Flashback
Zack's point of view
Kenny and I walked down the corridor of
our high school holding hands,
ignoring the stares and looks of
disgust of our school peers; we had been
together for 6 months and
we were so happy. I had fallen in love with Kenny
the first
time our teacher paired us together in science class, but I
was
unsure if Kenny felt the same way.
I
remember being really nervous that day, it was getting to be prom
season,
and I wanted to ask Kenny to be my date. I had asked
our Head Master ahead of
time, and he said it was alright; I felt
so lucky to have such a sympathetic
and open minded Head Master. Then came the hard part, asking Kenny to prom and
telling him how
I really felt, that I loved him and wanted to be together
always. Easy, right? No. In the past, every time I tried to
confess my
feelings, I either got interrupted or chickened out at
the last moment. I was
so angry with myself.
I
planned on making my move during our date that night. I'd ask
and then
hope against hope that he would say yes. I knew that I
would be heartbroken if
he said no, but I would accept it and just
spend the night playing World of
Warcraft at home.
Later
that evening, we were grabbing a quick dinner before heading off to
see
the new Spielberg movie at the Cineplex in town.
"Kenny
can I ask you something please" I queried as I twisted my napkin
in
my lap.
"Of
course you can, Zack" Kenny said as he looked up from his menu. He
must have seen how nervous I was, because he reached over and
took my hand in
his, giving me the strength I needed to continue.
"Will
you be my date at the prom? I asked the headmaster, and he said
we
could go together…" I stop talking I when I realized that
Kenny had
tears
rolling down his cheeks. I was about to ask him what was the
matter, when I
saw the head jock of our school heading towards
us. Panic filled my chest and
made it difficult to breath. My shocked look makes Kenny turn around, coming
face to face with
the muzzle of a gun. He never had a chance as Tommy Barry
pulled
the trigger. Kenny was thrown backwards by the impact as blood
spurted
from a wound on his chest. I rushed over to try and
stop the bleeding, to
make everything okay again, but he was
slipping away fast. The last thing he
whispered was, "Yes Zack I
would love to go to the prom with you", and
then he died in my
arms. I started to cry, and I didn't stop until after his
funeral.
When
I went back to school, no one knew what to say to me, and that was
fine
with me. I threw myself into my work, and got really high
grades. I went
through college without dating, no one could
replace Kenny. I got a job at
the Jeffersonian, and the rest
is history as they say.
I
will never forget Kenny, and Howie knows what happened, so he
understands
that on the date of my first love's death, I become
very depressed; but
hopefully, with Howie in my life, I won't be
so upset about the past.
