Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time)

Chapter 9

(I posted this on FFN on Sunday night but was too tired to post it here, I meant to do it yesterday but I forgot >.< Anyway!

One more chapter to go... maybe an epilogue after that? We'll see. Either way, Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time) is almost over :( Maybe I'll finally get back to the series fic...? Or write that Bucky fic I wanted to do? Who knows? I certainly don't

Oh and you may have seen that fist-it-out and kokinu09 borrow the BGZ for their fics sometimes, and fist-it-out has just started a fic revolving around Zach shipping him with Bucky! Give it a read, it's already looking good :D )

SIX MONTHS AGO - JUNE

Zephyr sat hunched over his food in the cafeteria, unable to block out the gossiping voices all around him. He had his friends and his sister surrounding him but he barely took in any of their conversation. Summer break was fast approaching and his suspension from the football team was still in effect. He hadn't gone back to counselling, no matter how much they told him to. And not just the counsellor herself, or even Principal Lee, but them. His friends. His sister. They were worried about him. They were scared for him.

They should be worried about Alonzo. They should be scared for Alonzo. Stop focusing on me. Focus on him. He needs it. He deserves it. Not me.

He knew they were looking at him. Every now and then, out of the corner of his eye, he'd see one of their heads briefly turn towards him then jerk away. They didn't say a word about it, though. But everybody else clearly had something to say, and none of them louder than Suzanne.

"So, we survived this year," she was saying, "If you call basically clocking in at the barrier every morning surviving. And the daily Z-band scans. And patrol officers around every corner. I mean, gaz, this is worse than it was right before the integration started," there were murmurs of agreement around her, "He'll be out of containment by September," she reminded them and Zephyr gritted his teeth, "Who knows what's gonna happen then."

There was silence for a moment and Zephyr knew she was looking at him with that worn out old condescending gaze she dished out every chance she got. She turned back to her friends and tilted her head down as if she wasn't still speaking loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

"And Zephyr's still visiting him. I don't know what he's trying to prove, I'm surprised he even stuck with him this long. He saw the whole thing. How can he even stand to be around the guy anymore?"

But Zephyr refused to let it show that she was getting to him; he couldn't get into anymore trouble. As he ruminated over Suzanne's cruel words, two tables down from where the whole BFZ gang (minus, of course, Alonzo) sat, another group of zombies was shifting uncomfortably in their seats, casting concerned or bitter glances at Suzanne and hoping no-one would think they agreed with her. She was sitting at the same table as them, after all.

Hazen was, unfortunately at this time, a friend of Suzanne's so he, Zeke, Diaz, Fritz and the Terrible Trio were close by. For Izabelle especially, uncomfortably close. She could barely stand to even be in the same room as Suzanne, and that was on a good day. Zeke was the first to notice how she was tapping her nails on the table.

"Belle?"

He reached out to touch her hand and she jumped, quickly turning to look at him and the others.

"One of you better hold me back before I beat this chick to a pulp," she muttered before turning her attention back to Suzanne.

"Izabelle..."