Seafoam //Completed//

Chapter 7

Zac didn't call her again that day but she received a couple more worried texts from Matty. She finally gave in and replied to him saying she had hitched a ride with a classmate because she hadn't felt well and had belatedly realized she had left her bag along with her cellphone in his car.

It wasn't technically a lie.

He had seemed a little peeved at her, scolding her for not looking for him and telling him directly. It bothered her that he should feel angry when it was he who had so easily cast her aside, so she ignored his last text and slept the rest of the day.

On Sunday she woke up with a parched mouth and a ravenous stomach. The alcohol had finally seeped out of her body while she slept and left behind a burning guilt in its place; a damming affirmation that she should never again consume alcohol.

She worked on homework for most of the day, not leaving her room and trying to distract her thoughts of Friday night with calculus. Unfortunately, her appreciation for math was not quite up to par against the growing shame she felt every time her mind distractedly wandered to the image of Zac on the couch as his unseeing eyes met hers.

Lulu refused to return his call but when she began working on her English homework, she remembered this weekend's assignment was supposed to be completed with her partner; namely Zac.

Cursing loudly, she buried her face in her hands. She couldn't call him much less face him after the devastation of Friday night. Miss Denisov would be livid, and ignoring the assignment would only give the teacher another reason to hate Lulu, so she decided to complete the work on her own and hope to come up with a good enough excuse by Monday.

Compulsively, she played out in her mind the conversation she would have with Zac when he finally confronted her. Over and over, she practiced what she would say to him, but whatever apology or excuse she came up with always came out flat and insincere.

When Monday finally came around, she had chewed her nails down to their beds in a fit of anxiety. Matty picked her up as usual, and she reluctantly apologized for having left the party without him. They talked about the major revelation that was Zac's blindness and both sat in silent awe at their own obliviousness.

Matty visibly cringed when she recounted the way Zac had revealed to Lulu his condition, while leaving out what had caused her sudden outburst.

"Lulu! That is seriously messed up!" he reprimanded.

"I know! Don't remind me. I'm already a wreck. What with this thing with Zac and my dad's little tantrum..." she finished in a low voice.

"Wait, back up. What happened with your dad?" he asked worriedly.

Lulu explained what had happened, starting with her morning on the beach to when she got home and Matty looked at her incredulously.

"You woke up on top of the lighthouse!" he exclaimed. "You fell asleep inside that abandoned, not to mention, incredibly dangerous dump? Seriously, Lulu do you have some sort of death wish?" he asked shaking his head. She looked at her hands, unable to reply.

"Anyway," she stressed the word, "when I got home, dad just went off on me."

"Well maybe he was right. You shouldn't have just disappeared like you did," he glanced at her from the driver's seat. They had just parked at the school and he shut off the engine with a sigh.

She looked at him with wide eyes. How could he defend her father when he knew how unfair he had been?

"I know. I just wasn't feeling well after the whole Zac thing," the weight of her guilt made her hands tremble and she tucked them under her legs. "I...haven't been feeling well for a while, Matty." Her jaw clenched and unclenched in a nervous tick. "After mom passed. I thought I was ready," her voice was but a whisper now.