Home is where the heart is at ~ Zachary Merrick (book 2)

~7~

~Alyssa~
Zack and I were back home and I woke up to my alarm on my phone for school. I tried to get up but Zack tightened his grip on me.

"No, don't leave." I pushed his hands off of me. "I have school, dummy. And besides, we said that you'd start getting up early and take better care of yourself."

He groaned and rubbed his face. "Why do I do these things?" I pulled a shirt and some leggings out of my bag. "You're the one who was going on early morning runs before tour. You can blame your best friends there for this laziness."

He sat up and I threw one of his shirts at him. "True." Cookie perked up when I snapped my fingers. Because my parents and Malachi stayed another night, Zack and I took Cookie with us.

"You can take Cookie on your run. And you can walk me to school." I stuck on my shoes and grabbed my backpack while he tied his laces.

"I can't wait until you're done with school so we can go on runs together instead of me dropping you off at school."

I kissed his cheek. "Less than two months." We left his house and started the walk towards school. Cookie was happy to be getting out since Dad walked him around the block and then that was it.

"He deserves a long walk." I pet Cookie's head. "Oh, he'll be getting one. And you'll come after school to get him?" I nodded.

We walked up and I gave him a quick peck. "I'll see you later. I love you." He smiled and waved to me as he and Cookie walked off.

I hurried inside to my locker and felt a tap on my shoulder. "Was that Zack outside with you?" Ashley and Leah came up to me.

"Yeah, that was him." I smiled and Leah's jaw dropped. "Wow, he looks way better than he did in high school."

I laughed and acknowledged her remark. "He's taking care of himself a lot more. I'm helping." Leah sighed. "I wish I had a cute boyfriend like you and Ashley."

Ashley stared at her. "Excuse me? I do not have a boyfriend." I faced Ashley. "C'mon, you totally have the hots for Jonah!"

As if on cue, Jonah was sprinting through the halls, stopping when I called for him. "Hey, Alyssa. What's up?" I smiled, not sure what to say to him.

He gazed at Ashley and instantly smiled. "Hi, Ash. How was your weekend?" She smiled shyly and hid behind her notebook.

"Oh, it was the norm." He nodded. "Well, hate to do this but I'm running late. See you guys around." He sprinted off and Leah laughed.

"See, he likes you, too! Why don't you just ask him out?" Ashley yanked her notebook down. "I'm not sure if you've noticed but I'm a prep and he's a nerd. Our groups don't mix."

I rolled my eyes. "I thought I was changing that. I mean, I went from a nobody hanging with a bunch of punks to a prep,"

The bell rang and I groaned. "We'll pick this up later." Ashley went to her class and Leah followed me to our class.