The Life and Times of Zac Claxon

Chapter 4 - Neighbours.

"Oh God, I forgot my lunch money!" Someone squealed from in front of me, interrupting my train of thought.

Me being kind old me, I offered to pay.

"No no, it's alright, I can just pay the cafeteria tomorrow. They won't mind."

Naturally, I insisted, slapping a twenty dollar bill onto the counter. "Don't worry about it, it's just a piece of paper."

"A piece of paper that buys things!"

"Oh shush. Come on!" I said, heading to the sauce stand.

"Hey, you're the new kid aren't you? I'm Jessica"

"I'm Zac. You aren't the Jessica that Hazel is friends with are you?"

"Yupp that's me! You already met Hazel?"

"Yeah, and the rest of the group. You guys are waaaay nicer than the people at my old school. Not to mention prettier."

"Aww, thanks" she breathes quietly. It seems awfully quiet when I notice that Hazel is missing from the table. No wonder.

"Guys, where's Hazel?"

"BOOOOO!!!!" I jump about a foot in the air as I'm grabbed tenderly from behind. I'd know that voice anywhere; not to mention the sneaky look Christina had on when I asked where Hazel was.

"I have high blood pressure you idiot! Hazel you could have killed me! I could have had a heart attack or a stroke or something!"

"Really?" she gasped, her eyes lighting up.

"Nope." I replied, gleaming as I saw her face droop.

"It's okay Hazel, you could just get Jessica to threaten to murder you. That'd kill me!" I winked, and for that I got yet another playful slap, this time from Jessica. Hazel just stood there and blushed.

Sliding into the seat next to her, I slipped my arm around her waist.

"Errmm Zac... what are you doing?" she stated neutrally. Her voice gave nothing away, but her face did.

"This..." I whispered, and dug my fingers into her waist.

"BAHAHAAHAA ZAC!!!! STOP IT!!!! I TOLD YOU I HAD A TICKLING WEAKNESS!"

"It's not my fault you decided to tell me." I replied semi-apologetically.

"I'm going to get you back. You know that don't you? I. WILL. HUNT. YOU. DOWN. AND. KILL. YOU."

"I'm going to get you back. You know that don't you? I'm gonna like, so, like hunt you, like, down, and kill you!" Jake mimics in a high-pitched voice, about a million octaves higher than I've ever heard a human speak. "You guys are arguing like two sweet little lovebirds!"

This time both Hazel and I blush.

"Jake, have you ever tried singing opera? You'd do great with that squeal of yours." Hazel, ever the one for comebacks.

"Yeah she's right you know. You make a pretty convincing girl. So convincing that I'm beginning to doubt your male-ness..." Jessica chimes in.

"Would you like me to prove it?" Jake questions menacingly in a surprisingly low drawl.

"Christina, you check. I'm not even going to think about looking down a microscope around his area." Hazel piped in this time.

That one got the whole table roaring in laughter, and soon I got lost in my own thoughts. This place was much better than Switch! For once, people didn't care what you looked like, or where you were from, or what clothes you wore. This made a really big change from Switch, where people would interpret your completely normal actions differently just because you were from a different place. Or because of what your social status was.