The illustrator, The writer || Skephalo FF

Chapter 10

Class started soon after Zak finished up in the Principals office, he had disappeared from the school altogether though after talking to the principal- his mind and body had decided that he needed to take a walk after that somewhat stressful talk. He may have seemed confident but inside his chest was pounding in anxieties.

The raven-haired boy let out a small breath of air, the mist flying up towards the cloudy sky in the winter breeze as he found himself at the park. Zak shivered slightly, cursing himself for not bringing a coat as he forced his hands further into the pockets of his hoodie; his fingers, cheeks and nose turning red from the cold. Zak walked for a little while longer before sitting down on the swing, with no one to watch or judge him, he just sat there and cried. Regretting his previous conversation as his mom would soon realise just how bad her son had gotten if he didn't hurry up and clean around his dorm. He let out a huff of air, standing up and wiping his eyes as he moved back to the school campus, walking stiffly to his room. Geez, why was it so cold?

The boy quickly found himself outside his dorm, his fingers messing numbly with his keys as he attempted to pull out his dorm key. Eventually he had successfully opened the door to his dorm and he quickly entered, rushing to turn on the heating and warm up. Zak checked his fridge and cupboards but didn't find any food... he'd have to go grocery shopping soon. He sighed as he began to clean, putting everything in the bin and wiping everything over with a cloth to remove all the previous dust and germs. Bending down to pick up cans of coke and chocolate bar wrappers and whatever else lay on the carpeted floor before moving to his bedroom to clean up in there. When Zak had finally finished, the dorm smelt like lemons and the whole 'house' was much better than when he first arrived, now to make sure his mom knew when to come. Fingers danced on the keyboard of Zak's phone as he messaged his mom. Asking her to dinner and to visit him for the next two weeks. The reply was almost immediate and kind of scared Zak.

He hummed as he shut off his phone, sitting down on his couch and turning on the tv, now it was time to distract himself for a bit. After around an hour of random TV shows and adverts, he decided he should start making dinner, he settled for something he learned in cooking class a few years ago and make homemade hamburgers. Not very formal but that's what Zak wanted. He put the patties on a trey and put them in the oven and sat back down on the couch, passing time by watching the TV, around halfway in, he got up and turned the burgers around before he heard a loud pounding on the door. In a rush, he turned the TV off and opened the door, greeted by caring, soft brown eyes and a quick embrace- Zak found himself face-to-face with his mother, who was overjoyed by the boy's invitation.

"Zak! Thanks for inviting me, honey," The woman said, dressed in a formal black suit with a skirt and black high heels, "I had to stop work early to get here on time but I'm happy to see you again!"

"Hey Mom," He smiled nervously before opening his mouth, despite his confidence before- his heart told him he wasn't ready for this but his head forced him to otherwise, "Yeah, I figured I shouldn't have been so harsh to you last time, especially since you made an effort to come all this way."

She smiles kindly at him as she follows him onto the couch, sitting-facing each other, "What's for dinner? Something homemade?"

"Yep, burgers, it's the recipe we got from school awhile ago so it should be a bit healthy!" Zak grinned, feeling better at his Mom's genuine friendliness; still slightly overwhelmed by the lack of shouting and annoyance though.

"Lovely, that sounds perfect, Zak," Her voice rang out confidently and calmly, almost as though she was actually praising him for once, or was she? "So I got a phone call from school, you're food diary's complete, eh?"

"Yep! I think I'm finally ready to put the past behind me and care for myself for once," He half-lies as he smiles shyly at her.

She falls for the bait and grins, a small hearty chuckle dispersing from her mouth as she continues, "I'm glad to hear, Zak. So how's baseball been?"

The room got silent and tense, Zak's mother not understanding why Zak got so stiff and frozen. The other boy tried to speak but no words came out to fill the silence and he looks to her as if trying to tell her with his eyes.

"Um, mom... I-" He stops, almost reconsidering and trying to choose his next words wisely, "I got kicked off the team."

"What? Why? You were so good!" Her voice rang loudly with anger until she looked back to her son, who seemed disheartened and upset. She lunges at him, her arms wrapping around him as a few stray tears roll down his cheeks, she whispers into his ear comfortingly, "It's okay, I'm sure it was a mistake, honey."

He pulls away and wipes his eyes with his sleeves, "No, it wasn't a mistake. I know what I did."

"Are you sure? I can always call up the school and try to setup a teacher-parent conference."

He shakes his head, "It's fine, mom. I just need to accept it and move on. Anyways, I suppose it's for the best, have you seen my grades?"

After the small joke between the two, Zak- with help from his mother- served up dinner and the two ate peacefully whilst sat at the small table.

"So, where's your little boyfriend? He was really nice," She wiggled her eyebrows as if to joke around but he just looked down with no notice.

"Oh about that... I think he's left me..."

She nods before doing a double take and coughing slightly, "What?"

"Yeah... We had a talk last night about us losing each other and when I woke up his morning their was a receipt and he'd gotten a no return plane ticket."

He looked away, ashamed and defeated, he really thought Darryl loved him... if he loved him why did he leave so abruptly?

His mother frowned at seeing her son's state, not exactly knowing his thought process but somewhat understanding the situation after all that's how Zak's father had left. It was a wonder that the boy didn't have commitment issues, knowing about his disappearing father.

"Oh, honey..." She gives him a loose look of encouragement and the two spend the evening watching movies and making conversation about whatever they could think about until his mother had to go home.

"Remember Zak, if anything happens I'm only one call away," she mumbles as she hugs him goodbye, "I'm sure your boyfriend will come back soon, maybe he just booked the wrong ticket, darling... Anyways I'm gonna go, Rocco's probably hungry."

-=-

Zak lay in bed- his own bed for once- his stomach grumbling in pain and before he knew it, he shot out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. The anxieties in his stomach being thrown up through his throat and mouth as he leaned over the toilet like the many other times.

'Please come back...'