Gamble For Love

Chapter 4: Change is good

Chapter four: Change is good (Zach's POV)

Seeing her after so long was like reality punched me in the face. She looked so different now. Older, more graceful, prettier. Not the fifteen-year-old girl I left behind. But people change. 

I did. And change is good. Or so they say. I changed a lot and it isn't for the better. 

When I was shipped off to England, I knew it wasn't because of my actions, I wasn't doing anything to harm anyone, my parents could easily have disciplined me on their own, it was nothing they couldn't handle, they sent me off because they didn't want me to see their relationship cracking from within. 

They sent me off, away from my friends, away from my family to a place where I knew nobody. They didn't even go drop me off, I went on my own. Going there really just fucked me up. 

People were so different, some kids worse than they are here, some were better but none of them were better than the friends I grew up with. The two years that I spent there, I spent alone, no friends, no one to talk to, no one by my side. I wasn't used to that, I was used to having my friends around me all the time, I would tell Brett, Ellie, Nathan, Spencer, Ashley everything. 

Mainly Brett and Ellie since I'd known them the longest. 

I was the new kid, I got a lot of attention, I wasn't British like the other kids in there, that only made people notice me more. I only got attention from the girls over there. 

An American boy in their posh British school. 

Since nobody paid me any attention other than the ladies, I started paying attention to them in return. I thought I could find a friend like Ellie but I was just trying to convince myself that I didn't have a crush on her. 

After a year there, I started sleeping around with girls. My demeanor changed drastically when I got there. It was like I didn't care about anything. And I genuinely didn't care. About anything. 

I got mixed with the wrong people during my time there, got into smoking, sneaking out, breaking rules, breaking laws, vandalizing. It was different and it was wrong but I didn't care. I still don't. 

I expected Ellie to be over it by now, and I expected myself to not care and it surprised me when I realized I did. I felt incredibly guilty for hurting her like that, but those weren't my intentions, I just have to move past it and that can only happen when she does too. 

I just need to get her to start talking to me again. I know that she'll forgive me eventually, but I don't have the patience to tolerate her grudge. 

"Where are you going?" my dad asked while I headed to the front door. 

"For a walk," I replied before getting out of there. I walked past her house and turned the corner off our street, walking with no particular destination in mind. I was walking around aimlessly when my phone rang in my pocket. I pulled it out and answered. "Hello?" 

"I'm with Nathan and Spencer at The Brew, you coming?" Brett asked. 

"I'll be there in five," I said before hanging up. 

The Brew is a coffee shop/diner near us, it was our hang out spot last I checked. I entered the places, the little bell jingling above me while I walked over to them. I sat down beside Brett, Nathan, and Spencer in front of me. 

"So, how have you been? How was England?" Nathan asked. 

"Fine, I'm just unpacking some stuff. It was fine," I shrugged. 

"You seem different," Spencer said. 

"People change," I shrugged once again. 

"And change is good, come on guys, let's not interrogate him right now," Brett chuckled.