January 10th 2017

Chapter 10
His Life With Z and Z

His father dropped him off at school again the next day, in much the same awkward send off as the days before. A part of him wanted to confide in his father or mother about the insecurities he felt, the way some people would respond to him, but he didn't see how he could. His mother would tell him that it would all be alright in the end, that he only had to be who he really was, or something like that. And his father, he would no doubt tell him he had brought this on himself, and he needed to handle it.

Walking into class, he took his seat only seconds before Nadine and Zay dropped in on either side of him.

"Someone is looking mighty grumpy this morning. Listen, man, I know Asher and the Orlandos owned us yesterday, but that was one game," Zay told him, his tone as casual as it ever was. As much as Asher and Dylan had each other, he had Zay Babineaux, and this friendship of years had seen his highest highs and lowest lows. Sitting here now, Lucas knew he would not leave him there with a frown, and in time the ride with his father drifted off. Zay would look at him now with the satisfaction of a job well done.

"You can have Kyle next time," Nadine offered to him and Zay both, like a mother trying to cheer up her two moping little boys. It was sarcasm, shown in the glimmering smirk that followed. Zay gave mock insult, while Lucas had to chuckle.

That was Nadine Zhu, always. She'd moved from across town and into their school back in the fifth grade, where she'd met Zay, Asher, and Dylan. In no time, she had gone and melded with the four of them, her being the lone girl never making any of them bat an eye, although as they grew now, some among them – Asher in particular – would look upon her as some kind of secret weapon, an eye into Girl World. Nadine was hardly one to let herself be used and they knew if they demanded too much of her, she would not be above pranking them with bad intel, as Asher had learned, giving the rest of them a good laugh.

Those two may not have had the years Asher and Dylan had already had, or those he and Zay did, but when she'd come along, Zay had been the one to usher her into the group, looking after her as an older brother might a little sister, which would have had more to do with stature than age, as Nadine was just two months older than him. One way or the other, they were Zay and Zhu, Z and Z. He'd call her Little Z, and she would call him Tall Z. As their group went, as friends, it was often Lucas and Zay, Asher and Dylan, while Nadine just went wherever she chose to go.

"I think we're ignoring the bigger issue here, Little Z," Zay pointed to Nadine. "We'd be too good. That's alright though, I'll go with Ash and D…"

"Oh, you think so?" she gasped and laughed. "You hear that, Lucas? Mr. Babineaux thinks he's a superstar. Wasn't he the one who tripped over a twig yesterday?"

"It was a branch. A big one. You saw, right?" Zay tapped his arm. Lucas sat back, holding his hands out in surrender. He wasn't going to get in the middle of this. Just watching the two of them argue it out was plenty entertaining, and he had forgotten all about the car ride, and even about Mrs. Orlando. He wouldn't need to say that of the five of them Kyle Orlando's match was tiny Nadine Zhu herself. She would holler, and Zay would act like he hadn't heard a word.

"Zay, look," he did speak up, finally, when a girl walked into class. When his friend saw her, he sat up rod straight, his eyes following her as she went and sat with her friends.

"You know she's never going to know you exist unless you go over there and say 'Hello, Vanessa, I like you' or something like that. Right now, you're just some weirdo who stares at her… like, all the time," Nadine whispered at him across Lucas' desk.

"He's just going to be staring at her from closer if he does that, he can't speak to her," Lucas put in. Nadine smirked as Zay turned back to them, trying to look as cool as he could, even though he still had 'Vanessa face.'

Zay wouldn't make his move, not today or any day for a while, by the looks of him. He put on a good game, but he would never have managed it. Lucas thought of Nadine, who had held her crush on him in secret for so long and likely would have kept holding it if Zay hadn't let it slip. She didn't have those feelings anymore, but that wasn't the point. If she hadn't managed to tell him, then Zay would likely never speak up to Vanessa.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners