Out of Ink

Chapter 8

It was weird being at someone else's house on a Monday morning. Normally, Zack would wake up at seven, get dressed, get ready and go downstairs to see his breakfast waiting for him. He'd been favouring bacon and egg sandwiches lately and June would always have it ready. Just the way he liked it, with runny eggs and crispy bacon on toasted sourdough. They were good because if he didn’t finish on time he could take it with him. She also would have packed his lunch box for him by now. Zack already knew breakfast at his best friend’s house was different. For one, there were other people there. But it was just weird to be eating cornflakes with Emmett on a school day. Emmett was also shoving food into his Star Wars lunchbox. Dude was such a dork sometimes. So that he wouldn't be a burden, Zack was just going to buy his lunch while staying with the Bishops. He already felt bad that they were feeding him breakfast and dinner every night. The only thing he was adding to his bag was an apple. Emmett gave him an "are you serious?" look and tossed a banana and a muesli bar at him too. Then, after a pause, he also tossed some biscuits.

"Dude, I'm buying lunch today. I don't need this much stuff."

"Take it or you'll get a mum lecture." Emmett warned him. Zack rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Serina walked into the kitchen, her sock covered feet silent on the hard floor. She completely ignored them.

"Good morning." Zack greeted her from his seat at the bench.

"Morning." She replied without looking at him. Zack thought that she was likely still pissed off at him. She'd spent the entirety of the day before ignoring him. Whenever she wasn’t in her room that was. He wondered if she'd been reading that dirty book again. He snapped his thoughts back to his breakfast before his imagination took him so far down that rabbit hole that he'd be unable to get up from his chair until everyone else left.

"Good morning." Emmett said in a voice that sounded like an overly enthusiastic radio host. "And how did you sleep dear sister?" He was still using the weird voice. She shot him a brief look out of the corner of her eye before returning her attention to the toaster.

"Fine." She said. Emmett, encouraged by her engagement, moved up beside her.

"And what...?" He asked. "Are your thoughts and opinions about this apparent rumour that we'll be having a substitute Biology teacher today?" He asked into an invisible microphone before tilting it towards Serina. She glared at him.

"Miss Cole has a dentist appointment today. She told us last week, dummy."

"I bet it's Derbish." Zack said, naming the Chemistry teacher.

"Nah. It'll totally be Mr Gibbs." Emmett said, finally dropping the radio voice. They both looked at Serina expectantly. She rolled her eyes again and failed to give an opinion. "I just hope it's not Mrs Norris." Emmett added.

Serina sat in the back seat of Zack's car as they drove to school. She was going to refuse when Zack first offered her a lift, but then she'd changed her mind. It would have been stupid to take the bus when the boys were already driving. Emmett was in the front seat and was flicking through the music on Zack’s phone. "Just put the radio on." She told her brother. Emmet scoffed.

"No way. All they ever play is adds." It's true. Mainstream radio was all lame talk shows and adds. You could go a full half hour without them playing a single song.

"Then put on the country music station." She suggested.

"No!" Both Emmett and Zack said at once. She didn't get what all the fuss was about. Serina actually liked modern country music. Just look at Taylor Swift. "Love story" was a country song that went viral. Now she was super famous.

"A huh!" Emmett exclaimed, finally settling on a song. The catchy beat of "Thrift shop" pumped through the car speaker, and Serina was forced to acknowledge that he'd actually picked something decent for a change.

As soon as they got to school, Serina spotted Sydney and hurried away from the boys. "Hi Syd. How was your weekend?" She asked as she caught up with the other girl.

"Pretty boring, actually. How was yours in Hot Guy Hell?"

"Again, and I cannot stress this enough, eww." Sydney laughed.

"Hey, I'd trade."

"But if we traded places then Emmett would be your brother." Serina pointed out. Sydney pulled a face.

"Eww."

"And now you get it." The girls laughed as they walked.

Zack and Emmett were barely inside the school gates when they were ambushed by Brittany and Carla. Two girls in their year. "Morning!" Brittany greeted them brightly. She was extra bouncy that morning. She was one of those freaky morning people. Rumour had it she got cranky the second the sun set. Maybe she was solar powered? But to be fair, she wasn't that bad and her positively could be infectious. Carla, on the other hand, was a little quieter, and she could be nasty when she felt threatened, whether that was physically, emotionally, or socially. Emmett had dated her for a short while the previous year. It had been...interesting. Emmett often joked that someone should have stamped the words "Handle with care" on her butt. Or her forehead. Brittany started asking Emmett questions about his English essay. Apparently, Brittany couldn't come up with a source for hers. They all had a set topic, "belonging" and a song they needed to discuss for their essay. But each student needed to pick a second source to discuss. Zack had picked Venom. Because what was more heartwarming than a killer space alien finding his true home inside a human host? Their teacher had suggested this old movie called "One Night the Moon". But it was kind of a bummer, especially when you found out it was a true story. Zack had zoned out of the conversation. By the time he tuned in again, Emmett and Brittany were wrapping up their conversation. Zack accidentally caught Carla's eye and she smiled. He nodded and smiled back to be polite. The bell rang, and the girls peeled away as they headed to their roll call rooms.

"Brittany's kind of hot, don't you think?" Emmett said as they walked.

"Yeah." Zack agreed. He was kind of surprised his best friend hadn't tried dating her yet. He had a weakness for red heads, and she definitely seemed interested in him.