*here's a Zach-themed chapter because I love you guys*
Zach woke up on June 10th in a good mood. He was another year older and was happy the summer had arrived. That meant no having to go to school, make up any work, and they could stay out late if they wanted to.
He rolled over and checked his phone. He already had multiple "Happy Birthday" texts from his friends. Bailey sent him three different gifs, Logan sent Happy Birthday with multiple emojis, and Dylan sent gifs and a selfie of himself for some reason. He turned off his "do not disturb" mode and almost immediately got a phone call from Clara.
"Hey."
"Happy Birthday, Dude!" Clara exclaimed into the phone.
"What happened to calling me 'bitch'?" Zach joked.
"Your birthday happened and I've decided to be nice to you."
"Aww, you do have a heart," Zach fake swooned.
"I will scoop your eyeballs out with a spoon," Clara threatened.
"Are you threatening me with a spoon?"
There was a pause. "Touché, jerk."
"If you think I'm gonna call you a bitch, it ain't happening. I'm more of a gentleman than that."
Zach heard obnoxious laughter come from the other side of the phone. He bitchfaced the phone even though no one could see him.
"I'm messing with you, Zach. Anyways, I'll see you later."
"Kay, bye, love."
"Bye, babe."
He hung up the phone and went to the bathroom. When he was finished, he went downstairs. There was a gift sitting on the middle of the table for him.
His sister, Rachel, punched him in the shoulder. "Happy Birthday, Old Man."
"I'm, like, a year older than you."
"Which still makes you older than me. Anyways, Mom's in the kitchen making breakfast and Dad's watching something in the living room."
He walked by his mom to grab a water from the fridge. His mother pulled him into a tight hug.
"Happy Birthday, my beautiful boy."
"Thanks, Mom."
He sat at the table and stared at the present. It was medium-sized and flat.
"That's from me, so you better appreciate it," Rachel said while eating a pancake. "I spent good money on it."
He opened the gift carefully. Zach ripped apart the wrapping paper to reveal a green hoodie. It was still in the plastic packaging so he had to take scissors to cut it.
The hoodie had a Metallica logo on it.
"How'd you-"
"We listen to the same playlist. And I know you."
Zach hugged his sister. "Okay, you big lug, you're crushing my airflow."
He immediately slipped on the hoodie and sat at the table. His mother was beginning to put out bits of breakfast for everybody to dig into. Zach grabbed a biscuit with gravy and a piece of greasy bacon.
It was delicious. Zach then went upstairs to shower and change into day clothes. He'll never admit it because Clara would never let him live it down, but Dove body wash works wonders. He didn't care if he smelled like a girl. At least now, his skin was slightly soft and didn't break out as much.
He blames Clara. They stayed over at Bailey's a few times and he forgot to bring his own soap with him. Bailey told Zach that he could use the shampoo but if he touches the body wash, then he better look out. There was a reason Bailey was a bodyguard after all. Clara, being sympathetic, lent him some of hers and he's never gone back.
Zach brushed his teeth and grabbed his shirt to put it on. He looked down at the scars plaguing his chest.
They're the reason why his mom is so involved in birthdays. When Zachary was born, the doctors didn't know if he was going to make it. He had surgery right then and there.
And then again and again. And then recently, his mom has been especially uptight. He's happy to have a new heart though.
"Maybe," he thought. "Maybe it will last this time."
He touched the purple mark before finally pulling the shirt on, no longer wanting to be reminded of his pain. He slipped his new hoodie over his head and walked out of the bathroom.
His family was waiting for him. Zach knew they were surprising him but not sure with what. The only thing he knew was to get his ass in the car.
Zach sat in the back with his sister. They engaged in some small talk before Zach ended up mumbling song lyrics and staring out the window.
"Wait," he said. "This is the way to...Clara's?"
His parents just smiled as they pulled into the neighborhood. They stopped in front of Freddie's and Clara's house. Freddie and Clara stood outside. Freddie politely waved to them. Clara hugged him and ran to the car. She put her bag into the back and climbed in.
"Hey, birthday boy. Surprise."
"Hey," Zach gasped unexpectedly. He cleared his throat. "You're coming with us?"
"Yep. You get to deal with my annoying self for the next day."
Zach looked down and smiled. "I'm glad you're here."
"Shut up." Clara cheeks were turning pink.
"Hey, Clara!" Rachel waved at her.
"Hey, Rach! Hey, Mr and Mrs Hill. Thanks for having me."
"It's our pleasure, Clara."
They got the show on the road. Zach's parents learned a few things. One, teenagers have a lot of inside jokes and references. They still don't understand where "roadwork ahead? Yeah, I sure hope it does," comes from. Two, Clara is a very nice person and tries to have conversations with everybody. Three, the best way to embarrass Zach is with childhood memories.
"Clara," Zach's mom said. "Has Zach ever told you the story of his fifth grade trip to the zoo?"
"No, Mom, she doesn't need to-"
"He was fine and happy until he saw the naked mole rats. He saw those and started crying and trying to run away."
Clara was snickering.
"Okay, for everyone's information, those beady-eyes demons are fricking terrifying. And, that never happened," Zach defended.
"I think I have it on video."
Another thing they learned is that if you play songs from musicals, the teenagers don't assign certain parts to each other to make life easier. They just sing every single part themselves and attempt to sing five different parts at once. They figured that out with Nonstop.
(Fun fact: real life Zach is not a Hamilton fan. But I am so he can suck it :b).
The last thing they learned is that teenagers are absolutely adorable when they sleep. Rachel and Clara fell asleep on Zach. He ended up falling asleep holding Clara's hand and his head leaning against Rachel's.
Zach's mom snapped a picture of the moment. She loved her kids, even the one that wasn't hers.
They reached their destination within an hour. She shook Rachel awake her woke up Zach who woke up Clara.
"Where are we?"
"You know how you've been asking to revisit the aquarium since you were eight?"
"Yeah, of course. It's one of my favorite places," Zach inquired.
"Well..."
"You didn't."
"Surprise!"
Zach tried to hide his excitement but his twitching hand and large grin said otherwise. When he got out of the car, he hugged both his mom and dad.
"I love you two."
He then took a step back and looked at Clara. He mouthed, "did you know?" and she nodded while shrugging and smiling.
"You crazy kids go. We'll catch up at the entrance."
Zach didn't need to be told twice. He basically had a death grip on both his sister's and girlfriend's hands as he sorta dragged them along. The two got the memo and ran with him.
The three took several selfies in front of a penguin statue. The parents got them all checked in.
"I wanna see the sea otters," Zach said.
"Sea otters?" Clara cocked her head to the side.
"Of course! Dolphins are slightly overrated and sea otters are just so... cute and fluffy."
"Are you having a fangirl moment?"
"Shut up. Sea otters have such cute faces. One could tear my face off and I would thank him."
The otters were located in the Cold Water exhibit, next to the belugas and puffins. Clara was kinda amazed by the belugas. They were beautiful. Not her favorite but they were a close third. She saw Zach's face light up when he saw the otters. She was also pretty sure he was visibly vibrating.
"They're so cute. Not as cute as a sacoglossan sea slug."
Clara tilted her head.
"Besides the fact they're cute," Zach began, "they're pretty cool creatures. Sacoglossans can literally decapitate itself and regrow its whole body. On top of that, they have the abilities to photosynthesize. Like plants, kinda. It comes from the algae they eat but they are able to maintain their own chloroplasts. It takes less than a month."
(A/N: I apologize for the boring speech.)
"You know a lot about them. It's cool to hear about."
"Did I just bore you to death?"
"No," Clara defended. "I could do the same thing to you about manatees. It's just fun to hear you speak passionately about something you like."
"Well, thanks."
They continued on to the other parts of the aquarium. Clara loved the penguins and the shark exhibits. Rachel loved all of it as a whole. The three teenagers basically dragged each other around the aquarium. And they ended up stuck at the Giant Pacific Octopus section cause they watched it try to figure out how to get food out of a puzzle toy. They even got to see a sacoglossan sea slug to Zach's excitement.
They then scurried through the gift shop and Clara had to convince Zach to get something for himself. He grabbed a stuffed animal shark. Clara got herself a manta ray hoodie and Rachel grabbed a dolphin snow globe.
When they left the place, they grabbed Subway as a quick lunch on the way home. They planned on having something bigger later for supper.
The teenagers resorted to showing each other memes on their phones until they got home. They went home and Clara was told to distract Zach so he wouldn't go inside just yet.
"I'm gonna go in. You can't stop me."
"I will attack you like a linebacker and then sit on you when I'm done."
Logan, Bailey, Dylan, and Cameron all showed and up and ended up being let inside. They all carried some sort of box and ended up making two trips back and forth to get stuff in.
Zach tried to make a run for it.
Clara attempted to get him down. She did but he ended up pinning her and getting back up.
And that's when Rachel said it was okay for them to go in, she was greeted with Zach struggling against Logan who was sitting on his back like a paperweight on a stack of papers.