Senior Year

8

"Today I want us to go on another field trip." Mr Hartford smiled and Naomi looked at him like he was crazy.

"Again? Are you even allowed to do that? Our parents don't know about this."

"Yeah but you don't live with your parents and his parents will sign anything without reading it."

"He makes a good point." Zac nodded.

"Okay. So where are we going this time?" Naomi sighed.

"Same place we did last time."

"To yell at some trees?" Zac asked.

"Nope. We're doing something different today. Let's go." Mr Hartford instructed as he got up from his chair. He led them to the woods again and stopped at a really tall tree.

"Today we're climbing trees." He said excitedly pointing at the tree.

"Are you insane?!" Zac yelled.

"What's wrong?" Mr Hartford asked the boy.

"What if we fall?"

"That would be very painful, so whatever you do, don't fall okay?" He smiled taking off his black leather jacket. He had on a red shirt, black jean shorts, purple tube socks and black vans.

"You're insane." Zac breathed out.

Mr Hartford just shrugged before he started climbing the tree. He was really fast too.

"You two coming up?" he smiled from the branch he was standing on.

"I am not doing that." Zac folded his arms.

Naomi thought for a second before joining her weird teacher. This surprised Zac but Mr Hartford didn't seem surprised at all. The two climbed up the tree and Naomi sat at a branch smiling.

"This is actually fun." Naomi smiled before getting up and continuing to climb the tree.

Zac sighed before joining the two. At first he was scared but he eventually started enjoying himself.

After a while they started climbing down. When they were almost down Zac lost his grip and fell out the tree taking Naomi down with him.

"Ow!" Naomi yelled as soon as they hit the ground. Zac thought she was going to be mad instead she started laughing.

Soon he joined her. As they laughed Mr Hartford made his way down gracefully. He smiled at the two waiting for their laughter to die down and once it did he began talking.

"I thought we agreed that you won't fall out the tree."

"I slipped." Zac chuckled getting up and helping Naomi do the same.

"Let's get back." Mr Hartford told his students before grabbing his jacket and leading the way back to their school.

Once they were in their music room he looked at the two teens who still had smiles plastered on their faces.

"So what did you learn from today's field trip?"

"That climbing trees is fun." Zac answered.

"Zac doesn't know how to climb down a tree." Naomi chuckled and Zac rolled his eyes.

"I meant what did you learn about fear?"

"Ignoring it can let you have fun." Zac answered.

"Exactly but ignoring it can also send you to the ground. What you should do is find a reason to laugh it off like you two did."

"You really are a weird man." Zac said and their teacher just shrugged. He walked over to the drums and took some drumsticks.

"Today we're learning how to play the drums."

The two teens looked at each other wide eyed. Drums required a sense of rhythm and a lot of energy. He gave them the drumsticks before sitting down at one of the three drum sets in the room.

The two teens followed behind their teacher and he started them off with something simple.

They had to admit playing the drums was hard but it was also fun. After a while the bell rang indicating that it was time to go home.

"Okay, we'll pick up where we left off tomorrow." Mr Hartford told the two before taking the drumsticks back.

The two nodded grabbing their bags and walking out the room. Naomi walked over to the front steps of the school building. She stood there and Zac looked at her questioningly.

"You need a ride?" Zac offered.

"Nah, I'm waiting for someone." Naomi smiled.

"Do you want me to wait with you?" Zac asked and Naomi nodded.

They talked for little while until Zoe and Chloe walked out the school building.

"You're late." Naomi smirked and Zoe rolled her eyes.

"I know. I'm not a complete idiot."

"You sure?" Naomi gave her a goofy grin and Zoe retaliated with a playful glare.

"See you later Chlo. You too Zac." Zoe smiled at the two before grabbing Naomi's hand and walking off school grounds.

"What just happened?" Zac asked.

"Naomi said something about going to the library to study for a test." Chloe shrugged.

"Okay. So do want a ride?" Zac asked scratching the back of his head.

"I'd like that actually." Chloe smiled and followed Zac to his car.

He drove her to her house. It was only a ten minute drive from his so it was convenient for him. He stopped in front of her house and walked her to the door.

"Thanks for the ride." Chloe smiled and Zac blushed.

"Your welcome. It was my pleasure actually."

"Hey, what are you doing tomorrow after school?"

"Nothing much. Why do you ask?"

"Martha bailed on me for track practice so thought I should pay you back for that froyo." Chloe smiled as Zac's eyes went wide.

"I would love that."

"Good, it's a date then." Chloe smiled before getting into her house.

Zac walked back to his car with a spring in his step. He had an actual date with Chloe Brooke.

He drove back home and found his parents in the kitchen talking. His mother immediately noticed that the boy was grinning from ear to ear.

"What's go you so excited?"

"Nothing really. I just had a really good day at school today." Zac smiled grabbing an apple and heading upstairs.

He did his homework then went back downstairs when it was time for dinner. When he got to the table Jessica was talking non stop.

"What's she blabbing about?" Zac asked his mom.

"Aliyah's new friend." Zac's dad answered.

"New friend?" Zac raised a brow.

"Yeah, Markus is so cool. He took me and Aliyah to my ballet class then he took us for ice cream. He's super funny and nice. He's also really cute." Jessica smiled.

"You know he doesn't date freshmen right?" Zac teased.

"I know that dummy, but you can't deny the fact that when most of the girls at school are asked who the cutest guy is he'll be their answer." Jessica shrugged.

That left Zac thinking. Did Chloe find him cute? Did Aliyah find this guy cute? Did she like him?

So many things were going through his mind but he ignored them and focused on the fact that he had a date with THE Chloe Brooke.