The teen's eyes snapped open at the sound of her alarm playing the same song as every morning. She complained to herself and slowly rolled out of her bed to rummage through her drawers for an outfit. She finally picked out a pair of blue skinny jeans and a simple sweater. She ran a hand through her crimson red hair and slowly walked out of her room to the bathroom down the hall. She washed her face and opened up a drawer on the vanity. It had a few different cosmetic items in it like foundation, powder, eyeliner, and mascara. She carefully applied eyeshadow on her eyes then applying a thick coat of mascara. She looked in the mirror and forced herself to smile at herself.
". . get over yourself" She mumbled and walked back to her room to finish getting ready. She pulled on her crimson boots and slung her backpack over her shoulder, shoving her phone into her back pocket. She walked into the kitchen where she saw her mother and older sister eating breakfast. She groaned softly and began to swallow the vitamins her mother gave her. She sat down and slowly began to eat breakfast. Not feeling really hungry she pushed it away from her, ignoring the complaints of her mother.
"We need to go anyway. I don't want to be late for school again." She said and looked over at her mother who was her ride to school in the morning.
"Okay, Zoe, let's go then." Her mother said and they walked down to the landing of the split level house. All three of them walked out of the house and climbed into the blue ford that was parked in the driveway. She sat in the back seat like always and her sister in the passenger seat, along with her mother in the driver's seat. Zoe yawned softly and ran a hand through her black hair.
"Oh yeah." Her mother spoke up through the silence "The Woods' family moved into Dave's old house." She said and pointed back to our next door neighbor's old house.
"They have two boys. I think its Jeff and Liu." She said, causing Zoe to roll her eyes. "Zoe, Jeff is in your grade. So, if he's in any of your classes I want you to try and talk to him. Try to be friends, okay?" She said and glanced at her daughter in the mirror.
"Okay." Zoe sighed and nodded her head quietly. Once they reached the school she quickly got out of the car and began to walk up to the school. She sighed and walked into the school, ignoring the awkward glances and words she got from her classmates. She quickly made her way to her homeroom and sighed once she sat down at the empty table of her English class. She sighed softly as she read her book, not noticing the teacher walking up to her with a brown haired boy
"Zoe." The teacher spoke to her, "This is Jeff. The principal informed me that you two have a couple classes together." Zoe looked up at the teacher's words and sighed softly nodding her head.
"So, if you could help Jeff find all of his classes that would be very kind of you." She finished up and Jeff sat down in the empty seat next to her. Zoe chewed on the pencil that she was sketching with and nodded her head. The teacher then walked away and Zoe turned her head to look over at Jeff. She looked him up and down and a small smile formed on her face. He had shaggy dark brown hair that framed his face. He greeted her with happy brown eyes and a kind smile on his face. He was wearing a black hoodie and a pair of jeans followed by a pair of black converse.
"Hey. I'm Zoe ." She whispered and turned towards him, resting her head on her arm. She tried her best to act normal even though she was extremely tired and annoyed this morning.
"My name is Jeff. It's nice to meet you." He said and smiled at her. She smiled back and her hands started to sweat a bit.
"Nice to meet you, too. You moved into Dave's old house right?" She asked trying not to be creepy about telling him that they were neighbors.
"Yeah. Why?" He said as he nodded his head.
"I live in the brick house next to it." She said quietly and tapped the table gently with her finger.
"Ah- That's great." He said and gave her a smile. Goosebumps formed on her skin and she smiled back; her cheeks tinted a light pink. After a couple hours of their classes, it was time for lunch.
"The cafeteria is on the 1st floor and at the end of the hallway. It's pretty hard to miss so I don't think you'll have a problem finding it." She said and pointed towards where double doors leading to the cafeteria were. "Since its 7th period, we only have two periods left in the day." She said with a smile and walked into the large cafeteria. Teenagers were talking loudly and eating with their friends. Some were doing homework or sitting quietly. After setting their stuff down at an empty table they walked over to the lunch line and chatted idly about the school.
"Hey Jeffery!" the voice of a male called and the two of them turned to look at the boy walking up to them.
"Hey, Liu," Jeff said happily and the two of them grabbed hands in a handshake; before pulling each other for a hug. Zoe watched them quietly and smiled somewhat awkwardly. After a few idle talking between the two Jeff finally spoke out.
"Hey, Zoe. This is my brother Liu." He said and motioned to his brother as he spoke.
"It's nice to meet you, Liu." She said and held out her hand, giving Liu's hand a firm shake.
Jeff smiled and they continued to move on to get their lunches, moving to the back of the cafeteria where there was an empty table. They smiled and laughed talking about their days so far.
A couple of weeks passed, the three friends managed to become essentially inseparable during the time they spent hanging out in and out of school. Life was boring. But there was no reason to complain about that. Zoes enjoyed the simplicity of it all and she was happy.
"How's your guys' day going?" Zoe asked and looked at Jeff and Liu. They went quiet and a somewhat grim look came onto their faces.
"Well..." Liu spoke out, "We ran into some guys who gave us a hard time." He said and looked at Jeff.
"Don't tell me, Was it Keith, Randy, and Troy?" She asked and put a palm on her forehead. "Don't make them mad. They mess with anyone and everyone." She said and leaned back in her chair. "They think they're hot shit." Jeff looked at her with a somewhat psychotic, angry look on his face.
"They started it. What I did is their own fault." Zoe groaned and rolled her eyes.
"Just be careful." She said and stood up as the bell rang, telling them to go to the eighth period. She and Jeff began to walk to their next class, not speaking much. The day passed completely and the three of them rode the bus home, speaking quietly to each other. After the bus ride ended the three walked home quietly.
Zoe sat on her bed blasting music through her headphones as she worked on some homework. She soon saw red and blue lights flash, drawing her attention to the window. She quickly ran down the stairs and outside to see Liu being pushed into a police car. Her eyes were wide and she stood there in shock.
"L-Liu." She said quietly and watched as the car drove away with Liu. She sighed softly and walked back inside, running a hand through her hair. She didn't exactly know what to think about what just happened.
For the next few days, Jeff didn't speak much of Liu, he didn't speak much at all. Each time she attempted to make small talk with him he would brush her off or simply just ignore her It wasn't until Friday that Zoe had built up the courage to truly speak to him on the walk home. She didn't dare bring up Liu though.
"Hey, are you going to Billy's birthday party today?" She asked and gave him a warm smile. Jeff looked over at her and shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess so. My parents said they wanted me to." He said and stretched out his arms. He sighed and nodded his head indicating that he was going. As Jeff turned to walk away from her, she quickly wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug. Jeff felt his heart skip a beat, a bit of warmth making its way into his cheeks.
"Thanks." She said and let go of him backing up a bit to walk up to her driveway. "I'll see you there." She said and walked into her house, glad that someone she knew was going to the party. Glad that Jeff was going to the party.
About an hour passed before Zoe and her family got into the car to go to Barbara's house. Zoe stood awkwardly with a plastic cup in her hand. She looked around the yard seeing a young boy walk up to her.
"Hey there." She said and smiled while she crouched down. She felt something being placed on her head by the boy and he smiled up at her.
"Play cowboys." He said and shot her with foam ball that came from the play gun, before running away. She laughed and picked up another gun that was on the ground. She ran after the boy, giving him an advantage and faking death when she got shot. She laid on the ground, looking up at the sky and sighed softly.
"Taking a nap I see." She heard a male's voice and she looked over seeing Jeff standing by her head, leaning over her. Zoe felt an uncontrollable smile creep onto her face. She pointed the fake gun up to his forehead and pulled the trigger, a foam ball hitting his forehead.
"You're late." She said and began to stand up. She adjusted her cowboy hat and picked up another gun.
"You're up partner." She said in a western accent and tossed him the gun. She moved back from him and put the gun on her hip.
"We shoot on 'draw'." She said trying to act seriously. She watched as he nodded his head faking seriousness as he put the gun on his hip. Zoe waited a couple of seconds, gripping the plastic gun in her hand.
"Draw." She said and pulled out her gun, only to hear the click and bang of Jeff's toy gun. She felt the foam ball hit her in the chest and she looked down, making a fake horrified expression. She pressed a hand against the 'wound' and she dropped to her knees. She looked up at Jeff and he burst out laughing.
"Someone's an actress." He said and walked up to her, pulling her up by the hand. She laughed and shrugged, standing up.
"I try." She said and gave a small bow. She sighed and stretched her arms out. She then saw three boys jump the fence and her body tensed up.
"J-jeff." She whispered out and dropped the fake gun, pulling him back. She heard a gunshot, This one was real and it horrified her.
"We need to go." She said and turned him around, pushing him towards the house.
"Jeff, We have some unfinished business." She heard and Jeff turned around staring at Keith.
"No, We're even my brother went to JDC and I beat the shit out of you." He said and stood firm.
"You may have kicked our asses that day, but you definitely won't today. "Keith sneered and pulled out a knife. Keith ran at Jeff and stabbed him in the shoulder, causing him to yell out in pain and stumble back.
"Jeff!" She yelled out and took a step forward. She then felt a pain in the back of her head, pulling her back against someone's body.
"No one interferes or she dies." She heard Randy say. She felt something cold being pressed against her chin and she looked down to see a gun pressed up against her chin. Her eyes went wide and she stared at Jeff who was looking at her in pain. The other guests at the party couldn't do anything, in fear of getting themselves or someone else shot. She could hear one of the kids crying and the sound of the two teens fighting. She watched in horror as the fight continued, Jeff not winning at this point. Jeff managed to break away from the other male and they ran into the house, Troy, and Randy leaving to chase after Keith and Jeff.
"He's gonna die. Oh, my god, he's going to die." Zoe felt her knees become weak and tears immediately filled her deep brown eyes. 'He's going to die... I need to do something. . . someone do something.' She screamed inwardly at herself. She heard police sirens becoming louder and louder as they pulled up the house. Then the most grotesque scream rang through the air her eyes went wide and her body tensed up as she stared at the house. A person engulfed in flames stumbled out of the house, collapsing onto the ground.
"Jeff?!" She yelled and stood up running over to him. She watched as one of the men at the part got the hose and sprayed him with it in hopes of the fire going out. Paramedics soon came and took Jeff away, only letting his family come with them in the ambulance. Zoe felt like she couldn't breathe. What did she just witness? Why didn't she help him? Why didn't she go with him? She felt strong hands grab her shoulders and pull her up and close against their body. She could hear her mother's and father's voices and they held her close to them.