The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 195: Chapter 195 - By Tomorrow

Mr. Callahan had already started the lesson when Zac entered AP Chemistry.

The classroom door opened during an explanation about reaction rates, and half the class turned toward him.

Roxie looked first.

Zac looked worse than he had the night before.

His hair had not been combed. His eyes were red, and the split near the corner of his lower lip had opened wider. The hood of his dark sweatshirt covered part of his head but failed to hide his face.

Mr. Callahan looked at the clock.

”You seem determined to make this a habit, Prescott.”

”Sorry.”

Even his voice sounded rough.

”Sit down before your apology delays us further.”

Zac walked past the empty chair near Roxie’s table and chose a seat at the back.

He never looked at her.

Roxie watched him drop his bag beside the desk and lower himself into the chair. As soon as Mr. Callahan turned toward the board, Zac folded his arms on the table and rested his forehead against them.

The boy beside him nudged his elbow.

Zac lifted his head long enough to open his notebook.

Roxie tightened her grip around her pencil.

Last night, Zac had arrived at the bungalow drunk enough to use her kitchen chair for balance. She had told him she wanted their relationship public. He had said they would discuss it when he was sober.

Now he had chosen the farthest available seat.

She slipped her phone beneath the table.

Roxie: You look terrible.

Zac’s phone vibrated.

He checked it below his desk.

Zac: Feel terrible.

Roxie waited for another message.

Nothing came.

She watched the back of his head while Mr. Callahan explained the next lab assignment. Zac wrote nothing. He kept one hand against his forehead and stared at the same blank space in his notebook.

Roxie typed again.

Roxie: Are we talking today?

Zac read the message.

Several seconds passed before he answered.

Zac: After school.

Roxie stared at the screen.

Apparently, tomorrow meant whenever Zac decided he was ready.

He had demanded an answer about Tennessee while her mother’s ashes sat beside the sink. The following day, he avoided her, went to a party, became drunk enough for Kyle to take his keys, and arrived at her house insisting they settle the photograph immediately.

Now she had to wait until after school.

Roxie: Fine.

She locked her phone and placed it facedown on her thigh.

Mr. Callahan called on someone near the windows. Roxie tried to follow the lesson, but her attention kept moving toward Zac.

His head stayed lowered whenever Mr. Callahan faced the board. Once, he pressed his fingers against his lip and checked them for blood.

Roxie watched him too long.

Zac raised his head and caught her.

Their eyes met across the classroom.

He immediately looked away.

The movement hurt more than his hangover should have.

Roxie turned toward the board before anyone noticed.

Maybe sober Zac had already decided the answer would be no.

Being public would change how people treated him.

Girls already watched him in the hallways. Students still talked about his football career, the State loss, and which college might recruit him. Briarwick continued treating him like its former golden boy, available to whoever reached him first.

Dating Roxie would bring questions and gossip.

Roxie pressed her pencil hard enough to leave a dark line across the page.

Zac had said he never wanted to hide her.

That failed to explain why he could not even look at her this morning.

When the bell rang, Zac stood before Mr. Callahan finished dismissing them. He shoved his notebook into his bag and followed the first group into the hallway.

Roxie remained in her seat.

Mr. Callahan looked toward her.

”Are you planning to attend your next class?”

She grabbed her bag. ”Unfortunately.”

”Your enthusiasm continues to inspire me. Go inspire someone else.”

Roxie gave him a quick salute before walking out.

She saw Zac near the end of the hallway with Mason and Dylan. Mason said something that made Dylan laugh. Zac kept one hand inside the pocket of his hoodie and continued walking.

He never turned around.

By the period before lunch, Roxie had checked her phone six times.

Zac sent nothing.

She entered the girls’ bathroom near the cafeteria and chose the last stall. Several girls stood near the sinks, fixing their hair and talking over one another.

Roxie closed the stall door and reached for the latch.

”Zac looked so hot last night,” one girl said.

Roxie’s fingers stopped.

Another girl laughed. ”He always looks hot. He just looked drunk this time.”

”Did you see that picture?”

”The one with the sophomore?”

”I don’t know who she was.”

”Whoever she was, she had her arms all over him.”

The girls laughed.

Roxie tightened her hand around the latch.

”He probably didn’t care,” someone said. ”Prescott is such a fuckboy. I heard his list is long.”

Roxie closed her eyes.

Right now?

She had no interest in listening to Zac’s history before lunch.

”I heard something else about him is long too.”

Another girl laughed loudly.

”And that he knows how to use it.”

Roxie slapped her palm against the stall wall.

The sound cracked through the bathroom.

Everyone near the sinks went quiet for a second.

Then someone whispered, ”What was that?”

”Probably someone dropping something.”

Roxie stared at the stall door.

”Wait, doesn’t he have a girlfriend?” another girl asked.

Roxie groaned, irritated.

”Who?”

”I don’t know. I heard something.”

”Wasn’t there a rumor Roxie liked him after Winter Formal?”

Someone squealed.

”She does. She couldn’t stop looking at him during the dance.”

”Roxie looks at everyone like she wants to fight.”

”That might be how she flirts.”

The group laughed again.

Roxie looked down at her shoes. People had noticed her watching him.

They had seen enough to create rumors, but the truth remained hidden.

”If I were Roxie, I’d shoot my shot,” one girl said.

Another answered, ”She’s taking too long. I might go first.”

Roxie unlocked the stall.

The door opened hard enough to strike the divider.

Every girl near the sinks froze.

Roxie walked past them and turned on the faucet. She washed her hands slowly while watching their reflections in the mirror.

Nobody spoke.

The girl who had said she might approach Zac stared at the counter.

Roxie shut off the water and reached for a paper towel.

”Lunch started five minutes ago,” she said. ”You better hurry.”

The girl looked at her but remained quiet.

Roxie dried her hands.

Nobody moved until she threw the towel away and left.

The cafeteria was already full.

Roxie found Karen and Angela at their usual table. Karen held a compact mirror in one hand and applied gloss with the other. Angela was opening a bag of chips beside her tray.

Roxie dropped into the empty chair.

Angela looked at her. ”What are you eating?”

”Nothing.”

”You need food.”

”I ate bread before lunch.”

Karen pressed her lips together and checked the gloss in the mirror.

”Bread is depressing.”

”It was toasted.”

”That makes it warm and depressing.”

Angela pushed the chips toward Roxie.

Roxie took one so Angela would leave the subject alone.

Angela lowered her voice. ”Did Zac explain the picture?”

”Nothing happened.”

Karen snapped her compact closed.

”He still got that drunk around people with cameras.”

Roxie said nothing.

Karen had seen the photograph.

Everyone had.

The cafeteria was louder than usual. Chairs scraped across the floor, students shouted between tables, and someone near the entrance kept laughing hard enough to cough.

Zac’s table was louder than everyone else.

Mason and Kyle sat across from him, making comments every time Zac lowered his head. Dylan had placed a bottle of water and two wrapped sandwiches in front of him.

Zac looked like he wanted the table to swallow him.

People kept approaching anyway.

One girl leaned across the table to ask him something, bringing her face close to his. Another pulled the empty chair beside him closer and sat without waiting for permission.

Zac shifted away from her, but Dylan was seated on his other side. There was nowhere left for him to move.

Nobody saw anything wrong with sitting that close.

As far as the school knew, Zac was single.

Karen returned the gloss to her bag.

”You’re doing it again.”

Roxie looked at her. ”Doing what?”

”Watching Prescott like you’re waiting for him to commit a crime.”

Angela followed Roxie’s gaze toward Zac’s table.

”Maybe she’s checking whether he survived last night.”

Karen studied Zac more closely.

”He looks terrible.”

”He feels terrible,” Roxie said before she could stop herself.

Karen looked at her.

Roxie reached for another chip.

”Anyone can see it.”

Karen watched her for another second, then looked back toward Zac.

The girl beside him leaned closer and said something near his ear. Zac lifted his head enough to answer, though Roxie could not hear what he said.

He failed to tell her to leave.

He failed to make it clear that the chair beside him belonged to someone else.

He failed to look like someone who knew Roxie wanted the secrecy over.

Roxie’s chest tightened.

Across the cafeteria, Zac finally raised his head.

His eyes found hers immediately.

The noise around them continued, but Roxie barely heard it.

Zac looked tired and miserable. The cut in his lip had opened again, and the skin beneath his eyes remained dark.

For several seconds, neither of them looked away.

The girl beside him touched his arm to get his attention.

Zac turned toward her.

Roxie stood.

Angela looked up. ”Where are you going?”

”Outside.”

Karen started to rise.

”Stay.”

Karen stopped.

Roxie picked up her phone and walked away from the table.

She reached the cafeteria doors before Angela could call her back.

The hallway outside was quieter. Three students stood near the drinking fountain, talking over an open notebook.

Roxie walked past them.

She needed air before she returned to the cafeteria and told everyone exactly why the girls around Zac needed to move.

The doors opened behind her.

Footsteps followed.

”Roxie.”