Page 14 of For Your Own Good

Another Ward-ism.

Zach speeds out of the parking lot, heading straight for home. If he’s lucky, no one will be there and he can get some reading done. If he isn’tlucky, he won’t stop at all. It’s crazy that in a house as big as his, he can’t get any privacy, but it’s true. His parents always seem to know what he’s up to.

During the drive, Courtney calls. She starts talking before he even has a chance to say hello.

“Hey, Loser,” she says. “Why the hell is your article going to be late?”

“You know already?”

“Of course. I’m the editor. And I appropriately freaked out on Mrs.B about this.”

Zach rolls his eyes. “Why do you do that to her?”

“Because it makes her think I care more than I do. So why is your story late?”

“Crutcher. Extra work,” he says.

“Sucks for you.”

“Yeah, it does.”

“You screwed up that last paper, didn’t you?” she says.

“I didn’t screw up. I got a B-plus because he’s a dick.”

“B-plus? Yikes.”

“You are your GPA,” Zach says, repeating another one of his father’s Ward-isms.

“You sound like my mother.”

“Ouch.”

“That’s what you get for being late,” Courtney says. “Loser.”

She hangs up.

He isn’t mad about that, and he isn’t mad she calls him Loser. That’s always been her nickname for him, going all the way back to the fourth grade. It’s a joke. Zach isn’t a loser, and it’s because of Courtney.

Back then, his father had been promoted and the family had moved here from Rhode Island. Zach was the new kid in school, surrounded by students who had known one another since birth. The first day, everyone ignored him. The second day, they noticed him. Particularly an asshole named Bennett. He and his friends sat down with Zach in the lunchroomand fired off a barrage of questions about who he was, where he’d come from, all while swiping most of his lunch right off his tray. Overwhelmed and afraid, he kept his mouth shut.

Courtney saved him. She walked right up to the table and stood over Bennett. Courtney was a tiny thing, her hair already worn in a tight ponytail and her uniform as crisp as her words.

“Back off, Bennett,” she said. “You obviously don’t know who his dad is.”

She didn’t, either, but Zach wasn’t about to say a word. All he knew was that she must be someone important, because Bennett did back off.

“We were just messing around,” he told Courtney.

“Go do it somewhere else,” she said.

They did. Bennett and his friends got up and left without another word.

When they were gone, Courtney sat down next to Zach and introduced herself. “Those guys think hazing is cool.” She made a face. “And they’re jerks.”

He had never been saved before—never had to be—and he had never met a girl as bold as Courtney.

“My dad’s just a finance guy,” he said.