CHAPTER 2

For the first time in quite a while, Zac was feeling nervous. Even though today was the day he was starting high school, he felt nervous because it was his first day of school. He was always home-schooled since he and his mother travelled around most of the time.

"Zac Blue," the uninterested receptionist called, chewing on her bubblegum like a cow, "Mr. Gawain is ready to see you now. Just go straight down the hall and turn left. You won't miss his office, trust me."

"Thank you," Zac said politely.

As he walked past the fairly young, blonde receptionist, he couldn't help but notice what a bad job she did at covering the two huge pimples on her chin. Her makeup looked like a two-year-old applied it. Having been surrounded by professional make-up artists most of his life, Zac was naturally an expert in noticing these things. “In fact,” Zac mused to himself, “I suspect anyone with eyes can see what a bad job she did.”

After he followed the receptionist's instructions, Zac found himself face to face with a hot pink door filled with glitter and flowers. The name 'Mr. Gawain' written on the door was the only normal looking thing that Zac could see.

"Is this guy for real?" Zac murmured to himself, a look of horror etched onto his face. He knocked on the door before slowly opening it, anticipating the sight of a bright pink room with maybe a clown as principal sitting behind a pink desk.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Mr. Gawain was your average principal. He looked to be in his late thirties with wavy brown hair, hazel eyes and copper skin. His cheekbones were quite defined and he had a strong but lean frame from what Zac could see.

Zac's eyebrows rose when he took in the white office with three filing cabinets and a normal wooden desk.

A husky laugh brought Zac out of his reverie. "I suppose you expected to see my office filled with pink things?" Mr. Gawain asked in his surprisingly deep voice.

"Actually yes. I was expecting at least something pink after having walked through that highly conspicuous door." Zac replied suavely, trying his best to conceal his nervousness.

"Oh yes. You see I have a six-year-old daughter who insisted I paint the door that colour. She just wouldn't leave until I had it painted," Mr. Gawain said with a shudder. "Anyway, have a seat Zac."

After speaking to Mr. Gawain, Zac and the principal both walked to the reception area.

"Charlotte will give you your schedule and locker number," Mr. Gawain said, pointing to the blonde woman who pretended to be busy on the computer as soon as they entered.

Seeing something move at the corner of his eye, Zac diverted his attention to the left where he saw two students trying to sneak past the principal unnoticed. Unfortunately for them, they were caught.

"Jane and Jake Darcy! You're late, again." Mr. Gawain said bluntly. "Your father said you'd start this year differently."

As they approached Mr. Gawain, Jane nudged Jake and whispered accusingly, "This is all your fault, you idiot!"

Jake glared at her and retorted, "My fault? You're the one who decided to watch 'one last episode of Attack on Titan'!"

Jane scoffed, "Oh please! I caught you watching it with me..."

With a sigh Mr. Gawain interrupted their banter, "That's quite enough you two. Frankly, I don't care whose fault it is. And as your punishment for being late on the first day of school, you'll help Zac settle in. He's not from here so you'll need to show him the ropes. And no, you will not just tell him what to do and then ditch him. I expect you to help him for at least a week."

Once Mr. Gawain finished his little monologue, the Darcy siblings began to protest.

"But we were late only once and you're already putting us on babysitting duty," Jake said angrily.

Just as Jane was about to open her mouth Mr. Gawain glared at them and said, "I'm sure Mr. Darcy wouldn't want to hear any complaints about his children on the first day of school, now would he?"

When they both shook their heads, he beamed, "Good, now off you go. And I don't want to see either of you in my office!"

Once Mr. Gawain was gone, Zac turned completely towards the Darcy siblings and only then noticed how alike they really looked. Both of them had black hair, dark-brown eyes, light brown skin and they were both quite tall. Jane was about 175cm while Jake was about 180cm. Zac immediately noticed that Jane was the same height as him.

"So what's your name kid?" Jane asked with a hint of curiosity, looking as if she was trying to place where she saw Zac before.

"Zac. Zac Blue." The siblings' eyes widened before they composed themselves.

"I'm Jake Darcy and this is my twin, Jane." Jake said casually.

"Say, kid-" Jane started before Zac interrupted her, "It's Zac."

Jane just rolled her eyes and continued, "Are you somehow related to Diaan Blue?”

"Yeah, she's my mother." Zac said proudly.

"No way," the twins said in unison.

"Yes way. I model with her sometimes. Surely you've seen me with her."

"Of course! For a second there I guess my brain didn't want to believe that you're at the same school as us. " Jane exclaimed abruptly.

Jake just rolled his eyes and said to a confused looking Zac, "What she means to say is that she stalks your mother and you on the internet."

"I do not! And besides, you stalk them with me," Jane said, contradicting what she just said in one sentence.

Turning to Zac she lamely said, "Well Zac, welcome to Yeats High."

"This is your class. Your teacher’s name is Mr. Marquez." Jake said, shoving his hands into his pants pockets.

"Wait, so whose class are the two of you in?" Zac asked, starting to panic.

"We're in Ms. Garcia's class two grades above you. Hey, don't worry. We'll see you at lunch." Jane said comfortingly before turning around with Jake and walking towards the east side of the white building.

Taking a deep breath, Zac whispered to himself, "Come on Zac, you can do this. If you can model in front of a huge crowd you can do this." With that, he opened the door to his classroom.

"Zac! Jake!" Turning around, Zac caught sight of Jane pushing through the crowd of students wanting to go home.

"You weren't joking when you said that all the girls keep staring at you," Jake commented, looking as lazy as ever, before stopping to lean against the wall.

Jane finally caught up with the two boys, her leather jacket still on even though it was bloody hot outside. The school had a uniform but allowed their students to wear any jacket they wanted as long as it was black, white or navy blue.

"Hey, what's up?" Zac asked the black-haired girl with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you want to come over to our house? It's not far from here." Jane asked him unsurely.

"Yeah sure. It's not like my aunt will mind." Zac replied with a shrug.

Jake turned towards Zac, "Your aunt? Don't you live with your mother?"

Zac shrugged again and said, "My mom is busy with a TV show overseas and I don't who my father is.”

After shooting Jake a glare, Jane said tenderly, "We know how you feel. We don't know who our mother is; she died when we were two. But at least we have a picture of her, so it helps."

They finally arrived at the Darcy household. It was a cream coloured, double story house. On the inside it was furnished plainly but it immediately made you feel at home.

"Jake! Jane!" someone called from what looked like the kitchen.

The Darcy siblings exchanged weary glances, "Why's he home so early?" Jake whisper-yelled to Jane.

"I don't know. Do you think Mr. Gawain complained about us almost burning the lab?"

A good looking man in his early thirties walked in. He had the same hair and eye colour as the twins, as well as the same light brown skin tone. But what surprised Zac the most was how much the man resembled himself. The only difference between the two was their eye colour and slight variation in skin tone.

Looking at the strong but lean man, Zac thought excitedly to himself, "Maybe this is my mother's family! Maybe a sibling or cousin and his children!"

Zac was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the twins introduce the man.

"I'm sorry, what?" Zac asked, flushing red with embarrassment.

Jane just laughed while Jake shook his head and repeated what they said earlier. "This is our father, Carson."

Zac shook Mr. Darcy's hand and said, "It's nice to meet you, sir. I'm Zac Blue."

Carson concealed his slight surprise at how much Zac looked like himself before smirking at the 'sir' reference. "No need to call me sir, Carson is fine. And I'm very aware of who you are, after all, my kids can't stop talking about the Blue models."

The twins both flushed bright red and shouted in unison, "Dad!"

Mr. Darcy raised his hands in surrender, "Ok! Ok! And I'm having a word with the two of you later. Don't think you'll get away with the lab incident."

The twins just groaned before telling Zac to follow them up the stairs.

'So that's what it feels like to have a dad,' Zac thought to himself.

Zac had many questions he wanted to ask Carson but he refrained from doing so. His questions would surely raise suspicion and bring about the subject of his mother’s condition which he didn’t want anyone to know about. There were already enough people watching and looking into their lives, if word got out about her condition the media wouldn’t leave his mother alone.

--

The next few months flew by quite quickly. The twins came over to Kailey’s house where Zac was staying almost every day after school. Every time they came over they marveled over the interior and exterior of the mansion.

Their favourite parts of the mansion was the gaming room, the movie room, the indoor pool and lastly the huge yard that housed a fountain filled with koi fish as well as many trees and flowers.

Zac was just as often by their house as they were by his. Mr. Darcy became the father that he never had. Over the four months that Zac knew the siblings, he found out that they were quite popular. The school population were a bit wary of their bluntness but there was also that sense of admiration that they held for the twins. The twins considered Zac as a younger sibling and were super protective of him.

Zac himself was quite popular with both the girls and the boys. Both Zac and Jake were on the football (soccer) team while Jane was on the hockey team. All of them good at the sport they did.

It was a Saturday afternoon and Zac was getting ready to go to the twin's house. He walked towards his aunt's office to tell her that he was off when he heard a man's hushed voice, "She's not getting better. She keeps mumbling things like 'Leave me alone! I don't know where she is!' and she constantly gets nightmares. The psychologist can't help her because she keeps spacing out and mumbling things. I'm sorry but we've tried to help her for one month now and we've seen no improvement, in fact it seems like she's getting worse. We'll try for two more months and if she doesn't improve we're sending her to a mental institute."

Deciding that what they were speaking about was none of his business, Zac just left his aunt a note saying where he was going. He was still wondering who the person they were talking about was but quickly brushed it aside as soon as he saw the Darcy's house.

© Crimson B