All For Money

All For Money - Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sorry for the big wait.

This chapter will be disappointing.

Sorrrrry. :c

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Chapter Twenty-Seven

Zack

"Nice hair, baldy."

"Mr. Kelly called, he wants his haircut back."

"Army wannabe."

"Your haircut sucks!"

I ignored all the remarks about my hair as I strolled down the hallway in silence. I actually had a hat over my head to prevent this, but I had to scratch and people got sight of it.

Now I was the laughing stock.

I still didn't understand why this was happening. Everybody gets haircuts in their life, and mine was just...short. So why were so many people laughing at me?

Oh. Now I remember.

THe new haircut made me lose all "smoothness" I've ever had. I've tripped five times in the hallway, two of them being tripped, and I got a detention for 'purposely' falling out of my chair, when, really, my chair was pulled out from beneath me.

I was losing it.

I checked my phone for the time and sighed in relief when I realized school was over after this class. That way, I could go to the hospital with my guitar and do what I had planned since apologizing.

I was going to sing to her.

I shuffled into my 8th period class and plopped down in my seat. Only a couple other people were here, but they were the ones who powerwalked so they could get in the room as quickly as possible.

I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms. I'd already gotten multiple warnings about taking my hat off, but I had lied to them, saying I had gotten it chopped off in a freak weed wacker accident instead of doing it myself.

Surprisingly, they all believed it.

 Many of my old friends were in this class. This is how we met, this class and football. We were always the ones known to the teacher as "the goof-offs in the back". History was my favorite class, not for the class, but for goofing off.

Now even Austin wouldn't be caught dead seen with me.

He gave me a wary glance before taking his seat. The whole lot of us were silent, and it was giving our hag of a teacher pleasure. I pulled out my textbook and homework from last night silently. I just wanted to leave.

I had my guitar in my car, and I knew what I was going to sing. I had rehearsed it all last night. I was actually a little nervous.

After a grueling History class full of staring and gossping, I made my way out of the school and to my car. I put my bag in the back seat, shut the door, and was about to climb in the front when a hand encirled around my neck.

Uh oh.

I was pushed into the brick wall, feeling my back pop against the hard pavement of the school. The hand of Jake, an ex-friend and fellow football player, tightened around my neck and i felt air getting harder to take in.

He sent a punch right to my eye, and I felt it throbbing.

I kicked him in the gut for him to get off of me, and he did. I glared at him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I shouted.

"Nobody who ditches us like that gets away with it," he growled, charging again. I body-slammed him into the cement and he groaned in pain.

I was bigger than him. This was stupid.

"I didn't ditch you. I cut my hair off to win back my girlfriend with cancer. You're such a tool, thinking I ditched you! Now scram, before I kick your ass!" I yelled. The football team were peeking their heads around the corner.

Austin was, too, looking guilty.

Jake walked away, rubbing his back with a look of agony. Everybody else followed him, except Austin. I glared at him. "What do you want?"

"Coach said you're off the football team. He claims if there's a person everybody sees as a joke on the team, we lose fans. He doesn't want to risk it. Sorry, man." He walked off, his hands shoved in his Letterman jacket's pockets.

I sighed, feeling under my eye. Yup. It was swollen. I growled and got into my car.

This haircut could take my sport and my friends, but it gained me my love, and that was all that mattered to me.

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Lexi

It was about five when Zack walked into my door.

I was alone, a fresh needle in my arm from my daily dose of the medicine that was supposed to kill my cancer, reading a book. It was cloudy outside, but I couldn't tell if it was cold or sunny. They wouldn't let me leave.

He was carrying a guitar case, a hat over his buzzcut, his right eye purple and swollen. I stared at it. Who had given him a black eye?

I repeated the question once he sat down next to me. He set his guitar down with a thud and leaned back in his chair, a look of disgust on his face. "Jake Weaver."

"Jake? I thought he was your friend!" I cried. Just before I got cancer I saw them laughing together on the football field.

"Nobody's my friend now," he sighed.

"Why not?"

"They all think I ditched them for loserville with the haircut," he growled, resting his cheek on his fist. I rubbed my eyes.

"They don't matter. All that matters is me and you. Agree?" I asked.

He looked up and smiled at me. "Of course. And that's part of the reason I brought my guitar. I was going to sing to you." He pulled it out and set it on his lap, strumming it and turning the knobs just a bit.

I smiled. "I can't wait."

He cleared his throat and began singing a song I knew well; it was one of my favorite songs ever, and Zack knew that. Your Guardian Angel by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

I had completely forgotten how amazing his voice sounded. It was like a lullaby mixed with a soothing deepness. I was smiling the entire time.

Somehow, I knew that the lyrics that he was singing to me actually meant something to him. He was directing it to me. He wanted me to know this was how he felt. It wasn't just a 'it's-your-favorite-song-so-I'll-sing-it'. 

It was true.

After he finished, the grin was premanently etched into my face. He couldn't help but smile as well.

"What'd you think?" he asked.

"I loved it."

"Good. That's what I was hoping for."

After that, we talked. About our family, our social lives, what had happened the week we'd been apart.

"You know, Zack," I started, looking at him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Fate's trying to tell us something. Our two break-ups should've have completely ridden each other of our existences. But we're still together and happy. That means that we were meant to be together." I had figured this out earlier today.

He smirked. "That's good news, because I didn't plan on leaving you ever again."

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6 to go.

Next chapter will be cute. c: