Chapter 7

Zac I changed my mind. I walked straight up to Evan before practice. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me with a smirk. "Surprised to see you have the nerve coming up to me, Miller." I narrowed my eyes at him. Who does this kid think he is, the fucking president? This time, I couldn't contain my anger. I grabbed his shirt from the collar and pulled him up. "Listen you fucking asshat, either you deal with the fact that Bl—Jasmine is my fucking tutor or—I go and tell her about your past hobbies. How does that sound?" The smirk fell off his face. His eyes filled with instant panic but he didn't say anything. "That's what I fucking thought." I let go of him and pushed him to the ground before walking away. Fucking pussy. Jasmine "Earth to Jas." Bea waved her fork in front of my face. We were sitting in the cafeteria at lunch and I couldn't help but think about why Zac did another 180 on me—deciding to be an asshole again. I was growing tired of him constantly switching personalities on me. I just—I wanted him to be the way he was at the party—when we talked, when I drove him home. It was so easy. He was utterly confusing and it was growing utterly annoying. More than that, it—almost, kind of slightly hurt that he didn't trust me. He hasn't known me for long—I know that. I just—I had been comfortable enough to tell him about my mom. I never—never spoke about her to anyone. But he doesn't trust me enough to simply tell me whether or not he's okay. Why do I even care? "Sorry." I grumbled, biting into my apple. "What's wrong?" Jade asked, frowning. "Did something happen with Evan?" "No." I stared at my apple, spinning it around in my hands. "Everything is fine." "Bullshit." Bea stared at me flatly, stuffing her mouth with french fries. "If it doesn't have to do with Evan, does it happen to involve the other soccer star you've been spending time with?" I looked at her for a long moment before shrugging and biting into my apple. "It is!" Jade's eyes widened. She leaned forward excitedly. "What happened? Spill the tea!" So—I told them what happened. How I went to tutor him and he came home beaten and bruised. How he turned cold the rest of the evening, not even looking at me. Jade leaned back, exhaling deeply. "Wow." She cocked her head to the side. "Why is he shutting you out?" I shrugged, laughing tiredly. I wish I knew. Bea's eyes glinted, a grin playing on her lips. "Who do you think he got beat up?" I smacked her arm, gaping. "Is that really important?" "Yes," she practically snorted. "I want to know who got their ass kicked by Zac Miller—and why. The poor kid either did nothing at all to piss Zac off, or he did something really messed up—which is why Zac doesn't want to talk about it." I pondered for a moment. "Zac was pretty hurt. I wonder if the other guy looks worse than him." I was worried and I hated it. Why was I worried about someone I barely knew? Jade sighed, bouncing her shoulders unsurely. "Maybe he just needs some space." I laughed. "He's mister moody. One minutes he's in my face, not allowing me to leave on my own. The next, he's being a jerk." I ran a hand down my face, smiling manically. "Sometimes—I want to ram his head into a wall." "That sort of already happened, sunshine." I spun around abruptly, nearly falling out of my chair when Shane's voice sounded. He cheekily grinned down at me. I exhaled deeply. "What are—what are you guys doing here?" I stared in disbelief as Shane, John, and Zac sat down at our table with us. This was new. Shane sat across from me, leaning forward on the table. "You could always smash his head into a wall—although he's already pretty concussed." Zac helped himself to take the empty seat beside me. "Dude," John shook his head tiredly. "Shut up." "What?" Shane put his hands up in defence. "I'm not wrong." I turned to look at Zac flatly. "What are you doing here?" Yesterday, he hardly spoke to me and was being a dick—now he's sitting with me and my friends. Jade and Bea looked just as confused as I was. Zac grinned softly, his eyes warm. Mister moody. The cut on his lip didn't look as bad as it did yesterday—but his eye was still bruised, badly. I wanted to reach out and touch it. "Here I thought you'd be missing me." I narrowed my eyes at him. Is he being serious right now? "Really, Miller?" "You both make me want to throw up." Bea leaned back in her seat, watching us with the slightest hint of amusement in her eyes. She continued stuffing her face with fries. Shane reached forward to take a fry but Bea was quick to swat his hand away. Zac sighed. "I—apologize for being weird yesterday." "Weird?" My eyes squinted. "You were being an asshole, asshole." Zac attempted to fight a grin. "I was—worked up." "That doesn't mean you have to be rude." I spoke grimly, looking at my partially-eaten apple. I felt like I could punch him—or pass out but instead, I kept my calm. "You're right." He nodded firmly. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did." I could see the sincerity in his eyes but that didn't diminish the annoyance I was feeling towards him. I looked at him for a long moment before pushing my seat back and standing up. I took my apple as I walked out of the cafeteria. "Oh—hey, babe!" I ran into Evan when I was heading down the mostly vacant hallway. I sighed, leaning into his chest as he hugged me. I badly needed a hug right now. "Hi." "What's wrong?" He whispered in my hair as he held me. I pulled away from him, shrugging as I looked up at him. "Nothing—I'm just tired." "How was the tutoring?" He tilted his head to the side, looking down at me—changing the subject. I blinked, taken aback. I wasn't entirely expecting him to ask me about Zac—who was the last person I wanted to talk about right now. "Uh—fine, I guess. Zac was a little off, acting weird." Evan hummed, nodding slowly. "Really? How so?" W Why was he asking so many questions? He hated Zac—he would avoid having to hear about him. Now, he was asking for more. I shook my head unsurely, feeling slightly baffled. "He got into a fight, I think." I mentioned it because I knew Evan would already know. They had soccer practice in the morning and Zac's appearance made it quite obvious that he had gotten into a fight. "I heard." Evan swung an arm around my waist as we started walking down the hallway together. "Do you know who it was with?" I glanced up at him but his face remained straight and impossible to read. Evan looked down at me for a moment, pausing before he shook his head. "Who knows? The kid will get into a fight with anyone who gets in his way." I frowned. "I don't know." Evan stopped walking, turning to face me. "Are you—defending him?" He laughed dully, his eyes narrowing. I gaped at him. Seriously? I was not in the mood to do this right now. "No—Evan. I'm just saying, it looks like he got the worst of it." Evan glanced away from me, shaking his head lightly. "Whatever, he probably deserved it anyways." "What's the deal with you guys anyways?" I crossed my arms over my chest, pressing him. I was growing impatient. They hated each other too much for it to simply be due to them not getting along. Something had to have happened for them to hate each other to this extent. Evan looked at me for a moment, his lips pressed into a thin line. His jaw clenched. "Nothing. There is no deal." "That's not true." Evan's fists balled up. He exhaled out of his nose, looking elsewhere to avoid my gaze. "Why can't you just tell me what the problem between you two is?" I was—his girlfriend. I don't know why he couldn't tell me. "Just drop it." He looked at me and snapped, his voice raising. I blinked, taking a step away from him. He never had abrupt anger or outbursts like that before. Evan heaved out a heavy breath, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. He took a minute before reaching forward to touch me. I stepped away from him again. He let his arm drop to his side. "Look, Jas—I told you, he's not a good guy. He's already causing problems between us." I stared at him, bewildered. I couldn't help but laugh dryly. "We are having problems because you aren't telling me what is going on. You keep warning me about him being so bad but you won't explain what it is that makes him so bad." I shook my head softly. "You know what—this isn't even about Zac. He's not even here." Evan laughed bitterly. "You're defending him—again." I stared at Evan like—I just had no words. I was stunned. He couldn't be being serious right now. "I'm not defending him!" I ran a hand down my face, flabbergasted. "I'm telling you how it is." Evan exhaled sharply, just looking at me with cold eyes. I scoffed tiredly. "You know—I'm just—I can't do this right now." "Jas, come on—" Evan groaned behind as I turned and started walking away. He didn't follow me.