Unbroken

After I brought Lexie in from the walk, I took the money off my mother's nightstand and ordered pizza. I was feeling very hungry because I didn't eat a big lunch at school that day. I wasn't in the mood to cook anything either, so pizza was the only option for me.

I sat down on the sofa and turned on the television. I changed the channel to C.S.I. and watched it as I waited for my pizza to be delivered to my apartment. Lexie hopped onto the couch next to me and fell asleep instantly. She seemed really exhausted from our walk, which was really rare. She was a really hyper dog when it came to meeting new people, going out for walks, playing with toys, and other things I had yet to discover.

Thirty minutes into the show, Lexie jolted, and hopped off the couch. She started barking at something. Obviously, she had her energy back very quickly. I took my eyes off the television screen to look at my dog that was still barking. She was looking at the door as if someone was going to walk right through it and she would be ready to trample them. She continued barking until I got up and walked over to her.

"What are you barking at?" I went over to the living room window and pulled the curtain to see if she was barking at anything outside. I saw a little car pull up in the parking lot in front of my building with the Papa Johns sign on the top. I looked back at Lexie. She was looking up at me as if she knew my pizza was coming.

Animals and their senses.

I picked up the money off the coffee table and waited for the knock on the door. It took about thirty seconds for me to hear that knock on the door, and I walked over to open the door. Lexie tried to run out, but I blocked her with my leg so she couldn't jump all over the pizza delivery boy. That was never an easy task when people came over, even when they don't enter the apartment.

"No, Lexie," I pushed her back with my foot. I took my attention back to the boy with the pizza boxes in his hands. My eyes were glued to them and I could already smell the pizza. It was making my mouth water. "Sorry about that."

"It's all right," he said. His voice sounded very familiar. "You ordered the large pepperoni with bread sticks?"

"Yeah," I answered. I looked at the person's face for the first time and was surprised to see who was standing there. "Zachary Baker?"

I could hardly recognize him with the Papa John's uniform he was wearing. He also didn't have his snakebites in like he usually did in school and his hair was parted differently. He looked so...normal. I'd never pin him as the type to be a pizza delivery boy for Papa John's. I thought he would be one of those guys that would grow up to be some kind of famous rock star that teenage girls would scream and faint just by the sight of him or print out all of his photos and tape them onto their headboards, but I could be wrong.

He looked at me in confusion for a moment, but realization kicked. "Oh, yeah! Andrea Trice!" Zachary seemed to be satisfied that he remembered my name. "I didn't know you lived here."

Obviously. "Well, I didn't know you worked at Papa John's. So, I guess we're even." I smiled at him. "And it's Andy, by the way."

"Andy," he repeated, "okay. Well, you can call me Zacky. No one calls me 'Zachary' unless they're teachers or if my parents are pissed at me." He cracked a smile. "Jimmy told me that you two are partners for some English project."

My smile vanished at the mention of James/Jimmy. He wasn't anywhere near me, so I wasn't feeling afraid, but it still confused the living hell out of me as to why I felt that way towards him.

Zacky must have noticed my change of facial expression, because his reply was, "Oh, don't be upset. He's a really great guy, just make sure he does his part of the work. Anything school related isn't very motivating to a guy like him."

A guy like him, Zacky's words echoed in my head. It was a sign that I shouldn't feel so tense and horrified every time I was around his friend. Although, I knew it wasn't going to stop it from happening. If I could stop feeling so intimidated by James, I would have stopped it from happening in the first place. My emotions always had a way to make things tricky for me, especially around him.

"I'm not upset," I corrected. "It's just that...I don't know him all that well. He's a mystery." Those words were beyond true, but by the way I said them, it sounded like a really lame excuse. My voice sounded very hesitant in my ears and the wording seemed really weird to me.

Zacky shrugged casually, to my relief. "He's unpredictable."

I nodded. At that point, I didn't see that conversation going anywhere and I really wanted that pizza, so lifted up the cash in my hand and asked, "How much is it?"

"Twelve ninety-five," he answered.

I handed him one of the twenties. "Keep the change," I said to him as he handed over the boxes. It was something I always did to delivery people, but it was different this time. I could sense a friendship starting form between us after I said it, and by the look on his face, I knew he sensed it, too.

"Thanks," he backed away from the door slowly. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Andy."

"You have a good night, Zacky." I closed the door, my mood suddenly brightened. I didn't know if it was Zacky's input about James or the pizza that was about to be devoured, but I was really happy.

---

I ate about four slices of pizza and three bread sticks when I heard my mother's car pull into the parking lot outside. I was eating as if I haven't ate in days, but I didn't care. Lexie attempted more than once to snatch some of the pizza from my hands, even though I had already fed her. My mom was opening the door by the time I finished eating. She looked exhausted, like she was going to fall asleep at any minute.

I sighed as I looked at her. On busy days at the restaurant, I only saw her for a few minutes before she went to her bedroom and passed out on the bed. I wanted to take this short amount of time with her to at least talk to her, since we couldn't do that while she was at her work doing what she loves. Those conversations were the same on busy days; we would greet each other, she would ask how school was, I'd answer with a simple "fine", she'd tell me to go to bed, and then bid me goodnight before she crashed. This time, however, the routine wouldn't follow through.

"Hey, Mom," I greeted. It started out like the end of every other busy day for her.

She looked at me and gave me a tired smile as she took off her shoes and sat them by the door. "Hi, sweetie," she yawned. "How was school today?"

"Fine," I answered. Before she replied, I told her about what had happened in English class. "Ms. Dyal introduced us with a new project."

Her eyebrows perked up. She was trying to look interested, but she seemed so tired, I knew that she was only half-listening to what I was saying. "Really?"

"Yeah, and she assigned us partners."

"Well, that's good." She yawned again and walked by me, already heading to her bedroom.

"Mom," I called after her, stopping her in her tracks. "Can I have my partner over sometime so we could do this project?" I avoided saying James' name in fear that my mother would wake up completely and ask all of these questions about him that I couldn't answer. After my last boyfriend, she wanted me to stay away from boys outside of school unless it was for good reasons. The project was a good reason, but I didn't want to risk it at the moment.

She looked at me and blinked a couple times. "I don't see why not, but when?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. James didn't give me a date or time as to when he wanted to meet up with me. "But I'll let you know beforehand, okay?" I wanted her to get some sleep. She clearly wasn't in the mood for this discussion.

My mom simply nodded and yawned once again. "Okay, Andrea. You should get ready for bed; you have school tomorrow." She continued walking to her bedroom. "Goodnight." She ended it with the usual routine.

What a shocker.

I was satisfied that I at least spent a little more time with her than usual on her busy day. It wasn't much, but it was good enough for me. I put the rest of the pizza and bread sticks into the refrigerator before I got ready for bed. After I showered and brushed my hair and teeth, I went into my bedroom. I shut the light off and crawled into bed.

Lexie hopped into bed next to me like she usually did. I pat her head a couple times as I watched her fall asleep again. I fell asleep that night wondering how this project with James Sullivan would affect me. I wasn't sure if I was looking forward to it or not, but like I said before, I had no other choice.