Take Me By The Hand

Chapter Ten!!!

It turns out that Josh was wrong; The whole school didn't know about mine and Zacky's little escapade. On Monday, at least...

By Wednesday, there were rumors floating around about us, some of which I heard myself while Mikey and the others filled me in on what was being said behind my back. The most popular rumor, by far, had to be the one where Zacky had an ongoing bet with someone unknown. The bet was supposedly this; How many times can Zacky Baker bang Frank until Frank finds out about the bet? 

When I first heard it, about a week after Zacky officially asked me to be his boyfriend, I brushed it off as nothing more than gossip. I heard a few people crowded around the water fountain outside the boys bathroom talking about it, laughing like a pack of hyenas at my own expense. It felt weird, hearing people whisper my name like I wasn't three feet away, separated by nothing but a two inch thick wooden door.

It shocked me when I heard my name through the barrier and froze, listening. I wasn't invisible to people, I just wasn't gossip-worthy. Until that night with Zacky, apparently. Since that one night, and a few since then, people had suddenly discovered my existence and decided that I was now deserving of their whispered fabrications. I'll admit it; For a second, I was ecstatic. People were talking about me without knowing of my knowledge of their words. I was suddenly someone. I was worthy of their rumor-spreading habits and I didn't care what the lie they were developing was; I just cared that it was about me. And then I actually listened to what they were saying. 

"Frank is bound to find out sooner or later," One kid was saying. I didn't know who it was, as I stayed hidden inside the bathroom. "What's Zacky gonna do then?"

"Revel in the fact that he got laid twenty times before the fucker even realized Zacky doesn't actually care about him," Someone else suggested in a dull tone.

A few kids laughed and I swallowed hard, pressing closer to the bathroom door to hear. "How long do you think it will take Frank to find out it was just a bet?"

There were a few grumbled responses, most not even full words, and I imagined them all shrugging before another single laugh cut through. "Probably way too fucking long. I almost feel bad for the kid. But hey; He got to fuck Zacky Baker. He's a lucky little bitch. Even if he is getting screwed in more ways than he realizes."

My mouth felt dry suddenly as the words shook me to the core, reverberating through my head even when their voices had faded off away down the hall.

A bet? That's all it was? A small part of my brain, the daunting part that hates me very much, kept telling me that it was true, that I deserved being screwed over, and that I should have seen this coming. It was obvious, if I actually thought about it; How else could I explain that Zacky suddenly seemed into me? I didn't like thinking about it.

Another part of my brain was denying the whole thing; It was just a rumor and that was all. Zacky cared about me. Why else would he ask me to be his boyfriend? If he just wanted the sex and nothing more, then he could have said that. Why put me through the extra torture of pretending to care and then tell me it was a bet? Zacky could be an asshole, but he wouldn't do that to me.

He wouldn't.

Still, the idea remained there, prickling the back of my mind in irritation. What if everything Zacky told me was a lie? Everything on the first night, about wanting to be with me when he could be with Synyster, could be a lie. Synyster...

What if Synyster was the unknown person that Zacky had made the bet with? What if they watched me when they thought I wasn't looking, snickering behind my back at how much of a fool I was?

I tried to keep the thoughts at bay, needing to keep my mind clear of the unwanted doubts when Zacky never even gave me a reason to not trust him. It was all speculation-- dirty rumors that were started by the little shits that I called my peers. Zacky never treated me like a bet; He treated me like a boyfriend. And I hated myself for doubting him.