Prom was approaching fast and the end of my final school year was approaching even quicker. Or, at least it felt that way. Val, Michelle, Lacey, Leana, myself and, unfortunately, Gena made a trip to Los Angeles a few weeks ago to pick out our prom dresses. Thankfully we had to take two different vehicles and Gena was smart enough to ride with Lacey and Leana while I rode with Michelle and Val.

The shopping day was fun for the most part. I ended up picking out an emerald green dress, Zack's favourite colour. “It’s the least I could do,” I tell Val. “He’s not very stoked about going, let alone getting a matching tie so the least I can do is get his favourite colour.”

“Yeah, Matt isn’t very stoked about going either, but he’ll get over it. Especially if he wants to get laid,” she laughs.

I laugh, too, but suddenly feel funny on the inside. I wondered if Zack was hoping we would have sex on prom night. It was, however, a total cliché and almost everyone expected it to happen. I wasn’t sure if I was ready.

The worries and excitement about prom were soon forgotten as finals week approached. I was still staying with Zack and he made it nearly impossible to study. He was already signed, his future was already determined regardless of how well he did in school. He didn’t understand that I was behind. He didn’t understand that I had to keep my grades where they were or higher because even if I was accepted into a college they could still pull my acceptance if my grades fell.

I spent a lot of time away from the Baker’s home. As a matter of fact, if I wasn’t at school I was at the library or the beach. I even told Drake to cut back my hours at the café so I could focus on school. And even at school, I was always busy. I always had my nose stuck in a book, I was always studying. I ate lunch in an empty classroom, I kept myself away from any and all distractions.

It was Thursday, which was the last day of finals. I waited around after school for my last final to be graded. Thankfully my teacher was understandable and graded it without fuss. I passed it with a 100%. Which meant I passed all of them except for one, which hadn’t been graded yet.

When I got home there were no cars in the driveway which meant Mr. and Mrs. Baker weren’t home and neither was Zina. I hadn’t had a proper conversation with Zack in days so I wasn’t sure if he had plans tonight or not. For all I knew, I could be here alone.

I walked in and Zack was sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal in his lap watching television. He looked up when he heard the door close.

“Well, I didn’t even know if you still lived here,” he says gloomily.

“Yeah, I’ve been a little distant lately…” I trail off.

Zack purses his lips, nods, and takes a bite of cereal. There was something wrong. Was he mad at me? I nibble on my lip and then decide to go upstairs and drop off my bookbag. I slip off my shoes and think about going back downstairs but I really wanted to avoid an argument with Zack. I was so exhausted.

I sit down on the bed and massage the back of my neck with my hand. It was late for a nap, but it was hard for me to keep my eyes open. I decide I’ll take a nap, and then after I feel rested, I would go downstairs and figure out what was wrong with Zack.

When I woke, Zack was laying in bed beside me on his back. His eyes were open and he was staring at the ceiling. I was laying on one of his arms with my arm draped around his stomach. “I thought you were mad at me,” I mumbled.

“I was,” he murmured back.
“
Why?” I ask sitting up.

Zack sits up too. “I don’t know. I mean, we basically live together, we work together, we go to school together, we hang out in the same circle and I haven’t seen you pretty much all week. I think it’s been a week since I’ve had a conversation with you.”

I furrowed my brows. “Zack, I know I’ve been busy lately but come on. To be fair, I haven’t worked very much this week or hung out with anyone at all. I don’t know why you’re so upset. You know how important school is to me.”

“I’m upset because I don’t like how easy it is for you to disappear,” he says.

“That’s what this is about?” I ask. “Zack, you’re the one leaving, remember? I don’t plan on going anywhere except for college…”

“You’re right. I guess I’m just worried about leaving,” he mumbles.

I search his face for an explanation but he refuses to look at me. “Zack, what’s going on with you? Where is this coming from? Last week you couldn’t wait to start recording and start your tour and now you’re filled with…doubt?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know. I guess it’s just…Val’s coming with us when we leave. I just…it’s going to suck without you there and I know I can’t ask you to come. And I can’t ask you to wait for me either.”

I smile, trying to lighten the mood. “Well, you’ll have plenty of slutty groupies to keep you company.”

Zack smiles softly. “I’m serious, Sheridan.”

“I am too,” I tell him. “Okay, maybe not about the groupies, but about me not planning on going anywhere but college. I’ll have breaks and weekends.” Zack nods but doesn’t say anything. I kiss his cheek and then his lips. “We will make time for each other.”
Zack pulls me into his lap and I straddle him. He brushes the hair away from my face as he deepens the kiss and I run my fingers through his hair. Zack rubs his thumbs back and forth on my hips as he holds me.

We part when we hear the front door open, then close. “You have nothing to worry about,” I whisper against his lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he tells me.

---

The next day at school, Michelle runs up to us before the first bell. “I did it!” She shouts, running across the schoolyard. Val is close behind her.

“You did what, babe?” Brian asks her as she gets closer.

“UCLA!” She grins, holding up and acceptance letter. “I got in for the fall semester! This was my first school on my list!”

“Oh my god, congrats, Michelle!” I exclaimed, pulling her into a hug.

“Thank you! I mean, I still haven’t decided if I'm going to go but at least I got in!” She hops up and down. “What about you, Sheridan? Have you got any of your college letters back yet?”

“No, I…oh, my God,” I say. “Oh my god!”

“What? What?”

“I haven’t been home!” I exclaim.

“Okay?” Brian and Zack say in unison.

“I haven’t been home!” I repeat slower. “The address on all my applications is my mom’s address and I haven’t been there.”

“Oh, shit,” Zack realizes.

I start gathering my things. “I have to go. I have to go check.”

Zack stands up. “Come on, I’ll go with you.”

Val lets us borrow her car and Zack speeds off to my mom’s house. We were almost there when I remembered Eli. What if he was there? What if he did something to my acceptance letters?

The police car isn’t in the driveway when we arrive. I jump out of the car before it even comes to a full stop and run to the mailbox. There’s an envelope from UCLA inside. Zack catches up with me as soon as I pull it out of the mailbox. My hands are shaking.

“Open it,” he tells me.

I take a deep breath and tear open the envelope. “Dear Ms. Sheridan Davis,” I read out loud, “Thank you for your interest in attending the University of California, Los Angeles. After reviewing your application, the Admissions Committee has decided to place you on the waitlist.”

“The waitlist?” Zack asks, sounding slightly disappointed. I look up at him and he quickly tries to cover his tone. “Well, that’s not so bad! It’s not a rejection! There’s still a chance you’ll get in. Michelle said she’s probably not even going to go, so her spot will be yours!”

I nod but I don’t believe what he says. It’s okay, I tell myself. UCLA wasn’t even one of my first choices. “Let’s go inside, see if I got any more,” I suggest, feeling hopeful.

Zack nods too and we go inside. As I searched the house for my letters, Zack kept an eye out for Eli. Soon I had ten letters in my hand. “Okay, which one first?” I asked. I laid the letters for Harvard, USC, Golden West, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Princeton, Columbia, and UPenn on the counter.

“Uh…just close your eyes and pick one,” Zack suggests. And so, I do until all of them but one was opened.

“I just…I don’t even want to open it,” I tell him.

Zack gives me a weak smile. I got rejected from every school except Golden West, which was literally ten minutes away from the high school. Princeton was the last one, and I knew it was a rejection letter due to it being the same size as all the other rejection letters.

“Come on,” Zack tells me. “Just open it.”

I shake my head. “Can we go? I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Zack takes in a sharp breath, picks up the envelope and opens it. I look away from him as he reads it and the next thing I know, he’s ripping it up. My eyes begin to burn instantly as I blink back the tears. The blinking doesn’t help, though, and soon tears are running down my face.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Zack coos, pulling me into his arms. I immediately turn away, walk a few steps away from him, turn so my back is facing him and bawl into my hands.

I failed him. I didn’t get into any of the schools my dad wanted me to get into. It was the one thing he wanted for me and I couldn’t give it to him. I was a failure as a daughter. I tried so hard to fix my GPA, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing I ever do is enough. I will never be enough.

“Sheridan…” Zack was standing directly behind me. I could feel the heat from his breath on my neck. He tried to touch me but again, I move away.

“Can you just go? Please?” I ask, sniffing.

Zack doesn’t answer right away. “No. I’m not leaving you. Not here.”

I wipe my eyes, trying to calm down. “Please, Zack. I can take care of myself. I just…I want to be alone.”

Zack grabs me and turns me around. “No. You hear me? No. I’m not leaving you alone. Not here, not while you’re this upset.” He grabs my hand and pulls me to the couch. “Sheridan, I know this sucks,” he tells me as he makes me sit down. He sits down beside me.

“You knew I wasn’t going to get in,” I said. “That’s what you said when I was filling out all those applications.”

“That’s not what I said and you know it,” Zack said, slightly irritated.

“Basically,” I mumbled.

Zack sighs. “Sheridan, stop. You got accepted to Golden West and you’re still waiting on letters from Yale, Orange Coast, and Santa Ana.”

“I didn’t get into any other Ivy League school, Zack, so Yale is definitely going to reject me. And I don’t want to go to any of those dumb community colleges! You don’t get it because you’re getting the chance to live your dream!”

Zack stares at me and I could tell he wasn’t sure what to say to make this better. “Come away with me this weekend.”

“What?” I scoff.

“The band and I are going to Las Vegas for the weekend. We’re leaving early Saturday morning, coming back sometime Sunday night. The recording company that wants to sign us wants to meet us. They’re having some sort of convention and we were invited.”

“Zack, prom is Saturday night.”

Zack nibbles at his lip. “Yeah.”

“When were you going to tell me you were leaving? I already bought a dress!” It really wasn’t that big of a deal, but I was already upset and this was the icing on the cake.

“Matt got the call late last night,” Zack told me. “Look, I know you were looking forward to going to prom but…it’s Las Vegas. The company is paying for all of our expenses and Brian’s dad said that the hotel we’re staying at is nice as fuck. Please, come with me. It’ll be so much fun, better than some prom.”

I shake my head. “I don’t feel like going anywhere, Zack. I don’t feel like doing anything. I have to figure out what I'm going to do with my life!”

“You don’t have to figure that out right now. Just…take the weekend to let things sink in. Take a moment to just breathe. We can figure it out when we get back. You don’t have to have everything figured out before we graduate.”

He was right, I didn’t but I wanted to. Everyone else had options or knew what they were doing and I wanted that. “Zack…”

“Please?”

I sighed and looked up at him. His green eyes were searching my face and his lips were curved into a soft, warm smile. He made it impossible to say no. “Okay,” I tell him.

He grins before softly kissing me. “Okay, let’s get out of here.”

“I don’t really feel like going back to school.” What was the point?

He nods and we stand up. “Okay, let’s go to the beach. We can play hooky today.”

Zack and I make our ways back to Valary’s car and get in. He puts the car in reverse and backs out of the driveway and then starts to head in the direction of the beach. “Are the other girls going too?” I ask. “To Vegas I mean.”

Zack shrugs, grabbing my hand. “I’m not positive, but I’m sure they will. After finals, everyone is in need of a bit of a vacation.”

I open my mouth to reply but before I can I notice a police car that was going in the opposite direction made a U-turn. He turns on his lights as soon as he gets behind Zack.

“Shit,” Zack mumbled. “Was I speeding? Val’s going to kill me.”

But Zack wasn’t speeding. I recognized the vehicle number. I couldn’t breathe. Zack pulls over and the police car stops too. The cop wastes no time getting out of the car. Zack rolls down his window not realizing what was happening.

“Well, well, well,” Eli grins as he approaches the driver’s side window. I feel my heart drop into my stomach. “Aren’t you two supposed to be in school?”

“On our way now,” Zack told him.

“Mhmm,” Eli glanced at me and then back at Zack. “Out of the car, please.”

Zack scoffs and moves to turn off the car, but I grab his hand. “Eli, come on. We weren’t doing anything.”

“Oh, sure you were, little sis. Baker here will have a joint on him when I search him. That’s after I caught you guys in the middle of sex…about what? 5 miles from the high school? So that’s a lewd act charge, indecent exposure charge. You’ll be put on the sex offender list…let’s see, oh the joint will make a possession charge. Oh, and I know for a fact Sheridan is underage so that’ll be a statutory rape charge because the age of consent in the state of California is 18.”

I was going to get sick. Zack was gripping the steering wheel so hard I thought he would break it at any minute. “You’re one to fucking be talking about a rape charge,” Zack spits.

“Oh,” Eli laughs. “And there’s the disorderly conduct charge! Out of the fucking car. Now.”

Zack takes in a deep breath and gets out of the car. As soon as he shuts the door, Eli grabs him, twists his arm behind his back and slams him face down onto the hood of the car. I let out an audible gasp and fumble with the door handle before pulling it open and basically falling out of the car.

“Eli, please, stop.”

Eli laughs as he cuffs Zack. “Get back in the car, Sheridan. I’ll deal with you in a second.”

Zack tugs away from Eli. “Leave her alone, dude. This is between me and you.”

Eli grabs Zack again and drags him to the police car. “Shut up.” He opens the back door and shoves Zack inside before closing the door and turning to me.

I had to do something. I couldn’t let Zack go to jail, I couldn’t let him be charged for all those things he wasn’t guilty of. “Eli, please, come on.”

“Oh, you don’t have a license, so you’ll have to come with me, too and we’ll have to tow this car,” he tells me.

“Please don’t do this. Okay? I’ll do whatever you want, I’ll…” the words came out of my mouth before I even realized what they meant. I couldn’t do whatever he wanted because what he wanted was sick and wrong. But I knew it was wrong to let Eli do this to Zack.

Zack was yelling at me in the car but I wasn’t listening. I didn’t know exactly how, but I had to fix this. I didn’t know if I was going to survive whatever Eli asked of me, but I could not let Zack go to jail for those things. It was not an option.

“Okay,” Eli said. “You’ll stop seeing him and move back home. You will quit the café and you will ask permission to even fucking breathe, do you understand me?”

“Fine,” I answered quickly. “Just let him go, please.”

Eli smirked and nodded slowly. I was going to throw up, I was going to get sick all over his shiny police badge. “Good.” He opened up the police car door and pulled Zack out.

“No, no,” Zack said, fighting Eli, trying to stay in the car. “Sheridan, no.”

“Zack, shut up,” I mumbled.

“No, you can’t do this. I won’t let you go back home, not alone, not with him there. Come on, think this through. Think this through!” Zack panicked as Eli unlocked the handcuffs.

I blinked back the tears. “I can’t let you miss that meeting,” I told him. “I can’t let you go to jail for shit you didn’t do.”

“Get in your car and go to school,” Eli demanded, slightly pushing Zack towards the car. I take a step to the car, too. Yes, let's go to school. We can talk this out there, away from prying eyes. However, Eli grabs me. “Oh, where do you think you’re going?”

“To school,” I say in a small, naïve voice.

Eli grins. “Oh, you’ll ride with me. I’ll need to speak with your school administrators and tell them to keep the two of you away from each other.” I don’t move and Eli gives me an impatient look. “Get in the car right now, Sheridan. Before I change my mind.”

I look at Zack and he’s already staring at me with pleading eyes. I purse my lips before turning away from him and walking to the passenger side of the police car. “My bag is in the car,” I tell Eli before getting in.

I watch Eli walk to the passenger side of the car and grab my book bag while Zack stands in the same spot, the same pleading look on his face. I only look away when Eli starts walking back. 107 days. I had 107 days until my 18th birthday. I can do this. I can do this.

I can’t do this.

Notes

Five chapters left! Eli finally got his revenge so there's only one question left: what will happen next? Let me tell you, these last five chapters are going to have you in a whirlwind of emotions! Everything is written, and it's killing me to not post everything! I can't wait for you all to read what's in store! Until then don't forget to comment, rate and subscribe!

Thank you to vengenz61 and countzackula6661 for commenting on the last chapter!

Title credit: Between the Trees “One Last Time”