"Where the hell have you been?" I yelled as I walked into school on Monday.

Caitlynn had been impossible to reach all weekend. It was like she fell off the face of the planet.

"Grounded?" She explained.

"What did you do now?"

"My mom came home early on Friday and caught me and Tyler."

"Gross." I shook the image from my brain.

"Yeah I spent my whole weekend cleaning."

"Well I came here to murder you but I guess I'll be nice."

"I'm guessing the date didn't go well?"

"The worst and that's saying something since I dated Kyle."

"Sorry Ella."

"Hey Ella can we talk?" Zach walked up to me.

"I'm going to find Tyler." Caitlynn said and rushed down the hallway.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I wanted to explain,"

"You don't need to, it's fine." I waved him off.

"No I want to. My mom is," he paused. "She's sick and just freaked out when I wasn't home."

"Zach it's fine." I repeated.

"You seem like a nice enough girl." He hesitated.

I knew where this was going, I used that line all the time.

"No freaking way," I laughed.

"What?" He looked taken aback.

"You're trying to let me down easy aren't you?" I shook my head.

"You're just not really my type." He shrugged.

"And you think you're mine?"

He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Sorry that came out ruder than I intended it to be." I apologized.

"You're fine," He chuckled. "Friends?"

"Why not?" I shrugged.

"So you want to get pizza after school?" He asked.

I must have gave me a strange look because he laughed and shook his head.

"As friends of course. I figured I owe you." He explained.

"Sure sounds like a non date." I smiled.

"Great." He smiled and walked off to class.

Hopefully the second time around I'll actually get pizza.

—

"You're late." I glared as Trevor strode into class ten minutes late.

"Sorry I was too busy think about this project, I guess I lost track of time." He sassed.

"So you thought of an idea?" I raised my eyebrows.

"How was your date with Connors?" He changed the topic.

"How'd you know about that?"

Did he see Zach when he was at the pizza place?

"Connors is a friend of mine." He shrugged.

I gave him a look. I'd never seen him even speak to Zach.

"So about this project," I changed the topic.

"We should do the French Revolution." Trevor suggested.

"Really?" I questioned.

"Yeah you know Marie Antoinette, off with her head, it'll be fun."

"It's kind of basic though." I sighed.

"Then the teacher will veto the idea and we will come up with a new one." He said and walked up to the front of the class to turn in our idea.

I sighed. He was really going to do everything to make this difficult. I wish I had just gotten stuck with Zach now.

—

I pulled into the pizza place after school to see Zach already there waiting for me.

"Hey Ella." He greeted smiling.

"Hey Zach," I said and followed him inside.

"Hopefully this time will go better than Friday." Zach laughed as we were seated.

"I don't think it can get much worse." I joked.

Zach laughed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry about leaving." He sighed.

"How many times do I have to say it's fine?" I shot him a look.

"Ok ok I'll stop apologizing."

"Please do it's incredibly annoying." I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face.

"Has anyone ever told you you're mean." He grinned.

"Only every day." I joked.

How had Friday gone so wrong but now I felt so comfortable with him.

"So you and Trevor." He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"How do you do that." I asked and tried to wiggle my own eyebrows but only to fail miserably.

Zach bursted out into laughter. He was being so loud we got some stares from some of the other people in the restaurant.

"Sorry." Zach said to the people across from us.

I let out a quiet chuckle as they just turned back to their pizza.

"You never answered the question." Zach said bringing his attention back my way.

"I hate him," I explained.

"Really?"

"He's obnoxious and annoying and always late to everything." I ranted.

"He's not that bad once you get to know him." Zach said defending his friend.

"I forgot you two are all buddy buddy."

"He's my neighbor."

That made sense. Trevor never really talked to Zach in school, not that I pay any attention to what Trevor does but they run in two separate circles.

"Why did you think there was something going on?" I questioned.

"I've just never seen anyone get under his skin like you do."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing." I laughed.

"It's a good thing, he needs someone who isn't afraid to speak their mind or talk to him like you do."

"I talk to him like I'd do anyone." I shrugged.

"Yeah that's the point, you don't shy away from him and you aren't afraid to put him in his place."

"I barely know him." I argued.

"But you should give him a chance don't give up on him." Zach said right before the pizza came.

—

"I had a good time." I smiled.

Zach nodded in agreement. "We should hang out more." He offered.

"I'd like that."

We said our last final goodbyes before I jumped into my car and headed home.

Me and Zach really just clicked. Friday had been a disaster but today without the expectation of anything other than being friends everything went smoother. I wasn't worried about having to let him down easy by the end of the night. I missed having a close guy friend.

I walked into my house to see my brother sprawled out on the couch.

"Where is mom and dad?" I asked him.

They were usually home by now.

"Don't know, I just got home." Jack shrugged not bothering to look away from the tv.

I just nodded and ran up to my room. I felt my hands get sweaty and my heart start racing. I wanted to cry because I hated that I still panicked at the thought of being in the house alone with him.