Zah (Isaiah 'Zay' Babineaux Fanfic)

Chapter 2

She waited for him to leave then walked over to their group. She coughed.

"Excuse me?" No one seemed to hear her. She suddenly felt small and alone. This must be how he feels she thought. She licked her lips and raised her voice.

"EXCUSE ME?!" They suddenly went quiet and turned to her. She swallowed. Ever happy Riley, confident Maya, hee haw Lucas, unique know it all Farkle and smarty pants Smackle stared at her, silent.

"Well... this is awkward." It seemed they hadn't quite grasped the fact that she was talking to them. Their mouths hung open as they stared at her in shock. Even Maya was speechless. She  coughed again. Riley broke first.

"Uh... hi! I'm Riley, these are my friends Maya," she gave a small dazed wave.

"Lucas,"

"Hi." He grinned. She smiled back.

"Farkle and Isadora." They both stared at her, silent. She sighed.

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything. I come in peace. First off, classes have already started so..."

"Farkle and I have a free period." Maya and Farkle fist bumped while the rest groaned about being late, about to rush off to class when she stopped them.

"Wait! That isn't all."

"What's up?" The ceiling. She sniggered to herself, gaining more confusion from her classmates who she had never talked to.

"Well... it's about your friend."

"Who?"

"I don't know his name. The dark one I guess. He seems a bit... off. I don't know. He seems kind of depressed. And you guys are kind of ignoring him and stuff so... I just wanted to tell you cause i feel like no one should be sad like that when they have friends." She smiled nervously.

"Anywaygottagobye!" She ran off before they could respond and let out a sigh of relief. She had a free period too which she was obviously gonna spend on the internet.

"Wow." Lucas echoed their thoughts out of the blue. They nodded and mumbled in agreement. There was a tense silence. They knew she was right but they didn't want to admit it.

"She's right." Maya spoke for the first time since the girl had came over. It hit them all hard. They had been ignoring Zay. One of the greatest guys in the whole world. Their discovery shocked them.

"How could we have done that. It sounds impossible but it's true!"

"Poor Zay! We're all idiots." There was another silence.

"What do we do?" They discussed and left for their classes when they heard the bell ring. During lunch, Riley ran to him and hugged him. He stiffened. She stepped back, disappointed. He was confused and extremely vexed honestly. They had all been bothering him during class. Maya would whisper jokes to him, Lucas would grin at him from time to time, Smackle would throw things at his head, Farkle would try to make small talk. He had no classes with Riley that day and yet there she was being weird and hugging him.

The depression was too deep to be healed in just a day of them being nice. Every time he saw Lucas he would remember how they were about to have a movie night in his house when he left to talk to Riley, promising he would be right back. He waited for Lucas for hours, the movie untouched before falling asleep. The next day Lucas and Riley talked excitedly about an amazing movie they had watched. A movie they were supposed to watch. But he decided to ditch him for his girlfriend apparently.

Farkle was supposed to help him study for his Chemistry quiz but he never showed up. He texted about how he had a date with Smackle and hoped He would understand. He got a D.

Maya was no different. She had no boyfriend but she was always too busy hanging out with Lucas or Riley or anyone other than him basically.

Then all of a sudden they're all trying to talk to him after months of ignoring? He rounded them up and folded his arms.

"What's up with all of you?" They frowned.

"We're just being your friends Zay, that's all-" Riley was cut off by a cold laugh and a sneer.

"Friends? Please Matthews don't use that word." Matthews?

"W-w-why?" He smirked.

"Simple. I don't have any."

"Any apples? Any bags? Any cats-"

"Any friends Hart." They backed up. This was not Zay.

"Zay, this isn't you." He rolled his eyes.

"People change Frair. You did. For the better. What's wrong with changing for the worse?"

"B-but Zay, you're perfect just the way you are-"

"I'm as imperfect as you're an idiot."

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU-"

"Stay out of this Frair. We certainly wouldn't want what happened in Texas to repeat itself. I mean your already a year older. No need to add another." Lucas clenched his fists. Maya held his hand. It's not like they were together or any thing. It was a simple reflex. And it calmed him.

"Riley is not an idiot Zay. You need to aplogise-"

"But she is Minkus. I mean, you're all idiots but she's the biggest of them all." He wasn't talking about idiocy based on intelligence or friendship. He was talking about it based on their optimism. How they saw the world. Riley was the worst of them all. She was always so happy. She didn't even know about the pain and suffering and poverty in the world until they told her according to Lucas. A ray of sunshine that barely ever went dark. How did she do it? How?

"Zay I..." He stared at Riley with cold eyes. She shrunk back, feeling small and useless. He opened his mouth to say something but let out a humourless chuckle instead and walked straight through them, squeezing past Lucaya and Smarkle.

To anywhere but here me?

To anywhere but here Zay.

The girl was no where to be found. They all stared at Riley. She burst into tears. She ran into Maya's arms, sobbing.

"Maya... I'm not an idiot... am I?"

"You're not sweetheart. Zay's just being a jerk." They stared at Zay leaving. His head and eyes were forward. People in the hallway were literally making a path for him. Even the seniors.

I must look really dangerous or something. Cool.

Not cool. Not cool at all.