The warm February air clung to my skin as the bus rumbled to a halt in front of the school gates. The first day back, Year 9. A fresh start, though for me, it was just another year of running the place.
I shifted in my seat, stretching as the doors hissed open. The moment the bus stopped, I was on my feet, making my escape before the inevitable chaos erupted behind me, the year 7s pushing, shoving, bickering over who would get off first. Rookie mistake.
I bet you're wondering, who am I?
Lemme introduce myself.
I'm Zach Callas. Well, unless you ask my mother, then it's Zachary (but only when I'm in trouble).
Around here, I pretty much own this place. Captain of the junior rugby team, the undisputed most popular guy in school, and best of all: the principal's son. That last one? It means I can do whatever the hell I want. No one dares tell me otherwise.
As I stepped onto the pavement, I adjusted my bag strap and made my way toward my bay, the place where my group always gathered before class. My crew was already there: Paxton and Hayden, my closest mates since forever.
Paxton sat hunched over his phone, his raven black hair lazily tied up in a messy man bun. He always ignored the dress code, wearing sweatpants instead of the standard uniform trousers. Nobody had the guts to call him out on it, not even the teachers.
Hayden, as usual, had his nose buried in a book. The title didn't matter, I was too tired to care. He was our resident goth, always decked out in black, always listening to metal. We gave him grief for it, but it was all in good fun. He knew we were joking, and honestly, he wouldn't be Hayden if he didn't laugh about it.
"Hey, guys!" I grinned, bounding behind Paxton and clapping a hand on his shoulder. The poor guy nearly launched out of his seat, fumbling to hide his phone.
"Oooo?" I raised an eyebrow at the screen before he tilted it away from view.
"Holy shit, Zach! You scared the hell out of me!" Paxton clutched his chest like he was having a heart attack. Hayden let out a soft chuckle, barely looking up from his book.
"Hey, Zach." Hayden nodded without lifting his eyes.
I smirked, throwing an arm around Paxton's shoulders. "So… is that the mystery girl from camp you were talking about?"
Paxton groaned, dragging a hand down his face. His ears turned red. That was all the confirmation I needed.
"Shut the fuck up, man…" He muttered, looking anywhere but at me.
"Aww, you sook! Fineeee." I pulled away, hands up in mock surrender.
Yeah, school was back. Same routine, same faces, same drama. But for me? This marked the beginning of another year of running the place.
As we wait for the first bells to signal roll call, I hear the slight yelling of my name.
"Uh... Zach?" Paxton glanced at me.
"Oh, it's probably just some random-"
"Zach, run, now" Hayden looked at me with wide eyes.
"Why-"
My whole body went sideways as I received a very hard slap to the side of my head.
"OI WHAT THE FUCK-" I whipped my head, standing up. I faced the person, and my eyes widened as I backed up. I could see in the corners of my eyes that both Paxton and Hayden were already packing up their things and hurried off.
Oh you cunts...
Lena glared daggers into my eyes, her hands clenched in fists.
"Where the fuck did you go... I called... And called," She glared at me as she walked closer to me.
I try laughing it off as I feel more eyes on me, phones up to record.
"What are you talking-" I get cut off.
"Oh, don't you dare pull that move!" Lena laughed with anger as she slightly shoved me into the wall next to my bay.
"Lena, let me e-"
"Shut the fuck up Zachary! I don't care what you say! You left me on the pier! Alone! AT 11 PM IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!" She screamed, making me flinch.
All around us, there were gasps and laughter.
"You're such a asshole! And I hope EVERYONE KNOWS YOU ARE A ASSHOLE!" Lena turned around on her heel as the bell rang, signalling roll call as students left for their classes.
Oh fuck me...
~~~
Slumping into my chair, I hid my chair under the table as the teacher spoke, some shit about english or something, I don't care. I go onto Instagram and open a chat.
ZachTheBomb- Hey Dion, you reckon I can buy a 50 at lunch today?
Di- Sure, make sure you have cash on you
I sighed and shoved my phone in my pocket.
"Zachary Callas, you're needed at the office", the teacher muttered as I left the classroom, walking slowly to the office, hands in my pockets.
Pushing the door open, I look up, seeing my mother at the door of the principal's office.
I sat across from my mother. She didn't look at me as she readjusted her papers on her desk. She finally looked at me, pushing her glasses up. Every time I looked at her, I looked so much less and less than her.
I was your average blue-eyed, blonde 14-year-old old and my mother was a brunette and had brown eyes. Neither of my parents looked like me, which made some students (who didn't like me) suspect I was adopted.
I am definitely not-
"So Zach, you are aware why you're here, yeah?" She said in a stern, cold voice, the opposite of what a mother was supposed to sound like.
"No, not really, Mom-"
"Please, Zach, I've told you it's Mrs Callas when we're in here. I got a report that Helena Kosta was... screaming and swearing at you" She held some papers with writing on them.
For fuck sake, people need to stop interrupting me.
"Yeah because she's a dramatic bitch" I mutter, leaning back in the chair, crossing my arms.
"Language, Zachary," She snapped as I rolled my eyes. Mom took a deep breath and laced her fingers together, her elbows on the desk.
I recognise her sigh before one of those long speeches
Here we go...
"Zach, as my son, your role is to be a good student here. Not... mess around. Apparently breaking the poor girl's heart, WHICH we will be discussing with your father at home"
I groan.
"We don't-"
"We do. I expect the most out of you, Zachary. I worked my ass off to get you in this school." She rubbed the bridge of her nose, her glasses in one hand.
"This school? This is the plainest, boring school in New South Wales"
"Yeah well you have to be goddamn grateful Zachary. You're getting after school detention today, So will Helena Kosta as you both were the problem, get your ass to class before I whoop it right here and now."
She didn't look at me. I scoffed and left her office. Instead of going back to class, I head to the boys' bathrooms and sat in a stall, groaning as I grabbed the vape from my pocket and took a deep breath from it.
"Fucking hell..."
"Hey there Zach," A tired voice came from the stall next to me.
I laughed softly.
"Skipping class on the first day, Dion?" I climbed on top of the toilet seat and looked over, seeing Dion on the closed toilet, cross-legged with a bong.
"I could ask you the same thing Zach, so Lena's pissed at you" Dion glanced up at me as he packed a cone for his bong.
"Yeah I know, she full on abused the shit out of me"
Dion looked up at me.
"She had a reason asshole, you left her and then ghosted her, what the fuck do you expect?" Dion held the bong up to his lips, lighting up the weed in the cone and breathing in before coughing, waving the smoke away.
"Anyways... let's not talk about that... pretty risky smoking in here, ain't it?"
Dion held up a finger as he coughed into his jumper's sleeve.
I awkwardly wait for him to stop his coughing fit.
"H-honestly... who gives a shit?" He rasped a bit.
"My mom," I chuckled before climbing over into his stall, leaning against the door inside the stall.
"Could I grab that 50 now? I wanna sneak out of school at lunch cause I now have afterschool detention."
Dion laughed softly.
"You got that 50 on ya mate?" He reached into his man pouch.
"Yeah, I do." I reached into my pocket and gave him a crinkled 50-dollar note as he passed me a baggie.
"It's the good shit this time, don't you worry." Dion leaned against the toilet back, smiling with slightly red eyes.
"I can see that", I raised an eyebrow as I shoved the baggie into my pocket.
We chilled in the stall for a minute in silence before Dion murmured.
"So... what happened? Between you and Lena?... I know her story, but what's yours?" He looked up at me, and I sighed.
"I really don't want to talk about it"
"Alright then, well, let me chill alone please, shoo" He waved at me and I chuckled, leaving the stall.
My smile faded as I start heading back to class, now very obviously late.
I kept on thinking about how Lena stared at me... how angry she was...
Man... I royally fucked up didn't I?