The Unexpected

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

I don't know why I asked Zachary that question. I had blurted it out without thinking (okay, so maybe I had been wanting to see his reaction), but as soon as I saw his face I regretted it. He blinked, his mouth forming a tiny 'o'. He recovered quickly but his eyes grew hard. “Why?”                                         

“You have to answer before asking another question.”

“What kind of question is that?”

“I'm curious.”

He shifted his weight to his other foot. “Pass.”

“You can't pass, it's against the rules.” My arms dropped and I put space in between our bodies. “It's an easy question.”

Zach blinked and shifted again. “Z. For my name.”

I couldn't tell if he was lying or not. He leaned a tad bit closer. “Why?”

“I already told you, I'm curious.”

Zachary studied my face intently, his eyes a dark green. He took a step back and nodded his head once in finality. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Is there anything else you want to ask me?”

I pretended to think. “No, I've got everything I need.”

Zach opened his mouth to say something, but a scream cut him off. I whipped around to find the source of the noise to see a girl being hoisted up by her date. Her scream quickly turned into laughter as he set her feet on the table, the drink in her hand sloshing over the side of the cup. On the couch a girl sat on someone's lap, pressed up against him. Even with her mask on I could tell it was Courtney, and her boyfriend's mask was pushed to his forehead so their lips could meet. Two plastic cups sat in front of them. The guy who had ignored my warning about the punch earlier was chugging down another cup, and he tossed it aside with three others.

I stood on tip-toes to glance at the punch bowl. It was nearly empty. Barely anyone had touched it before, but now people flocked around the table.

By the way he was looking at me, Zachary had probably seen the understanding flash in my eyes. “This is getting pretty rough,” he commented.

“Tia did something to the punch,” I explained.

“By the looks of things, she probably spiked it.”

My hand formed a fist in frustration. Of course she would do something like this. Why would she want to attend my party other than to ruin it? My nails dug into my skin, and I knew they would leave crescents in my palms. I shouldn't have let her or Courtney in.

Zachary gazed down at me. “It'll be fine,” he said, his voice void of worry. “If it makes you feel any better, these are the best kinds of parties.”

“My parents are going to kill me. My grandma is going to kill me!”

“Your grandma the secretary? She's the nicest person I've ever-” I gave him a look and his mouth snapped shut.

“I'm going to call Emma,” I said, then slapped a palm to my forehead. “The teacher took my phone!”

“Do you have her number memorized?”

“Yes.” Emma had forced me to commit it to memory when I accidentally deleted all of my contacts and rejected all of her calls because I didn't realize it was her.

Zach dug around in his pocket. “Here, use mine.” He tapped in the code before placing his cell in my hand. I smiled my gratitude. “Thanks.”