

"Say I'm funny."

"Fine, Elle, you are funny."

"Okay, you can have the icing."

She gave him a quick peck on the lips before pouring the cake batter into its cases.

ROWAN BLANCHARD AS CARA STEPHENS