To Speak.

Zacky couldn't believe it.

Not only did this girl not question his inability to talk, but she filled in the silence with her chatter and cute little laugh. It seemed that he, Zachary James Baker, was actually making a person-- a girl laugh. And all he had to do was nod his head to her rhetorical questions.

He actually found himself smiling. This rarely happened at school. He had nothing to smile at here.

In response to her questions for the project, he wrote down answers. She didn't seem to mind. In fact, she commented on how she liked his handwriting and how she had the same pen at home.

The bell rang and for the first time, he was sad that class ended.

"Zacky, if you don't mind, could I see your schedule?" she asked him.

He gave her the now crumpled sheet of paper and looked over her shoulder to see that they had all their classes together. This was so surreal.

"Yay!" She exclaimed and handed his schedule back over to him. In truth, he was happy, too.

"You're going to have to lead the way, Mr. Baker. I don't know where any of these classes are!"

He smiled and nodded. He was more than happy to oblige.

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Lunch time.

Zacky was nervous.

He always ate his lunch under a big shady tree outside. He liked it there. It was quiet and no one bothered him. He didn't have to pretend to not notice the whispers and stares around him. He could just relax for 50 minutes. There were other people that ate outside, too, but they were with their friends. They took no notice of Zack whatsoever.

But what if Indy didn't like eating outside? What if she wanted to eat with someone else?

As much as he hated to admit it, Indy had made a few friends. She wasn't as close with them as she with him, but they still offered to eat lunch with her. All she did was shrug and say 'We'll see' but he had a feeling she would prefer to eat with them than with him.

He made his lunch, like he always did since middle school started. It was usually a sandwich. There's only so much you can make when you're hurrying in the morning while caught up in the rush. Today he made him self a tuna sandwich and brought an apple and bottle of water with him.

"Where do you eat Zack?"

Uh oh, the dreaded question. He was hoping she'd tell him she'd see him after lunch or, even better, just follow him outside.

He pointed towards the doors, indicating that he ate outside.

"Let's go then. I'm starving!"

.....What?

When Indy saw that Zacky wasn't following, she asked, "What's up Zack? Aren't you gonna eat? Something wrong?"

Zacky snapped back to reality and shook his head. He followed her outside and then led her to the big tree.

Indy also had lunch from home. Her mom always packed her lunch. Ever since she could remember. Usually, it was something she enjoyed. And she did enjoy pasta. It's just that.. She'd been eating it so much for the past few days because she suddenly craved it. But now.. now pasta looked unappetizing.

When Zack saw her frowning down at her food, he took out his phone and texted, What's up?

She smiled sheepishly and said, "I've been having pasta for the past three days. I'm suddenly sick of it! But.. since I'm hungry I guess I'll eat it."

Do you like tuna? he quickly texted, hoping she'd say yes.

"Ooh, I haven't had tuna in a while. Yes, I do like it. Why?"

If you want.. We can trade. I have a sandwich.

"Really?"

He nodded and she laughed. "Okay! Let's trade!"

Zacky suddenly felt like he was in the first grade where a lot of kids traded lunches if they didn't like what they had. It made him smile.

"Zack, this is pretty good! Did your mom make it?"

He shook his head and frowned at the mention of his mother. His parents were never around to take care of him. When they were at home, they usually put him down or ignored him altogether.

"..What's wrong?"

He quickly whipped out his phone again and typed It's nothing. Sorry. But anyway. I made it. I usually make myself a sandwich for lunch.

"That's pretty neat! Do you like cooking?"

Mostly yeah. I just never have the time or need to make anything big.

This was indeed true. The guys usually went over to Zack's to eat. They were growing teenage boys and were usually fine with anything that had large portions of meat in it.

"Aw.. You're lucky. I can't cook to save my life. Maybe you can teach me how to fry an egg? Boil some water?"

He laughed out loud. But quickly stopped himself and looked around. No one had heard him, what a relief.. He looked back at Indy and saw her staring straight at him.

Zacky suddenly got nervous. Did she hate his voice? Maybe he had a weird laugh. After all, it had been a while since he actually laughed at school. Maybe she suddenly realized she was eating with the loner of the school and wanted to leave him and wanted to make other friends that were better than him and never wanted to talk to him again and he'd be all alone again and--

"You have a nice laugh!"

His frantic train of thoughts came to a halt. This was not what he had expected. It was a far cry from it. A nice laugh? Him? Seriously?

He awkwardly cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck, giving her a small smile in thanks.

------------------

After school Zacky and Indy both walked home. They both lived in the same general direction from school but she lived a couple of streets down. It didn't matter to Zacky. Her home was still of walking distance and he was glad that he would be able to drop her off before heading home every day from now on.

Since it was the first day of school and since Indy still had to unpack a few boxes from her move, they decided to visit each other's houses over the weekend.

"Make sure to pick me up everyday from now on okay?" she had said. He, of course, agreed.

They hugged goodbye, much to Zacky's pleasure, exchanged numbers, and Indy went inside after a final wave.

"Mom, mommy!" she squealed once the door was shut.

"Hey, Indy! How was school?"

"It was great! You will never guess who I met today. He's such a sweetheart! Sit down and unpack later!"

Ms. Evans laughed at her daughter's excitement and did as she was told, learning about Zacky and their new found friendship.

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"Yo, Zack! How was school?" Zack's closest friend, Brian, greeted him. They all had spare keys to each other's houses. Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Baker did not know this. Zack would be in big trouble if they did. They would never find out, though. They were more absent from home than not because of their frequent business trips.

Instead of the usual shrug, Brian received a smile. Well, this certainly was new.

He grabbed a pen and paper and tossed it to Zack. "Write down what's got you all smiles today. The others said they're coming a bit later."

When Zack had finished writing and Brian had finished reading, he said, "So.. A chick huh? When do I get to meet this wonderful Indy Evans?"

This weekend. She's coming over.

"Sweet. I'll tell Michelle and Val to come over, too. When are your parents coming back?"

Sometime next month. Not sure. Don't care.

The others had arrived by then and they each got to learn about Indy and Zack's amazingly wonderful first day of school. They were all ecstatic to meet a new friend, especially one that could be there for Zack at school.

They had decided they were too tired for band practice that night. It was a school night anyway and Brian and Jimmy, who went to the same school, apparently had 'a shit load' of homework.

This was another reason why everyone was so eager to meet Indy.

The twins, Val and Michelle attended the same school. Matt and Johnny went to another one and Jimmy and Brian went to a different one, too. Zack was all alone. His parents thought he would only cause trouble in a public school, so he was sent to a private school. He was just lucky it wasn't one of those strict, Catholic, prep academies. But now he had a friend he could be with. Someone to pass notes with during a boring lecture, someone to go to school in the mornings with, someone to walk to band practice with after school on Fridays, that is if her mom let her. But from what he had heard so far, Indy and her mother were on very good terms. They were each other's best friends.

Around 8, everyone decided to head home. Zacky then decided to wash up and heat up some leftover soup for dinner. He watched some TV while eating and then washed his bowl when he was finished. After brushing his teeth, he went to bed. All he wanted to do was relax for the rest of the night and sleeping was the best way to do it.

This definitely never had happened before, but, he couldn't wait to go to school tomorrow.

------------------

Zacky gently knocked on Indy's front door and was greeted with her mother.

"You must be Zacky! Indy's told me so much about you. Come in for a bit, she's still getting ready."

He gave her a small smile and entered the house. Indy's house was smaller than his but seemed less empty and had a happy atmosphered compared to the dull, boring one at his.

"Did you eat breakfast? How about some toast?" Ms. Evans offered.

He nodded his head yes and smiled in thanks. He didn't want to be late in picking up Indy and decided to skip breakfast.

"I'll be right back. I'm just going to check on Indy and tell her to hurry."

When she left the dining room, Zacky realized Indy took after her mother by quite a lot. They had the same brown hair and eyes, a round face, and cheerful smile. Not only were they alike physically, but they both also seemed to carry a happy attitude and mood wherever they went and just brightened up a room when they entered it.

Ms. Evans soon came back was about to tell Zacky that Indy was going to come down in a few seconds when her daughter came rushing into the room, still buttoning her jacket.

"Morning Zacky!" she greeted. He waved in response and she grabbed a piece of toast from the table.

"I'm going to eat and walk, okay mom?"

"Sure, dear."

"Thanks! Bye! I love you!"

Her mother scarcely made her reply before the pair were out of the door and on the sidewalk.

Zacky decided that he liked the Evans' household. It sure wasn't quiet, but it was nice to have a change. He had already taken a liking to Indy's mom.

"Did my mom say anything to make you uncomfortable?" Indy asked after a few minutes of walking.

He shook his head, took out his phone, and typed Your mom is great. I like the way things are around your house.

She grinned and replied, "Well that's good! She's such a chatterbox at times it gets me into so many embarrassing situations, but I'm glad you like her. I think she likes you, too."

Zacky let her finish her toast before texting My friends want to meet you over the weekend. There are six of them. Two girls, twins actually, and four boys. They go to different schools. You're okay with it, right?

He saw her eyes brighten at this.

"Of course I'm okay with it, silly. I can't wait!"

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Zacky had the best first week of school ever. Mainly because of Indy. His friends loved that he was so much more happier now. Saturday had finally come and they all decided to meet at Matt's, only because that was where they had band practice and enjoyed hanging out the most. Everyone was impatiently waiting for Zacky to come with Indy.

The door bell rang and everyone scrambled to the door, bumping into one another and falling. Mrs. Sanders laughed at their behavior and opened the door.

"Hello, Zacky. Are you Indy?"

"Yes I am!" she chirped. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs..." she trailed off.

"Sanders. I'm Matt's mother. Come on in and meet everyone else."

Since it was his house, Matt took the liberty of introducing everyone. They headed down to the basement to talk.

There wasn't much to talk about. Everyone pretty much found out stuff about Indy through Zacky. He was glad that she was getting along so well with everyone else. In fact, by the time Mrs. Evans called Indy to check on her, it was already 10.

"Oh, darn. It's so late.. I should get going now. It was really really great meeting you guys and maybe we can hang out tomorrow?"

"Yeah, totally. Let's go to the beach tomorrow!"

It was agreed. Zacky would again pick Indy up and take her to the beach at around noon. They would bring snacks and spend the rest of the day there.

Well thought Zacky This is pretty nice.