The meaning of Z

The meaning of strange

—3—

After the lunch situation, I threw my lunch away, not being hungry anymore, and went into the music room with Cyrus trailing behind me like a lost puppy. I am not sure why I always go to this classroom after lunch anymore at this point, maybe it's because it's a nice quiet place where I can just relax or maybe the teacher just gives me good vibes, but I am not really sure.

As we are walking down the hall I hear Cyrus complaining behind me which makes my head hurt slightly. "Why are we going to the music room again? You don't even play any instruments dude!" he whines as he runs to my side looking at me with a frustrated look on his face. "Because it is quiet and the teacher lets me", it's true the teacher Mr. Stone doesn't mind me being in there during lunch so i can just chill and read.

Though he has complained about Cyrus a couple of times since he is pretty loud and messes with the instruments.

I walk into the room and smell the normal coconut scent that Mr Stone always sprays in the room to cover the scent of sweat from students. I've always liked the smell of coconut so i don't mind much.

I soon see Mr Stone over by the wall of guitars with a bottle of cleaning spray in one hand a dish towel in the other cleaning off the stringed instruments. Cyrus quickly goes over the drum set by the window with a sly smirk and sits in the seat as he grabs the drumsticks and is about to hit one of the cymbals as stone quickly rushes to him and snatches the sticks out of his hands making cy go, "Heyy! I was gonna use those"

"Ha and make mine and zed's ears bleed? No thanks" he shakes his head in disapproval and walks over to me with a small smile. "Hey there zed, did you come in here to get your dose of reading?" he asked with his hands in his pockets with his smile still plastered on his face. I shake my head while smiling. "Yep you know me so well" i joke before continuing. "Well how is Preston and Parker doing?" I could see his smile grow bigger and his eyes sparkle when I mentioned his kids. He has two children, Parker who is a 9th grader and Preston who is a 12th grader, and I could tell he is very proud of them both.

"They are doing good i believe, preston has a wrestling meet today which they were super excited for" he said smiling as he looks over to his desk where a picture of him and preston sat in a yellow colored frame, the picture was took at their first match of the season and they both have big smiles on their faces. "And for Parker he is probably at lunch with his friend...but personality I think there more than friends" he said with a little laugh.

"You sure are proud of them aren't you?" I asked as I walked over to his desk to get a better look at the many pictures of his family. Most of them are of his kids, the rest are of him and Mr. Griffin the gym teacher,his husband. "I am proud of lots of things zed, and they are definitely one of them" he places a hand on my shoulder as he looks at me with a soft look in his eyes. "I am proud of you as well"

My eyes widen as I look at my teacher with confusion and shock. "Me? But I am just your student and I haven't really done anything to be proud of?" he shakes his head before heading back to his desk and taking a seat in his leather seat. "My favorite student for one" before i could try to protest he cut me off, "and yet, you haven't done anything to be proud of yet" i furrow my brows in confusion. What does he mean by that? There isn't really anything to be proud of me for? I mean soccer but he has told me that he knows i don't enjoy it so how could he be proud of it.

"Don't stress about it son, but i best get back to grading these tests and you better start reading before lunch ends" he tells me as i nod and sit on the floor against the wall.

I sigh as Cyrus comes over to me and sits next to me holding a bag of popcorn where I don't know how he got it. "What were you and stone talking about"? He asked as he shoves a handful of popcorn in his mouth, making me cringe. "Nothing really, don't worry about it." he shrugs as he continues to eat and I just sit there thinking about what Mr. Stone said and what it could have ment.