knife under my pillow [zack martin]

episode seventeen: rollin with the holmies

"whatever. look, everybody knows the best sport is hoops" zack says. marcus and i nodded in agreement. "really? i'm quite a good hoops player myself. maybe we could play a little 2 on 2. you guys against me and my boarding school chum; snivelly snotgrass" hartley says. i started laughing and then they looked at me. "is he called 'snot' for short?" i joked. "ha-ha" hartley said sarcastically. i glared at him. why is london hanging around this guy? "well you're on" marcus agreed to the challenge. "this is so exciting. the ugly americans vs the englanders" london says happily. "it's not 'englanders'. it's british" i correct her. "and you're american" zack tells her. "not for tax purposes" london said as she linked arms with hartley and the 'couple' walked away.

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zack had finished he and marcus got dressed to go play. i told zack i'd meet him there cause i was going there with dad. zack and marcus walked onto the court where they were going to be play... croquet! i got up from my seat next to dad and walked over to them. "yo guys!" i greet them. "hi" they both said. "wow, you look beautiful" zack says, i look at my outfit. "i was wearing this on the boat" i say, looking back at him. "i know. i am so glad you're mine" zack says, kissing my cheek.

"wow, these guys sure dress up to see a basketball game" marcus says, noticing the crowd. "uh guys" i say, but was cut off by hartley. "oh dear. by 'hoops' you obviously thought i meant that silly game played by freakishly tall people in baggy bloomers. any gentlemen would have known i meant a rousing game of croquet" hartley said, walking onto the court with his mate and london. "well, obviously they're not gentlemen" a guy, who i'm guessing is snivelly snotgrass, dressed the same way as hartley said while laughing. 

"shut up snivellius" i say, glaring at snivelly. he looked offended and walked off with hartley. "london, why are you hanging out with this d-bag?" i asked my best friend. "because there are only 24 people between him and the throne and if there's a really big earthquake at buckingham palace. i'm the queen" london tells us. "london" hartley called for her. "coming" london said walking away. "i was trying to tell you it was croquet but lord d-bag cut me off" i say. "it's alright" zack assures me, wrapping his arms around my waist "you're not mad i didn't tell you sooner?" i asked him, wrapping my arms around his neck. "not at all" zack said. he kissed the tip of my nose and we let go of each other. 

"come on marcus. let's beat these brit brats. hey give me one of those hammer thingies" zack says. "it's called a mallet" dad said as he walked over. "hey mr moseby. what are you doing here?" marcus asked. "ah, i'm a huge mallet head" dad answered. "you said it not me" zack said. "dad means he loves croquet. he also taught me how to play for some reason" i explained. "cool, can either of you tell us how to play?" marcus asked us two moseby's. "oh it's simple. the object of the game is to pass the ball through the prescribed circuit of 12 hoops and then strike the centre peg" dad explained. 

"if you wish to take a halfbisk, you must wait for a formal acknowledgment from the opponent" i add. "a wave, a wink, perhaps a tip of the cap" dad says before zack cut him off. "stop. hammer time" zack says, taking the mallet from dad and hit the ball. the ball flew and hit the queen. "do i get extra points for knocking the hat off that old lady?" zack asked, chuckling. "that was the queen dude" i tell him. she threw the ball back at us. "dang she's got an arm on her. nice throw lizzy" zack said chuckling again.

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it was time for the match. "good luck honey and marcus" i said giving marcus a hug and zack a kiss. "can i have one more for good luck?" zack asked, trying to score another kiss. "maybe the next round" i say and then sat next to dad in the stand. "hi dad" i greet. "hi sam. zack's not hurting you right?" dad asked me out of the blue. "no. he hasn't. he has never hurt me" i asked. "good. it's just i saw on the tv, a poor girl was abused by her boyfriend. i don't want you to be the one getting hurt." dad tells me. i look at dad, saw he looks sombre.