Acting is a skill that everyone with depression must master eventually. Which is why I believe everyone with depression is a master actor/actress. It's hard to hide depression sometimes, but once you get used to it, it just becomes a way of life - all the lying and fibbing and acting. So when Zach and I were playing twenty questions while sitting in the Gallathorne main garden, I laughed at his responses and played the role of Cammie Morgan, student at GAI - a girl that wasn't constantly mad and disappointed in herself.

"Seriously?! I can't believe you got your head stuck in a toilet."

"Hey, I was four! Um... What is the strangest thing that ever happened to you?" Zach asked me. I smirked. "Easy. When I was twelve, Grant took me to the state fair. There were so many clowns, and I think he paid them all to follow me around when we decided to split up. At one point I had, like, seven different clowns on me. Unfortunately, I'm absolutely terrified by clowns, and I'm guessing he paid them enough to also act as mimes who copied my every move." He burst out laughing and I playfully shoved his shoulder. He grimaced. "Ow, Gallagher Girl," he joked. The bell for third period rang and we walked to math.

"Cameron, why are you late- oh! Yes, new student. Please, introduce yourself to the class," Professor Buckingham said. Zach smiled. "Hey. I'm Zach Goode, I moved here from California." Bex waved at me from her desk and we had an eye conversation.

Where were you during third?

With Zach.

I ship you guys.

I barely know him!

Mmhmm. Have fun being interrogated by Macey during lunch.

Definitely not looking forward to Macey's interrogation.

Professor Buckingham beamed. "Good, good. You can go to your seats now, start reading pages 312 to 320!" Let me set one thing straight. Professor Buckingham was in love with math. Obviously that made her a perfect math teacher... But sometimes she got a little crazy about it. Luckily for me, those eight pages of calculus that I had to wonder when I would ever use in real life were all review.

"Lunch is next?" I nodded. "So how's the food? Absolutely delicious or absolutely vile?" I smiled. "Delicious. No joke." He nodded slowly but followed me to the cafeteria anyway to get the school lunch.

"You really weren't kidding," he said, gaping at the rows and rows of buffet-style food carts. I laughed. "Told you so. Let's get some food, and you can sit with my friends and I." He smiled gratefully; I understood the feeling. On the first day of school, it could be a little hard figuring out where to sit.

"You can't just eat cake, Zach."

"Fine." He had a piece of cake on his plate and nabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza much larger than his cake. I rolled my eyes and he smirked. "At least mine tastes good. All you have is... OK, wait, now that I'm really looking at it, it looks really good." I looked down at my plate, with some spaghetti, garlic bread, and peaches. We waited for him to get his spaghetti too before heading over to the table my friends and I had claimed at the beginning of our freshman year.

"Bex, Macey, Liz, Grant, Jonas, and Preston, this is-" Jonas and Preston were Grant's friends. "Zach Goode. Nice to meet you all," he said, nodding to each of them in turn. Macey smiled a little too deviously for my liking. "I have to go to the bathroom. Come with?" she asked us girls, but grabbed my hand anyways. I directed a pointed look towards Grant, that look telling him to engage a conversation with Zach.

"Give me the dirt on Goode," Macey demanded once we were out of earshot. I began with telling them about Principal Bailey calling me in to show him around, and how we played twenty questions during free period. Macey giggled with glee. "He likes you!" My eyes widened and I shook my head. "No, he doesn't. We literally just met, Mace. We can talk more about this very far possibility in a few months." Liz sighed. "But you guys already look like the perfect couple!" She paused. "I ship it," the three of them said in unison.

When I said the clowns were the strangest thing I had ever come across, I was wrong because now this moment topped it.

We went back to the table, me blushing crazily again and them smiling just as crazily as we walked in. And by some strange coincidence, I ended up sitting next to Zach, who was chatting away happily with the guys. "So. Did you girls talk about me?" he asked, and I choked on the bread I was chewing. "No, we were not," I replied. "Whatever you say, Gallagher Girl." The girls' eyes widened and I could tell that they were enthused over the nickname. I sighed, and went to Social Studies/English after lunch with Zach, Liz, and Jonas. The boys were talking about some new video game and console coming out soon, and Liz was just... Tripping over everything in her path.

Lizzie, I love you, but please try and be more coordinated.

"And welcome, welcome to SocStuEng!" Abby greeted us when we walked through the doors. I know; our teacher lets us call her by her first name. She's another one of my favorite teachers, but then again, I don't really dislike any of my teachers. "Ah. Zach Goode. I'm assuming that since it's already fourth period, too many people already know your name so there really is no point in introductions. Have a seat, next to Cammie here." She grinned when she found out I was his tour guide and leaned down to whisper in my ear. "You guys are cute together." She laughed when I turned bright red and walked with my head down to my seat.

"I want to focus on English today, so, LET'S ATTRIBUTE!" She wrote 'ATTRIBUTION' in big, loopy capital letters on her smart board. "What is attribution?" She opened a PowerPoint on the screen and tapped for it to move to the next slide. "You are citing your source. Whether you do it directly or indirectly, it's important to do it right." She paired us in groups of four and passed out two tablets to each group, winking at me when she put Jonas, Liz, Zach, and I in a group. "Your assignment: find five pieces of dialogue online and attribute your quotes. This is something really big you need to learn how to do in both technical and creative writing!" Her PowerPoint slide now showed ways to attribute. The task was easy, and Zach and I completed it easily. Abby smirked when she saw how well we were working together, and it seemed like forever until we were dismissed for our final period, P.E.

Coach Townsend blew his whistle after we had all changed into our P.E. clothes. "New student, Zach Goode. Now, run two laps!" Coach Townsend is really... Straight to the point. He states everything bluntly and straightforward, which had its benefits sometimes. He had us play game after game of volleyball, and called Zach, Macey, Grant, Liz, Preston, Bex, Jonas, and our classmates Anna, Marcus, Audrey, Peter, Graham, Rylee, John, Tina, and I out. "You sixteen are my best. Eight on each team, play a round, whichever team wins gets the option of being coaches for the week, or skipping P.E. for a week. Losers do an extra lap for a week." All my friends and I grouped together, and our natural relationships with each other helped us to win. We all skipped; of course we did.


It turns out, Principal Bailey lives next door to me. Which meant Zach would too. When I got home, my dad was waiting for me by the door, a beer bottle clutched tightly in his hand, his knuckles turning white. His eyes were glazed over, and he slapped me when I walked in. This was normal. It happened every time I got home from school. He would ask where I was, I would say school, he would accuse me of lying and would send me to my room, where I would use the pen.

Zach waved at me from his window, across from mine. I dropped the pen and bent down to pick it up. Zach disappeared from view for a few moments, and then came back with a pad of paper and a thick black Sharpie. He wrote on the paper for a few moments, then turned it around so I could read it.

What are you doing right now?

I grabbed my own paper pad and showed it to him.

Not much. Why aren't you just texting me?

Because maybe I want to be a cliche.

Original much?

Did you know? I'm on YouTube. Come over and help me make a video?

I nodded and held up a hand. Five minutes.

He was already filming when I walked in. "Hey guys, the hot and talented Zachary Goode here. And I have a friend with me today!" I took it as a cue and I leaned in front of the camera and waved. "Hi." Zach laughed and patted the spot on his bed next to him. "Cammie, my people. My people, Cammie. We are going to talk about school!" I nodded, feeling a little bit weird talking to a camera but feeling slightly more comfortable because I wasn't doing it alone. "As you guys probably know, I'm in high school, so is Cammie. And I actually like my new school!" I smirked. "That's only because I'm there, idiot." He rolled his eyes and pointed at me. "This is the reason I'm scared of school." We both laughed, but I couldn't help feeling that there was a little force in my actions. When we finished the video, Zach looked at me, a bit confused. "What was that? You hesitated a little bit..." He trailed off. I shook my head and reassured him that I was okay before heading back home. Hopefully Zachary Goode was the kind of person that just shook off little things like that.

But he wasn't.


Thanks for reading; RFRF!