The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club by J.C. Isabella Page B

smile, and eyes like the summer sky on a spring day. They never swooned over Zack’s brains or witty remarks.
    Could it be that Zack had everyone fooled?
    Bad boy, baseball player, hot as hell…
    And smart?
    If he was so good at pretend, he should go into acting.

 
    Chapter 11
     
    It was getting close to sunset by the time we were finished. We dumped all the paint supplies into a big box and pushed it out in the hallway. I went to the bathroom to scrub the paint off my hands. Zack shot in after I was done, not giving me a look.
    I guess we were ignoring each other now.
    Even though I wanted to say something, I forced myself to go downstairs and found mom and Glenn in the living room admiring their handiwork. They’d put a gilded mirror over the fireplace and set up the TV and big blue sofas. I told them it looked cool and scooted out the front door before being pulled into a conversation about which pictures to hang where. I needed a few minutes to myself. A short walk seemed like a good way to accomplish that.
    I breathed in the steamy air left over from the afternoon. The sun was beginning to dip into a pinkish orange swirl in the sky, and cottony clouds stood out starkly against the candy hue.
    It was a relief, having quiet time to think, and I had a lot to think about. I was stuck, reliant on Zack. Which wasn’t a bad thing. Even if I did have a car, I wouldn’t feel comfortable making that drive by myself. All those crazy drivers, they scared the crap out of me. I’ve never actually driven over sixty miles per hour before. Part of me was scared I’d pop a tire or fly off the road. An irrational fear, except it felt real to me.
    I sighed, kicking at a pebble. Maybe it was time to turn back. I wasn’t at all familiar with the area, and I didn’t want to get too far from the house, or be alone in the dark without a flashlight. Stealing a look over my shoulder, I could barely see the white roof of my new home.
    Off to the side the trees were dense, dark. I couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to live so far from civilization. The few bare spots in the foliage let me see a creek or some sort of canal running parallel to my left. And there weren’t any streetlights like back home. It was never this quiet, so quiet I could hear the grass and the leaves rustle with the slightest breeze.
    The sound of engines revving stopped me.
    A pack of dirt bikes zoomed around a bend in the road toward me. There were five. The one in the front pulled away from the group and jerked up to ride on its back tire.
    “Hey!” He shouted, dropping onto his front wheel.
    I didn’t say anything. I was too busy trying to stay calm. He hit the brakes next to me, sending up a cloud of smoke and pulled off his helmet, revealing a head full of shaggy brown hair and a sunburned face. He was a little on the soft side, not fat, but not fit. There was something familiar about him too. “Hi, I’m Max McFarland.”
    “Chloe Baker.” I shook his hand, shrinking back from a sweaty palm.
    The rest of the group stopped. Two of the guys had girls on the backs of their bikes.
    “So, you bought the Millers place?” a blonde girl asked. She had her own electric blue bike.
    I nodded, not knowing who the Millers were. But ours was the only house up for sale that I knew about. “Yeah.”
    “We’re going to be late.” A guy on a black bike shouted. “Max, you coming?”
    “I’m cool.” He shouted back, not taking his eyes off me.
    The group took off down the road…leaving Max with me.
    I cringed when it got quiet again. “Where are they going?”
    “Not my business now.” There was something so familiar about him. I couldn’t figure out where I’d seen him before.
    “Do I know you?”
    “Yeah, we go to school together. I’m on the team with Zack.”
    “Oh, cool.” I didn’t recognize him without the Triton’s baseball cap. He never took it off.
    “Zack didn’t tell me his dad bought a house in my neighborhood. Wonder why…eh,