I Knew A Boy

"Hey, why you so down in the dumps?" my best friend in the ninth grade asked me at lunch. I had been in a bad mood ever since I had found out about my sister and Zack, and, needless to say, was not on speaking terms with my sister for the past two weeks.

I sighed, picking at my food and then looking up at Annie. "Just a lot of shit..."

"...Is this still about the whole thing with your sister and Zack? It's been two weeks Amanda... Can't you just forget about it? You've got so many more important things to worry about besides that," Annie said, and I knew she was just trying to help me and wasn't meaning to sound bitchy, but I really didn't want to hear about what people thought I should do. What my sister had done to me hurt me, pretty deep inside, because she knew all along how I'd felt about Zack and still decided to fuck around with him when she was in a relationship with someone else.

"I can't not think about it. You know I don't get over things easily. I mean, remember the beginning of the school year when I found out Devin and Tara were dating and I had the biggest crush on him? I cried for hours, in school. I have a feeling that none of this with Ashley and Zack is going to go away very soon..." I mumbled, pushing my full tray of food to the side, not being in the mood. I'd pretty much lost an appetite over the previous week.

"Alright, look. Tomorrow's Friday, and there's gonna be a dance at the school. What say you and I go and just get loose? I'm sure it'll clear your mind if just for a few hours, right?"

I thought about it for a moment. I usually went to the school dances because I had nothing better to do with my time on Friday nights. But I hated dancing. I couldn't dance. It was almost like I was physically incapable of moving my body in a timely fashion - I just looked plain pitiful. But either way, I nodded my head and looked up to see a smile on Annie's lips.

The gym at the school was dark, strobe lights flashing here and there all night. I stayed to my wall-flower status for most of the night, but Annie dragged me away a couple times to dance, and I just felt like I'd made a complete fool out of myself.

I had spotted Zack numerous times; I think he was there with Brian. I had no idea why they'd come to a corny school dance when I was certain they had many better things they could have been doing with their time.

Ashley and Nick were there too. I had no idea why, but Nick hadn't dumped her ass the moment she became unfaithful. It really bothered me because my sister was that kind of person who would do something once, and you'd be sure to know she'd do it again in due time. But, probably under Nick's command, Ashley never talked to Zack. But I saw him looking at her when I was looking at him.

But there was something wrong. The feeling in the air set something off. Zack seemed to be acting a bit strange. I couldn't tell exactly what was up, but there was something different about him, and I didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

"What are you staring at?" I heard Annie ask over the music as it changed to a slow song.

"Nothing," I said quickly, but by the smirk on her face I knew she wasn't stupid. She know I was staring at Zack.

"Right... I'm gonna go get a drink," she said, heading toward the door of the gym to get to the cafeteria. I glanced back at Zack to see him still with Brian, talking to some girls. Through the flashing lights of the room I could see the look on his face drop. His smile vanished slowly and it almost looked like he was beginning to panic. He started to blink rapidly for a moment, his eyes darting around at things. He took a step back and almost stumbled, taking a seat on the bleachers and putting his face in his hands. HE rubbed his forehead a minute before looking up. He looked almost scared. Something wasn't right.

"Hey... Oh God, you're still staring at him?" I heard Annie shout at me over the music. I shook my head lightly at her, not looking away from Zack.

"Something's wrong with him and I don't know what it is..." I said, surprised that she could hear me over all the noise.

"I think you're right.... He does look like he's acting a bit strange..." Annie replied as she looked Zack over as well. "Let's go talk to him," she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me in the direction of where Zack was sitting. I would have tried to fight against her, thinking of how my sister said he found me annoying, but I really wanted to know what was up with Zack and why he was acting so strange that night.

In no time, Annie and I had made it to where Zack was sitting, but unfortunately my sister had the same idea and got to him the same time I did. Zack looked up and I could see his eyes were severely bloodshot, and he still looked scared half to death. What the Hell had he done?

Upon noticing my sister kneeling in front of Zack, I realized that Nick was standing next to me. Then I knew something was up, because for Nick to let his girlfriend get that close to the guy she cheated on him with, it had to be serious.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked Kate, my sister's friend who showed up on the other side of Nick.

"Just... I think you should go over there for awhile, okay?" she said, pushing me away.

"No Kate. I want to know what's wrong with him!?" I said, stopping to try and hear what my sister was saying to Zack, though it was no use.

"Look, I don't really know what's wrong with him, that's what we're trying to find out. So just.... Go back over where you were for now, okay?" Kate snapped.

"Let's just go Amanda," Annie said, taking my hand in hers and leading me away. "I bet he's just drunk or something."

"No, it's something worse than that. I don't know what it is but it's bad," I said, looking back to see that of all people Nick was stood next to Zack, talking civil with him. Brian had now come to Zack's side as well. Nick and Brian exchanged a few words, and then Nick said something to Zack again, who nodded his head. I was so confused - What the hell was going on?

I saw Kate coming toward me as my sister and Nick helped Zack get to his feet and started walking him to the door.

"Come on, we're going," Kate said as she got to me, and I had no other choice but to follow her because Nick was my ride, and if he left, I had to leave too.

"I'll see you later," I said to Annie, and she just nodded her head before I followed Kate out to the parking lot.