Day Two

I never truly understood Gwyn Ryann Harris. Mark understood her a little too well.

Sophomore year she started sleeping with half the male population of the school, which would have been fine if not for the unfortunate tarnish left on her reputation thereafter.  No doubt, Gwyn was an absolute Lalaloopsie-carefree-doll of a girl, so it truly was a shame that our peers couldn't see past some of her one night stands and meaningless hookups.

I'd heard in the past that people thought we looked alike, Gwyn and I. Both of us were tall and thin in frame, but Gwyn had wider, bonier shoulders, and wore an excessive layer of makeup on a regular basis. Our hair was similar - both thick and choppy - hitting just above the shoulder. Hers was platinum whereas I liked to consider mine golden caramel, and both of our eyes were green, but if you looked close enough you could see hers were more brown. I only remembered this because once she made us compare color to prove it.

The desks in my first period were occupied by the time I arrived to class the next morning. The seat on Mark's right was empty, so I gladly made my way over, tossing my bag onto the ground and plopping down into the desk with an exhale.

It took him a second to realize I was there, but after a moment he abruptly spun around in the middle of Gwyn's sentence and mumbled, "He's here."

"Who?"

"Damon." He bobbed his head, eyes widening. I leaned to the left and, sure enough, there Damon was, sitting in a desk in the far corner of the room in the very back row, setting up his disproportionately large camera.

"He's in this class?"

"Who's in this class?" Gwyn peeped from behind Mark, a curious gleam in her muddy eyes. "Oh, hi, Zoe!"

I managed a slightly less cheerful, "Hey, Gwyn." Even though I was still lingering on the disturbing thought of Damon suddenly switching to this period of English.

"You look really pretty today." Gwyn piped, her smile unwavering as her eyes gleamed with such happiness I would've guessed she was on something.

"Really?" I glanced down at my clothes then back up at her, my smile broadening at the compliment. "Thank you. You, too." She put her hands over her heart and raised her eyebrows as if she hadn't expected the compliment to be returned.

Halfway through the lesson, I started to feel slightly odd, as if someone - or something - was staring at me. I turned in my seat and looked around the classroom, first at Gwyn, who was too busy filing her cuticle-free nails to be paying any attention to the lesson, or to me, then at Damon.  I soon realized that it wasn't me that he had been looking at, but Mark rather.  The camera situated in the empty seat next to him was still fixated on us, its red light causing me to feel self-conscious and out of place. 

After what seemed like a minute or longer of pondering, what finally snapped me back to reality was the fact that the entire class was staring at me with anticipating eyes.  I had just been asked a question.

"Uh..." I started, looking around at the class then at Mr. Nipps, who had his arms crossed over his chest and rectangular glasses perched at the tip of his nose as he awaited my response. I licked my lips and sported an embarrassed smile, "What was the question?"

Starting to feel very nervous and uncomfortable, I curled my toes and swallowed the lump in my throat as Mr. Nipps irritably restated his question.

"What phrase does Mr. Darcy use in the chapter in which he proposes?" He reiterated.

My brain scrambled back to junior year when we read Pride and Prejudice, and after a few seconds found myself drawing a blank. It didn't help that everyone's eyes were focused intensely on me, even Damon, now, who wore a smile of what could have only been pure amusement. I instinctively looked to Mark for an answer, hoping he'd murmur it under his breath or something to help me out. He shook his head and shrugged, obviously having no idea either.

Come on, Zoe, think! Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Collins...the proposal. Why can't I remember this?

"Can I use a lifeline?" I asked, half kidding. At this, I heard a few random giggles and looked around at the class, finding many of my acquaintances snickering at my Who Wants To Be A Millionaire reference.

Mr. Nipps sighed, bringing his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose.  He looked up and exhaled loudly before surprising me with, "Okay. Who's your plus one?"

Silently, I thanked God for modern television.  I turned in my seat and allowed an elvish grin to cross my lips. "Damon."

"Nice."  Mark chuckled next to me, extending his palm underneath our desks for a low-five.

Frowning, eyebrow piercing glinting in the harsh light, Damon shook his head. "No idea."

Mr. Nipps clicked his tongue in displeasure and looked back to the class.  "How disappointing. There's going to be a quiz on Pride and Prejudice next Thursday. You two better study." He threatened, eyes darting between Damon and I before looking away and continuing the lesson.

After class, just as I was grabbing my things and preparing to leave, I felt a strong presence materialize behind me.  The presence was different from Mark's - more powerful, in a sense. I abruptly stopped packing up and let my eyes drift up and up and up until they met Damon's, which were fiery and angry.

"Hi."

"Why'd you call on me?" Damon growled, bending down to get closer and into my face. "Huh?"

I leaned away from him and frantically looked around to summon someone to save me.  Damon was close enough that I could smell the strong scent of onion on his breath, which would have made me gag if he hadn't been so uncomfortably close, analyzing my every move with turbulent black eyes.

"Dude." I heard Mark's voice behind me, a wave of relief passing over my entire body. Damon's gaze slowly drifted away from me as he rose to his full height, his scowl deepening.

"Get the hell away from her."

"What are you going to do about it, Lisp?"

Mark let the words sink in for a few moments before he made the rash decision to shove Damon backwards, making the skyscraper stumble and almost fall into the desk behind him.

"I said, get away from her!"

Mr. Nipps hobbled over to us before the scene could escalate. "Hey! Stop it, both of you!" He squinted at Damon. "Leave her alone, and get out of my class."

Damon's upper lip curled but he remained silent as he left the classroom huffing.

The teacher turned to Mark and eyed him just as assertively as with Damon. "Keep your hands to yourself, young man."

He gently grasped my shoulder once Nipps left, his tone soft. "You good, Zoe?"

"Yeah, I'm fine.  You okay?"

"Peachy." He helped me scoop up my things, offering a small smile as he pulled the last zipper shut.

"You cannot let him get to you like that. He's only going to be around for two weeks. After that, you won't even see him anymore. Promise me you'll try your best to shut him out until then."

After what seemed like a few seconds too many, he murmured, "All right. But if it involves you, it involves me."

The next time I saw Zak was in our fourth period, Theater.

"Howdy, partner." He greeted me when I walked in, sporting one of his acting smiles. "Gorveau wants to talk to us after school."

"Us?" I furrowed my brow, pointing between he and I frantically. "As in you and I?"

"Well, yeah." He chuckled, sweeping a hand through his hair. "It's our play, after all."

Our play. It was our play, but hearing him phrase it as so took me slightly aback.

"Darn." I clenched my teeth. "Mark wanted to hang out after school. Guess I'll have to cancel."

Zak shrugged. "Think about it this way; he's involved in the chemistry test, too, right? He could come."

"I don't think that's a good idea." I blurted before remembering my facade of superficiality. "Anyway, I'll see you after school."

Before he could reply, I was already padding down the stairs. If my every encounter with Zak went the same way as it just had, I was in for a heap of trouble.

Mark frowned at me as I plopped next to him. "Saw you talking to Zak."

My lungs gave way as I exhaled a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "Gorveau wants to see us after school. Zak said that you should come along because you're a part of-"

"What?" Mark's eyes narrowed into slits. He shifted his seating position to point his body toward me. "Who said what now?"

"Zak said that you could come since you're part of the-"

He laughed, a loud, deep, rumble of sound. "That son of a bitch. He thinks this is my fault."

"What are you talking about?" I frowned. "He didn't say anything like that."

"I know him, Zoe." He crossed his arms and slumped back, the chair squeaking in protest. "It's his passive-aggressive way of saying," He sucked in his lip and raised a middle finger into the air.

"I don't think it was like that."

"Oh, really? How was it, then?"

"It was fine." I said curtly. "Pleasant, even. He was being really nice and friendly-"

"Are you defending him?" He snarled.  "I know what he's like, I've known the guy since we could crawl. You've known him for - what - two days?"

Ouch.

"Jeez, sorry." I whispered, pulling my phone out of my pocket as a defense mechanism. "I just thought I'd be polite and at least tell you why we can't hang out after school. I didn't mean to make you upset."

He heaved a sigh and copied my motion, whipping his phone out and plugging earbuds in to drown me out.

Mark got like this sometimes. It usually wasn't directly related to me, but it wasn't ever a nice feeling to bicker with him. It especially wasn't nice knowing he was keeping his history with Zak a secret from me.

I was able to go through the rest of my day with little to no trouble. Most of my classes weren't suffocating or overwhelming, excepting my inability to sketch in AP Art - to no one's surprise.

Mark apologized at lunch and we sorted out the miscommunication before Gwyn ushered him away to do some face-eating.

The only remaining challenge was waiting for me in Theater.

"Ah, Zoe." Mr. Gorveau's lips split into a large grin. The way he smiled reminded me of the Cheshire Cat; wide, and maybe even cute if it wasn't so scary. He was dangling his legs off of the stage, clipboard in hand when I came into the building. All of the lights were off except for the single spotlight on the stage, where Zak stood examining what appeared to be our script.

"Hello." I smiled hesitantly, setting my backpack onto a chair in the first row. Zak looked up from the papers in his hands and offered me a close-lipped smile before looking down at the teacher, who waved both of us over.

"I'm glad you could join us this afternoon." Gorveau purred. I had to squint to make out his figure through the darkness, barely able to tell who he was addressing. "I'm sure you're wondering why you're here."

"Little bit." Zak emitted a breathy chuckle.

"Well, my dear twinkies, much will be answered." Gorveau grunted and rose from his hams to saunter into the singular spotlight. The harsh glow reflected off of his skin, his complexion almost ghostly.

"As you know, I've roped you both into the chemistry test because your play sucks." I glanced over at Zak to gauge his reaction but only his eyes were illuminated, and the rest of him was shrouded in thick onyx. "Fear not, I've taken it upon myself to walk you through a couple acting exercises to get you out of your comfort zone. Come on up here."

The teacher retreated down the stairs and plunked into his squeaky director's chair as we hopped up to take his place.

The spotlight blasted me as soon as I stepped on stage.  I could only hear Zak's footsteps clunk across the stage until he emerged into the light, shadows accentuating his prominent cheekbones and straight-edge jawline.

"I want you to imagine you're in a tiny sailboat in the middle of the ocean. No one else is around for miles, and you only have each other to survive. Zoe, you're going to have a panic attack, and Zak, your job is to find a way to calm her down."

I looked up at Zak, simultaneously sitting down to mimic the sailboat. I had the boat visualized in my mind. The stern was a couple inches behind me and I was turned toward the bow facing Gorveau.

"Begin." The teacher clapped twice, and the room fell silent.

"Oh, my God." I grabbed the invisible rim, eyes unwavering from the space next to me where water should have been. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God."

"Hey." Zak smiled, scooting closer to me. "We're okay."

"You're not okay." Gorveau yelled. "You're terrified."

"I'm scared, too." Zak blurted. I looked away from the water to meet his eyes. "But I need you to calm down."

"I can't calm down." I inhaled a sharp breath, one after another. "Don't you realize we're basically dead?"

"Don't say that." He furrowed his brow and leaned back on his hands, stretching his legs in front of him. "If you give up hope now you're only going to make that statement more of a reality. Just trust me."

The water pounded in my ears. "I can't do this. I can't, I-" I inhaled short, shallow breaths to mimic hyperventilation. "I-I-"

Zak pushed off his hands to lean toward me and place his hand on top of mine. Shivers crawled up my spine at the unexpected touch which I used to my advantage, flinching beneath his fingers.

"You're freezing." He muttered, grabbing my hand between both of his and rubbing to create warmth. "Come here."

His eyes were as stormy as the water. On the spot, I wasn't ready for whatever he intended to improvise next, and I had no way of reading him to find out.

Before I knew it, his arms wrapped around my waist, and I moved to situate between his outstretched legs. The water rocked the boat back and forth, waves increasing in force with every passing moment. Half of me wanted to puke from sea-sickness and the other half was struggling not to break character.

I channeled my nervous energy into the character. Zak's hand fumbled and grazed my thigh, and I completely forgot my line.

"You can trust me." He whispered huskily into my hair, breath hot against my neck. "You can always trust me."

My panic must have been evident in my expression because Gorveau cut us off there.

"Not bad." His voice boomed, breaking the rising tension between Zak and I. I mumbled an apology as we awkwardly shifted out of each other's body space and rose to our feet.

"Physical affection is always a good way to spice up a scene. How did you feel about your performance? Zoe, you first."

"Um," My voice was small and hoarse. I was still trying to shake off the ghost of Zak's palms. "I thought," Zak was staring at me. "Um, it was fine."

"You were a bit too distracted." Gorveau stated. "You didn't seem panicky enough."

"Really?" I swallowed the lump in my throat. I sure felt panicky enough.

"How about you, Mr. Riley?" His voice echoed through the darkness.

"I felt more connected." Zak spoke slowly, rounding off each of his vowels. I inhaled a deep breath as we locked eyes, his still unreadable.

"To what, exactly?"

Zak's eyebrows raised gradually, eliminating the crease in his brow and leaving a considerate expression.  "To Zoe."

My stomach flipped. I couldn't avoid the smile snaking its way through my lips.

"I guarantee you that your connection will be the determining factor of the chemistry test." Gorveau shuffled across the carpet to the front of the stage, where I could make out the glint in his beady eyes.  "Whatever you're feeling...remember it."

Zak's eyes flickered over to mine and ignited.  "Oh, I will."