Don't Give up on Me

Anger coursed through me as I walked swiftly towards the detention room. Although I got to see more of Zacky, I couldn't be bothered to stay after school for another hour in this hellhole.

"Angry little thing, aren't ya?" a familiar voice says teasingly, making my stop. Zacky appears at my side a second later. "Walking like you're about to kill someone. What's up?"

"Serena's just a bitch," I muttered, suddenly feeling self conscious of what I was wearing- my loose white tank showed my stomach a little, and I had on a pair of joggers, my hair was also in a messy ponytail and probably didn't look attractive in the slightest.

"I told you," he rolls his eyes, poking my bare stomach. "Come on, let's go have fun in detention."

"Fun? Staying after school is your idea of fun?" I ask, bewildered that he even thought it would be fun in the slightest.

"You'll see," he smirks, taking my hand and pulling me into the room. The classroom was empty, other than a bored looking man sitting at the desk in the front of the classroom.

"Well, looks like you two are the only two idiots that got assigned afternoon detention," the man sighs as we sign in. "You must have pissed Green off pretty bad."

"We talked in his class," Zacky shrugged, sitting on a desk in the front row.

"That'll do it," the man said. "You're new. You must be Andi.. I thought you were gonna be a guy."

"I'm obviously a girl," I snap in annoyance; I HATED it when people mixed up my name. He chuckles in my direction, along with Zacky.

"Sassy little thing. I'm Mr Salazar. I teach music but I got stuck watching after you two since you sassed mouth Mr Green," he says.

"How'd you-"

"You just sassed me. I put two and two together," he replies with a wink.

"Don't be too hard on her, she's new," Zacky grins. "Hey, you got any food in here?"

"Nope, but there's some in my fridge in the music room. We can move this party there, if you want Zack," he says. My stomach rumbles, so I reluctantly follow the two to the other side of the school, where not only his mini fridge was stocked, the filing cabinet beside it was filled with goodies.

"I've never seen so many different kinds of Ramen noodles in my life," I say as Zacky digs his way to the bottom for a Chicken flavored one.

"Can't afford lunch? Come to me," Mr Salazar says. "Or if you don't like it. Because we all know the school food sucks ass."

I saw a leftover pizza box and to my joy, there was half a cheese and mushroom pizza left. I take a slice and eat, starving since I hadn't eaten since breakfast.

"So Jimmy told me what happened in third period today," Zacky snickers. "Your shirt looks fine, though."

"Well, I've changed since then, thank you," Salazar says dryly. "But damn it, Seward is going to be the reason I get fired one day I swear!"

"What happened?" I ask, intrigued. He briefly explains that the freshman was still hungover from the night before, and got sick all over his white button down shirt.

"My fiancee got me that shirt! That kid ruined the fucking thing," he grumbles, not bothering to watch his language. "Its after four, they can't fire me for swearing after four."

"What the boss don't know won't hurt him," I say with a smirk. Zacky and I finish our food, where he wanders over to the piano on the other side of the room.

"You play?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"A little. Not much.." he replies. "I'm better at guitar."

"I'd love to hear you play sometime," I say sincerely, sliding onto the piano bench and feeling the familiar ivory keys under my fingers. I hadn't played piano since my parents separated. Hadn't even thought about playing, yet here I was, torn.

"Do YOU play?" he asks, sitting beside me. I shrug.

"I haven't in a while," I say quietly, tracing my fingers over the smooth keys. "But I sort of suck, so."

"I'm sure you don't," he says, trying to encourage me to play.

"I know what you're doing," I tell him, trying to hide the smile on my lips. "Its not gonna work, though. You can hear me play some other time."

He shakes it off. "Salazar, can we just go already?"

"If you get caught, its on you," he shouts back. Zacky grins and took my hand, grabbing my bag for me as we walked out.

"I'm assuming you're driving home," he says. I shake my head. "Really? Everyone I know drives."

"I don't. I just turned 16, and I wont have my license for another month and a half," I sigh, raising an eyebrow at his shocked expression.

"You're still a baby, that's great!" he says, slinging an arm around my shoulders as we walked out the front doors. "Here. I'll drive you home."

"I am NOT a baby," I roll my eyes. "How old are you?"

"I'll be 18 in December."

"How are you a junior?!"

He chuckles. "Am I not allowed to be held back a grade?"

"Well that's not really up to me," I mutter.

"So, that accent of yours. You're from Austin, right?" he asks as we reach the student parking lot.

"Yes," I say warily.

"I can tell. You drawl out a few words like thissss," he teases. I roll my eyes.

"I do not! I lived in the city part of Austin, not the outskirts like Round Rock or anything like that."

"Say 'Round Rock' again."

"Round Rock," I say, narrowing my eyes.

"Yeah. You've got an accent."

I groan. "But its cute. I kinda dig it."

I blush as we stop at a small red car. "The shitmobile awaits," he says, making me laugh. I chuck my stuff in the back and sit in the passenger seat, kicking my feet up onto the dashboard.

"Nice condoms," I comment as the Trojan wrappers catch my eye, smirking as his face flushes in embarrassment.

"Damn it, Matt," he mutters as he puts the car in gear, pulling out of the parking space and grumbling to himself. I laughed to myself at him; it was awfully cute, I had to admit.

"So what do you do for fun?" I ask, breaking the silence. "Besides sleep around," I add, referring to the condoms that got tossed into the back seat.

"I don't sleep around," he sighs. "Often. I dunno, I usually just go party or play guitar, or chill."

"I was kidding," I roll my eyes at his defensiveness. "By the way you talk, though, it doesn't seem like there's much to do around here..."

"No, there's plenty to do. Just gotta hang out with the right people," he grins.

"So, I need to hangout with someone other than you?"

I grinned at his offended expression. "Kidding again, gosh, you're sensitive."

He rolls his eyes. "Where do you even live? I've passed this gas station twice now."

"Quick to be rid of me, eh? I live on Race Street. I assume you know where that is," I say, crossing my arms on my chest.

"You live on the same street as me. Awesome," he grins. I wasn't going to even hint at the fact of how much that excited me."I wondered where the moving truck came from."

"That was a week and a half ago..."

"Like I said, I notice things."

We fell into a comfortable silence then. I picked up the cd case on his dashboard and flipped through it. "Anti Flag, Black Flag, Cannibal Corpse, NOFX, Dead Kennedys, Misfits... oh my God, you're music taste is perfect."

"Thanks," he grins. "Keep going, I think I still have the Pantera CD I stole from a friend of mine in there."

"You listen to Gin Wigmore?!?" I asked as I spotted the CD Gravel and Wine.

"Is that a crime?" he asks warily. I laugh.

"Not at all, I just... didn't expect that. Not many guys listen to her."

"She's got a good sound. And she's really hot," he admits sheepishly.

"Agreed."

We turn onto Race Street then, another sigh escaping my lips. Except I wasn't sighing over his CD's that time.

"Its uh, this one right here," I point to the house. He grins again.

"Next door to me. Even better."

I smile shyly. "Uh, thanks for the ride..."

"Want one tomorrow?" he asks, grabbing my hand to stop me from getting out of the car. I nod shyly, his lips forming into a smile. "I'll pick you up at 8:30."