The Chemistry Test

24. bloodshot eyes and little white lies

Day Ten

My head and my heart were scrambled.

The logical part of me said I should give Damon the footage and get Mark back into the play for the time being. It would be a temporary fix to a more troublesome problem. My emotional side, however, wanted to be the first one to tell Mark what was going on, and, perhaps, give him the footage myself.

Worst of all was it shouldn't have been left up to me in the first place. This was Mark's relationship, anyway. I was majorly overstepping my boundaries no matter my decision.

Regardless, I had to do something, and I was running out of time.

Mark was waiting for me in the Lawn of Misplaced Flowers, his hair messy and eyes darker than usual.

I swallowed hard as I tread through the Lawn to hug him. "Hi, thanks for waiting." His Varsity jacket was soft against my cheek, but harbored a sickly odor.

"You're late." he laughed sarcastically, "Class started five minutes ago."

I blew out a sigh, "Crap. I really need to talk to you."

Mark smiled wide, and I frowned up at him as he let out a small laugh. "Yeah, good luck with that."

Taking a closer look into his brown eyes, both were bloodshot red. I stepped closer, examining the dark circles underneath his eyes and the strange smell of his clothing once more.

"Are you--?"

"High?" he coughed, nodding. "Yup."

Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth, I took a deep breath. He couldn't have picked a worse time--there was no way I could tell him now.

"Maybe you should go home, Mark. Gorveau isn't going to be happy seeing you like this."

"I don't give a flying shit what he thinks." Mark scoffed. "I got kicked out of the play, Zoe, there's nothing else he could do to me."

"No, you don't understand." I bit my lip, keeping myself from telling him everything. "Please, go home, or if you don't want to go home, go to my house. Just," I sighed, grabbing his shoulder. "Don't come to class."

He opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by a voice behind us.

"Hey," Zak called, jogging out of the Theatre building. He looked between the two of us and cleared his throat, pulling his shoulders back. "Uh, Gorveau's looking for you guys."

I looked back at Mark and whispered, "I'll cover for you, just go." His eyes flickered down to meet mine and, nibbling at his piercing, he nodded.

"Fuck that guy." he said, loud enough so Zak could hear. I wasn't sure if he directed it at him or our teacher, but he was already treading down the Lawn before I could figure it out.

"Coming." I called over to Zak, who eyed Mark wearily as I paced over to him. "Sorry about that, Mark's not feeling well."

He smirked, his crystal eyes following Mark until he disappeared around a building. "Oh, I know that excuse." He winked. "Don't worry, I won't say anything."

"Thank you," I looked up at him, relieved. For someone who'd had a falling out with Mark years ago, Zak still had his back. I hoped--at least for Mark's sake--the boys would someday make amends.

Then again, I didn't have enough information about their falling about to begin with. I hadn't thought about it in a few days, but I still needed to get to the bottom of the story behind Willow. It was just one of many troubling uncertainties swirling around my brain.