An insistent and high pitched ring caused by the alarm from a phone on the nightstand beside the bed, broke the soft and pleasant chirping coming from right outside the window of that partly dark and messy bedroom.

A tuft of raven hair peeped out from the between of the pillow and sheets of the bed, covering entirely the boy's face. Seconds after the alarm went off, the teen squeezed his eyes covering his face even more and brought his legs towards his chest, pressing the two extremities of the pillow against his ears, getting extremely annoyed by the acute sound still audible that interrupted what was his second hour of sleep.
It only took another couple of seconds to make the boy by the raven hair tired of it, causing him to stretch his arm out from under the sheets and letting it fall blindly on the where the phone was, finally disabling the alarm and bringing the soft and muffled chirping back.

Within a few other seconds of rest, the boy slowly rolled over the edge of the bed, groaning during each of his movements, and helping himself with his forearm, he sleepily got up, barely able to stand due to the dizziness caused by the lack of actual rest, keeping his eyes still shut.

His mind was scarily blank and once again, he felt more and more stranded as days passed by, terrified of not knowing what could happen in those next hours.

In the middle of a loud and deep sigh, a piercing pain located near the stomach left him paralyzed for some second.

"Fuck..." he swore with an unusually hoarse voice engendered by his extremely soar throat, after painfully gulping he tilted his head down he slightly rose his t-shirt revealing a huge purplish bruise on his abdomen.

The short boy didn't look surprised at how bad it got, and just silently stared at it, emotionless, simply wondering if it would heal before baseball practices would start, concluding with a negative answer.

Sighing once again, this time with only a slight sting caused by the bruise, he quickly changed his clothes without making the minimum noise, wearing a pair of black jeans, that somehow became strangely baggy, and his favorite light blue hoodie with a patch of his highschool arms located on the right shoulder.

He then headed to the bathroom grabbing his phone on the way, and unblocking it he squeezed his eyes in defense of the bright screen.

Three messages popped up in the between of other useless notification from socials he didn't really use, and a light smile grew on his lips after reading one of the sender's name.

Vincent (2 unread messages)

Yo Zak, u ready for a new year in
< that shit hole we call school? :) 7:13 am.

I'm taking the bus, move ur ass,
u better not lose it again the
first day of school for the third
< year in a row ;))) 7:14 am

The teen chuckled softly at the usual tease from his best friend, and finally realized how much he missed him.
He didn't meet nor properly talked with Vincent in months because he had to stay in France for all the duration of the vacations, since his mother conditions went downhill during the last months of the previous year of school. They tried their best to stay in touch over the summer, but time zones didn't help at all, leaving them able to only writing each other miserables good morning-s and goodnights. Nothing more, nothing less.

But both were happy that way.

bet >:)
7:28 am >

Tossing his phone away in his jeans' pocket with nonchalant, the light wave of happiness disappeared as soon as his eyes landed on his skinny figure projected in the mirror in front of him.
For the first time in a long time, he looked at himself, barely recognizing his face traits and particulars.
His cheekbones got more protruding, his were eyes evidenced by dark circles under them, and the corner of his lower lip was covered in dry blood.

'Jesus Christ...' the teen thought clenching his teeth together and closing his hands into fists with all the flebile force his body had, he tried his very best not to break the mirror with a punch.

Squeezing his eyes and trying to ignore his skinny figure still projected in the mirror, Zak started to quickly brush his teeth looking back down at his phone, checking the other message received, and discovering with an unpleasant surprise it wasn't from who he expected it to be.

Zelk (1 unread message)

Throwin a party tonight, pls come :(
< 7.22 am

Zelk used to be one of his closest friends, but after some troublesome episodes occurred at the last school party he hosted, the typical 'school's over, let's get drunk and do the dumbest things ever' party, the relationship between the two started falling apart because of fights and stupid choices.

Still, Zak perfectly well he just wanted to rebond, but parties never ever helped, and did nothing more than call troubles on him, as he would always fail on remaining sober, ending up drunk and then say and do things he couldn't have control on.

After two more brushes, he spat the mixture formed in his mouth in the sink, washing his toothbrush and then rinsing his mouth, thinking about what to do about Zelk's invite in the meantime.

He sighed heavily and let his fingers dance on the screen, typing an answer against his will.

idrk Zelk. Dnot get me worng, but I dont feel lkie it's gnona end well. aagin. Let's talk abt it @ scohol.
7.32 am >

Passing a hand through his hair, Zak walked back into his bedroom, quickly grabbing his open backpack from the floor and tucking books, school supplies, and an emergency hoodie, into it, as usual.
After closing the zip, he checked the time while with the freehand grabbed his headphones on the bed, then put his backpack on his shoulder ad be headed out the house, locking the front door behind him.

The short boy allowed to compliment himself for not waking up his dad for once, relieved to start the day without getting screamed at, and plus, he was also leaving early enough to finally get the bus in time.

After leaning his shoulder against the iron pole of the placard, where the timetable of the bus stops was written on, Zak plugged his headphones in as he impatiently waited for the vehicle to arrive.

From that day on, he was going to be tagged as a Junior.

He was happy about his popularity as one of the best baseball player, but still, that made him feel anxious and pressured, especially for how his already ridiculous grades were getting worse because of it, and how haters and teachers would target him constantly using them as a weapon.

Zak has always been the clown of the class: perpetually playing pranks on everyone and constantly talking back to teachers; this inappropriate behavior would cause him to be chronically sent to the principal with no real consequences.

'I need to change something, this year.' he thought as he rearranged his memories of his Sophomore year in his head.

A loud puff made him get back to reality, as the yellow vehicle that emitted it stopped in front of him, opening both back and front doors simultaneously, even if he was and always been the only one taking the bus at that stop.

Hopping onto the transport, he let his eyes wander through the seats in search of Vincent, and after a few seconds of research, he finally spotted the french boy: he was on the back seats, waving at him happily.

"Yo, Vince," Zak greeted approaching him, hitting his shoulder with a friendly punch as he sat down beside him. "how are you doing?" he asked, putting his backpack on the floor between his legs.

"Dude, I was a hundred percent sure you were gonna lose the bus again this year." the french boy admitted with his intense accent, that sounded way more accentuated than last time he heard it. "and I'm absolutely fine. Guess what?" he asked leaning towards, his eyes shining with excitement.

It's been months if not years since Zak saw his best friend so happy, and only that contributed to making his heart a little lighter.

"What?" he asked leaning towards in turn, feeling a pleasant feeling building up inside of him.

"After changing over and over a shit ton of therapies, finally my mom is reacting positively at one of them!" Vincent explained widening his smile, quickly bringing his falling glasses back on the top of the bridge of his nose.

"Oh my god... dude! I'm so happy for you!"

Zak felt the urge to give his friend a hug, but a sudden sting caused by the bruise on the abdomen prevented him to run the risk of exposing himself too much, especially with an extremely attentive and insisting person like Vincent.

"What about you? How you been?" the french boy asked, smiling at him with eyes full of curiosity.

The Junior's heart froze, and unable to maintain his mask up, his smile dropped. His gut started twisting at the vivid memories of what that summer consisted of, the worst one so far. A literal nightmare.

Not having interacted with anybody for the whole vacations made his ability to lie and mask up to his feelings rusty. He felt exposed.

"Zak..?" Vincent recalled his attention, slightly tilting his head to the side, knowing something was off with his best friend's reaction.

'Don't fuck this up again, Zak. Don't.' the short boy anxiously scolded himself, feeling a familiar panic pressuring against his chest.

"Uh..." he forced himself to look back at his friend, who put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, uhm, it was fine." he quickly murmured, glancing back at the dirty floor of the bus.

"Do you wanna talk about it..?" Vincent questioned, not fully understanding what Zak had.

Shaking his head in response, the Junior showed off one of his typical smiles, one of those impossible to tell if genuine and sincere or not.

"Dude, just... don't forget I'm here for you, okay?" the french boy pointed out, arching both his eyebrows into a concerned expression.

Zak nodded with nonchalant at the french boy, and seconds after, the bus stopped so roughly to send the short boy's body against the seat in front of him, and the violent impact got him knocked back against his own.

The two stayed in silence as everyone started getting out of the bus, oblivious of what happened.
The Junior turned his head in Vincent's direction who tried his best to not laugh at him, and as Zak lowered his eyebrows in pure annoyance, he couldn't contain himself anymore and ended up laughing out loud.

"Bruh moment." the short boy murmured lengthening both words pronunciation. "Get your ass off this clunker before I'll kick it myself." he threatened in reply of his laugh, pushing him playfully.

Vincent got up from his seat and hopped off the bus still giggling, followed by Zak who was feeling a little better already after hearing his laughter; but, still, he managed to give the French boy a well-deserved punch on his shoulder.

"Ow!" with one hand he massaged the affected part. "Okay, that was fair, not gonna complain." the taller boy admitted shrugging, amused by the whole situation.

Smiling, Zak got by Vincent side heading towards the school entrance, getting interrupted a few steps later by a low voice coming from behind them.

"Oh, look, Skeppy decided not to come late the first day of school this year!" someone exclaimed wrapping their arm around Zak's neck. "What's up number, fourteen!"

"Hey Dave, nothing much to be honest." the short boy replied, happy to see another of his close friends, but still not stopping from walking toward his classroom "What about you?"

"Eh, same." the blonde boy answered, shrugging. "So, you comin' over to Zelk's party tonight, right?"

Zak pauses the walk, and so did Vincent who took a step in advance from the two, followed then by Dave who let his arm slip away from the short boy neck, now facing him.

"Look," the Senior started, before the number fourteen could even open his mouth. "I know last time a lot of shit happened, ok? But please, think about it: Zelk doesn't talk about anything but how much he misses you and your stupid trolls. Don't let him down, please." he concluded, slamming both of his hands on the short boy's shoulders.

Stared at the blonde boy with a frown, Zak left his words without a reply.

"Dave, maybe it's better if-" Vincent started, uneasy at the silence the Senior statement created, getting interrupted right after by Skeppy accepting the invite.

"Alright, I'll come." he sighed out, distorting his mouth. "But in one condition... no alcohol, please. It's all I ask for."

The blonde boy's eyes lit up at his words, and a sincere and exciting smile grew on his lips.

"Consider all the alcohol neutralized," Dave reassured with a forced deeper voice, doing the military salute.

All of the three boys started laughing, and as usual, the bell ruined all the fun, announcing that school officially started.

"Aight, see you later." Zak greeted Dave, waving at him as he started heading the opposite way, returning the salute.

Vincent and the short boy walked for a few moments more before reaching and entering their class, and as usual, they sat down as far as possible from the teacher.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" the french boy whispered as he sat down at the table.

"Mh?" his friend hummed in reply, not catching his question as he bent down, busy taking out from his backpack his pencil case and books, putting those on the desk.

"I mean, the party."

"Oh, I don't know, dude," Zak replied in a murmur, getting up and leaning his back against the backrest of the chair. "I have no choice, so let's give it a try, I guess." he shrugged, looking at the teacher who started welcoming the students.

Frowning at his best friend, Vincent sighed and looked away from him, concerned about how that night could end.

Once class officially started, Zak's thoughts started taking over his concentration.

Out of nowhere, he found his mind full of dark, bulky thoughts.

He knew something was wrong.
He needed a change.
He wanted to be happy.

Eventually, his thoughts got even gloomier.

No matter how hard he tried to imagine a future, the only thing he could see was pitch black.
The darkest black never seen.

This black stayed by his side for years, it never got away.

It was the scariest black existed, and Zak was controlled by it like a puppet.

'What's the point? What it is?
Living a worthless life and ending up dying anyway.
Living a useless life trying so hard to find inexistent happiness and ending up dying sadder than before.'

Zak didn't get it.

'It's not like things are going to be any better anyway.'

'So, what's the point ?'

[2544 words.]