Zoey 101: All Or Nothing ☑

Chapter 2

Zoey POV Continued......

He laughed. “Yeah, it’s so funny.”

“Uh-huh.” Lola wrinkled her nose. “It’s adorable that you have that in common.”

“Common!” Chase crowed. “I know I ain’t the queen o’ England, but I ain’t common.”

This was another line from the show.

“A common nuisance, you are!” we both finished.

Lola looked at us like were aliens. Quinn seemed amused.

We talked a little more about our summers, and when it was time to go, I made sure Chase knew where he was going next. This time when he said, “See ya later,” I found myself not dreading the idea. It was pretty cool to have someone around here who didn’t like the same things as everybody else.

Lola laughed as we put our trays on the conveyer belt. “So you and your new boyfriend seem to have a lot to talk about.”

“Stop it! You know he’s not my boyfriend.”

“I know that, but everybody else in the cafeteria seemed to notice your little lovefest.”

She was probably right. People were most likely making comments about our overanimated conversation. But I really didn’t care. It would be a welcome change from everything else people had whispered behind my back over the past year.

Uncle Darryl was waiting for me after school to take me home. He was always excited to see me, even if he’d dropped me off only a few hours ago.

“How was your first day?” he asked while his arms wrapped tightly around me.

“Good!” I reassured him.

“All right.” He grabbed my backpack and started walking me to his car.

Chase was getting into an SUV with a woman I assumed was his mom. He said something to her and she started to walk over to us. With some reluctance, he followed. A knot began to form tightly in my stomach. I always got defensive whenever anybody met Darryl for the first time.

Uncle Darryl is an amazing person and everybody in town loves him. He’s friendly, outgoing, always willing to lend a hand. But he was born with a speech deformity, so when he talks, his speech sounds a little slurred. I’m not exactly sure what it’s called, but the back of his throat doesn’t close properly, so it can be difficult to understand him sometimes.

When I was little and I asked what was wrong with Uncle Darryl, Mom made it clear that there was nothing “wrong” with him, he spoke differently because of a birth defect. So I took it at face value. Then, two years ago, I was walking home from the park when these boys started asking how my “retard uncle” was doing. I yelled, “He’s not retarded, he just talks funny.” I came home in tears and told my dad what had happened. That’s when he informed me that Darryl was developmentally disabled. My parents thought I already knew. But what did I know? He drives, has a job, and lives in his own house (right across the street from ours). His life isn’t really that different from ours.

I held my breath as she introduced herself to Darryl and me, worried that, like some other people, she’d do something wrong. “Hi, Zoey, I’m Chase’s mother. Thank you so much for being welcoming to Chase today. It’s hard to move halfway across the country and start fresh at a new school.” She had the same long Black hair as Chase, but hers was pulled back into a high ponytail. She had on yoga pants and a hoodie. It looked like she was coming back from the gym. Even without makeup on, she was absolutely gorgeous.

“Mom,” Chase groaned, no doubt trying to prevent her from telling his whole life story.

She turned toward Darryl. “And you must be her father.”