The Lucky Bump

Chapter 9 | M. I. A.

Walking into class late, Zac knew his coach would make him suffer for it later. He just didn't care anymore. Zac didn't find it in him to show up on time. He didn't want to run into Hailey either. He wanted to rewind time and pretend that he didn't make a mistake. One that he truly regrets.

It had been about a month since he last talked to Hailey. She's called him a few times but he ignores her. He doesn't know how to face her after knowing what he did. He blames Nate. It was all his fault.

Speaking of him, he's been in and out of town. Nate was off with his dad doing business most of the time which allowed Zac to slightly breath. He didn't want to deal with drama of liking the same girl. But, he did know that he needed to apologize to Hailey for ignoring her but he just couldn't do it.

As he walked in late, he gave his teacher a excuse pass, and turned to see Hailey with the girls. Evan was beside them, looking bored. It was only homeroom but Evan clearly seemed to hate being the only guy. Zac had been ignoring all of them. They had no clue what happened between him and Nate. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to tell them. Evan has tried to talk to him during football, but Zac doesn't let him. He doesn't want Evan to know of his mistake.

"Alright class, I know this is only homeroom, but we have a small project. Chose a partner that you don't know." Their teacher said giving them an eye. She knew who everyone was friends with. Zac's eyes instantly flicked to Hailey's. She was scanning the room when her eyes landed on him.

Hailey hadn't heard from Zac since their morning on the beach. She had called him multiple times but he's never reached out to her. She didn't know what she did wrong. She continued to hangout with the girls and Evan. Nate had also been ignoring them all. She heard Bella mention something about him flying to New York. She was kind of glad he was gone. He wasn't pestering her anymore. Although, she did kind of miss his teasing.

As her eyes landed on Zac, she saw dark circles under his eyes while his hair was disheveled. He looked handsome, yet the light he always had was out. She wanted to know what was wrong. She assumed it had to do with his family, hoping it wasn't about her.

She continued to look around the room, seeing multiple people had already found a partner. She sighed. Thanks to her nonsocial life, she was partnerless again. She saw Mariah team up with some girl while Bella was with one of the other football players in class. Evan ended up with a cheerleader.

She saw Zac turn away from her and talk to some girl in the front of class. She felt her heart crack at the sight. She knew he wouldn't want to be her partner but it still hurt her to see him act normal with everyone else. What happened to him?

"Hailey right?" She heard a male voice. She turned and saw a boy with dark skin and pretty brown eyes. It was one of the school's basketball players.

"Um, hi." Hailey said softly. He smiled which showed cute dimples. He was attractive.

"Hi, i'm Jordan. Do you want to be partners?" He asked. She nodded. "Awesome."