✧❦Popularity❦✧ ➳ skephalo

.24.

Darryl's POV:

I smiled at Zak as I watched him walk down his sidewalk. I was sitting in my vehicle, tapping my fingers on the wheel. It was homecoming night, and I had driven over to his house to pick him up. We decided together that we didn't want to go out to eat since we wanted to order pizza afterward.

Zak had black dress pants, black dress shoes, white button-up, and a blue bow tie. He had black suspenders connected to his pants as well. I couldn't help but grin at his precious smile as he made his way to my car.

I noticed that I wasn't picking him up from his usual house. It wasn't the same house that he showed me the first day I visited his neighborhood. Instead, it was a home that seemed to be in a lot better shape in a way better neighborhood.

He opened the passenger door and hopped right in with his familiar gleaming smile. "Hey Skeps," I greeted happily, enjoying the new nickname that I came up with on the spot. "I like your bowtie."

Zak rolled his eyes. "I like your regular tie," He replied with a wink and a laugh. I smiled, starting up the car. Unlike Zak, I was wearing a formal tux with a red tie.

"I'm so excited, what songs do you think they're going to play this year?" I asked him curiously.

He shrugged. "Probably songs like Panini or Hot Girl Bummer," Zak answered unconfidently. "I wouldn't know, I've never been to Homecoming."

My eyes widened. "Wait, what? But you're a sophomore, right? Why didn't you go last year?" I questioned with shock.

Zak shrugged again. "I always thought it was some boring dance that the school hosts."

I shook my head. "No way! First of all, it's run by the Student Council, not the school, so it's fellow teenagers that set the thing up," I explained to him. "Second of all, it's far from boring! They hire a private DJ to play songs picked by the student body. So pretty much, it's us who picks the music."

Zak laughed. "Okay, okay! I guess I'll see for myself."

After around ten minutes of driving, I pulled up to the school. We got out of the car and began to make our way up to the front entrance. We saw some friends enter, so Zak waved at a few people while we pushed through the front doors.

"Woah-" Zak gasped after we entered the school. All the lights were off in the commons. There was a table that some teachers sat at, asking for tickets and such. I placed both of ours down on the table. The teachers gave us blue wristbands and we walked past them.

In the distance, we heard a sound coming from the gym. It was a song. "That's where the party is," I told Zak and practically speed-walked down to the entrance of the gym.

"Holy shit!" Zak exclaimed when he saw all the people.

A bunch of people, maybe a couple of inches away from each other, jumped up and down to the lyrics of some older rap song that was blasting through the speakers. Laser-like lights shone everywhere, occasionally blinding you if it hit your eyes at the right angle. On stage stood a DJ and a couple of popular senior girls.

"I told you they're not boring!" I yelled over the music, grabbing onto his hand and pulling him into the crowd. Through lots of pushing and shoving, we finally made it halfway to the center of the circle.

"We should dance!" Zak shouted just barely loud enough for me to hear. "Wait, hold on!" He reached over and pulled my glasses off of my face. "You look too formal with those on!" He explained.

"Promise you'll take good care of those?!" I asked him.

"Of course! Wait... I think I recognize this song!" He told me.

Suddenly, everyone started jumping up and down with their hands in the air. Everyone started to shout the lyrics to the song in sync. "WE AT THE HOTEL, MOTEL, HOLIDAY INN!!!"

Zak began to jump up and down with them, joining in on the repetitive lyrics. I did as well, screaming along with a smile. We both danced and sang our hearts out, listening to our voices slowly break and feeling sweaty bodies run into our sides. Every one in a while a foot would step on mine, but I didn't mind one bit. All that mattered was how much fun Zak and I were having, and so far it was a blast.

Eventually, I started to feel sick from the nonstop out-of-breath screaming and jumping we did. The air was slightly stuffy with the number of hot bodies and shining lasers. "I think I'm going to take a breather!" I yelled over the music.

"Okay, I'm going to keep dancing!" Zak shouted back in reply.

I nodded, pushing my way out of the circle. I passed grinding couples, couples making out, groups of friends dancing together, and more. I made my way out of the gym, feeling the cool breeze of the air conditioners meet my hot face.

I walked down the hall towards the drinking fountains, the picture of the world slightly blurry from the loss of my glasses. The front curls of my hair stuck to my forehead because of my sweaty skin.

I made it to the drinking fountains, pressing the button and leaning over to taste the water. I felt the cool water travel down my dry throat, soothing its drought.

After taking a drink, I realized I needed to use the bathroom. I winced when I saw the line leading to the main bathrooms, so I decided to head to the bathrooms that were near the back end of the school.

Around three minutes later, I made it to a bathroom that was barely used. But when I pushed open the doors, I saw two boys that I knew.

Vincent and Clay, with connected lips.

I immediately covered my mouth with my hand and left the bathroom. I smiled to myself, deciding that I needed to find Zak to tell him about the news.

Running back to the gym and searching through the crowds of people, I couldn't find the baseball boy. "ZAK!" I shouted among the people, knowing they wouldn't mind because of the blasting speakers.

I couldn't find him after five minutes of searching. Ten minutes of searching. Fifteen minutes of searching.

I shook my head, grabbing my phone and deciding to text him, despite knowing he probably won't answer.

Twenty minutes. Twenty-five minutes.

After half an hour, I see his body lifted above everyone. People held him above their heads with their arms, allowing him to crowd-surf across the gym. He's laughing, but I can't share his happiness anymore.

This was supposed to be our night, instead, he spends it with the popular juniors and seniors. I grunted, trying not to be mad at him for having fun.

I looked down at the ground to calm myself down. That's when I see it. An all too familiar item laying shattered on the floor.

My glasses.

People probably stepped on them so much that they were broken and cracked everywhere. I felt like crying at that moment, knowing how expensive glasses were. I knelt down, scooping everything I could into my palms.

He promised he would take good care of my glasses! I thought to myself. I bit my lip and rushed out of the gym, feeling eager to leave the stupid party. I should've known better than to ask him out. He obviously doesn't feel the same way back. He sees me as a friend.

That's when I felt a tear run down my cheek. I wasn't crying because of the glasses, I was crying because my heart was broken. I thought Zak and I were going to be a couple. I thought he liked me back. But now I see that he doesn't really see me as a date, but a friend to go with. A friend that he ditches halfway through the party.

I left the school, sitting down on the steps outside and dropped the pieces of my glasses on the cement. They were worthless anyway. I can't get a discount for bringing back small shards of glass and metal.

Both my heart and my glasses were broken, but only one of them felt like it could be fixed.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Poor Darryl.