Home For The Heart - Zachary Merrick

~3~

~Zachary~
First day of junior year. Where shit starts to get serious. And I was not prepared in the slightest.

I put on a plain black tee and some jeans and grabbed my stuff. The smell of bacon and pancakes is what brought me downstairs.

Mom was putting some on a plate and Sam was pouring herself some orange juice. "Good morning, Zack."

Dad looked up from his paper with a smile. "Are you ready for junior year?" I sat down and threw my bag towards the front door.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Mom pat my shoulder and sat down. "I know you'll do well. You always do. And I know the guys will do well."

Sam snickered. "Well, Alex and Rian will. I don't know about Jack." I let out a snort and Mom flicked my ear.

"Not at the table. He has potential. I know his parents see it." She was right. Even though he was a dumbass most of the time, he did well enough academically.

"I wonder if you'll see your mystery girl at school." I glared at Sam and Dad looked up again.

"Mystery girl? Does my boy have a girlfriend?" I rolled my eyes and shoved bacon into my mouth to think of an answer.

I threw one at Sam to keep her quiet. I don't know why I tell her anything. "Don't throw food! You're sixteen, not six!"

I swallowed harshly and looked at Dad. "No, I don't. She was the girl that was listening to me playing in the park last week. She was nice."

Sam threw the bacon back. "Samantha!" Our poor mother, raising idiots. "What? He probably wanted it back. Anyway, aren't you going to be late?"

I looked at the clock and rushed for my bag. "Bye!" I ran out the door and met up with Rian.

He and Jack lived in the same neighborhood. "Morning, Mr. Bacon-man." I rolled my eyes and shoved him.

"Do I have bacon crumbs all over me?" He brushed them off of my forehead. "Not anymore. Jack's at Alex's, holding all of their food hostage."

I sighed. "Poor Mrs. Gaskarth. If I had Jack over that much, my mom would lock the kitchen up."

He laughed as we walked into the school. It was the same. Girls screaming about how they haven't seen each other all summer even though they promised they'd hang, people comparing schedules, lockers opening and slamming.

High school.

The guys and I all had our lockers near each other. Jack and Rian on one side of the hallway and Alex and I on the other.

We rotated each semester.

I put my stuff away and someone slapped my back. "Merrick! Did you bring me breakfast? The pig over there ate mine."

I shut my locker and looked at Alex. "The cafeteria's got some. I'll buy you breakfast. And no, Jack, I won't buy you any."

I knew what Jack was gonna ask before I even looked over at him. I walked across to them when a girl ran into me.

She fell and I held out my hand for her. Jack glared at the princess bitch of the school. Max returned the glare.

The girl reached for her books and looked up at me. "Alyssa." She smiled and the guys all looked at her.

"You know him?" Alyssa looked at Max. "Well, I met Zack last week. The rest of them, I don't know."

She looked back at me and Alex picked her up. "She's so tiny!" Lisa walked up to us, glaring at Alex for picking up a girl.

He set her down slowly. "C'mon, let's get out of here." Max grabbed Alyssa's hand and yanked her out of the way.

I watched her leave and frowned. "She's cute." I punched Jack in the arm. "Stop!" We all looked back at Lisa and Lisa looked at Alex.

"When I expected to see my boyfriend on the first day of school, I didn't expect him to be lifting a random girl."

Rian started laughing until she shot him a glare. "That girl is Alyssa. She's new. I met her last week when she came up to me while I was playing."

I looked back and watched Alyssa turn the corner with Max. I don't know what she's getting herself into.