One

Zack sat down in between Jace and Ki, two of his close friends, at the table they always sit at. They were surrounded by a good portion of the football team, all with trays in front of them and chattering happily. Quite a few cheerleaders and other girls came and sat with them as well.

Zack looked around at his friend group. He'd realized a while ago that the particular group he is in was considered the popular group. In any cliche high school movie they'd all be gossip loving assholes that don't care about anyone other than themselves.

In a way that stereotype is half true. They do love themselves and discussing gossip. However, Zack isn't sure if he'd call them assholes. Some of them are super nice and cool. Others not so much.

Mason walked behind Zack to make it to an empty seat and he clapped the boy on the back of the neck as he passed. It was friendly and so normal that no one batted an eye at the motion. Zack grinned at the boy before refocusing on the chatty dark haired girl in front of him that was desperately trying to get his and Jace's attention.

Her name was Trinity and she was nice. An airhead though. All she was interested in was drama and boys, both those things were kind of boring to Zack. She was currently talking about a trip her and Tayler, another football player, had taken to the mall. It was clear as day she was trying to make the boys jealous because as she talked about how sweet he was to her she desperately searched their faces for any change in expression. She wouldn't get one though because Zack didn't care for her and Jace had already went out with her last year, took her to their sophomore homecoming and apparently regretted it deeply.

Zack's eyes trailed to behind her. Looking over her shoulder he could see Jess Roma walking away from the lunch line with some girl named Alice or something chatting expressively next to him.

Alice was another oddball, she was only a grade under them and was friends with the 5'2 freshman boy. She was a quieter kid but every time you saw her with Ray, Zack had learned that was the freshman boy's name, she'd talk animatedly and her face would light up. It appeared to be the same with Jess as he walked next to her. She was carrying a tray of food, he wasn't.

From the few (many) times Zack has noticed Jess in the cafeteria he's never seen him eat. It's not a huge surprise though, the cafeteria food does suck. And there are some times when Jess can't be found around the cafeteria, not that Zack openly looks for him or anything, but he doesn't see him when he does very normal scans over the building. So, maybe on those days Jess goes out somewhere to eat. You're not supposed to leave school campus for lunch unless you're a senior but that doesn't really stop some juniors who sneak away, most of the teachers don't notice or don't care.

Jess didn't say anything from what Zack could see. He just walked next to her with a small smile and nodded along as she talked to confirm he was listening. He'd say a short word here or there, probably mumbling a yeah or saying he understood whatever it was she was saying. They made their way over to Ray and sat down with him, he smiled widely in a greeting to them.

Ray joined in on the conversation. Him and Alice kept talking about whatever while Jess sat between them and looked to be paying attention intently. He spoke a little more now that they were seated but seemed to be just as quiet as ever.

It was now that Zack was pulled out of his zoning out phase because Trinity was glaring at him and had snapped, "Are you even listening to me?"

"Uhhhh..." Zack chuckled kindly, his usual friendly smile on his face as he tried to make his voice sound apologetic. "Sorry, what?"

Trinity made a noise that was a mix between a sigh and a grumble before rolling her eyes. She stood up, taking her tray that she had only eaten a few things off of, and walked away toward the trash cans. Zack chuckled lightly, sorry he had embarrassed her but not sorry he wasn't listening. Jace and Andrew, who was sitting on Jace's other side at the end of the rectangular table, cackled.

"That was good, mate, I was scared she'd never shut up." Jace patted his shoulder and Zack just chuckled again.

"Oi!" Dagger, a basketball player, came over with a grin and slipped into the seat Trinity had occupied earlier. "Zack, will you send me the Algebra two answers?"

Zack laughed at that and shook his head. "No."

"Please!" Dagger's hands clapped together in front of him and he bowed his head, full on begging. "I'm going to fail and I won't be able to play!"

"You should've done the paper in class yesterday." Zack had a playful grin. "Or last night. It was a short assignment."

"I know, I'm dumb, I'm sorry. Hilary had Delilah and Christi over so I got distracted. Please! I'll never ask anything of you again!" Dagger tried to look pleading but he had a naturally happy face so that failed. He wasn't sorry he hadn't finished the assignment and he knew Zack would give him the answers. Even Zack knew he was gonna give up the answers and he had known from the moment poor Dagger asked, but it was fun to mess with him.

"We both know that's a lie. You'll be asking me for answers again in less than a week." Zack said with a pointed look and an amused smile. Dagger just grinned back, earning an eye roll. "Fine."

"Yes!" The boy cheered. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You're literally the best, man!"

"I know, I know. I'm amazing, yada yada yada. Shut up already and go worship someone else." Zack replied with teasing that came easy. It was Dagger, the boy that got on with everybody and anyone could get playful with him.

"Yes, your majesty." Dagger did a small bow of the head but he didn't move. Instead he just turned to start conversation with the boy next to him, Tally (short for Talon).

Zack slipped into a conversation with Ki and Dean next. Dean was another basketball player like Dagger. The sports teams tended to blend together at social gathering because multiple people played more than one sport. Ki, Mason, and another boy named Carter all played basketball and baseball as an addition to football and many other would mix the two. So, as an effect, many of the kids that didn't play football but did another sport would sit with the football players because their teammates sat there. Zack liked it that way, less stereotypical and more real it was.

When lunch ended Zack got playful smacks on the back as a farewell from most of his friends before they split ways. He walked with Jace and Andrew back to the halls.

His classroom came first, the computer lab. He split up with his friends and walked in to sit down.  Later on Ethan, a baseball boy, walked in and sat down next to him. They got caught up in easy jokes pretty fast.

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Practice ran on only a little longer than school usually does. It was shorter than usual for a Monday but that was probably because the main coach was gone today. Zack waved off to his friends before heading back into the school building, he'd left his jacket in his locker.

He walked down the empty halls with a small echo of his footsteps. It was unnerving how quiet the building was but he didn't really mind. He found his locker, 108, and opened it up.

His locker was messy but he took pride in the fact that it wasn't as bad as half the guys' here. There wasn't random torn or crumpled assignmets around, all his papers were in halfway organized folders and notebooks. However those were messy themselves. Among his unorganized notebooks and Algebra 2 textbook, hanging on a hook at the top was his black jacket. He grabbed it and slipped his arms through it so it rested on his shoulders and enveloped him.

He turned and started walking down the hall again. He stuck closer to the right side of the wall where the billboards were and walked along side many classroom doors. As he approached towards Mrs Penny's door it suddenly swung open. He stopped directly in front of the door and had he not he would've been hit.

As the door closed a boy stood staring at him with his black bag hanging off one shoulder. "Shit, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Zack chuckled and shrugged. "At least I wasn't hit."

"Yeah." Jess nodded and they stood there quietly for a moment. Jess turned to start walking towards the door and Zack started to keep in step with him.

"So why're you here? School ended a good 20 minutes ago." Zack asked, trying to seem like he just wanted a casual conversation.

"Tutoring. Mrs Penny was helping me on the test from last week because I was absent during it."

"Oh." Zack nodded. "Makes sense."

"Doesn't football usually last longer?"

"Yeah but Coach Faulon is gone today so we got let off easy."

"Oh okay. I was curious because you don't seem like the type to skip out on practice." Jess said, catching Zack's attention.

"Oh I'm definitely not." Zack chuckled as he tried to remember the last time he skipped practice. About two months ago because he felt sick.

"Yeah. You're like the stereotypical golden boy. Good enough grades, loves and is good at football, all the girls love him." There was a hint of a teasing smile on Jess's face and it surprised Zack at how easy he was to get along with.

"Isn't being a quarterback somewhere in that stereotype? Or captain? I'm not either of those." He didn't know, he was just guessing to keep the conversation going. Those were the two positions people always talked about, like nobody else on a football team mattered.

"Well you play football, close enough."

Zack laughed and he swore he heard a faint chuckle from Jess as well. If it was there, it was barely audible.

"And what about you, huh? What stereotype are you close enough to fitting in?"

"I, actually, pride myself in the fact that I don't fit into any." Jess said and the smile he had on his face made Zack's smile stay just as bright. He had a smile that was contagious and Zack wondered why he didn't smile so much all the time.

"Nah, I think you do." Zack said with a grin and Jess raised an eyebrow at him. "I'd say you got this whole loner vibe going on but you'd probably disagree because you have friends. You don't hang out with any of them all the time, like best friends, but you do have them. You're more like the stereotypical quiet kid. Barely talks and when you do it's a few words. You mumble a lot in class when you go to the teacher's desk to ask a question. You know the answers when the teacher is speaking to the class, you mouth them to yourself or write it down, but never raise your hand. More of a listener. And you don't participate in any school activities as far as I know. Sounds like the stereotypical quiet kid to me. Although you are lacking the whole school shooter vibe, I'd call that a good thing though."

Jess's eyes shined with something and his mouth fell open for a half second. He snapped it closed quickly though and after the initial shock wore off he smiled again. "I didn't know you noticed so much, Golden boy."

"That offends me Jess Roma. I notice lots." Zack said, knowing damn well he didn't start noticing things as much until he was sat next to Jess. Of course, he couldn't tell him that, he'd sound creepy.

Jess's eyes shined again, specifically at the mention of his name. "Well, Isaac Johnson, you've certainly proved a lot of my past assumptions about you wrong today." Jess grinned, now standing in front of the door with his hand ready to open it. "Nice talking to you."

Jess walked out the door to the school and in to the outside. Zack stayed where he was for a few seconds with a soft smile before he too left the building.

He went out to his car and got in, still grinning to himself. He started it up and started the ride home.

Zack pulled up to his house, having finally reached his destination, and parked his car in the driveway, shutting it off. His dad's car was parked there as well which was a bit odd but he wouldn't complain.

He got out of his car and walked up to the red door. He opened up the door and called in to the house that was usually empty when he came home. "Dad?"

"Hey kid, I'm in here!" The voice drained in from the kitchen and invited Isaac to follow it.

He smiled when he saw his dad, David Johnson, in casual clothes behind the island counter, cooking. "Hey, not that I'm complaining but what're you doing home?"

The older man smiled. "I got off early today. I went shopping on my way home so we're now freshly resupplied of snacks."

"Thanks." Zack grinned and walked over to a cabinet, opening it up and taking in the cookies, little Debbie cakes, popcorn, and pretzel sticks. The captain of the football team would be mad if he knew Zack didn't follow the diet but he didn't care too much as he grabbed a little Debbie cake and opened up the packaging.

"So how was your day?" His dad asked with a kind smile.

"It was fine." Zack answered as he sat down at a stool on the island and ate his cupcake. "Football's been going good. Coach Faulon thinks we'll make it to finals this year."

"That's good." The man smiled wide. "I know I missed the last few but I promise to be at the next game okay? This Friday, right? Will it be home?"

Zack nodded. "It's okay though, if you can't make it. I understand."

His dad gave him a sympathetic look before smiling again. "I'm going to be there. I promised, didn't I?"

"Yeah." Isaac nodded and took a look at the quesadillas his dad was making. "Looks good."

"I know. It's been a while since I got to cook, I'm excited to eat them." He then grinned up at his son who grinned widely back.

Dave worked for an up and coming company. They made plenty of money but since they were still a semi-small business they're employees each had a fairly large work load. His dad has also been around longer than most of the workers so he's a higher up of sorts therefore he's more trusted, so that means more work as well. He gets quite busy at times and since the company building is on the other side of town he isn't home all that much anymore.

Isaac understands the situation though, once the business gets going real well the work will slack off a bit. He also knows his dad aches to be at home more. He apologizes often for missing out on so much. For now, this just means the time they do get together the two end up cherishing more.

Ever since Zack's mom passed it's just been the two of them, and he's fine with that. They have an extremely close bond.

After Alisa, Isaac's mom, died it was tough but his dad didn't let him see him cry. That went down the drain, though, when the seven year old went to the kitchen in the middle of the night because he couldn't sleep. He watched from the doorway as his father sobbed into his hand and broke down at their kitchen table. When he went over there to try and comfort him he ended up crying too. So the two sat there bawling and hugging each other for the next hour and a half.

After that night no more tears were shed in front of each other. Their bond grew closer after that and it hasn't decreased since then. They'll be each other's best friends for life and that'll never change.

"Alright, you gonna help me eat these?" The older man asked with a playful smile.

"Hell yeah."

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Chapter one done!

What do you think so far?

Love you ♡

- Z