Behind The Smile *[Skephalo Highschool AU]*

Chapter 10

WOAH. TWO POSTS RIGHT NEAR EACH OTHER??? AMAZING!!

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Zak's POV

I grab my backpack eagerly as the final bell of the day rings. For once, I was excited to go home. Well, not really excited. Just relieved.

Tonight my so called "step-brother" wouldn't be there. And unfortunately, Mia wouldn't be there either. They, including my mom, we're all spending time out for so called "family time". I wasn't invited due to my horrible grades, and my mom told me to spend this time doing homework.

Of course, I wasn't actually going to do that. To me, it was the perfect time to relax, and for once, get some sleep.

...

Butttttt then I remembered I had tutoring. Mentally slapping myself, I make my way to the normal classroom we usually do tutoring in. When I walk in, Darryl is already there.

"Hey BBH!" I greet him, giving him a grin. He looks up, and gives me a 'hello'. "Hey, I had a question." I start, and he gives me a look. "Do you think we could do the tutoring session at my house today..?" His look changes into one of confusion.

"I promise it's not that bad!" I exclaim, swinging my hands around like a maniac. He giggles. "Sure, I guess." he says. "YES!!" I start jumping up and down with excitement. His expression seemed blank, though.

We exit the classroom, and soon enough the building, walking in the direction of my house.

———

During the walk, I kept taking glances at Darryl, and he seemed...sad? Scared? No no, he definitely seemed scared. Why?

I shake it off, and soon enough we make it to my road. "Do you really walk that far everyday?" he mumbles just loud enough for me to hear. I nod, my usual grin not there.

We walk down the road quietly. At least we were quiet, you could hear many, many other noises coming from all around us. I ignore the noises and start skipping down the cracked sidewalk.

Darryl gives me a weird look, that soon turns into a laugh. A small blush appears on my face upon the laugh, but I ignore it and look away from him.

Soon enough, we make it to my house. It was a light blue on the outside, but the paint was peeling off, and it kinda looked like it was gonna fall at any moment.

I shrug and open the always unlocked door while Darryl examines the outside. But, if he didn't like that, then he should see the inside.

I walk in to the "homey" house and fling my shoes off. To my right, there was a door and a staircase. The door led to our one bathroom, and the staircase led to the second floor. Yes, my house had two floors.

To my left there was a small living room with a torn up couch, and glass, books, toys, and dangerous items scattered along the floor. In front of me, was the kitchen. It had dishes piled up inside the sink, and unsanitary counters.

But, it was my home, so I didn't mind. I look at Darryl, who seems to be examining the place.

———

SWITCHIN' POV'S PEOPLE

Darryl's POV

Zak's house sure was interesting. It wasn't the best house, and it was kinda dangerous looking, but at least he wasn't staying in the cold. "Come on, let's get some work done before my family gets home!" he says way too cheerfully. I smile at him and follow him up a set of stairs.

Upstairs, there's a short hallway with three doors. I'm not sure which door leads where, but Zak leads me to the one at the very end, so I'm assuming it's his room.

I follow in behind him, and see a split room. One side is really organized, and the other the opposite. Zak leads me to the more organized area. "Sorry, I share a room with my step brother, so his side is kinda messy. 'That makes more sense.'

He plops himself onto the hardwood flooring, and takes out his notebooks. "So what are we working on first?"

———

Soon enough, our tutor lesson ended. It was already dark, and Zak and I were just hanging out.

"Zak, didn't you say your family would be home soon?" I ask. I kinda wanted to meet his family.

"I mean, maybe. They're spending time together as a family, I don't really know when they'll get home," he explains, sounding annoyed. "Might as well enjoy the quiet while we can."

I just nod and pull out my phone, checking the time. "I should probably get home soon, it's already 8 PM." I say. Zak looks up at me with a sad face. "You can't leaveeeeee!" he whines. "Then I'll have nobody left but my family."

I place my notebooks I use for tutoring into my backpack, and start to stand up. Until I hear the front door slam downstairs and I freeze. Zak grabs onto my sleeve. "Hey...my family doesn't know your here. So please...don't go downstairs." he whispers, his whiny voice turning into one that sounded scared and sad. I shoot him a confused look before nodding.

"Won't your brother come upstairs though?" I ask, remembering they share a room. Zak shakes his head, then looks at the floor. "He spends most of his time downstairs. Most likely we'll have to sneak you out a window or something-" Zak starts before a loud bang is heard from downstairs. "I'll go check that out, just try to hide under my bed for now-" he says running out of the room.

———

Zak's POV

I quickly leave the room, leaving some random instructions for Darryl before I shut the bedroom door behind me. Most likely the bang was just a cabinet door shutting, but it could be anything else as well.

I reach the bottom of the stairs. My mother is in the kitchen making a peanut butter sandwich. Most likely for Mia's lunch tomorrow. Since my mom works all day, and Mia is too young to cook, my mom prepares her lunch and I make her breakfast before going to school.

Mia, upon seeing me, runs over to me. "Zak!" she squeals, jumping on me. I catch her before she falls and hoist her onto my hips. All the attention of the rest of my family shoots to me.

My mother, who seems to be too tired for this, is the only one who doesn't pay me any mind. Both Jake and Zarro have now noticed my presence.

Mia plays with my hair as Jake walks over to me. He places a hand on my head, which causes me to flinch slightly. "Hello Zak. Have you been studying while we were away?" he asks in a somewhat strict voice. I usually don't talk much around my family, so when he asks this all I can manage is a nod. "Good." he says before turning and walking away from me.

Mia has her head rested on my shoulder, which means she's tired. I use this as an excuse to slip away, and avoid getting into a fight with Zarro.

And I never found out what the bang was.

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Idk why this has over 200 reads. It's not that good of a book- but yeah here's a cool chapter. I haven't done Darryl's POV in a while so I wanted to include that. Anyway, bye bye people of the world!

Word Count (YAY!): 1248