Chapter 9
Haley didn't want to admit it, but she is now a bit skeptical. Something is off about Chris and his "cousin." No guy would just hang out with a cousin that is that pretty... right? And what Zack said about what he heard the two say to each other... he wouldn't just make that up. He may be impulsive, but he wouldn't make up things just to hurt her, especially after apologizing for calling her hideous.
And that was another thing—he thinks that her eyes are gorgeous! But what about the rest of her?
She groaned as she walked with Bailey to school the next morning. "Hey, what's wrong?" Bailey asked.
"I'm so confused."
"About what?"
"About this whole situation with Chris. Would Chris really be lying to me about that girl he was with? Has Zack been right all this time?"
Bailey was silent for a moment. She looked as cute as ever with her hair down and herself in a long red and white plaid shirt dress, complete with black belt, and black leggings. "Well, Cody told me all about what happened because he heard it from Zack. And... I don't know... it does seems kind of fishy to me."
Haley's eyes widened and she looked at her friend. "Both you and Cody believe Zack?"
Her pretty eyes filled with sympathy. "I hate to say it, but we do. I mean, Zack is many things, and can be a horrible liar, but I don't think he's lying this time."
Hurt pricked her heart. "So, you think that Chris really is using me and is cheating on me?"
"I just think you should look more into this. We know that Zack's doing all he can to prove his story."
"And if it's all true, then Chris really thinks I'm gross and is using me to get his grades up, and he's dating that girl he said is his cousin," she whined sadly.
"Let's just figure this all out, okay?"
They came into the main Seven Seas High hallway and instantly saw Zack there with Cody and Woody, over by the twins' lockers. And farther down the hallway was Chris. Haley looked from Chris to Zack. Which guy does she trust?
"Hey, Bailey!" Cody called and Haley had no choice but to come up to the small group of guys. Bailey greeted Cody with a kiss on the cheek and Haley stood there awkwardly as Zack glanced at her, then looked away. The bell rang and the group went on to their first class.
"Haley!"
She turned, as did the group of her friends that she was with, and up came Chris. Haley couldn't help but notice Zack give him a mean look. And so did Cody and Bailey! They really do believe Zack! "Hi, Chris."
Chris noticed the others and their expressions. "So... can I talk to you for a second?"
She looked around at all her friends. "Sure."
"C'mon, guys," Bailey said and the group moved on and left Haley with Chris. Once they were all gone, and after Zack gave Chris another mean look, Chris started talking:
"So, about yesterday, I just wanted to say I'm sorry again. I should have told you about Courtney right off the bat just to not cause confusion."
She nodded as she felt uneasy. "It's okay. At least I know now, right?"
He came close to her and leaned in, and she smelled his nice cologne. "So, we're still good?"
She smiled. "Yeah."
"Great." He kissed her zit-ridden cheek. "See you later, okay? I have to be somewhere after school, but I'll be up at the Sky Deck around four, okay?"
"Okay."
He ran off to his class and Haley went on to hers. As she walked into the classroom, she ever-felt Zack's gaze on her. She wants to think that he is trying to do all this because he likes her, but she has to boot that thought away. He's only her friend who's trying to protect her from a guy who he thinks is a lying jerk.
And hopefully he's wrong about that.
The school day went on, and during the lunch hour, she looked between the table with her friends and the table with Chris and his friends. She hasn't sat with Chris at lunch before, since that was the senior table... Should she change things up? She headed towards Chris's table, and she noticed that her friends were looking over at her as she did so. She stopped, turned to her friends' table. No, she should go sit with her boyfriend. She turned again and headed to his table and his friends caught sight of her.
"Hey, Chris, your girlfriend's here," said one of the jocks. Chris looked over and saw her, and an attractive smile spread across his face. She couldn't help her cheeks heating up—Chris is one hot guy. Not as hot as Zack, of course, but still hot.
"Hey, you," he said and waved her over. "Come on. I have a seat right here for ya."
She sat down next to him and she noticed some of his friends make that nose twitch that she knew all too well. Chris gave them all a look and their expressions went back to normal.
She sat there, not really hungry for her lunch anymore, and glanced over at her friends' table. Zack was looking over at her while the rest of them talked. He shook his head and looked away, his mouth a flat line. Her heart pulsed. No, it's still a misunderstanding.
After lunch, Chris dropped her off at her class, and in her last three classes of the day, she never spoke to Zack once. In fact, he pulled his brother away right after school, telling her and Bailey that he and Cody needed to get something done. What that something was, they didn't say.
"Who knows?" Bailey asked after Haley asked what they could be up to. "I learned not to ask, especially when it has to do with Zack."
They walked on to the girls' cabins' and a question pushed at Haley's lips. "Bailey?"
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted to ask... do you think there's more to the reason why Zack's so dead-set on proving that Chris is a liar?"
Bailey hugged her books more to her chest as the sea wind blew the girls' hair. They walked near the ship's railing. "Well..." She gave her a sly look. "Wait, are you asking if Zack's doing this because he likes you?"
Haley cleared her throat, not wanting to seem obvious. "I was just asking."
"You're so asking that question, Haley."
"Well, okay, I am. So? What do you think?"
"I think that you should just ask him yourself."
"But he's said before that he was just trying to be a good friend, but... I don't know... I feel like there's more to it. I could be wrong, though. I guess I just hope that he likes me."
"Since you like him?"
"You know that I do. And, gosh, the fact that I like one guy and am dating another sounds horrible."
"At least you're not dating two guys at once. I did that once in Kettlecorn, and let me tell ya, it wasn't pretty when the two guys found out about each other."
Haley gave her friend a shocked look. "You dated two guys at once before?"
"It wasn't one of my better years," she said embarrassingly. "Plus, we all were only six."
Haley let out a tuft of laughter. "Oh, that changes things a bit."
They both laughed at that as they entered the hallway to the girls' cabins. Haley turned serious. "So... do you think Zack might like me?"
They stopped and Bailey gave her a kind look. "I don't see why not, Haley. You're a great girl, and you're smart and easy to talk to... and you have gorgeous eyes and hair."
"Zack said that, too. I mean, just the gorgeous eyes part."
Bailey gasped. "He did? Oh, wow, there you go, girly!"
Bailey shouldn't get too excited, and neither should she. "But that may be the only thing he likes about me. In that way, that is."
"I doubt it. Stop putting yourself down so much. We all think you're a wonderful girl and a great friend."
She smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Bailey. You're a great friend, too. The same with Cody and Woody. And Zack. It's shocking that I can call him my friend."
"Why?"
"Since hot guys are never my friends."
"Well, they are now." She hooked arms with her. "C'mon. Let's go to your cabin and get started on homework."
Haley smiled. "Okay, sounds great. But I want to go up to the Sky Deck at some point to say hi to Chris while he's on his shift."
"Sounds like a plan."
The girls walked on and soon entered Haley's cabin. They got out their books and binders and started on some chemistry homework while sitting on the floor, their books, binders, notebooks and papers sprawled out all around them. About twenty minutes into working and chatting about their assignments and other things, both girls jumped when they heard pounding on the door. "Good golly goose feathers!" Bailey let out, a hand to her heart, and startled. "That made me jump higher than a jack rabbit with springs."
Haley got up from the floor and answered the door. Both Zack and Cody were there. "Zack, Cody? What are the two of you doing here?"
"We need to have you listen to something, Haley," Zack said.
"But we're in the middle of chemistry homework," Bailey argued after she got up from the floor and went to the door.
"For the first time in my life, I'm going to have to say that the chemistry homework will have wait," Cody said and Bailey gasped in shock. He gave Haley an apologetic look. "I'm really sorry about this, Haley."
"What's going on?" she asked.
The twins came in and Zack held out his phone. He said, "We followed Chris after school since I heard that he had to be somewhere before his shift at the smoothie counter. We recorded him and Courtney talking near the suite she's staying in."
"It wasn't easy listening to this, and trust me, it wasn't easy to watch, either," Cody said and shivered while making a face. "The two were all over each other."
"What?" Haley exclaimed, shocked.
"Just listen," Zack said and he pushed a button on his flip-phone. Chris's and Courtney's voices came out, with Chris's coming first:
"Yeah, she totally has no idea. We played that really well. And I have to say that you were quite the actress, babe."
"And so were you. But you know that blonde kid Zack isn't going to give up."
"Yeah, but Haley won't believe him."
"Uh-huh. She trusts you since she's completely fallen for you. Poor, thing... When will you stop making out with her ugly face and make out with my beautiful one?
"When my grades are high enough to send in a college application. And... I suppose I can make out with your beautiful face now."
Kissing noises commenced, and then the audio stopped. All became silent as everyone looked at Haley with sad eyes. Hurt gripped her chest painfully, and tears gathered in her eyes and fell down her acne-covered cheeks.
"Haley..." Bailey started and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned away and covered her mouth as a sob escaped.
Zack was right all along.
She dropped her hand, anger and hurt suddenly filling her her system. She doesn't know what came over her, but she passed her friends and she stormed out of her room and up to the Sky Deck. Once there, she spotted Chris at a table, handing a man a smoothie. She cantered up to that table, the sea wind chilling her tears, even though it was warm outside. Chris saw her come up and he smiled. "Hey, you." He noticed her state. "Whoa, what happened?"
She shook her head, and somewhere inside of her, she loved the confidence she had that allowed her to confront him. "My friends were right all along. You're a lying, cheating jerk!"
Her shout brought on the attention of all the people around them. Chris smirked and leaned in. "Haley, I told you that was all a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding my foot!"
Chris's smirk faded as he stared at her frantic, serious look and he stood tall and folded his arms. "You don't have any proof."
"Oh yeah, we do," someone said and they both saw Zack come up to them, holding out his phone. Cody and Bailey stood off to the side as Zack played the recording. As Chris's and Courtney's voices played out, Chris's mouth pulled into a frown, and his gaze hardened. When the recording ended, both Zack and Haley glared at Chris.
"That doesn't prove anything," he said. "That wasn't me."
"Oh, will you just give it up?" Zack demanded. "Both Cody and I saw you and Courtney talking and lip-locking earlier. It's all over, man. You're nothing but a cheating, lying sleaze. And an idiot if you're making a girl do your homework. At least I have the decency to ask my brother."
Chris glared at the both of them for a moment, and more tears fell from Haley's eyes. Honestly, she was about ready to wail from being hurt like this.
"Fine," Chris said, raising his arms slightly in defeat. "Fine, you guys win."
Haley stared at him, shocked. "It's all true? You really used me? You never really liked me?"
"Psht, like you? No way. I just played you for your brains, but that's all a guy can do with a girl who's as hideous and elephant-butt ugly as you are."
Haley whimpered in agony at the worst insult she has every received, but that whimper turned into a gasp when someone suddenly punched Chris in the jaw and he fell to the deck floor, making others around gasp as well.
"Zack!" Cody hollered as he came and held his brother back before he could go after Chris again.
"Let go!" Zack screamed. "He deserves a heck of a lot more than that. He deserves to be thrown overboard, along with that girlfriend of his!"
Cody pulled Zack away as people came to tend to Chris, but he shoved them off and stood up. He gave one mean look at Haley and then walked off, wiping away blood from his oozing nose. More tears came and she found herself in an embrace, but she released herself from Bailey and ran off the Sky Deck. She ignored Mr. Moseby demanding what happened and ran down to the girls' cabins and to her room. She threw herself onto her bed and cried, soaking her pillow, and crying until no tears were left in her system.
Time passed, and Haley wasn't even sure how much, when she heard knocking at her cabin door. Her dry and stinging eyes opened and she noticed that her mouth was really dry and her chest ached horribly from the spasms of her sobs. She got up, weakly, and stumbled over clothes and shoes that were on the floor. She didn't even bother to turn on the light when she came in.
Knocking sounded again, and she eventually found the doorknob. She opened the door and found Zack standing there. She expected as much.
"Hey," he greeted her.
"Hey." She turned on her light and walked back into the room. Zack followed her.
"So... I guess it would be stupid of me to ask if you're okay."
She turned to face him and nodded. "Yeah, I guess."
Her voice came out raspy because of all the crying, and she knew she looked like a disaster, but she didn't care. A thick silence encumbered the room, and she looked down at her feet—she didn't bother taking off her sneakers, either.
"Haley," Zack started, but Haley said, "You don't need to say 'I told you so.' I know you told me so."
"I wasn't going to say that, but... well, okay, I guess I did want to say it."
She held her arms out, hurt pinching her chest again. What happened to her has to be the worst thing that has ever happened to her in her life. She said in her raspy voice, "Well, okay. You were right all along. I should have listened to you. Happy?"
Zack frowned, not saying anything. Haley shook her head.
"Chris never liked me. No guy does. I don't think there's a guy out there who likes me."
Zack took in a breath and let it out though his nose. He took a step up to her, his gaze firm and on her. "What if I told you that there is a guy out there who does?"
"Who?"
"Just... someone. And you'll find him."
She stared at his hazel eyes, and she hoped that he would just crack and say that he's the one who likes her. Would he have done what he did if he didn't?
"Zack," she began, her heart pounding, and her nerves numbing her hands since she was apprehensive about asking him this, "why did you do all this? I mean, you went out of your way to prove who Chris really was, and you punched him for doing this to me."
Zack nodded and handled his right hand, the hand he punched Chris with. "Yeah... and I have to admit that punch hurt. But at the same time, it felt so good."
"But why?" she prodded.
He shrugged. "Why else? When people mess with my friends, they have it coming to them."
"So... I'm your friend?"
"Yeah. Haven't you been all this time?"
Not the answer she wanted, but she'll take it. She knows there isn't a guy out there who likes her, especially if that guy is Zack. He was just saying that there was just to make her feel better. She nodded to his question. "Yes, I am. And I'm grateful that I have a friend like you, and friends like Bailey and Cody, to back me up. You guys are wonderful. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to make such good friends here, friends that will go and punch people because of me."
Zack nodded, smiling. "Well, we're here for ya."
She smiled back. "Thanks."
They stood there for a moment, and Haley felt just how dry her throat was. She coughed and looked around for a water bottle. She found one on her work desk and gulped down the full plastic bottle in about ten seconds.
"Dang," Zack commented after she was done.
"After crying for a long period of time, your body gets dehydrated since you lose a lot of fluid," she explained, and noticed Zack staring at her. "What? It's true."
He blinked a few times like he was snapping out of something. "Right. So, I'm going to go and tell Cody and Bailey that you're okay. You are okay, right?"
She smiled weakly. "Now I am. Thanks to you."
Was it her imagination, or did blush appear on his cheeks? "Okay, well, see ya."
"Bye."
He left the room as she held the empty water bottle. She looked down at the floor where hers and Bailey's books and binders were. She sat down and started working, knowing that Bailey would be in the room shortly after Zack speaks with her and Cody.