Read The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club Online
Authors: J.C. Isabella
“Storm.” I shouted, pointing at the clouds.
Carlos took one look at the sky and jumped up from his seat. He had everyone packed, on the boat, radio in hand, within a couple minutes. I passed out life vests.
Before the engine started, Carlos spoke above the thunder. “We can try to make it back to the house, or take cover in the restrooms.”
“How long would that be for?” Stella asked.
“Probably till early evening.” He snapped his own vest on. “So, what’s it to be, stay or go?”
“Go,” everyone replied.
Max resumed his original seat and glanced back at Chloe, who was standing next to the railing. Her eyes were locked on the horizon, both hands tightly clutched to her life vest. She didn’t appear eager to sit at the very front of the boat.
I sat in the back and pulled her down next to me. “I’m right here if you need me.”
She looked incredulous at my offer. “What if you need someone?”
“I’ve got you, right?”
“Yeah,” she said, visibly relaxing.
The boat started with a thunderous roar. My head jerked back as we flew forward. Chloe squealed, covering her eyes. I tucked her against my side. Like puzzle pieces, we fit together perfectly.
The ride back wasn’t as nice or scenic, but it was a lot better with Chloe at my side. Rain sheeted, hitting us like thousands of tiny needles. Chloe was practically in my lap. She had her arms locked around my middle and her face pressed into my shoulder. The boat rocked violently a few times. I kept my hold on Chloe no matter what. I wasn’t letting her go for anything.
When we finally pulled up to the dock behind Carlos’s house I let out a breath I’d been holding for what seemed like hours. We were safe. Chloe was safe. I couldn’t make myself stop touching her either.
“It’s slippery.” Carlos said we helped people off the boat. I hung back just to make sure he got it tied up. Max raced for his car, the pussy. He was the only other guy with the strength to see things finished and give Carlos a hand, but he wasn’t feeling helpful. Little rain never hurt anyone.
I watched Chloe hover near the dock, waiting for me of all people. She was pale, even under her sun pink skin. Scared enough to scare me.
I climbed out of the boat with Carlos.
“Zack, you’re good people.” He shook my hand.
I nodded. “Thanks, so are you, man. We’ll see you later. I want to get Chloe home.”
Carlos winked at her. “Yeah, she’s looking ready to bolt. Too much fun for one afternoon.”
I ran up to the porch where Chloe hurried to huddle under the awning. She was soaked like me.
“How you doing?” I asked, grabbing the only dry towel from the bag at her feet. I wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Hungry, tired.” She grumbled.
I nodded. “Home?”
“Yes, please.”
“Zack, you want me to drop you off?” Regina asked as she walked to her car.
I shook my head, wondering where she’d found an umbrella. “Nah, it’s only a couple blocks. We’re already wet. I figure we’ll walk.”
Chloe glowered at me. “Are you serious?”
“Fine, I’ll walk.” I turned around and knelt in front of her. “Hop on.”
“Your back?” she sounded shocked.
I glanced back at her. “If you’d rather go with Regina…”
She wrapped her arms around my neck and locked her legs around my waist. “This is good.”
With a satisfied grin, I grabbed her bag and started down the driveway. I wasn’t really tired. In fact, I might jog part of the way if Chloe didn’t mind. She wasn’t heavy. When I worked out, sometimes I weighed down a backpack with bottles of water. Having a girl on my back wasn’t much different, weight wise. Feelings wise though, I was having a blast.
Regina passed in her car us as I began the short jog home, her face a mask of disbelief. I knew she was wondering why I’d rather have Chloe, and the answer to that was simple.
I loved her.
Chapter 17
Chloe
The rest of spring break went by in a blur. I spent the most of the week with Stella, a couple days helping mom paint. On my last day of break, I finally spent time with Lana. But all she wanted to do was talk about was Zack.
What was he like?
What did he eat?
Did he have any favorite TV shows?
This was all for the fan club. She needed the gory details. It didn’t matter that we hadn’t seen each other for a week. So after three hours of fan club this, and Zack Warren that, I was ready to explode.
We were in the dressing rooms of Victoria’s Secret, and I was contemplating the purchase of a pink polka dot bra, when Lana took it one step further. “I think I’ll start a website.”
A website? What was wrong with this girl?
“Hell, no!” I barged out of the dressing room, pulling my shirt on.
She poked her head out. “Chloe, why don’t you shout a little louder? I think the people in the food court might have missed that.”
“You are not starting a website. Forget it.” The sales lady was staring at me, probably thinking we were just some stupid teenagers goofing off. I ignored her. “I thought you were taking things too far before, but this is crazy.”
“Lighten up.”
“Fine, you want to be that way, Lana, then you’ll have to choose between our friendship and the club.”
“Zack is never going to find out.”
“How can you possibly know that? Do you have a crystal ball?”
“He’s not smart enough to figure it out. Neither is Kyle.”
“You obliviously don’t know them very well.” Zack had brains, brawn, and charm. Kyle might be thinking with his penis most of the time, but he was a lot smarter than he let on.
Lana shut her the dressing room door in my face.
“You need to stop being so uptight have some fun.” Her muffled laugh grated on me in ways Zack’s teasing never had.
This bitch was toast.
“If you do this, I will tell Kyle you have a sick fascination with his best friend.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“Try me.” I growled. A boy was going to come between us. Only it wasn’t because of some silly argument about him not being good enough, or Lana not liking him. It was because of a moral reason. Which was better than any in my book.
On my way to the register I snagged the matching polka dot panties. I was out of the store before Lana finished trying on her things. Zack and Kyle were where we left them in the arcade shooting gangsters. They weren’t big on the mall, but as long as they could hang out together, they seemed to tolerate it. Having them come with Lana and me wasn’t the original idea. But when I mentioned where I was going, Zack said he wanted a new pair of running shoes, and Kyle had nothing better to do.
“Hey, that was fast.” Kyle paused the game. “Where’s Lana?”
I shrugged. “I left her. Zack, I want to go. Please.”
“Something wrong?” He finished his game, shooting pretty accurately and shedding buckets of fake blood.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I glanced at a very confused Kyle. “Lana and I are having an argument. When she decides to see my side, tell her to call me. Until then, our friendship is over.”
Kyle snapped his gum and removed his mirrored aviators. “I have no clue what you are talking about. But I will relay the message.”
With a firm nod, I marched out of the arcade.
Zack caught up after saying goodbye to Kyle. “What was that about?”
“It’s complicated.” I said. We reached the exit and stopped at the doors leading out to the parking lot. It was raining, again.
“Chloe, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly the dumb jock.” He tucked the bag with his new sneakers under his arm.
“I know. I just can’t tell you.” I pushed the door open searching for Zack’s truck.
“Wait here, I’ll go get the car.”
I grabbed his hand before he took off running. “I don’t care if I get wet.”
Forget wet. The rain soaked us. I had to wring myself out once we made it to the truck.
“That was fun.” Zack pulled a black duffle from behind his seat. The one he always took to practice with him. He had a couple towels in it and handed me one.
I agreed, drying off as best I could. A run through the rain refreshed me. “I feel so much better now.”
“So,” he said, running his hands through his wet hair, “this thing with you and Lana sounds bad.”
“Bad is putting it lightly.” I chose my words carefully. “We started a game when we were kids, and I can’t get her to let it go. People could get hurt.”
“Physically?”
“No, emotionally. Feelings are involved.”
“If you told me more, then maybe I could be of some help.”
I groaned, squishing back into the seat. Zack liked to listen to my problems, I’ve noticed. He had endless patience in that area from what I’ve seen, almost as if he wanted to help me. If it had been something else Lana and I were fighting over, I probably would have enlightened him for his view.
“As nice as your offer sounds, this is something I have to do on my own.”
The next day Zack and I drove back to Eckerd. Lana didn’t even speak to me. We had our first class together and she pretended like I didn’t exist. I began to realize my so-called friend had issues, serious issues.
She moved out of our dorm room and stayed with Kyle upstairs. Then she managed to turn every member of the fan club against me by mid-week.
And when Friday came, not even Marcy, the nicest, most accepting girl in school, wanted to sit with me at lunch. I ended up alone outside the cafeteria on an old bench dedicated to a guy who donated money to the theater troop last year.
Really, I was having a fantastic week.
“Hey,” I looked up to see Kyle.
“Hi.”
“Mind if I join you?”
“It’s your social life at stake if you do.”
“Nah, Lana can’t touch me. I made her queen, remember that.” He dug into a sub from the cafeteria, hunching over the grass so nothing landed on his crisp baseball uniform.
“Why are you so dressed up?”
“Lost a bet. Have to wear this for the next three days.” He sucked down half a coke before speaking again. “Listen, this thing with you and Lana, it creeps me out.”
I froze. “What thing?”
“Dude, I’m not in the dark anymore.”
“I’m not sure if I follow.”
“The club, Baker. I know.”
I’m so dead. “Excuse me, but, oh shit.”
He patted my hand. “It’s cool. I know you aren’t the one behind it. Lana tried her best to make it look that way, but you aren’t a controlling, manipulative bitch. This is all her.”
“Wow. How did you find out?”
“After you left with Zack, I went to the panty store and got a confession. It took forever, and I am not ashamed to admit, the threat of me dumping her little ass.”
“She just told you?” oh no. If she can tell Kyle so easily, what would it take to get her to talk to someone else? Like Zack? What if she went really crazy and decided he should speak at the meetings or something?
“Yep, spilled the whole pile of shit over a fudge sundae.” He winked. “I’ve got your back, Baker. If Zack ever finds out, I’ll set him strait.”
“Thanks.” This I was not expecting. It would have been more believable if he freaked out and told Zack.
“I should be thanking you.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “I really care about Lana, but this is a twelve out of ten on the weirdo scale.”
“I agree. I’m not sure I can be friends with her anymore, either.”
“Her loss. By the way, we’ve got practice this evening. Zack wants to talk to you, but it looks like I got here first.”
“Thanks, if you see him, tell him I’ll wait in the stands.” I paused. “What does he want to talk about?”
“Well, Lana has kind of taken over our room. He was hoping he could crash with you until you guys make up. Or until you and Lana can live together without wanting to kill each other.”
I shook my head. “Uh, I almost feel bad for him. If you see Zack before me, tell him he can crash in my room.”
“Sure thing.”
If hell suddenly merged with earth, I’d say this is how it would feel. I was a leaper. The school freak. For the rest of the day ignored by every girl Lana could get to before me.
Finally, in ethics, someone spoke to me.
“Hey, Chloe.”
“Christy.”
“Thanks for not calling me chomper.” She leaned across the isle.