Chapter 10

Maddie's eyes fluttered open. The Sunday morning sun shimmering down onto her face. She slowly sat up straight and stretched her arms in front of her. It was probably around 9:00. Most people would probably think this was way to early for a Sunday morning to be up, but not Maddie. She was a morning person and she liked to get as much day time hours in as possible.

She glanced over at her cell phone sitting on her bedside table. The blinking red light told her she had a new message.

Maddie's heart literally skipped a beat. Her slightly shaking hand reached out and grabbed the phone in one quick motion. She stared at the phone for a moment, knowing who she wanted it to be from, worried about what it might say. She flipped it open.

Her heart sank when she saw that it was only a text message from London. She leaned back against the headboard and opened it.

"dont forget to call him!!!!!!"

Maddie groaned as she read that. It's not that she didn't want to talk to him. Well, actually she really didn't want to talk to him. She didn't know what she was going to say, and she just knew it was going to be awkward.

But she did owe him an explanation.

She silently cursed herself for being born such an empathetic, caring person.

She thought about her options for a moment. She could call him now, get it over with, and have the rest of the day to think of a way to make it up to him. Or, she could call later, have the whole day to think about what to say, and risk running into him later and have to tell him face to face. Either way she still felt extremely guilty.

She made up her mind to call him now. She knew she would chicken out later on. Plus London would be on her back all day if she found out she hadn't talked to him yet. And she really didn't want to have to do it face to face.

Her hands were still shaking quite a bit (if not more), as she dialed his number. She put the phone against her ear and began nervously clearing her throat.

Why was her throat suddenly so dry?

Why was her heart beating so fast?

These question ran through her head as the rings echoed in her ears. Suddenly she heard his voice...

"Hey it's Zack. I'm not here, so leave me a message."

Maddie's heart beat started to slow down. Leaving a message was perfect! Now she still had time to think about what to say. When she heard the beep she spoke in a voice so clear and calm, she didn't even realize it was herself speaking at first.

"Hi Zack, it's Maddie. I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. Please give me a call as soon as you get this so we can talk."

Satisfied, she closed her phone and put it back on the bedside table. She knew everything would be fine.

Zack would call her back and they would have a very understanding chat.

They were good friends after all.

Zack rolled out of bed that same Sunday morning. He walked past his cell phone and his calendar, straight to the door.

Time and date weren't important to him anymore. He no longer had anything to look forward to.

He sat down on the couch and tried to get comfortable. He knew he would be sitting there for awhile. As he reached for the remote control, he heard his cell phone go off.

At first it peaked his interest to know who was calling him this early in the morning. But he ignored it anyways. There was no one in the world he wanted to talk to at this moment.

After about 20 minutes of aimlessly flipping through channels and finding nothing of interest, he decided it was a good time to check up on that call.

He flipped open the phone and was completely shocked (and thrilled) to see Maddie's picture under the missed calls list. Maybe she was sorry, maybe she still wanted to go to prom with him!

Without hesitation and with trembling fingers he dialed his voice mail box number. He put his ear against the phone and listened carefully to every word she said...

"Hi Zack, it's Maddie. I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. Please give me a call as soon as you get this so we can talk."

The pit in his stomach returned. She sounded way to calm, almost cheerful. She wasn't sorry after all, she didn't care.

"So we can talk"

"Yeah right." Zack muttered to himself.

He knew exactly what she wanted to "talk" about. No way was he putting himself through that.

Zack slowly hung up the phone and returned it to it's lonely spot on the table. He turned around and headed towards the bathroom.

Zack placed his hands firmly on the sink and looked into the mirror, straight into his eyes.

"Look at yourself. You're a wreck." he began talking to himself.

"You need to get better. No more of this wimpy crying stuff."

He took a deep shaky breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say.

"Maddie doesn't like you. She never has, never will."

He forced himself to continue.

"The only way your gonna get better is if you forget about her. That means no more thinking about her, talking to her, nothing."

He felt his knees get weak, his stomach felt sick again. But he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He had to do this.

"You'll get over her." He took another breath, "You'll get over..."

Zack couldn't say it. He finally broke down. His knees gave out and he fell to the floor. He leaned his forehead against the cool sink.

"I'll never get over her. Never."

"I love you Maddie."

He felt the hot tears roll down his cheeks. He continued to let them fall for a moment before crawling forward to the toilet. This time he knew for sure he was actually going to be sick.

This was a pretty hard chapter for me to write because I felt so bad for Zack.

But I really felt like there needed to be a sad chapter for him. Where we could

Really get a chance to see him when he is most vulnerable.

I hope everyone still likes the story!