The days leading up to Friday, I felt my mind was consistently dwelling on the same thing repeatedly. How I made myself look like a fool, getting trapped with Zac, and how Zac defended me towards his own sister.

These thoughts were constantly gnawing away at my brain. Often I found myself zoning out in class. I would drift into a cloud of endless thoughts. Sometimes it felt like I wasn't living presently with everyone else, I was stuck on the events that had occurred in the past.

I put all the effort in trying to avoid Zac. Something in me was telling me to avoid him, I felt like I couldn't face him or talk to him.

It was a dull Friday afternoon and I had two hours left, till the end of the school day. Luckily I had no classes, in my mind it was easy to escape and hide away from the likes of Zac.

Whilst in my own world, I wondered down the halls of the school, till I was stopped by Zac calling from behind.

I came to a halt, wincing my eyes shut. It was impossible for me to make a swift exit. I had to awkwardly stand there, waiting for him to approach me.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" Zac asked as he came face to face with me.

"Avoiding? What makes you think that?" I awkwardly replied, chuckling nervously and fidgeting around with my fingers.

"In business you've barely spoken to me and don't think I haven't noticed that every time I approach you, you walk the other way."

My nervous chuckle continued to jitter from my mouth. I began to stutter because it was true, but I didn't want to admit it.

"Come on, let's go sit in a study room." Zac extended his arm to walk ahead.

"I have class." I lied, cringing on the inside.

"Don't bother lying, I know you have two hours free." Without saying another word, Zac began to walk ahead, which caused me to follow him.

We soon managed to find an empty study room. We took our seats opposite each other, from across the table.

"How you been feeling, since... you know..." Zac subtly asked, his words slowly fading not wanting to say the words he wanted to say.

My head inched downwards, embarrassment masked my brain. I wanted to forget about what happened. I could feel Zac staring intently at me.

"I rather not talk about it." I mumbled.

"Why?"

"Just... it was embarrassing-"

"Embarrassing?" Zac interrupted, with confusion in his tone. "There's nothing to be embarrassed. We all have our fears. You panicked, so what?"

I managed to lift my head up and I saw the sincerity in Zac's face. His brows relaxed and his lips slightly upwards in a smile, his whole demeanour was friendly and it was different seeing this side to him.

"And what about on Monday?" I pondered, remembering how he stood up to me in front of his own sister.

"What about Monday?" He confusingly responded.

"You literally shouted at Lexi to apologise to me?" I mentioned.

His posture slightly changed, he sunk into his seat. "Yeah? So? She was being rude to you."

"She's said a lot of shit to me over the years and you never said anything before." I smugly replied with my brows lifting in an intriguing way.

"Anyway forget about it." Zac abruptly responded trying to brush away the conversation. "I've been doing some thinking on our project, and I designed a logo for our business and I've come up with a name."

I shook my head at his sudden change of conversation. Zac reached into his bag and got his notepad, placing it in front of me. I was taken back by the logo he had designed. It was a minimalist camera and paintbrush intertwined together, with our business name; Z&H creations.

"Did you draw this?" I asked still admiring the simplicity of it all.

"Well I designed it on the computer. Do you not like it? You're the artist, if you don't like it we can change it." Zac replied showcasing that he was proud of what he has created, yet he cared for my opinion.

"No, I love it. It's amazing and simple, it's perfect. Our business name is good as well." I gushed.

We fell silent as we were delighted with the slight progress we made for our project. It was now starting to feel slightly easier and bearable working with Zac. There was a calming silence surrounding us, my eyes darted towards the logo and then back to Zac.

"What's going on here?" A menacing tone screeched into the room.

We both shot our heads towards the door, to see Melissa standing, like the judgmental person she was. We were so clouded in our own bubble, we didn't realise the door to our study room shot wide open.

"We're doing work. What's it to you?" I snapped, rolling my eyes towards her.

"You guys look a little comfortable-"

"Just leave us alone and go." I exclaimed, rolling my eyes.

"Whatever." She scoffed. "See ya Zac."

She shifted her eyes up and down towards Zac, smiling quite devilish and slowly leaving us. My eyes snapped towards Zac who looked like he was in a trance. I waved my hand in front of him and he abruptly snapped back to reality.

"What's the deal with you and Melissa?" He asked as he came out of his staring trance.

"I rather not talk about her." I ignored his question and motioned to carry on working.

We soon drifted in and out of conversation, slowly starting to build our business project. It felt like we were slowly inching up towards the high mountain of success.

***

"So what movie do you want to watch?" Ruby planted herself on my bed, shoving a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

I was deep in my own thoughts, my brain didn't acknowledge to respond. I snapped out as Ruby started to shake me.

"Huh? What?" I mumbled.

"I said what movie. What's wrong? You seem out of it. Come on this is suppose to be a fun sleepover and you're in your own world thinking." Ruby exclaimed like a giddy child, shaking me.

"Just thinking." I briefly mentioned.

"About?"

"I feel like I'm seeing a different side to Zac-"

"Woah, woah, woah." Ruby stopped me from speaking. "Why the hell are you thinking about Zac on a Friday night. Girl? Are you okay?"

Ruby placed her hand on my forehead and on my cheeks, mockingly trying to take my temperature as if I wasn't feeling well.

"I'm fine." I chuckled pushing her hands away. "It's just that he seems different. I think it's been some time since he's taken the piss out of me."

Ruby froze in front of me, sitting very still, it looked like she was processing the words I was saying.

Ruby then grabbed the remote and started flicking through the movie selection on the tv. "Yeah let's just forget about him. So I was thinking we could watch-"

"You know when I had my asthma and panic attack." I resumed my own thoughts not letting Ruby finish her sentence. "I didn't think he would help me. He really surprised me. It was weird, I felt calm around him-"

"Yeah okay, so what movie-"

"And then he stood up for me in front of his own sister. I mean he barely did anything, but he told her to apologise to me-"

"OMG HANNAH STOP!" Ruby snapped.

I shook myself at the sudden rise in Ruby's voice. My eyes widened at the sudden change of atmosphere around us. It felt like you could have cut the tension with a knife. Slowly, I nodded my head waiting for Ruby to say something.

"You're talking and thinking about Zac a little to much." Ruby narrowed her eyes, cocking her head to the side, waiting for me to reply.

I nodded my head in disagreement. "I'm not?"

"Yes, you are. You keep interrupting me talking about what happened. Before you never even gave him the time of day to think about him."

I quickly opened my mouth to respond, but no words came out. I didn't know what to say. I was lost for words.

"Everything okay? There's nothing you need to tell me right?" Ruby asked in a concerned tone.

"There's nothing. Everything is fine. Let's just pick a movie." I brushed the awkward tension and questions away.

Whilst Ruby was going through the selection of movies, I was back into my own world of thoughts. Her voice was muffled and felt distant. My ears were blocking out the words.

I couldn't pinpoint why I was thinking like this. I would often find myself going back to what happened in the basement and then back in school. My mind was like a revolving door, going round and round over the same thing.

Both events were connected to Zac. A lot of confusion was soaring through my head. I didn't want to think about him, but it was like I was automatically pulling thoughts of him from the very back of my brain, to the front and centre.

There was a new side to Zac that I was seeing, and for the first time, thinking about him didn't make me want to gouge my brain.

The fact that he saw me in a vulnerable state, yet he didn't make fun or tease me for it, showed the real him. It showed his caring side.

All of a sudden, it feel like there was a rise in temperature, heat was ejecting from my face. I peered over to my mirrored desk, situated towards my left. A small gasp is let out from my mouth, I noticed I had gone slightly flushed in the colour pink.

Was I blushing? Why was I blushing?

On top of heat emerging from me, my stomach felt light, as if something was floating around. Why was I feeling like this? I took a nervous gulp and side eyed towards Ruby, making sure she didn't notice me.

If was wasn't dazed and confused before, I most certainly was now.

A/N

What are your thoughts about this chapter?

I feel like I'm going over the same thing, but I don't want to rush into anything, trust me it'll get better!

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Love _xxAMxx