To Speak.

The weekend passed quickly, much to Zacky's dismay. It was Monday after school and he was helping his parents set up for the mini party. People would be starting to come at around 6 and it was currently only 5.

When his parents came home, his father gave a curt nod to him and his mother actually said a polite hello. He held his hand up for a second as a wave and watched them move their baggage upstairs. It was awkward.. So.. Awkward..

"Zachary, help your mother prepare the food for later." his father had said. So here he was now, making a salad while his mom brought out the meat for the barbecue.

"You've grown."

Zacky froze from shock. He expected his mother to ignore him, like she's had for his whole life, until the get together started, where she would made small talk with him in front of the guests, and then just.. ignore him again.

He resumed what he was doing and nodded.

"Do you still play baseball?"

To that, he wanted to scoff. What kind of parent didn't know the type of sports his or her child played?

Oh, yeah, his parents.

Truthfully, he hadn't played in a while. He just never had the chance. But all he did was nod again. After making salad, he would have to set up outside, and then hopefully would be free until the whole thing started. He really wanted to finish up his chores or wanted six o'clock to come. Whichever came first, really.

Outside, Zacky set up plates and and napkins while his Dad started firing up the grill. He smiled when he saw that Brian and his family had arrived.

"James, how was your trip?" Brian Sr. greeted.

"Oh, it was alright. Same old, same old."

Zacky's mom came outside just then and greeted Suzy. The two of them started to have a conversation and went back inside to get more food after a few more greetings were exchanged. Brent and McKenna, Brian's siblings, both of whom Zacky did not know quite well decided to take a walk around the block before everyone else arrived.

Zacky and Brian hung out on the porch until everyone else came. When Indy, Addy, and Preston arrived Zacky's father shot him a questioning look and said, "Who are these young ladies, Zachary?"

"My name is Indy!" Indy said. "I just moved here for junior year and this is Addy," she pointed at her, "and Preston."

"Nice to meet you." the other two chorused.

Zachary's mother also came outside and met the three girls. After a brief chat, the adults went to sit at the table and Zacky and his friends went inside to eat after getting some food. Like they always did. They would eat in the living room while watching TV or talking.

None of the three girls' parents came, because they weren't expected. They could all meet everyone at another time.

They were all having a good time. Everyone was laughing, talking, enjoying the food.. Until Zacky's mom came back inside saying, "Zachary, Amber's here!"

All conversation stopped. Everyone took a nervous glance at each other. Zacky's parents knew Amber. They didn't know he and Amber dated or knew that Zacky and his friends hated her. They thought they were all one, big group of best friends.

"Hey, everyone!"

A few people mumbled a 'hi' but other than that, no one said anything.

Amber did not notice this and went straight to Zacky, sitting down dangerously close next to him.

It's like the damn bitch never heard of personal space! Indy thought bitterly in her head. She was seated next to Preston, on the other side of the room.

Zacky rubbed his now sweaty hands against his jeans and swallowed nervously, eyes darting back and forth between Amber and Indy. Amber leaned in towards him and said, "We haven't talked much since I got back. I wanted to catch up on things."

"Catch up my ass." Val muttered, getting a dark look from Amber.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said," Val repeated more clearly, "Catch up my ass."

Before Amber said anything, Indy got up and took Zacky's hand. "I'm kinda cold, Zacky. Come sit with me." she said in a sweet innocent voice.

Zacky was in Indy's old seat in less than a few seconds with Indy perched on his lap, a smirk on her face.

Amber, not about to let Indy ruin her moment said, "He sure has a warm body, doesn't he?"

Indy didn't know what she was getting on about and just said, "That he does."

Sighing, Amber replied, "I remember when Zacky used to cuddle with me all the time. He couldn't keep his hands off of me no matter how hard he tried! He just couldn't stand not being around me, you know."

"That was in the past." Brian growled. "He hates your guts now. We all do."

"Oh, please." she waved him off. "Zacky wouldn't mind it if things were like before. Remember Zacky? How happy we were? How we always had such a good time together?"

Boy, did he remember. He had sudden flashbacks about when he thought Amber was the perfect girl for him. When they all thought she would be with the group for the rest of forever. He momentarily felt warm when he recalled the times she would whisper sweet nothings in his ear and stroke his arms and tell him she loved him-- that's right, he actually thought he was in love (How wrong he was)-- but then felt cold again when he remembered the day he found out she was just like everyone else. Selfish, fake, and a liar.

Zacky shook his head and pointed at the door, signalling for her to leave. Amber just gave him a smug grin and said, "Fine. If that's what you want. But how do you know that she," Amber pointed at Indy, "won't hurt you in the end? What makes her so special? She'll end up leaving you, won't she Zacky?"

Indy's eyes widened. "You don't think that, right Zacky?" she whispered.

Zacky felt numb. He couldn't respond. He couldn't shake his head. All he did was stare at the ground.

"Zacky.." Indy pleaded.

"Zack.. Come on.. " Brian said. "Indy wold never do that."

Met with silence, Amber smirked at Indy. "See? He would never trust someone like you. Who the hell do you think you are? Just coming into his life like that."

"Shut the fuck up." Val hissed. "If there's anyone here that Zacky shouldn't trust it's you!"

"Whatever." Amber said, about to walk out. "My work here is done. I just wanted to give Zacky a reality check you know."

With that, she walked out and left, feeling triumphant. Amber was sure she'd have Zacky back in a few more weeks.

All in due time.. she thought. All in due time..

Back at his house, all eyes were on Zacky's. Except for Indy's. She had gotten off from his lap and was now seated next to him-- a bit far, too.

She felt stung. It felt like her parent's divorce all over again except it wasn't that her father never loved her, it was that Zacky had never trusted her.

Voice shaking from anger and hurt, she said to him, "How could you..?"

Just as she expected, she didn't get any reaction out of Zacky. She got up and collected her things saying, "I'm going home now."

Before Indy left, Zacky spotted a tear sliding down her cheeks and then regretted his actions, or more like lack of actions, in the past five minutes.

"Zacky, what the fuck?" Addy said to him.

He heaved a sigh in frustration and ran his fingers through his hair. He felt like groaning right now but kept his mouth shut and clenched his fists in anger.

"Why didn't you do anything?" Addy asked, her voice now softer.

Zacky shrugged miserably and buried his face in his hands. He wanted to crawl in a deep dark hole and never ever ever come out. How could he fuck up so easily like that? All he had to do was shake his head and point at the door again and the outcome could've been so much more different. Why had he frozen up like that?

When it was time for everyone to go back home, Val asked him "Do you want me to talk to her?"

He nodded. He would be grateful for any kind of help right now even though he knew he didn't deserve it.

"Alright. It's too late right now, but I'll call her tomorrow. Tell us what happens at school, okay?"

Zacky nodded again and waved goodbye to his friends. Soon enough, it was him, his mom, and his dad.

"Indy seemed to be in a hurry to leave." Maria commented.

He took out his phone and begrudgingly typed She had things to do at home. You can get to know her another time.

Zacky trudged upstairs and washed up, feeling horrible. He couldn't sleep that night and spent the long hours tossing and turning in bed, desperately trying to get some rest.

In the morning, his parents had surprisingly not woken up yet, and he carried on with his everyday routine, packing a regular pb&j sandwich for lunch with a bottle of water. While passing Indy's house, he wondered whether he should pick her up or not when Indy's mother came out to collect the paper and told him that she had already left, saying that she needed to go early because she needed extra help on math. Her mother did not seem to notice anything was out of the ordinary.

Great.. thought Zacky. This is fan-fucking-tastic.

At school, Indy seemed to be hiding until right before first period started, taking the farthest seat away from Zacky. Amber noticed his and smiled to herself and changed seats to sit down next to him.

He tried to ignore Amber who was constantly talking to him, talking about the dumbest of things.

When first period was over, Zacky didn't even bother trying to catch up to Indy. He knew it was useless. He would have to wait after school to try to talk to her.

"See, Zacky?" Amber said to him, while walking to Math. "She's not even trying to talk to you anymore. I was right."

For a scary second, Zacky believed her, but then hurriedly snapped out of it. He shouldn't blame this on Indy, he told himself. This was all his fault.

He was alone for all his classes after that and was on the edge of giving up by the end of the day. While walking home, he got a text from Val.

Did anything happen at school?

Not really.. She avoided me the whole day.

Oh, Zacky.. She called me last night. .She was in tears.

She called you? What did she say?

What do you think? She asked me if what Amber said was true. I told her that she shouldn't listen to her but what happened last night.. didn't really.. help her...

Zacky felt even worse now. The one person he never wanted to hurt was crying last night because of his dumb inability to move in the dire situation. He should slap himself..

I'm going to go to her house. he typed.

But your parents...?

Fuck them. I need to fix things before they get worse.

Okay..Zack.. I think you should tell her what happened in the past. Tell her everything about your parents and Amber. She deserves to know and it'll help her reestablish the fact that you do trust her and care for her.

Val.. I can't do that.

You can't hide forever, Zacky. She needs to know. She's going to find out one day, and it might be from Amber, too. She'll probably stretch the truth and make things even more complicating.

Zacky didn't reply to the text. He didn't know what to say. Val was right. He should tell her. But he didn't want to. He thought Indy wouldn't want to do anything with them anymore if she found out about his sick parents and how deep he thought his relationship was with Amber. He was weak. People played with him and used him all his life. She didn't need him as much as he needed her.

Indy's mother was at work so when he knocked on the door, Indy answered it.

Can we please talk?

"About what? How Amber was right about everything she said last night?"

Indy.. Please..

"Zacky, leave me alone."

If only he could talk and not use his stupid phone..

He scowled at the ground and shook his head.

"I don't want to talk to you. Anyways, we have lots of homework tonight and I need to get started on them. See you tomorrow."

She closed the door to his face, leaving him feeling rejected and empty. He was about to knock again but decided against it, settling on waiting until things calmed down to try to talk to her. Hopefully that would be by tomorrow.

For the time being, though, he honestly felt like crying. Rubbing his face, he made his way home and tried to do homework to get his mind off of things. It didn't help much, but it made things easier for the three hours he studied and worked.

He texted Val, telling her that his plan was a complete failure and that he was going to go to bed early that night. He didn't bother waiting for a reply and washed up and went to sleep.. Or tried to.

But what was the use? He couldn't sleep no matter how hard he tried to or wanted to. It was a lost cause. The rest of tonight, and the many nights after were spent trying to come up with a way to make up with Indy and get things back to normal.

Unfortunately for him, nothing came in mind.