Everything seemingly went back to normal in the last week. Junior was no longer mad at me, and I didn't have to spend any time being confused about his actions. I was back to going to school and just thinking about Brian.

It seemed like Jessica was going to keep crushing on this one guy for a while, and I wasn't used to hearing about the same guy every day from her. She must have really liked him. Or he was really just that cute.

School was done for the day, and I was debating if I was going to ask Junior for a ride home today. I hadn't for a whole week now, and he didn't bring it up to me. I wasn't sure if it was because he assumed I'd do it on my own or if just liked not having to take me home.

I jumped up in surprise when Jessica suddenly appeared and linked her arm with mine.

"So guess what," she asked happily. The big grin on her face meant something probably related to boys had happened.

"What," I asked, not really wanting to guess.

"Chicken butt," she shouted.

I rolled my eyes. She loved to do that to me, and I didn't know why. She was the only one laughing every time.

"I'm sorry, Ari. I just wanted to laugh. Today has been rather boring for me. I haven't seen that kid at all today," she murmured.

She unlinked her arm with mine, and she started to pout. I guess it was just one of those days. She was a fairly emotional girl, and it didn't take too much to upset her. I didn't mind of course. She helped me out whenever I was upset.

"Maybe he's sick today," I suggested. She shrugged.

"Hey I know what you can do to cheer me up though," she said.

"What," I asked. I was really hoping that she wasn't going to ask me to buy her food. I didn't have any money on me today, and she seemed to always want food.

"You should take me over to your house," she announced. I smiled.

"Okay lets get started walking," I stated.

"Uh, no I don't want to walk. Lets just get Junior to drive us back. You two live so close, and it's not like it's out of the way for him." Jessica suggested.

I didn't want to admit to her that I was feeling a bit odd about asking for a ride from him. She would just bring up that she thought he was in love with me or something.

"Sure, I guess if he's still here anyways." I said.

We walked over to Junior and his friends' usual spot to hang out after school. Sure enough he was still at school.

I made a mental note to not check if he was still on campus and just to force the girl to walk to my house. It was only a thirty minute walk, and that's normally how long it took her to walk to her own house.

My eyes decided to linger on Junior for a while. He was changing quite a bit in this last year.

His hair was slowly growing, and it was all almost touching his shoulders now. I told him a couple of times that I thought a hat would help his look, but he always ignored me, saying I knew nothing about the look he was going for.

He must have been talking about something pretty serious with his friends because no one was laughing. They always seemed to be laughing. I watched as Junior and Zack talked and nodded their heads occasionally.

They seemed to be done talking and Junior looked like he was going to walk away. However Jessica managed to drag me to him before he was done with his goodbyes to his friends.

"Hi, Brian!" Jessica shouted.

Junior gave her a smile, and I was beginning to feel a little awkward honestly.

"You should give us a ride to Arianna's house because I'm bored and lazy," she chatted.

I tried to look as normal as I possibly could. I looked at Junior's friends one by one but not lingering on any of them for too long.

There were the few familiar faces like Matt, Zack, and Johnny. There was also a very tall boy who I knew Junior had been friends with for a while now. There were two girls who seemed to be twins, and they were staring at me oddly.

I looked back over at Junior who was in a conversation with Jessica now. They weren't exactly best buddies, but they didn't hate each other. They were both my friends, and sometimes they hung out because of me.

I decided to try to talk to Matt if these two were just going to chat away. After all Matt was the only one that I was at least a little comfortable with.

Matt was chatting away with Zack, but he gave me a friendly smile.

I wondered if Zack was still interested in me or if he was just a boy who liked to date around a lot. I quickly mocked at my own thoughts. The boy could barely talk to me. There was no way he could date around.

"H-hi," Zack stuttered out. I guess he still had a small crush on me. It was a little cute to see the faint blush on his cheeks.

"Hey Zack," I said smiling.

I looked over my shoulder to see that Jessica was still chatting away with Junior. I sighed internally, knowing I'd have to talk to people who were nearly strangers to me.

"So how was your guys' day," I asked, not knowing what else to say to them.

"It was amazing," Zack nearly shouted.

It seemed like he was excited to talk to me, and it was a something I never really experienced. No boy ever seemed to talk to me too much.

Maybe some did but Jessica told me all the time that I was always so oblivious to boys hitting on me. I just wished guys were a bit more obvious like Zack. Then I could tell that they liked me.

"It was boring," Matt mumbled.

I faked a smile still unsure what to say to either of them. I looked over my shoulder, and Jessica and Junior were still at it, talking away.

"Arianna, you should come see us practice one day," Zack suggested.

"Practice what," I asked. I was sure that they weren't in any sports, so I didn't know what kind of practice they would even have.

"Brian didn't tell you that we're trying to start a band," Matt asked. I shook my head.

"He and I haven't talked as much lately," I admitted.

"We've been trying to do this a lot longer than before Zack tried to ask you out," Matt chuckled.

"Shut up," Zack yelled. The blush on his face was a lot more red now, and I couldn't help but laugh at him.

Zack immediately looked down at the ground, and I felt bad for laughing at him. I probably seemed really mean and maybe made me him feel a little insecure.

"I wasn't laughing at you, Zack. I promise. It was the situation," I apologized.

He shrugged slightly, but he looked up to glare at Matt.

"Uh, right... I gotta go?" Matt questioned. Zack did a small nod, and Matt left soon after.

I watched Zack as he awkwardly stood before me, occasionally running his hands through his now messy hair. He would bite down hard on his lips that had those snake bites.

"Are you okay," I asked him.

He nodded his head furiously, telling me that he was, in fact, not okay. He slowly but surely managed to calm himself down, and he looked me in the eyes.

It was the first time I noticed them, but his eyes were beautiful. I always found blue and green eyes to be gorgeous, but I was used to fawning over Brian's chocolate brown eyes.

Zack's eyes were a beautiful jade color, and they almost entranced me.

"Arianna, I actually talked to Junior again today. I wanted to make sure that he was okay with what I'm about to do," Zack began.

I almost didn't pay his words any attention at all because of his eyes. They were just amazing.

"And what I'm doing right now is sort of something that makes me really nervous. I'm just letting you know that, and it's taking every ounce of courage I have to ask you this. But would you reconsider the ice cream date for me," he finished.

My mouth opened slowly, and I was again unsure what to do.

I was going to say yes to him the first time, but then Junior freaked out on me. Junior's anger made me doubt that I wanted to go, so I ended up saying no to Zack.

Now Zack was asking me out yet again, and it seemed like Junior had told us both at separate times that we were free to go on a date. So there wasn't really anything holding me back right now.

"I would love to go on a date with you, Zack." I said.

A big smile appeared on his face, and he surprised me by grabbing me into a hug. It was rather bold, considering how bashful he was before.

I hugged him back, and I noticed that the smell of cigarettes was lightly on his clothes. I didn't particularly hate or love the smell, but it was something I took note of.

"I feel like I could do anything right now," Zack shouted.

He started jumping up and down, and he ran over to his tall friend and told him what had happened. It was kind of adorable really. I never felt like anyone ever wanted me as badly as he did. It was an ego boost really.

"So looks like you said yes."

I turned to see Jessica and Junior. She had a big smile on her face, and she ran over to me and hugged me.

"My little baby's all grown up now. She's going on dates, and soon enough she won't wanna be around me anymore." She ranted.

I pushed her off me, and she started laughing.

"Is it time to go yet," I asked, not wanting to give her too much attention.

"Whenever you want, baby." Junior teased.

I glared at him, but I started walking to the parking lot. I was definitely caught off guard when someone hugged me from behind. The faint scent of cigarettes hinted that it was Zack.

"You didn't say goodbye."

I smiled. I wasn't sure if he was being needy or adorable quite yet, but it was a nice change to have a boy give me some attention. So for now he was being adorable.

He stopped hugging me, and I turned to face him. I gave him a small smile.

"Goodbye, Zack. I will see you soon, mtay? Remember it's one date. We're not dating," I reminded him.

I didn't want him to get too attached to me in case the date went badly.

He nodded and hugged me once more.

"I'll see you tomorrow, pretty lady." he said happily.

When we got to the car, I let Jessica sit in the front seat. I didn't want to randomly think of Zack and have a stupid grin on my face for them to see.

At my house I told Jessica everything that happened even though very little actually happened. She was thrilled anyways, and she said that she was reserved as my maid of honor.

After she went home, I lied in bed and thought of the boy with the jade eyes and how he was going to affect me.