ZACK’S POV
“Zack, before you leave, I want you to think have a thought about this” before I left, coach stopped me and I turned back to him.
“Take time as much as needed and go through it. It can help you to get a path for your future” he gave me a bunch of brochures and I was appalled.
What was I supposed to do with the brochure?? That too it being of GYT?? Did he want me to do it or was it out of concern for my future??
“Don’t take too much stress of it. I gave it to so that you can go through it. Participating or not is your sole decision” he assured me and I nodded to him.
I sighed and returned back home after school. At home, I kept all the brochures in my cupboard and in no time, I totally forgotten about it.
“Mom, where’s Caroline??” I asked mom who had also returned coincidentally with me.
“How would I know? Wasn't she with you?” she wasn’t too amused with the question and snapped at me.
“No. I had told her to come back home from school. Why isn’t she back yet??” I was confused and worried when we both had no idea of where she was.
“Call her. She might be with her friends?” she went inside home giving no attention to my concern and I took my phone to dial her.
I dialed her phone a number of time but her phone was not reachable and it made my worries grow stronger. When there was no chance of getting her call, I dialed Mike to know if he knew anything and then I came to know something else too.
“I have no idea where she is Zack. But I do know that Zoe is missing too. She is neither in the treehouse nor the lighthouse. And she hasn’t come home yet. Both of them missing like this together is not at all a good sign!!!” Mike informed me about Zoe’s situation too.
My heart suddenly raced when it came to know that Zoe had also not reached home. What shocked me more was how my heart worried more for Zoe’s safety more than Caroline. And with Zoe’s effect on me came my baby’s condition. Was my baby okay or was there something which I wasn’t aware of and the girls were doing together?? Wait, what if they both were together??
Weird thoughts started coming into my head and all I wanted was to get relived to know that all 3 of them were safe. I threw my bag on the porch and decided to hunt or them. First, I went to the places which I thought Caroline would have been at but it was all in vain. She was nowhere!!!!
When I failed in that, I called up Mike and he joined me in looking for the girls. It was his idea that we went to the hospital once and checked there to see if the girls were there for some emergency. However, that too failed.
“Where the heck are the girls? Neither are they taking calls nor we have any idea of where they are. Gosh, they are driving me crazy” I vented out my overwhelming frustration
Everything was going hysterical for me from the moment the girls disappeared without any clue and things went much more downhill when both mine and Mike’s phone rang in notification. I didn’t give any attention to it because I had many other things to pay attention on but when Mike gave a peak to it, it gave us all the answers we needed!!!!
A video was shared in the high school students' group and what shocked him to hell was seeing the people in the video where none other than Zoe and Caroline confronting each other. He instantly played the video and what we heard from the very first line was Zoe confronting Caroline. That was not just it, when he played the whole video that too in full volume, it made my time freeze!!!!!
The screaming of the girls caught my attention and when I skeptically joined him in watching the video, my whole world crashed in front of me in a matter of second. The words of Caroline hit me like fork and the truth that Zoe uncovered had the power to crush down my whole emotions into mere sand.
Mike looked at me with shivering hands and saw me stand beside him like a statue. My whole body had fallen fragile with such a huge betrayal and the words Caroline had ragefully growled at Zoe kept ringing in my ears. Was this the how the imaginary world of peace and happiness I had built around me fated to end??? Was this how my fate had planned to burn me down to ashes after what all it had already given me?? Was it actually the play of my fate or were the girls responsible for all that was happening in my life??
“Zack, handle yourself” Mike instantly held me from falling down on the ground like trash.
“Zack.... I..... please don’t fall apart once again” he was hell freaked out by my condition.
“Is it true. Did she?? Was I that bad of a boy??” I struggled to breath.
“You did nothing wrong Zack. Don’t blame yourself for it” Mike handled me somehow but things were going to turn for the worst.
“Exactly. I did nothing wrong yet I’m bearing all these. Why?? Now the whole town knows it, right??” I was crazy and the bad boy mode had taken over control on me.
“It’s all Noah’s doings. He is the one who posted the video in the group. I bet he did this to take his revenge on you” Mike scorned Noah’s name with all his hate and anguish.
“This time he aimed right where he knew he could get a shot and he won. Mike, there’s nothing left for me to fear off” I was overpowered by my rage and decided to give the worst answer to Noah for what he did.
I had no idea what my mind was cooking up inside it but what I did know was that it had the worst plans for Noah. My legs ran me all the way down to the high school gym. Through my heart was panting for breath, my nerves were burning in fire to burn down Noah for what he did.
“What the fuck did you think when you did it, you MF*” I snarled at Noah.
He was in the gym tracks with his friends when I arrived and without wasting a second or thinking twice, I grabbed him by his collar and punched him right on his face. In the first blow itself, blood oozed from it like waterfall and he gritted his teeth in retaliation.
“Hope you got the surprise sucker” Noah smirked at me with all his hate.
“Now that I did, let me give you yours” I loathed him with all my heart and gave him another blow and then another.
I kept blowing at him repeatedly until coach David came hastily and pulled me aside. Noah’s minions were shell shocked seeing me in this avatar and didn’t dare to move an inch to attempt to stop me. My blows had already given Noah some serious injuries on his face and he had got what he actually needed to get me framed. As if I cared anymore!!!!
I didn’t care about anything anymore. Who was I?? What was I even doing by living such a fucked-up life?? When all my fate, trusts and beliefs were shattered, what more was left for me to worry for anymore??? With this in my mind, all I just wanted to take out my rage on Noah. If it wasn’t for coach David, I would have indeed murdered Noah. However, Sam and Felix took Noah away from my sights immediately, before I freed myself from coach's hands.
“You have no right to bet someone like that even if you are burning in rage Zack. This is the high school premises and you have fallen yourself into a lot of troubles now” Coach lashed at me.
“So what?? What the fuck is even left in my life?? I’m the biggest joke of the whole town by now and what more could have I got from this fucking town?” I ended up screaming at coach and broke down miserably in front of him. Poor Mike was not able to make up with my speed to reach the high school and only now he was able to arrive for my support!!!!
As I had already said, everything was going downhill for me and what had obviously happened in the gym was reported by Sam and Felix to the Dean. Dean was extremely shocked by what had happened and he didn’t have any choice rather than to call mom and tell her that he had dodged a physical assault complaint to the town sheriff against me. Only this was left for me to achieve in my life. Incredible!!!!
Now that everything was happening as it should have, the next thing that was going to happen was a clash. It was going to be between me and mom and that was going to decide where my life was going to take me. It was because, no one could ever imagine how a clash between me and mom was going to be like. One thing what I can be sure of was this confrontation was not going to be all rainbows and butterflies for me!!!!