Home For The Heart - Zachary Merrick

~15~

~Alyssa~
As soon as class was over, I slipped into the library to avoid everyone. I was the talk of the school. I can't believe someone would go out of their way to tell the whole school my dad was in prison.

I picked out a random young adult romance and sat at a table. I was hungry and wanted lunch but I didn't want to be questioned anymore.

I heard someone else walking in the library and looked up to see Max coming up to me with a smirk. "Enjoying your fifteen minutes of fame?"

I slammed the book shut. "Why? You have so much more than me? So why ruin my life?" Her smirk turned into an evil glare.

"Because you stole the one thing I wanted most," I wrapped my arms around myself as she leaned on the table.

"You stole the boy I liked. Everyone in the whole school knew I liked Zack and you took him from me!" I pursed my lips.

"I never stole anything. And we're not dating! He's my best friend!" She rolled her eyes. "Stop lying! You guys spend so much time together! No one spends that much time when they're not dating."

I sat up straight. "We'd never be in a relationship! We don't even see each other that way! But, he wouldn't even go for you! No one wants someone who bullies their way into popularly and exposes secrets that aren't theirs to tell!"

I looked behind Max and Zack was standing their, lips pursed together. He turned around and I stood up, ready to go after.

"I run this school. And I always get what I want." I shook my head and went to walk away, going after Zack.

She grabbed my arm roughly and yanked me back. "Let go! That hurts!" She immediately let go onto to grab onto a different spot.

She grabbed where my bracelet was and it poked her.

She pulled up my sleeve to see it. "Oh, it's so pretty!" She yanked it off and let me go. I tried to reach for it but since she was so much taller than me, I was failing.

"Give that back! That's mine!" She smiled at me. "You can have it back," she threw it behind me and it went behind a bookshelf against the wall.

"Oops." She walked out of the library and I went to the bookshelf. There was no possible way I was getting that back.

I ran out of the library and looked if Zack was still walking around. I walked towards the cafeteria but as soon as I stepped foot, people started asking me more questions.

~

I made my way from my final class to my locker, hoping to avoid questions or comments. I grabbed my stuff and shut the locker.

"So, is it true that your dad got arrested for abusing you?" The other Alyssa walked up to me. "No, he just got into trouble with work."

Leah raised an eyebrow. "So he was a thief?" I sighed. "No. I don't know the full story. I was only twelve."

More people started crowding me and I tried to get out. "Just leave me alone!" I pushed my way out and ran towards my street.

It was raining and cold. It was a bad day for a light sweater and a skirt. As soon as I got home, I slammed the door shut and kicked off my shoes.

At least it would be quiet. "Alyssa?" Shit. "Mom?" I set my bag down and walked into the kitchen. Mom was sitting at the dining table, on her computer.

"Why aren't you at work?" This was odd seeing her home at three in the afternoon on a Monday. "I had the day off. Sit," she pointed to the chair and I collapsed in it.

"Listen, I spent most of the day thinking about what you said to me," I pursed my lips. Here comes the comments about how I was disrespectful and rude.

"I'm sorry. I have a lot of explaining to do but I wanted to start off with that," I sat up. She was sorry? I prepared myself mentally for the conversation.

"When I married your father, I didn't want kids while he wanted quite a few. When I got pregnant with you, he was so overjoyed and I was not. But I quickly fell in love with you when you were little and I was so happy to have a little girl. As you got older, it got harder. And when he was arrested and it was just the two of us, the stress of taking care of you was too much for me. I didn't have the energy to take care of you and be a mom to you. I thought that as your teenage years rolled in, your attitude was you being rebellious, not because of the lack of guidance in your life. I'm not perfect and I've made some horrible mistakes but I promise I'm going to try my best to be there for you from now on."

My lip quivered as I tried to hold tears back but I let them out as soon as she hugged me. That's what I wanted this whole time.

I just wanted someone at home to be there for me through the drama of high school. I let out a sob and clung onto her.

"Alyssa, it's okay." I shook my head as she pulled away. "No, it's not. It hasn't been in years. I tried to be okay when I watched Dad leave, I tried to be okay when I watched my friends ditch me in Greensburg, I tried to be okay when we moved to a completely different state, I tried to be okay all day today and it's not working!"

She put her hand on my knee. "What happened?" I rubbed my eyes with my sleeves. "Someone found out about Dad and put papers up with my picture and saying how I was a criminal's daughter all over the school. I couldn't be left alone at all today!"

She pulled me into another hug. "I hate high school." She rubbed my back. "I can't tell you it'll get better. That's exactly what happened to me when he was arrested. Everyone at the office would talk about the situation and me. Just do your best to ignore it. If they see it gets to you, they'll continue to do it."

There was a knock on the front door and I rubbed my tears away. I opened it to see three of the guys and Lisa.

"Oh, hey, guys." They immediately walked in. "What did you do to Zack?" I was confused. "I didn't do anything. That's the problem."

Alex grabbed my attention. "He was zoned out all afternoon and during band practice, he just got up and left. What did you say?"

I thought back to when I was arguing with Max. "Well, he walked in on Max and I arguing in the library. She was mad I stole Zack from her when I didn't do shit. And then I said that him and I would never be in a relationship and that he would never go after someone like her."

They all shared a look. "Now it makes sense." I was so lost. "What? What did I say?" Rian looked at me. "Listen, you didn't hear it from us, but Zack has a crush on you."

What?

"He does? Since when?" Jack answered. "Little over a month ago. That's what that bet was on. When he figured out he liked you."

I sighed and sat on the stairs. "This is my fault. I didn't even realize it." Lisa sat next to me. "Hey, it's not your fault. You didn't know and you were trying to get Max off of your back."

I stood back up and threw my shoes on. "Where is he?"