Disclaimer: I own nothing that is not mine. Duh.

Previously:

"We'll start here."

Chapter Eight

"I blame you, you know." I said to Zack sourly.

"Me? Why?" Zack feigned innocent surprise.

"Because, Zack, if you hadn't implied that we were 'doing it,'" I made the air quotations angrily, "those idiots wouldn't have thought I was an 'easy lay,'" again with the air quotes "and they wouldn't have come after me!" I huffed, crossing my arms angrily.

"Advil kicked in yet?" Zack asked after a short pause.

"No." I told him sourly. I ached all over. My lip had only just stopped bleeding, and my upper arms throbbed to the rhythm of my heart.

Another pause.

"You went along with it."

"You started it, so it's all your fault."

"I didn't think anyone would try to do anything to you!" Zack said defensively, his hands coming up in a placating gesture. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have said anything!"

"Think next time!" I shouted, smacking my hand down on the couch. That arm gave an extra hard throb, and I winced. I should not have done that.

"Next time? You think there'll be a repeat of this?"

"I don't know! I can't see the future!" I said hotly.

"You make it sound like I can." He pointed out calmly. It was so annoying how he could take everything so calmly, especially when I was freaking out about the same exact thing.

I didn't say anything, since I knew he was right – I was making it sound like he could see the future – but that didn't stop me from grumbling to myself until I eventually lapsed back into silence.

The silence grew until it was deafening; until I was nearly suffocated from lack of air, the silence was that big.

"I can't just tell everyone that we aren't sleeping together, Lara. No one will believe me." He reminded me eventually.

"I know," I said irritated, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it, does it?"

"No," Zack said, and paused. I could hear the humor in the pause, like he'd thought of something funny to tease me with, and I braced myself for the worst. Even if I knew he was teasing, I still tended to over react, and I guess that's what he found so funny. "It's not like they were completely wrong, you know. After all, I have slept with you."

"What!" I shrieked, jumping off the couch. It was a good thing Jim and my mother weren't home yet. They'd feel obligated to come in to see why I was shrieking, and I wanted to figure out what in the world Zack was talking about. "Zack! What are you talking about?" What if he'd come back to the house at night and snuck in? What if he'd slipped upstairs into my bedroom and, and, and… wait.

He was laughing. Zack was laughing. Laughing!

"Why are you laughing!" I demanded.

He held up a hand, the other one covering his mouth to stifle his laughter.

"I was referring to the sleepovers we had as kids, but if you want to take it that way, be my guest." He said after he'd gotten control over himself. My mouth opened and closed uselessly for a minute as I tried to find the words to tell him how funny that was NOT!

"I don't think I'm going to talk to you for a while." I said indignantly after I recovered from his 'joke' and I turned my back on him with a stamp of my foot and crossed my arms over my chest.

I heard Zack get up from the couch and come to stand beside me, but I turned away from him. I knew I was being childish, but I was too upset to care at the moment. I heard him sigh exasperatedly, and then his arms encircled my waist and he sat down, pulling me with him.

"Zack!" I complained.

"I thought you weren't talking to me." He said in my ear, laughing a bit.

"I'm not." I grumbled. He'd gotten me, gotten me good.

He just laughed, as if he knew what I was thinking. Well, I knew that he couldn't read minds, but he'd always been able to tell what I was thinking. I don't know if it was just that easy to read my face or if he just knew me that well.

"Right."

I decided not to answer him. We were silent for a while, and then I gave in and leaned back against him – he was just too comfortable to resist. He settled me against him and I could feel him mulling over something. He had this habit of grinding his teeth when he was thinking hard about something or about something he that worried or angered him. Right now, while his teeth were grinding up a storm, I had a feeling that it was all three.

"What happened?" He asked finally. I knew instantly what he was talking about. What else could he mean?

"Those three idiots stopped me as I was leaving 7th bell." I said eventually. "I'm sure you can guess what they wanted. I told them no, obviously, and they took offense from that. They tried to change my mind and wouldn't let me go, so I punched the guy who held me. He got mad and tried to hit me back." I paused and sighed. "Then, that massive guy got behind me and grabbed me, and then idiot #1 went all perverted, and then you showed up suddenly – thank you, buy the way – and beat the crap out of them, and then we came here."

Zack sighed, releasing some of the tension he'd been holding in since we'd left school. Seeing Zack back there was relieving, even though I'd never seen him so angry. The expression on his face…I shuddered. I didn't want to think about it.

"It's alright. It's alright, Lara." He crooned softly into my ear. "They can't hurt you. I won't let them. It's alright." The last part was almost a whisper. He thought I was afraid of those idiots. I turned sideways so he couldn't see my face as easily. No, that's not true. He couldn't see my face when I was facing away from him. I was just more comfortable when I was sitting like this.

"It's not them I'm afraid of, Zack. It's the thought that people would do something like that. I just – I just don't understand how – why they would do that." I shivered again, and curled as close to him as I could. He didn't say anything for a long time, and I got the feeling he was trying to figure out how best to answer me.

"I don't know either, Lara. People like that, they just don't think about the pain they cause other people." He stopped, and said almost too soft for me to hear, despite my close proximity to him, "or they just don't care."

I froze, shocked. Don't care? How can they not care? How can they live with themselves? They – they just – what – how – why? Why? Why would they do that? I couldn't think straight, and my body was shaking. I felt like I was in an earthquake, but I knew it was just me. Zack's arms tightened around me and he pulled me even closer to him – if that was even possible. I put my arms around him and hid my face in his chest. My eyes squeezed shut of their own accord, and I took a shaky breath in an effort to calm myself down. The effect of this effort was minimal, barely noticeable, and almost nonexistent. It didn't really help. What did help was when Zack started to rub my back. His other arm stayed tight around my waist, but he only needed one hand. I could feel myself relax more and more with every second that was passing. Eventually I was completely relaxed in his arms. It angered me sometimes that Zack could do this to me seemingly without effort. Other times, like now, I was glad. It was nice to have someone who understands me during times, like now, that I was freaking out or upset or mad. It made my life a whole lot easier.

I sighed in contentment and smiled, snuggling into Zack. He relaxed his hold on me and let both of his arms wrap themselves around my waist.

"Feeling better?" He asked, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Very much so." I told him contentedly.

"It's hard to keep up with your mood swings, Lara." He told me, and I leaned back so I could see his face clearly. He smiled at the look of confusion on my face, his eyes showing the relief he was feeling because I wasn't freaking out anymore. At least, that's what I assumed the relief was from. "One minute you're freaking out, and not about the fact that three of your classmates tried to take advantage of you, but about the fact that they would. Next thing I know, you're completely relaxed and apparently completely cool about that same fact." He shook his head, smiling all the while. "Sometimes, I just don't understand you."

I stuck out my tongue at him, causing him to laugh. Well, at least he was laughing, not trying to convince himself that it'd be a bad idea to go back and find those goons and finish what they'd started. I didn't like that thought, so I stopped thinking about it.

"How are you feeling?" Zack inquired, remnants of his laughing fit still on his face.

"Fine." I said mystified as to why he would need me to reaffirm that.

"Advil's started to word?" He pressed, a smile playing about his lips.

"Yeah. Why?" I was still in the dark.

"Well that's good, because I would feel horrible about taking you out tonight if you didn't feel well." He told me smugly.

"What?" I complained. "You can't be serious."

"Sure I can." Zack told me, grinning at my discomfort. "You told everyone we were going on a date tonight, so I," he pointed to himself, "need to take you," he pointed to me, "on a date. Right?"

"Wrong!" I said as forcefully as I could. "All I said was that we were getting together tonight. I never said anything about a date." I knew I was whining, but I didn't care.

"And since everyone thinks we're dating, they all think it's a date, and so I need to take you on one." Zack laughed at my indignant expression. "Stop complaining, Lara. This one's all your fault." He gave me a gentle push, signaling me to get up, so I stood up and tried to think of a clever comeback. He stood up and stretched languidly.

"I don't see why you're bothering." Zack looked at me inquiringly. "It's not a real date until you ask me out." I huffed, pouting a bit. He looked thoughtful at that. Uh oh.

"You're right." Oh no. He reached out and pulled me into his arms. My hands were on his chest, one of his arms was around my waist again, preventing my escape, and the other was under my chin, forcing me to look at him. He gave me one of the smiles he only showed me, and I blushed.

"Will you go out with me?" He breathed, gently smiling that same smile, only slightly more intensely, at me. I blinked several times before I answered.

"Um. Y-yeah. I'd like that." I managed to get out, my voice as quiet as his. His smile got wider, and I saw how worried he'd been that I'd refuse. Like I could ever refuse him once he'd pulled out that smile. That should probably worry me, but I couldn't bring myself to care right now.

"I was hoping you'd say that." He whispered, and then leaned down and pressed his lips gently to mine. Oh. It took me a second to respond, but when I did, I was gone.

I was now completely helpless to Zachary Bolte.

A/N: What did you think? Tell me pleeeease. *puppy dog eyes* Wont you tell me?