Chapter 7: Hell no.

Chapter 7: Hell no.

"Just tell me." My mother pesters on.

"Look, Mom, I'm hungry. I need to eat this." I tell her, pointing at the pop tart.

I grab the plate from the island and I stuff the pop tart in my mouth.

"Just tell me." My mother repeats.

"Sorry mom, I have food in my mouth." I say through muffled sounds.

I walk out of the kitchen and head to my room. My room window is open, and it's really windy outside, which causes my curtains to sway around. I lock the windows and I hear something fall behind me. I freeze, afraid to turn around. I hear footsteps approaching me and I turn around ready to punch whoever is behind me.

"Halt!!! Intruder!!!" I yell, turning around.

"Whoa, it's just me." Zachary says and I relax.

"I thought I was about to get killed. How did you get in anyway?" I ask him.

"I used a ladder, came right over." He says, smiling.

"That almost rhymed." I tell him.

"I had to see you." He says, coming closer.

"Aww, someone misses me." I say, teasing him.

"Yeah, I missed you a lot." He tells me.

He grabs me by the waist, pulling me closer to him.

He kisses my neck and I start laughing.

"Stop, that tickles." I say giggling like a fourth grader.

"You're cute." He says, looking me in the eye.

I hear a knock on the other side of the door and my brain goes into full panic mode.

It's probably my mother.

"You have to hide." I tell Zachary and he rushes over to the bed and puts a blanket over his head.

"You're tall, remember." I say, pointing out the fact that I could still see his feet.

"Well, where should I hide?" He whispers, obviously not wanting the person on the other side to be aware of his presence.

"Hide in there." I whisper, pointing at the closet.

He goes into the closet and closes it.

"Come in." I chime.

My mother opens the door and looks around the room.

"I could have sworn I heard voices." She says, looking confused.

"You're probably imagining it." I tell her.

I look down and I notice Zachary's cell phone at the foot of my dresser.

"Um, Mom, what do you want?" I ask her.

"I want to know how your date with Ashton went." She says smiling.

"It was fine, Ashton is a real gentleman, a paragon even." I say, singing Ashton fake praises.

"Wonderful. We must invite him for dinner." She says happily.

"We?" I ask her, confused.

"Yeah, we have to host him, as our future son-in-law." She says, sounding like a crazy woman drunk off a Capri sun.

"Oh mother, why do you overreact? It was just a date." I yell.

"Nonsense. We must invite him at once." She says, clapping her hands.

At once?

Why does my mother act and talk like this? I really want to know. And why does she keep saying "We", this plan is all hers.

Her yay, me nay.

"Whatever you say." I tell her.

"I'll call him right away." She says before leaving the room.

I pick Zachary's phone up from the floor and I can see that he has a new message, from Courtney. I drop the phone on the stool beside my bed. I don't want to pry into his personal affairs.

"Check it. You never know what you may find." My subconscious urges on.

I give in to the temptation and pick up Zachary's phone and I swipe the screen, hoping that it'll have a password and I'll be forced to put it down. But it didn't have a password. From what I see next, I wish it had ten thousand passwords. Courtney sent him nudes. She posed in black and red lingerie and captioned the picture;

"Are you up for tonight?"

I throw the phone to the other side of the room with utter disgust and tears in my eyes.

Zachary comes out of the closet and rushes over to me.

"Don't touch me." I yell.

"What? What's wrong?" He asks, looking concerned.

I point at the phone, unable to speak as I tried to hold back the tsunami of tears daring to spill out. Zachary walks over to the phone and he picks it up.

He stares at the device in awe.

"V-val, I..." He says trying to speak, but I cut him off.

"Don't." I tell him.

"Listen, she's just doing this to get my attention." He says coming closer to me

He tries to touch me but I move away from his reach.

"And I bet she has it." I say, scowling at him.

"I like you. Not Courtney, this doesn't mean anything to me. She doesn't mean anything to me." He says, shrugging.

"But it means something to me." I say, pausing. "You know what, I think you should go." I continue, planting my eyes on the ground.

"So, you can go have dinner with Ashton?" He says, staring at me.

"Don't make me repeat myself." I warn, folding my arms as I stare at him.

"Fine." Is all he says before he climbs out of my bedroom window.

I lay down on my queen-sized bed and think about what just happened seconds ago. This is why Zachary and I will never work out. It's sad but it's true. and I know that no one will ever love me the way he does.

***

I walk into the girl's bathroom, and the sound of girls squealing and giggling fills my ears immediately.

I hate girls so much.

Ironic, I know.

I walk to the sink and splash water on my face.

Two blonde girls are talking behind me and I can't help but overhear.

"I cannot believe this picture." The girl with platinum blonde hair, says.

"And to think they only hooked up once." The other blonde girl says.

"This is a game changer." The girl with platinum blonde hair adds.

"For real." The other one replies. "I just find it so hard to believe that Zachary has been screwing Courtney on the down low."

Oh, hell no.