What We Take Away

Chapter 6 | Zac

"Looking at the answers won't help you, you know," he chides nasally from the bed.

"Yeah, I know," I mutter angrily.

Standing, I throw my pencil onto the desk. I need a distraction.

"Bathroom," I say, not at all intending to go to the bathroom.

"Uh-huh," he drones. Lee's light blue eyes bore into me with judgment. I swear he has no soul.

I turn out of the room and begin to walk down the hall towards Cassie's room. Her door is propped open like usual. I grip both sides of the frame with my hands and lean into her room, stretching the tired muscles I worked earlier in the morning.

"Hey," I grin, tilting my head towards the guitar.

She looks up at me from her desk, where she's hunched over a mountain of books and papers. A giant thermos of coffee sits on top of a stack of papers. Christ. Does she ever stop?

She waves me inside, but I can tell she's preoccupied. Her roommate Sabrina sits at the second desk, silently bopping her head to some weird French music. Her volume is turned up so loud I can hear it through her massive headphones.

I unzip the guitar case and sit in my usual spot, in the chair by their mini fridge. I'm able to play five different chords now, which Cass says is all I really need for most songs. I strum a new chord I've been wanting to try – I get it on the first attempt, but Cass doesn't react. I glance up and see her face is pinched tight with concentration... She's quiet today. And she looks the way I feel after Coach's hellish upper body drills.

"You seem tired," I observe, plucking the strings lazily.

Her dark eyes flick towards me for a brief second.

"I'm fine."

Her tone is tight as she resumes staring at her screen. Her shoulders are hiked up to her ears and both her knees are drawn up to her chin. Tension is basically screaming from her body. How does she sit like that? I wriggle my shoulders involuntarily and chew my lip. Finally, I set the guitar down.

"Move over a sec," I say, walking towards her.

"What? Why?"

"I wanna show you something."

Her brows knot together in confusion. Stepping forward, I lean over her shoulder. She doesn't move aside, comfortable with my proximity.

"Have you ever heard of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy?" I ask, typing something into her search bar.

"...Big Bad what?"

"Big Bad Voodoo Daddy."

"No. Why are you—"

"I think you'll like this."

When I find what I'm looking for, I turn the volume up and whirl around. I grab a hairbrush from one of the girls' dressers and pretend like I'm Frank Sinatra, twirling the brush like it's a microphone while lip syncing the words.

"What... are you doing?" she asks slowly, eyeing me strangely.

"Dancing!"

I spot a cowboy hat hanging in her open closet and reach for it, sticking it on my head. I know I must look stupid, but when the corners of her mouth begin to lift, I feel a surge of triumph. I shimmy my shoulders and rock step back and forth, throwing myself into the swing music.

Cassie's shoulders drop as she smiles a real smile – I didn't notice it before, but there's a tiny dimple under the corner of her mouth. Grinning, I tap Sabrina on the shoulder to get her to join the fun. Sabrina whirls around, her eyes wide with mirth.