Home For The Heart - Zachary Merrick

~8~

~Alyssa~
Zack and I were doing homework, but currently arguing about Mean Girls. "No, that was the thing! Janet and Damian encouraged her to be a plastic!"

He threw an apple slice at me. "You got caramel in my hair! Asshole!" He laughed. "But, Cady could've said no and that was that! She's clearly at fault!"

The front door opened and we went back to looking at our books. "Hi, Alyssa. Hi, Zack." She set her bag on the table.

"Hi, Mrs. Evans." Even though Zack knows how my mom is, he stills tries his best to be polite to her.

We're hoping that someday God will slap her in the face and realize she's not a good parent.

"How's studying going?" She peered over my shoulder at the book. "Fine." She nodded and looked into the kitchen.

"Did you do chores?" Shit. "No, we were making ourselves a snack and studying." Zack started to pack his things up.

"I forgot, I promised Sam I'd do stuff with her today. I'll see you at school tomorrow." He left and I stood up.

"Chores first. I'm tired of you pushing off your responsibilities to hang with your friends." Instead of arguing, I nodded and went to start on the dishes.

~Zachary~
I walked to Rian's place. His mom let me in and I stormed into their basement. "Holy shit!" Rian looked at me.

"Why are you in my house? I thought you and Aly were studying?" The guys had taken up a nickname for Alyssa while I had my own for her.

"It's only been a month of school! How am I already catching feelings?!" Rian sat up. "Slow down! Who are you talking about?"

I looked at him and sat on the edge of the couch. "Lyss." Rian grinned. "Everyone owes me twenty bucks." I glared at him.

"Did you guys bet on me?!" He nodded with fear in his eyes. "Well, not exactly. We figured you'd end up liking Aly. We bet on how long it would take for you to realize. I said a month, Lisa and Alex said end of the school year, Jack said by Christmas."

I put my head in my hands. "We're best friends. I don't want to ruin that! Things will get weird if she finds out."

Rian pat my back. "Hey, then don't make it weird. If she's your best friend, then treat her like that."

I sighed and nodded. "Hey, let's call the guys and maybe get some practice in." We weren't practicing nearly as much as we should.

"No can do. Alex and Lisa are in Baltimore, doing stuff with Lisa's family and Jack's hanging with Joe."

Damn. "Video games?" He nodded and went to set up his system.

~

Rian told the group and made them all pay him. "Why's Rian getting paid by everyone?" Alyssa walked up beside me and scared the shit out of me.

"Jesus! They all lost a bet." She smiled. "What was the bet?" I shrugged, pretending I didn't know.

Max walked up and winked at me. "Hi, Zack, Dweebs, bitch." Max decided that Alyssa was her mortal enemy and I wouldn't have a clue why.

Alyssa looked at me weird. "Why'd she call you by your normal name and us by our nicknames she gave us?"

I scratched my head. "She has a thing for me. Not sure why." For a second, I thought I saw Alyssa getting jealous.

"Oh. Weird." I agreed. "Don't worry, we all hate her. I mean, she's the biggest bitch of the school. I'd never have a thing for her."

Someone else though, I definitely would.

The bell rang and lockers all shut. We went to our different classes and Alyssa and I sat next to each other like usual.