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Chapter 7 | ❝ So, Thursday at four? ❞

Tuesday, September 11th, 2018 - 9:27 a.m.

❝HARPER, YOU DON'T have to walk me to Trig every day if you don't want to," Zach told his friend who was walking next to him and matching his stride.

The sandy blond shrugged. "One, I get lonely and bored, two, it's some bonding time even if just for a minute, and three, I thought it would make you feel safer," he confessed the third option in a bit of a whisper. "I can stop if you want, but I just wanna help."

"No, I like your company," Zach quickly cleared up after a small hiccup in his stride. "I'm just saying you don't need to if you don't want to."

"I don't mind at all," assured Harper confidently. It was clear he was telling the one hundred percent truth.

Zach stopped himself in front of his Trigonometry classroom. Rather than simply asking Harper if it was the correct one, he ran his index finger against the tiny bumps of braille on the sign next to the door. It was a force of habit. Since braille was the only thing he was able to physically "read," he used it whenever he was able.

Soon enough, Harper's voice broke through Zach's little bubble of concentration. "You can read that?" he inquired in curiosity.

"Yeah. It's quite helpful," Zach replied as if it was nothing.

"It just looks like a bunch of little dots to me," he commented in quite a bit of confusion. "Is each dot a different letter?"

Zach pointed to the first collection of small dots which made up the first letter of the label on the sign. "Not exactly," he started to explain. "These four dots right here make up the letter "T" and it's different for each letter."

"Ah, I see," Harper acknowledged the information and at least pretended to understand it for the sake of his friend.

Zach continued in a cheerful notion, "It's basically like its own language—but more of like a code of some sort."

Harper's face seemed to light up at the new discovery. His brown eyes became a shade brighter with the realization he was learning something new, and getting to know his friend better. He was clearly interested in whatever he was taught with the exception of certain school subjects given by teachers of his distaste.

"That's awesome!" Harper exclaimed, giving Zach a gentle and proud pat on the back.

The blind boy smiled at the gesture with a positive glint in his eyes. For once, Zach seemed to be proud of himself for something relating to his blindness. Hardly any people knew how to read braille, but it was a crucial part to Zach's school career. If it did not exist in front of each classroom, he would be utterly lost.

Zach shifted his weight from one foot to the other a bit awkwardly. "Thanks, but I think I should get to class now," he attempted to politely excuse himself. "Thank you again for keeping me company."

"No problem. Good luck with math." Harper did not seem to mind one single bit.

Zach smiled before walking into the classroom. "You too."

Luckily for Zach, his classroom was only about halfway full. It made his journey to his seat much simpler. Zach found himself becoming overwhelmed when he entered a classroom-- even more so than he used to. He knew Jaylen was in Trigonometry with him, but thankfully, the antagonist left him alone.

Zach made himself comfortable at his usual desk near the front of the classroom and closest to the door. It was the place where he felt the most safe, and the easiest to leave the room from. He opened up his laptop and set it on his desk, beginning to type out the date and subject for his next class period's notes. Zach began to sink into his own little world facing the laptop screen, minding his own business as the conversations from around the classroom blurred into nothingness.

A force locked around Zach's leg for a split second along with a startled yelp that brought Zach out of his thoughts. He blinked at whoever was in front of him and who had tripped over his leg with confusion. Zach was unable to see over his laptop, but his eyes peered over the top of his screen anyway and instinctively towards the sound.

"Sorry-" a soft, yet familiar voice apologized in a hurried tone.

"It's alright," Zach replied before pausing. He recognized the teenage female's voice in a heartbeat. "Kelsey-? Hey! I had no idea you're in this class."

Kelsey seemed to hesitate a smidge. "Oh, yeah, I am. Hi, Zach," she greeted him politely. Her rushed tone remained.

"Is everything okay?" he innocently asked to ensure her safety at least somewhat.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Kelsey assured him while clutching her math textbook to her chest. She appeared to be the slightest bit anxious, but she brushed it off as well as she could. "How are you?"

Zach shrugged a little bit. "I'm doing good. How are you?" he inquired nonchalantly to begin a casual and friendly conversation.

"I'm alright," was Kelsey's simple answer, which was satisfactory to Zach.

"I was thinking," Zach suggested his thoughts out loud. "You said you wanted to meet about that paper, right? What about later today if you're fr-"

Kelsey abruptly cut him off, pointing to another side of the room, "I'm sorry, I can't today. I have to go sit down in a sec."

"That's okay. What about Fri-" Zach began to ask without the slightest bother before his speech was interrupted once again by a different voice across the room.

"Babe, what are you doing over there?" Jaylen questioned her in annoyance. "Come on, class is about to start," he exclaimed, speaking her own thought process out loud.

Kelsey gave Zach an apologetic look. "Sorry, I gotta go-" she rushed out without giving him a second glance.

Zach was hardly able to utter a "goodbye" or a "see you later" before Kelsey was already gone. He let out a silent sigh of disappointment when he realized her presence in front of his desk was completely gone and he was alone once again. His unseeing eyes lowered down to the floor, staring blankly at nothing in particular—literally.

"Does she not want to be my friend?" he asked himself in utter dismay. "Because I wouldn't blame her if she wanted to stay away from me.."

In fact, the opposite was true for Kelsey. Her mind was suffocating itself with guilt from her interruptions and abrupt departure from Zach. She would have loved to call him her friend, but with Jaylen in the same room, that was far from possible. His possessiveness and paranoia would get in the way of their friendship and cause more harm than good. Kelsey usually did not mind, but for the past week, she was beginning to.

Kelsey took her usual seat next to her boyfriend near the wall furthest from the door. She set her heavy textbook on her desk and pulled out her phone, checking for any notifications before placing it face down on the desk in front of her. Kelsey's hazel eyes met Jaylen's inquisitive gray ones as he began speaking.

"What were you doing over there? And....with him?" Jaylen started interrogating her with a suspicious undertone.

Kelsey still did not seem bothered. "I accidentally tripped over his foot, so I apologized."

"He mentioned meeting you," he deadpanned flatly.

The blonde nervously fiddled around with the strap of her leather purse which was sitting in her lap. Her dark golden hair fell in her face, but she did nothing to move it. It was not until Jaylen gently tucked a tendril of her hair behind her ear, causing her to make eye contact once again.

"It's for the research paper for AP English," Kelsey notified him for clarification. "I decided to do mine on sight impediments and he agreed to answer some questions of mine."

Jaylen was quizzical. "Why would you even choose that topic? There's so many simpler topics you could've picked from."

"We need one in-person source to complete our paper," Kelsey clapped back with a bit of a frustrated tone. "After a certain event last Saturday, I got the idea for my topic. I find it interesting."

"Why?"

Kelsey was beginning to get annoyed. "Because I want to, okay? He's just a friend, and you can trust me, Jaylen."

"I know," Jaylen replied almost in uncertainty.

"Then why do you sound unsure?"

His girlfriend's question startled Jaylen a bit. It was not one of which he was expecting, but it was a valid question to ask due to his response and tone of voice. Jaylen adjusted his leather jacket upon his shoulders and averted eye contact for a second or two. It was clear he was caught off guard.

"I trust you, but I just get concerned," he responded with authenticity. "You never know what could happen."

"I'll be okay. I promise. Don't worry about me," Kelsey assured him, leaning over to give him a gentle peck on the cheek.

Before Jaylen was able to say anything else, the Trigonometry teacher by the name of Mrs. Roberts entered the classroom, shutting the door behind her. The short blonde woman dropped her bag of classroom supplies onto the floor and grabbed a dry erase marker off of the desk to begin writing things on the whiteboard.

"Good morning, class!" Mrs. Roberts exclaimed with a warm smile. "I hope you're all doing well and are ready for today's lesson."

Everyone loved Mrs. Roberts. She was a kind woman with a gentle soul who always looked out for the well-being of her students. Mrs. Roberts helped her math students with whatever they might need. She even offered tutoring, which was very popular among the students of Oceanview High.

The teacher then dove into her lecture after writing the appropriate things on the board. She worked at a moderate pace so her students - especially Zach - were able to keep up. Mrs. Roberts was very understanding of Zach's condition and put it into consideration whenever she taught him. She also offered tutoring if he needed it.

Her lecture, along with one other and then lunch, dragged on in the next two hours. The school day seemed as if it was never going to end. Even with the company of friends, seconds seemed like minutes, minutes seemed like hours, and hours felt like eternity.

Eventually, the day brought Zach to Literature class once again. It was a class he did not enjoy in the first place, but after what had occurred in Trigonometry that morning, he was unsure if he wanted to go at all. Kelsey would be there, and for some reason, his anxiety spiked when he was around her. The most valid reason for such would be his own thoughts.

Zach sincerely hoped Kelsey was not embarrassed around him.

The blind boy listened to the various footsteps and sounds echoing throughout the hallways as he sat down at his desk. Zach found it entertaining to say the least when he picked up on almost everything in a room using only his ears. It gave him something other than his sight impediment to focus on. He never gossiped or said anything about anyone else's conversations to someone. Zach understood those conversations were to be kept confidential.

He felt someone's presence from beside him as another person sat down in the desk next to him. At first, whoever was beside him was silent, but Zach was not listening to anything in particular anyway. He was simply waiting for Mr. Richardson to enter the room and begin the lecture on poetry once again.

Zach could not recognize whoever was voluntarily sitting beside him until the person said something which caught his attention. "Hey, Zach, is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Hey, Kelsey," he replied in a bit of a confused tone. "It's my turn to ask you the same question. Everything okay?"

Kelsey nodded a bit, momentarily forgetting Zach was unable to see it. "Yeah, everything's fine," she confirmed softly. "I just wanted to apologize....again for what happened in Trig today—and for tripping over your foot."

Zach found her choice of wording to be quite amusing and enjoyable. He smiled a bit at her apology, acknowledging it and putting Jaylen's actions in the past. Zach was an expert at concealing his negative emotions with a smile, and there was no alteration of the contagious grin on his face as he focused on the positive side.

"Don't worry about it; I understand—well, I don't completely understand, but you know what I mean," Zach rambled on which caused Kelsey to smile once more.

"I'm glad you think so," Kelsey noted in a playful manner. She then chose to change the subject of conversation. "So, I had an idea and was wondering if you'd hear me out."

"What is it?" Zach inquisitively inquired in anticipation.

Kelsey found his excited tone to be endearing. "I was wondering, since I'm going to Moonriver Cafe with some friends this afternoon, maybe we could go Thursday instead?" she suggested before listing pretty much her entire week's worth of social interaction. "I have a date Friday night so I can't go then and I'm going out with my mom on Wednesday."

"Thursday sounds great," Zach agreed without a second thought. He never did anything social in the first place. In fact, Zach hardly left the house. "What time were you thinking?"

"Maybe four o'clock? I need to get a bit of homework done so I don't panic and stay up until three a.m. doing it rather than watching Netflix," explained Kelsey with a small laugh. She knew she was a series binger at its finest.

Zach chuckled a little at her confession. "Sounds good to me."

Kelsey's next question caught Zach a little bit off guard. "What's your address? I think it'd be easier if I pick you up if you wanted to go somewhere—or we can stay at either one of our houses."

"You pick where. Either way, I live on 43 Huntington Avenue, so you're right down the street," he replied in a matter-of-fact way.

"Oh, perfect!" Kelsey exclaimed cheerfully before eyeing his backpack. "Do you have a phone?"

"Yeah, I do."

Zach felt the slightest bit puzzled as he reached into his backpack to retrieve his phone. It was an object he hardly used since texting was difficult and he was unable to find the call button or any other apps on the device. Zach used it strictly for emergencies, but there was never an event of a crisis worthy of a call to his mother or father.

He handed his phone, which was an iPhone 6, to Kelsey who thanked him straightaway. She quickly discovered there was no passcode. Zach had nothing to hide mostly because he had legitimately nothing on his phone. Kelsey went into his contacts, which only had one contact for each parent. She clicked on the "Create New Contact" button and began typing in her information.

"What are you doing?" Zach asked after a moment of silence.

Kelsey smiled up at him while typing into her own phone for a moment. "I'm just putting our contact information into each other's phones so I can let you know if plans change last minute."

"But I can't see text messages or anything," Zach retorted with a self-deprecating frown. Only someone with thorough attention would pick it up.

"That's the fun part," Kelsey chirped, clicking on the option to set a ringtone. "I can pick out a unique ringtone so if I call rather than text, you'll know it's me."

Zach thought her idea was an intelligent one. "I love that idea!" he agreed, but then noted, "Please don't make it the duck quack one. That one's startling and quite loud."

"I won't," Kelsey laughed amusedly while scrolling through the ringtones. She clicked on one a second later. "How's this one?"

A ringtone of which was not very common sounded from Zach's phone. He decided it reminded him of ripples in a lake, the positive sound lighting up his mood. At that moment, he made his decision.

"I like that one," he replied genuinely.

Kelsey handed his phone back to him with a smile. "Alright, here you go," she beamed. "So, Thursday at four?" she asked him to double check.

Zach nodded. "Thursday it is," he confirmed while placing his phone back into his backpack with an anticipatory grin.

When Mr. Richardson stepped into the classroom a second later to begin his lecture, Zach could not force himself to concentrate on the words from his monotonous mouth. The only thing he was able to think about was the upcoming Thursday. Zach had no idea what to expect, which made his mood the slightest bit nervous, but full of excitement as well.

There was no telling about what was in store for him and Kelsey at four o'clock in the afternoon in two days' time.

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