Taking The Fall
Chapter Seven: Feel Again
It's been a long time coming since I've seen your face
And I've never went back trying to replace everything that I broke till my feet went numb
Praying like a fool that just shot a gun
Heart still beating but it's not working
It's like a hundred thousand voices that just can't sing
I reach out trying to love but I feel nothing
-Feel Again
(One Republic)
"Zach!" Matthew's voice carried throughout the house, right up into Zach's room. Zach rolled over in his bed, burying his face in his pillow. "Zach!"
Zach groaned, never wanting to move. It was Sunday morning and he was not in the mood to deal with Matthew. Sundays was supposed to be the day of rest. He was still in bed by the time he heard footsteps outside his door. He heard Matthew talking quietly to someone else. Wait, Zach recognized that voice.
"Zach," Matthew called again, quieter this time, but closer. "You've got a visitor." He opened the door without knocking. And Zach just rolled onto his side, lazily opening his eyes.
Her dark hair looked messy, and it surprised Zach she didn't look put together. He'd never seen her look anything less than Barbie-perfect.
Zach glanced down at himself. He was only wearing boxers. Oh well, he'd worn less around her. But he wasn't really in any mood to see her. Not only was he grumpy from being woke up, she was probably the last person he wanted to talk to right now. Aside from Vince of course.
Zach rolled his eyes at Adelaide. "What are you doing here?"
She took a step into his room, but Zach shook his head. "I want to talk to you—"
"No," Zach said, and collapsed back into his pillow. "Get out."
"Zach," she whined and Zach nearly cringed at the sound. Had she always sounded that whiny? He didn't know how he'd put up with it.
Matthew muttered something and closed door firmly, as though he were welcoming Adelaide to stay.
"Adelaide. Seriously. GTFO."
She made an appalled noise. "But we need to talk."
"No we don't," he yawned into his pillow. "Goodbye."
"I don't want us to be over."
"Too bad."
"You are being such an ass."
He shrugged. "Addy?"
"Yes?"
"Can you leave now?"
She huffed and then opened the door, slamming it closed after she walked through it. Zach sighed contently.
"Thank god."
When Zach finally got around to actually waking up, he still wasn't in a good mood. Adelaide coming over didn't really have anything to do with it, he was so over that. It was that Cammie had stood him up without any explanation.
He had expected her to call or at least text. He thought he at least deserved an excuse of some sort. But when he checked his phone the only messages he had were from Adelaide. And he deleted all of those without reading them.
Zach didn't want to be the one to call her. He would feel pathetic if he did. He was the one that got stood up, if he called her she would think he was into her or something. Still, he found himself reaching for the phone, wanting to call and find out what was so important that she had to miss lunch with him. But he wouldn't. He wasn't that kind of guy.
When Zach got around to going down stairs, in hunt of cereal even though it wasn't morning anymore, he found Sawyer sitting at the kitchen table, playing on a Gameboy with an untouched Sandwich placed next to her elbow.
"Hey Soybean," he called to her, a genuine smile gracing his lips. Sawyer gave him the evil eye at the use of his unwanted nickname for her.
She didn't reply to him, returning her eyes to the screen. Zach laughed as he returned to the kitchen table, tousling her blonde curls and peering over her shoulder at the DS.
"Pokemon?" Zach said. "Good job Soybean, I approve."
She gave him an impish grin and his smile faded. He eyed her suspiciously. "What did you do?"
Sawyer bit her lip and shook her head. Zach looked at the screen and noticed the main player was a girl.
"You deleted my game! Sawyer!" he whined.
Sawyer laughed and jumped of the stool, running away from her brother's impending rage. Zach was protective of his Pokemon games. Only Sawyer would be able to get away with doing something so awful.
Zach wasn't angry as he chased her, mainly for her enjoyment. But still, he was a little bit peeved she deleted his game, but it was Sawyer and he would get over it. If it had been Matthew though. . . the boy wouldn't have such a good throwing arm anymore.
Zach finally caught her, as her tiny legs weren't a match for Zach long athletic ones.
"Gotcha!" He said as he threw her over his shoulder, her in giggles the whole time. Zach carried her back to the kitchen, vaguely wondering where the rest of his family was.
Sawyer wouldn't stop giggling and Zach watched her, grinning.
"So," Zach said, pouring his cereal and pushing her uneaten sandwich towards her. "Soybean, where is everyone?"
Sawyer had finally ceased giggling and thought for a moment.
"Mommy and daddy went out."
"So Matt is watching you?" he asked.
Sawyer shrugged. "And you."
"I was asleep silly."
She nodded. "I know. But Matt left."
"Left where?"
She said, finally eating part of her sandwich. "He went off with his girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" Zach asked. Since when had Matthew had a girlfriend?
Sawyer nodded. "She's really pretty."
Zach nodded. "Do you know where they went?"
"Just to the River. Matt said he'd be back soon," Sawyer said. "He made me a sandwich."
Zach swallowed a spoonful of his fruit loops. "Interesting."
He got up and went to the back window that overlooked their back yard and his eyes strained to see the River over the lines of hedges and small trees.
Zach couldn't see their side of the river but he knew exactly where his brother would be. And Zach was very curious about this girl.
"Come on Soybean," Zach said. And reached his hand out for her to take. "Let's go visit Matt and his mystery girl."
Sawyer laughed again and Zach pulled her along.
"Zach," Sawyer asked.
"Yeah?"
"Do you know what happened to Emily's brother?"
That made Zach's feet halt and his heart stop. It took him only a second to place the name Emily. Grant's little sister, Sawyer's best friend.
"Um," Zach cleared his throat, which suddenly felt constricting. "He was in an accident."
Not Sawyer, she wasn't supposed to know about this.
"What kind of accident?"
She couldn't just be satisfied with his answer.
"Hey," he said. "Do want to race down to the river?"
Sawyer's eyes lit up. "Yeah!"
Zach smiled, relieved it was so easy to distract her. "Alright, but I'm warning you, I'm not gonna go easy on you," he said, even though of course he would.
"Bring it."
Zach laughed. "Alight. On your mark. Get set. Go!"
Both of them took off.
By the time they reached the river Zach had swept Sawyer into his arms and then onto his back. Zach spotted Matthew and his girlfriend almost immediately. They were sitting on the end of the dock, locked in a make out session. Ew. Wait was that tongue?
"EW!" Sawyer shrieked, loud enough for Matthew and the girl to break apart. Mathew turned with a glare and the girl had a sheepish smile as she looked at Sawyer but it turned to a grimace as he eyes wandered over to Zach.
She girl had curly sun streaked hair, and tan sunned skin. Her ringlets fell past her waist and Zach would have had to been an idiot not to recognize her.
It was Bex Baxter, formally known as "Rebecca", although if you called her anything other than Bex it was like asking for a death wish. Zach had known Bex for ages, since they were thirteen at least. She had been Macey's friend, although they weren't friends anymore. And Zach was entirely to blame for that. He had seduced Bex, and then dumped her and Bex decided she didn't want anything to do with him, which included Macey. Macey hadn't been too happy with him after that.
"Yeah," Zach agreed with Sawyer. "Ew. You guys should really get a room."
Matthew got to his feet and helped her up, keeping his stony glare on. Zach walked forward pulled a bouncy Sawyer along with him.
"Zach," Bex greeted shortly. "Hey sweetie," she said to Sawyer in a much sweeter tone.
"Hi," Sawyer said shyly. Zach wanted to laugh at the tension in the air. If Sawyer wasn't here Zach was sure Bex or Matthew would have hit him by now.
"Hey Bexy," Zach said, in a sweetly sarcastic voice. Deliberately nicknaming her, only to annoy her. "How are you?"
"Fine," she snapped.
"You look beautiful, as always," he said charmingly. "Which leads to my next question: What is someone like you doing with my brother?"
"Zach," Matthew started.
"Just a question, little brother," Zach cut him off before he could say anything.
"He's better then you," Bex said through her teeth.
Zach nodded, not even pretending to be offended. "If you thought that—"
"I've actually got to go," Bex interrupted. She pushed past Zach. "Bye Matt."
"Bye," Matthew echoed but continued to glare at Zach.
"What the—" He started as soon as she was out of earshot.
Zach looked sharply at Sawyer and Matthew's eyes followed and he changed his choice of words. "What was that for?" he asked his voice still angry and annoyed.
"I was just curious to see who your new girlfriend was," Zach said, deliberately making it sound casual enough for Matthew to get annoyed. "Bex Baxter, I can't deny I'm impressed. It took me forever to crack that."
Zach was grinning smugly, and Matthew's glare was hot and if look could kill, Zach wouldn't have had a chance.
"Fuck you Zach," Matthew snapped quietly enough so he though Sawyer wouldn't hear.
Zach laughed quietly.
Matthew stalked off back to the house, pulling out cellphone, no doubt about to call the British girl.
"Zach?" Sawyer asked.
"Yeah Soybean?" he said, still laughing quietly.
"What does fuck mean?" she asked, loud enough for Matthew to hear as he retreated he stopped for a second. Maybe he hadn't said it as quietly as he'd though.
Behind him, Zach's laughter only got louder.
Spending the Sunday with Sawyer had put Zach in better humor. It surprised him how much he could enjoy spending time with a five year old girl. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone else but himself and Sawyer.
But by the time Monday morning rolled around his good mood had faded and he had to go to school. He would see Vince and Adelaide and all the other people he couldn't stand at the moment. God, he hated his life.
And he'd have to see Cammie, which he couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. He knew if he saw her he would want to talk to her, ask her why she couldn't make Saturday, but he wouldn't do that because he had too much pride to be rejected by a sophomore.
The only person he would be slightly un-pissy about seeing was Macey. She had surprised him, calling him and telling him she thought Vince was wrong and that Zach should do something about it. Zach was so used to Macey taking Vince's side he thought she was kidding. But the honesty in her voice told him otherwise. Besides, he had something he needed to ask her anyway.
When Zach got to school he noticed Macey's jet black hair immediately. "Macey!" She turned towards him with a funny expression, it almost looked like she was nervous. He didn't have the chance to ask because she pointed to her left and then he saw what was giving her a nervous look. It made his stomach twist painfully and anger boil hot in his veins.
"Vince!" Zach yelled, loud enough for the sound to bounce through the hallways so there was no one that couldn't hear him.
Vince turned, his smile slowly fading as he looked at Zach's livid face.
Vince wasn't alone, next to him stood Cammie, looking uncomfortable and frightened.
Zach noticed all the people staring. I will not lose my temper, he chanted to himself. He couldn't, not in front of these people. Zach waited until the majority of people turned their heads away.
"What the hell is this?" Zach asked at normal volume. Vince was grinning at him and Cammie wouldn't meet his eyes.
"I was just having a chat with Cammie here," Vince, said obviously trying not to grin, but looked like he was having a hard time.
Zach looked at Cammie again. Her eyes were ringed with red, her hair pulled back into a messy bun. She had seen better days. The look on her face told her she would rather be anywhere but with the two of them.
"Hey," he said softly. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
Suddenly her eyes snapped up to meet his. They were full of resentment and hate, something Zach hadn't been anticipating.
"No," she said, her voice, low, and very un-Cammie sounded like. She pushed of the wall and stalked off before he had time to call her back.
Zach looked at Vince. "What did you say to her?" he asked, with his eyes narrowed.
Vince rolled his eyes. "Nothing. I had barely even said three words before you came in and burst your top."
"I can't believe you're such an ass."
"Me?" Vince asked. "You're the one that just got a mental slap in the face."
"What is wrong with you?" Zach asked. "I'm still taking the damn fall for you and you can't even stop being an ass for a minute."
Suddenly Vince's face changed. "Zach—"
"Just remember," Zach said. "I practically have your life in my hands. Think about that when your being and asshole to me. I might suddenly want to stop being the good guy."
Vince looked like he wanted to say something but he held his tongue, keeping his mouth shut.
Zach saw the back of Cammie's head, about to turn the corner at the end of the hall. "Now, I've got to go. Goodbye."
He was off, jogging after the girl.
When he finally got close to her she suddenly turned around, shooting daggers at him.
"Leave me alone!"
"What did I do?"
"Zach, just leave me alone."
"Tell me what I did," he insisted, trying to rack his brain for anything he could have done to upset her.
"You tried to fucking kill my brother Zach," she hissed. "What the fuck do you think?"
Zach face paled. He had almost forgotten Cammie was Grant's sister and what that meant. She had become more of a friend or acquaintance then someone he should feel guilty for.
"I never tried to kill him!"
"We'll you fucking did!" she snapped, and tears began running down her cheeks before she had a chance to stop them.
Her words made all his muscles lock into place and he swore his heart stopped beating. His chest was tight. "What?" he managed to get out, his voice low and quiet, barely audible.
She just shook her head and hastily wiped her eyes. Her expression looked so destroy and the guilt had been carrying around him suddenly swelled and it felt like it was encaging him. "Cammie—"
He moved to comfort her but she gave him a hard shove back, with more force behind it then he would have thought she had for her size.
"No," Zach whispered, watching Cammie run away, obviously not being able to handle talking. He watched her as she pushed her way into the girl's bathroom. He went after her even though it was clear she didn't want him to. He knew he couldn't go into the girl's bathroom but after the hallway had cleared a bit he sank down to the wall next to it. His head fell into his hands as he felt thousands of thoughts and emotions consume him.
He didn't know how long he sat there, only that it had been long enough for him to still hear crying in the bathroom and for his butt to go numb. Eventually, the crying stopped, but Zach hardly took notice, much too wrapped up in his own disconcerting thoughts to care. What she said couldn't be true.
He couldn't be. . . dead.
The word made him feel like he needed to throw up or gag, even when he was only thinking it. He knew the words wouldn't come of his tongue, and he knew if he even tried to talk at the moment he would be speechless. Zach had never experienced a death this close to him. But it was like someone had sucker punched him in the stomach and in the chest. He suddenly felt like the walls were closing in.
He'd never felt anything like it, the fear that your world was about to end, even though it was someone else's that came to bid the final ado. He'd felt some strong new feelings the past few weeks, bordering on anger and frustration, but this was something on a completely different.
He felt like he had been destroyed, crushed under a pile of heavy rocks, barely able to move. It was a dreadful feeling, and there weren't even words to describe way his mind was racing.
"Zach?" a tear-streaked voice asked, pulling him out of his own misery. When he recognized it was her he sprang to his feet, wiping at his own eyes, mildly embarrassed if she had noticed him crying. But he wasn't too concerned with that, he was worried about her, it was like a compassion he'd only ever felt for his family.
"Cammie," Zach said, a little breathlessly. He didn't know what to say. What could he say? I'm sorry?
"Zach," she said the defeated tone of her voice was overpowering her words. "What are you doing here?"
"I—" he still could find any words, and felt like a blubbering idiot.
"Never mind," she said and took a large step away from him. "Listen, just leave me alone. I don't want to be friends or whatever you're thinking. Whatever your evil little plans are I don't want to be part of them."
"No," he said, shocked she thought that. "It's not like that."
He could tell she was barely holding it together. "I don't care. Just leave me alone," she said again and Zach could hear the force behind the words. She didn't want anything to do with him. She walked away.
This time, he didn't follow her.
AN: INTENSE SHITTTT!
So first we have Bex making her first appearance, and she will become more tied in with my characters as the story develops. And we have a cute Sawyer/Zach moment, I hope you guys liked.
And then we have the last part, where Cammie tells Zach Grant is dead. And since that is probably the part you guys want to know the most about, I'm not going to say anymore. ;)
SHOUTOUTS:
CoolChic6564: We still don't know. But I won't tell you the answer just yet.
The One You Never Suspected: Adelaide cheating with Vince? Hmm... I don't know... Why did Cammie cancel? We kind know in this chapter...
F0reverRand0m: you will just have to wait ;) But you got the right part about why Cammie cancelled. Virtual cookies for you!
WrittenCamera396: She's not that bad... you have to keep in mind Zach is kind of an ass. And thanks for the suggestion but I'm not sure If i Can do that... haha thanks for reviewing
Everyone else: Why does everyone think Adelaide cheated on Zach with Vince? Maybe because thats what I implied? Hmm... I guess you'll just have to read and find out.
