Flight Risk

Zacky picked me up for school the next day so that I wouldn't have to start riding the bus again. He wasn't thrilled about being up so early and he hadn't even bothered to get dressed correctly. I laughed at his unexcited appearance as I stepped into the car and pushed my bags into the backseat.

"Don't you look dashing," I joked, taking his his sweats, hoodie, and hat combination.

He lazily rolled his eyes and glanced over my appearance, looking away when he found nothing to complain about my long-sleeved, blue denim shirt, holy blue jeans, and light grey high tops.

I smirked at his silence and motioned for him to go. "Mush, mush," I repeated, waving my arms in the air, "You're going to make me late, Oscar."

He peered at me skeptically. "Oscar?"

"As in Oscar the Grouch," I explained, grinning when he managed to crack a smile.

"You're hilarious," he said as he backed out of my driveway, "A real comedian, Granger."

"I know," I stated, pulling my knees up to my chest and ignoring the look he gave me about my shoes being on the seat.

His car was his baby and it was cleaner than most people's houses. The seats were leather and the paint didn't have a scratch on it. Zacky cared about his car as much as he cared his mom, if not more than he cared about his little brother.

Zacky drove me to school because I knew Micki wasn't going to show up. I'd tried to text her the night before but received no answer. Obviously she was mad that Zacky had punched her brother, and I understood that, so did Zack, but Draven had kissed me and it was blatant that Zacky wasn't going to be okay with it.

Zacky pulled up to the front of the school and turned the car off, leaning his arm on the back on my chair. "I'll be here after practice," he promise, his eyes looking into mine, "You sure you'll be okay?"

I nodded, facing the large stone building. "I have to talk to her," I replied, looking back to him, "She'll get over it."

"Call me if what's-his-face is here later. I don't want him anywhere near you if I'm not around."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll be fine, Zack. I can handle myself," I replied, touching his chin with my fingers, "Just be here after practice. Everything will be fine."

He glanced away from me and then looked back up. "I love you," he said for the first time since last night, "I'll see you later."

I couldn't help but be pleased that we were going to be one of those couples that used 'I love you' as a way to say goodbye. It was charming and exciting to hear him say it again. I crossed my fingers in hopes that it would become a regular habit and leaned over the center console to kiss him goodbye. "I love you too, see you after practice." I grabbed my bags from the backseat and pushed myself out of the car.

My classes didn't matter to me now as much as they had before Zacky came into my life. I still did my homework and kept my grades up so that I could play softball, but I wasn't as interested in sitting in a classroom and listening to seven teachers talk day after day now that I knew there was something outside of school waiting for me. Avenged Sevenfold's tour, softball, and Zacky consumed most of my attention, keeping me positively distracted most of the time.

I floated through my first few classes, knowing that lunch was coming and Micki would be there, angry at me and unready to talk about what had happened.

Johnny was sitting at our table when I walked up. I smiled at the boy and sat down across from him. "Hey, how was band practice yesterday?" I asked, although Zacky had already told me all about it.

"Great," Johnny cheered, not bothering to wait until he'd swallowed his food, "We wrote some new stuff for the tour. We're thinking about trying it out at Johnny's this weekend. You should totally come."

I frowned, leaning my chin on my hand. "Zack didn't tell me about Johnny's," I stated, "When did you guys decide this?"

"Yesterday," he said simply, taking a swig of his Coke, "Zacky probably meant to mention it. The thing with Micki's brother probably just distracted him."

"How do you know about that?" I questioned, astonished at how quickly news traveled between the guys. Sometimes they gossiped more than the people at my school.

"Zack told Brian, who told Matt and Jimmy, and Jimmy told me," he explained like that was the regular way news traveled for them. "It's fucked up if you ask me," he said, shaking his head, "You don't kiss someone else's girlfriend, especially not right in front of them."

"Not in front of Zacky anyways," I muttered, recalling how his temper got the best of him. "He was really mad."

"I would be too," Johnny reasoned, "That's just a shitty thing to do, and it's terrible that Micki is mad at you for Zacky freaking out. What did she really think Zack would do? Hug the guy?"

I stared at the sophomore, still amazed that he knew the entire story before I had even breathed a word of it to him. I noted to myself that if I ever wanted a secret kept, I would have to make Zacky promise not to speak it. They were his best friends and it was obvious he had a hard time keeping things to himself for very long.

"Have you seen Micki?" I asked, turning around in my seat to keep an eye on the cafeteria doors, "I really need to talk to her. It's such crap that's she's ignoring me."

"I saw her when I got here this morning," he offered, "She didn't look like she was in a particularly good mood so I just left her alone. I figured being Zacky's friend wasn't going to get me on her good-side."

"That was probably smart," I commended, sighing loudly as I turned around and rested my arms on the table. "I'll just have to talk to her at practice. She won't blow if off just so she doesn't have to see me."

"I would drop out of school if it meant I could get away from you."

It wasn't Micki behind me, but instead Naomi. I turned around slowly, sparing a glance at Johnny before I did. I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest, peering at the short girl with hardened eyes. "What do you want?" I asked without interest, wanting her just to leave me alone.

She smirked at my obvious anger and shrugged her shoulders. "I just wanted to let you know that I heard what happened between you and Draven Bennett."

My eyes narrowed. "What'd you hear?" I questioned, knowing that were rumors going around the building already.

"That you lead him on and then had your boyfriend beat him up for trying to rape you or something." She shrugged, her eyes flashing to mine and then away.

"He didn't try to rape me," I defended, completely disgusted that the student body had come up with something so horrible to say about him, "And I didn't lead him on, either."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Like I believe you," she muttered, "You're the biggest tease in the school."

"That's bullshit," I growled, glaring at her, "Just because I'm nice doesn't mean I want to date anyone here, and just because I don't want to date them doesn't make me a tease."

"I heard your boyfriend is thirty-two," she changed the subject, trying to rile me up. "That's a little disgusting, don't you think?"

Even though it was over-exaggerated, somehow she still knew that I was dating someone older than me. Nerves crept into the pit of my stomach as I realized Micki might've angrily blabbed about Zacky and I being together. She knew almost everything, and if she wanted, she could ruin everything, too.

"You're insane," I said to Naomi, rolling my eyes as I tried to brush it off, "I don't know where you're getting your information, but you are seriously misguided, Griffin."

The way she grinned told me that she didn't come here to talk about what happened with Draven, but instead to tell me what she knew about my relationship. "Are you saying that your best friend is a liar, Everly? Because from what I can recall of our good old days, you tend to spill your guys to anyone who says they're your friend."

Even though the thought had crossed my mind, I couldn't imagine that Micki would put Zacky in danger just because he'd hit her brother. A fight was one thing, but possibly putting someone in prison was another. I shook my head at Naomi, trying to call her bluff. "Stop lying to me. Micki wouldn't say something like that because she's not a liar. She wouldn't tell you anything about me, let alone make up lies. She's better than that, unlike some people."

"Now who's the liar?" Naomi taunted, grinning like she'd won the lottery, "Just this morning Micki was over at my place having breakfast with me and my dad. I guess you were the obvious choice of conversation. Lets just say Officer Griffin didn't like to hear that some twenty-one year old pervert was spending all his time with little you."

I was frozen in place as she said Zacky's exact age. Knowing specific details was more that I thought she knew. Somehow, she did and if it was more than coincidence, her dad probably knew too.

"I have to go," I growled, shoved past her, "I don't have any time to waste on liars."

Johnny was up from his seat and following me instantly. My fingers tangled in my hair and my eyes were wide as we raced out of the heated lunch room.

"What the hell was that?" Johnny asked frantically, his eyes meeting mine like I knew the answers, "Would Micki really tell anyone about you and Zacky?"

"No." I shook my head. "Maybe," I allowed after a split second, unsure and nervous about what she was capable of.

"You have to call Zack," Johnny exclaimed, pulling my cell phone out of my pocket and handing it to me, "You have to call him and tell him that he might be getting arrested, Granger. You've got to give him some warning just in case!"

"Micki wouldn't," I stressed, clutching my phone in my hands, "She's my best friend. She wouldn't do this to me."

"You don't know that!" Johnny said, clenching his fists by his sides, "If she didn't tell that bitch about Zacky, then who did?"

"She's seen him," I stated, remembering my last encounter with her outside the school, "When Zacky picked me up for lunch, she was outside. She saw him then."

"And she could tell by looking at him exactly how old he is?"

"Lucky guess," I offered, trying to come up with some explanation of how Naomi knew anything about my relationship. "Micki wouldn't do that to me."

"Then where is she?" Johnny asked quietly, looking around us like Micki would come walking out of the shadows to reassure us that she hadn't said a word. "She can't even face you now."

I closed my eyes, praying to every deity I could remember that Naomi just got lucky with the age. After I'd run through the gods in my head, I opened my eyes and unlocked my phone, knowing I had to call Zacky just incase this wasn't a drill.

He answered the second time I called, his voice groggy as I woke him up too early. "Grange, what do you want? I finally got back to sleep and you're calling me."

"Can you come get me?" I asked softly, my eyes meeting Johnny's nervously, "Johnny too. We're in lunch, please hurry."

I heard him shuffle on the other end as he sat up in bed. "Did you and Micki get into a fight?" he questioned, moving around, "Are you okay?"

"I think so," I replied, unsure if that was actually the truth, "But I didn't fight Micki. I just really need to talk to you. So can you be here soon? We'll wait outside."

"Johnny's coming too?" he asked, confused and tired.

"Yeah," I stated, "He's moral support."

Zacky told me to wait while he pulled his clothes back on. After a moment, he asked, "Moral support for what?"

I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth and then stopped before it started to bleed. "We can talk about that when we get back to your place," I stated, moving to lean against the lockers as my legs shook. "Please just hurry."

He didn't ask anymore questioned as he sensed the worry in my voice. He promised that he was on his way and I ended the call when I heard his car stereo come on as he started the engine.

Johnny and I waited outside, deciding that it was better to skip the rest of the day rather then waiting to find out that something had happened to Zacky while we were learning about the Quadratic Formula and The House of Representatives.

Zacky pulled up outside the school fifteen minutes later, his eyes meeting mine as I climbed into the car and slammed the door. Johnny got into the back silently, wanting to let me answer Zacky's questions since it was me who got us into his mess. But Zacky didn't ask any the entire way back to his house. Neither of us spoke. He was waiting for me to speak first and I was waiting to wake up.

He pulled into his driveway and Johnny got out without so much an utterance of a word. Zacky watched me, staying in the car with me.

"Naomi might know about us," I said finally, staring out of the front window of his car.

He frowned.

I continued, "Her dad also might know. He's a cop."

The look on Zacky's face sent my world crashing to the ground.

"How?" he asked, not looking at me.

"Micki," I replied, hoping it was a lie."I think she blabbed."

Zacky's expression expressed his reaction without words. I watched him, knowing that he'd take all in and hide what he felt somewhere inside of him so that he could be strong on the outside; strong for me.

He pulled me as close to him as was possible in his car, and pressed his pierced lips against my temple reassuringly. He was stoic and calm. I knew it wasn't healthy for him to hide his emotions, but I wouldn't be able to handle it if we were both freaking out.