Don't Complain If You Can't Win

The bell rang abruptly and all the students in her class shoved their belongings in their bags without paying any attention to Mr. Holden's announcements. Leighton lifted her bag on her shoulder when she finished packing and hurried out the door before it got too crowded where she had to wait. Loud chatter filled the hallway when she exited her classroom; she grunted to herself when a few freshmen huddled together squealed loudly right in her ear. Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, Leighton tried to ignore their loud whispers as she sighed.

"Leighton!" she heard as soon as she stopped sighing. As a reaction, she turned her head to see who had called her name only to see Zack Merrick less than ten feet away. "You left class in a hurry."

She shrugged her shoulders as she felt those freshmen girls staring in their direction. "Oh, yeah," Leigh let out a nervous chuckle, hoisting her bag higher up her shoulder and looking down to the floor.

"What class do you have now?" Zack asked.

"English."

"Let me walk you," his smile nearly went from ear to ear as he started walking towards the direction she was headed. Those girls awed out loud and he nodded at them which only caused another ear splitting squeal to sound.

Leighton walked along by his side not saying a word; she merely felt awkward having Zack of all people offer to walk her to class. Her heart pumped in her chest ten beats quicker than normal and her stomach did flip flops, especially when Zack's shoulder would touch her own from the hallway being too packed with rushing kids.

"So," Zack said as they neared her class. "I figured out a way that you can make it up to me for not going to see my band play."

One of her eyebrows rose and Leighton turned her head slightly just to barely see his face. "You're really going to make me make it up to you?" she asked incredulously.

"Why shouldn't I? You did promise you'd go; it's only fair you make it up, right?" his infamous smirk twitched at his lips.

Leigh stopped a few feet away from her class and stared at him for a short moment. She couldn't understand how he could be so ridiculously good looking, but as quickly as that thought entered her mind, she quickly shook it off. "Well," she cleared her throat.

"Let's go out Friday night. A classic, cliche dinner and a movie, say seven o'clock?" he told her.

"I-I don't know," Leighton muttered and bit the inside of her lip as Courtney's words about what Zack "really wanted" popped her head, although she didn't want to believe them.

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" he lifted his hand to adjust his nose ring before running it through his blondish brown hair.

"I've got a lot of things to do; I'm sorry," Leighton thought her excuse was good enough.

"I probably should have said this before, but I won't take no for an answer," he emphasized "won't". "So Friday night at seven, dinner and a movie. I can't wait," Zack smirked as he walked backwards in the direction they just came from before turning around.

Scrunching up her face, Leigh ran a hand through her long brown hair. "What just happened?" she confusedly asked herself out loud. "I don't get it..." Leighton turned around and walked in class, taking her seat and dropping her forehead against her forearm atop her desk. "What am I getting myself into?"

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She felt bad rushing home from Courtney's house without a logical excuse; she had lied to her best friend, but what was she supposed to say? Courtney didn't want to hear anymore about Zack, and Leighton knew that if she brought up the date he was taking her out on, Courtney would throw a fit. And dealing with the same lecture she's heard a thousand times already wasn't really what she felt like hearing once more.

When Leighton got home, she hurried to her room to change her clothes. Her heart wouldn't slow down its pace and she could no longer control her breathing. Leighton was beyond nervous; no words could describe how she was feeling at that moment. Deep down inside, Leigh was hoping Zack would stand her up, only because that could possibly make her infatuation towards him diminish. But as she thought about it, if him making fun her couldn't stop her from liking Zack, then nothing will.

Frowning at that thought, Leighton opened her closet and settled on a pair of grey skinny jeans her mom just bought her and a white American Eagle v-neck. She noticed her clock read five to seven while she slipped on her shoes and she rushed to give her hair a little brush. The door bell rang, causing Leighton to jump and curse herself because he was a few minutes early.

"Breath, Leigh, breathe. He's just a boy," she whispered to herself as she stood in front of the front door. "He's a just a boy," she whispered once more before pulling the door open.

"Whoa," he mumbled with a smile. "You look great," Zack said which caused a tint of pink to hit her cheeks. "You ready to go?"

With a nod of her head, Leighton stepped out of the house and attempted to lock the door with her shaky hands. Her previous thoughts fluttered from her head and she was losing control all too quickly. She bit down on her lip to steady her nerves as they walked to his car and Leighton tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach when Zack opened the passenger side door of his car for her. She couldn't help but let a small smile form on her lips, though, because a date with Zack Merrick is what she always wanted.

"So I figured we would go eat first, then go to the movie; that okay?" he asked when he turned on the car.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Leighton replied.

"Awesome. You know, I'm really glad you agreed to come out with me tonight," Zack stated as he drove out of the neighborhood.

"Well, you sort of made me come out with you." Leigh twiddled her thumbs nervously.

"Then I'm glad you answered your door," he chuckled.

"I sort of thought you weren't even going to show up tonight; I figured you would have stood me up or something," Leigh looked out the window at the scenery passing by.

Zack furrowed his eyebrows and glanced between her and the road. "Why would you think that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. This could have been nothing but a joke, seeing as though last year you-" Leighton cut herself off.

"Seeing as last year I what?" he seemed completely clueless as to what she was talking about.

Was it true that Zack Merrick really didn't know who she was? Leighton knew she looked different from all the weight she lost but she didn't think Zack could literally be that stupid. A part of her wanted him to know that a year ago he made her life a living hell, but then the other part of her really wanted to start out fresh.

"Nothing, nothing," she tucked her hair behind her ear and gazed out the window once more.

"You're really pretty, Leighton," Zack blurted out. "I'm glad we met."

"Me too, Zack," she muttered. "Me too."