It's been a couple of days, and now it's Friday. The past days have been really nice. I got to hang out with my friends, and I've been doing well in my classes. Me and Zak got along very well,we got so close that even I started to think of us as best friends. And I think Zak got a bit too comfortable around me because a few times he teased me, which could've been mistaken as flirting, which would either annoy me or make me a bit flushed.

     But I never thought a lot about it because as I started to pay more attention to my surroundings, I've seen Zak flirting with some girls, and one time, a guy during lunch. Once, I even saw him kiss a girl in the hallway. And I started hearing that in the first two days when I was in my new school, Zak flirted and kissed other people. I even heard that he has hooked up with someone from the past days after winter break. I guess that's how players are. Sometimes, Zak saw me looking at him when he was flirting with other people, but he never seemed to mind. Once, he even came to talk to me shortly after he saw me, not bothered that I saw him flirting with someone.

     Anyways, in English class, Ms. Niki announced that we were going to be working on a project. She spent some time explaining the project. Basically, we had to come up with an invention that would help solve a societal, or scientific issue. We had to do some research on the issue we picked, and explain how our invention would help solve the issue in depth while we tried to convince the 'buyers' (the class) to buy our product. We would present in front of the class with a picture that we drew of the invention.

     In the project, we would be working in groups of 4. Zak naturally wanted to be with me, and I also wanted to be in a group with him. But Eiza wanted to be in the same group as me, and Zak's friend, named Vincent, wanted to be in a group with Zak. So, all four of us got stuck together in a group. Vincent and Zak seemed unbothered most of the time, but Zak sometimes seemed a bit nervous at times. Meanwhile, Eiza was quite upset, but she put up with the fact that we were all in a group together.

     Ms. Niki let us move the desks, so we were all sitting next to each other. We took the rest of the class time discussing what issue we were picking to solve and some ideas on the invention. Eiza mostly argued and opposed to most of the ideas Zak proposed, even when they were quite good ideas. We ended up picking a societal issue, and we had a few different invention ideas.

     We decided that Eiza will make the official invention drawing, Vincent will come up with what each of us will say when presenting, Zak will come up with sketches of the invention ideas we had, which will help us determine which idea we will choose, and I will do the research. I realized that I may need some help with the research, so I said, "I think I need some help with the research. Will anyone be willing to help me sometime with the research?"

     Eiza was about to speak up, but Zak beat her to it by saying, "I can help!"

     I looked at Zak, smiling, and said, "Thanks Zak!"

     Eiza gave a cold glare but quickly stopped before anyone noticed. Moments later, class was over and we all started heading out. As I started walking towards my next class, Zak catches up to me and said, "Hey Darryl! I just wanna ask, when do you want me to help you with the research?"

     "Oh! Well... I'm not very sure..."

     I silently collected my thoughts, trying to think of when we could work on the project. Suddenly, Zak looks as if a light bulb turned on in his head. He then said, "Hey, what if you come over at my place after school?"

     "After school? Umm... sure, I would just need to tell my mom about it."

     "Great! See you after school then."

     Zak walks away towards his next class, leaving me with my thoughts. But I quickly turn around to go to Algebra 2. After that, the rest of the day goes quite smoothly, like normal. Thankfully, I am given less stares from students. I guess they got used to me hanging out with Zak. Now, it was after school, and I was with Zak outside of the school. I said, "So... lead the way?"

     Zak smiled smugly at me and said, "Of course, let's go."

     We started walking down blocks, Zak leading me the whole way. The whole time we were walking, we were in comfortable silence. Zak's place is closer to school than my house since it was only a 10-minute walk. What surprised me a bit was that Zak lived in an apartment. I expected for Zak to live in a house with his family since he always seems quite well dressed, even though he's almost always in a blue hoodie.

     Once we took the elevator to his floor and entered his apartment, I noticed that it was quite unusually quiet, with most of the lights turned off. Zak must have read my mind because as soon as he saw my face, he said, "Nobody's home right now. Me and my sister decided to live together, she's probably at college right now."

     "I didn't know you had a sister."

     "Yeah, well, we haven't been able to hang out much lately since she spends a lot of time studying or hanging out with her friends, but she's nice."

     "Really? Well, I hope you two hang out more soon. How old is she?"

     "She's 20. Hopefully, she'll graduate next year so that we can spend more time together. Anyways, let's go to my room."

     Zak led me to his room. Once we entered, I saw that the color of the walls were celeste, his room was a bit messy, but still mostly organized, and his bed had navy blue bed covers. His bed seemed to be full size. The room wasn't too big, but it was still quite spacious. Once we put our backpacks down, Zak turned to me and said, "Ok, so how about this? So that we can get things done quicker and make more progress on the project, I help you with the research by helping you come up with things to search up and to organize the information. But I also start working on the sketches so that we can decide with the others on Monday with design and invention we will use. And if you want, you can give me feedback on the sketches as I work through them."

     "That... doesn't sound like a bad idea. Alright, why don't we start?"

     Zak let me use his laptop, and there I did my research. Meanwhile, Zak took out a pencil and pieces of paper to sketch on. As I did research, Zak worked on his sketches, and every so often we helped each other out and gave each other advice. A few hours passed, and during that time, we mostly focused on our work, but sometimes, we also chatted and joked around a bit. At the end of the day, I was able to complete most of my research, and Zak got most of his sketches done. We would work on the rest in the weekend.

     After we were done working, we chatted for a little bit before a left. After a while, I was basically the only one talking, while Zak just stared at me and listened to me speak. I soon noticed at Zak staring at me, and I got a bit uneasy. I then said, "Um... what's wrong? Why do you keep staring at me?"

     Zak then suddenly seemed to be snapped out of whatever trance he was in and then he said, "O-Oh! Sorry, I just couldn't help but notice how your eyes looked a bit like emeralds... they look beautiful..."

     He mumbled the last part, barely audible, but I could still make out what he said. I blushed at his comment and then looked down at my hands, a bit nervous. Zak noticed and quickly said, "Sorry! I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

     "I-it's ok..."

     Then silence fell upon us, and I could see from the corner of my eye that Zak was staring at me again. But then, his eyebrows furrowed a bit, as if he noticed something. Suddenly, he lifted my head and turned it towards him, placing his hand on my cheek, forcing me to look at him. The action makes me even more nervous and flush up a bit. He didn't take his hand on my cheek, he keeps his eyes on a specific spot on my cheek, rubbing his thumb over it. I then say, "W-why did you do that?"

     "Sorry, it's just..."

     He trails off, continuing to rub his thumb on my cheek. He then continues by saying, "I just noticed, there is a small cut on your cheek."

     I slightly tense up, and both my face and heart drop. Oh... that... Zak then asks, "Did you always have this cut? Or is it new?"

     I slightly panic as I answer by saying, "O-oh! That's nothing. I actually just got it yesterday. Don't worry, I just scratched my cheek a bit too hard..."

     Zak gives me a bit of a suspicious look and says, "I see..."

     I then suddenly pull away from him and get up, grabbing my backpack. I then say, "Well! I enjoyed my time here, but I think it's about time I go home now."

     "Oh, ok. Do you want me to walk you home?"

     "No, it's okay! I can go by myself. Well, see you Monday at school, bye!"

     I wave bye at him and leave his home before he could say another word. When I got home, I quickly go upstairs to my room, put down my backpack, and go to the bathroom that's connected to my room. I look at myself in the mirror to see the small cut on my face and sigh. I then wash my face, removing the makeup and revealing what was once a small cut into a bigger cut that goes through basically my whole cheek. It reaches close to my eye. I look at the scar. It's still healing. Hopefully, it's fully healed by the time I go back to school on Monday.

     Good thing most of the makeup didn't go away throughout the day. Who knows when that small part of the cut was revealed. Hopefully, I'm not questioned by Zak when I go to school next time. It will be too troublesome for Zak or even anyone to figure out the truth.