Linda rushed over to where Alleigh lay on the grass with Kristyn and Taylor hovering over her. She quickly knelt over beside them and bent over Alleigh.
"Alleigh, honey, what's the matter?" Linda asked worriedly. "Are you feeling all right?"
Alleigh blinked, looking delirious. "I feel kind of dizzy...." she said slowly. "I just feel......weird."
"Come on. Let's get you inside and let you lie down. Here, Dante, help me," Linda instructed.
Dante quickly helped Linda lift Alleigh to her feet, and began to slowly walk her towards the house, disappearing inside.
Zac walked over to Kristyn and Taylor quickly, looking worried.
"Ummm........is she okay?" Zac asked nervously.
Kristyn shook her head. "I don't know. She looked pretty out of it."
"I-- sorry," Zac said quickly. "I guess it was kinda' my fault about what just happened." He hung his head and looked down at the ground.
Kristyn let out a small smile and touched Zac's shoulder. "It's okay. It's not your fault. No one knew this was going to happen."
"Well, the thing is......I, umm, kinda' did," Zac confessed. "I mean, I noticed she kept on stopping and breathing really hard and stuff, but I just didn't really think it was anything that......." He trailed off.
"Zac, don't worry about it. It's not your fault." Kristyn patted Zac on the arm. "She'll be all right." She turned around, and started heading over towards the house. Taylor quickly followed behind.
Zac stood there motionless and watched them leave. Lucy came over to Zac, a confused expression on her face.
"Uhh.....what just happened??" Lucy asked uncertainly.
"I-I dunno," Zac said slowly. "She was running after me, and then she just kinda' fell over, and then......" He trailed off again.
"Geez.......that was really weird," Lucy muttered.
Zac shifted uncomfortably onto his other foot. He was still pretty confused and in shock about everything that had just occurred. He glanced up to look at the sky. As he raised his eyes upwards, his eyes fell on something else instead.
"Hey, you guys have a tree house too?" Zac asked, as he pointed to it.
Lucy nodded. "Yeah. Wanna check it out?"
"Cool!" Zac agreed.
Zac followed Lucy over to the tree the tree house was perched on. Lucy stepped onto the ladder and began making her way up towards the top. Zac climbed up behind her.
"Whoa! This place is cool!" Zac exclaimed, as he lifted himself up onto the floorboards of the Cambridge's tree house, and looked around. There was a small stool, a small table, a worn out blanket, a toss pillow, some old clothing, and a shabby sleeping bag laid out against one side. In a corner, there was a flashlight and a stack of comic books and old magazines. He quickly walked over to the pile of comic books and began thumbing through them.
"So, do you come up here a lot?" Zac questioned, as he opened a comic book and flipped through it.
"Yeah, I like to hang out here," Lucy answered, as she sat down on the small stool. "It's cool to have a little place of your own away from everything else, you know?"
Zac nodded. "Definitely!" He tossed the comic book aside, grabbed another one, and began leafing through the pages. "We have a tree house at our house too. You should come over to see it sometime."
Lucy grinned. "Yeah, that would be cool."
"My brothers and I built it ourselves," Zac continued, as he flipped through the pages of another comic book. "It's really neat, you hafta come check it out soon."
"Okay, so I will," Lucy replied. "Soon."
Zac looked up at her and smiled. "Yeah. Soon."
Lucy grabbed the flashlight and began switching the light on and off. "Hey, have you ever slept in your tree house before?"
"Ummmm......." Zac thought for a moment. "I don't think I have. Not yet, at least. Why?"
Lucy put down the flashlight, grabbed the toss pillow, and began throwing it up in the air. "Oh. Well, you should try it sometime. It's really fun. Mac and I do it a lot."
"Really?" Zac asked. "That sounds cool. Maybe I should try that. I'll keep that in mind."
Lucy grinned. "Cool. We should have a sleepover or something one day. We could stay up all night in the tree house, and tell ghost stories and do dares and stuff."
"Hey, that sounds really neat!" Zac exclaimed. His eyes lit up with excitement. "What a great idea! Yeah, let's do that soon!"
"Okay. I'll talk to my mom about it," Lucy agreed, as she tossed the pillow up in the air again and caught it.
Zac smiled. "Okay. I'll ask my mom about it too."
There was a long silence for a moment. Lucy kept on tossing the pillow in the air and catching it. Finally, she caught the pillow and glanced over at Zac. Zac was staring at her kind of funny.
Lucy frowned a little. "Ummmmm.........why are you looking at me like that?"
"Huh?" Zac snapped out of his little trance. "Oh, uh, no, I was just thinking."
Lucy began throwing the pillow up in the air again. "About what?"
Zac cocked his head to one side and gazed at her. "You're not like other girls, you know."
"Well, duh," Lucy replied, rolling her eyes as she caught the pillow.
"No, I mean, it's just that, well, you're so.......different," Zac said finally. "I mean, you're really.......cool."
"Thanks......I think," Lucy said weirdly.
Zac continued to look at her. "You kinda' remind me of my friend, Kat."
"Cat??" Lucy repeated. "You have a friend that's a cat???"
Zac rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No, her name is Kat."
"Oh, so you have a cat that's a she, and her name is Cat??" Lucy teased.
Zac rolled his eyes again and giggled. "Aww, man, Lucy. My friend is a girl, and her name is Kat, as in K-A-T."
"Oh." Lucy pretended she just realized that. "Sorry, I'm a little slow today!"
Zac laughed and nodded. "Obviously!"
Lucy giggled too. "Aww....Zac, I'm just messing with ya."
"Yah, I know," Zac replied with a grin.
"So, who's this friend of yours, Kat?" Lucy questioned. "What about her?"
"Well, you just kinda' remind me of her. I mean, you guys are kinda' alike. Like, you guys sorta' act the same and stuff." Zac looked at her thoughtfully. "You guys should meet each other. You'd probably get along well."
"Oh really?" Lucy raised her eyebrows. "Ya think?"
Zac nodded. "Yeah, probably. And you should meet my other friends too, sometime. I think it would be cool if you got to meet them sometime."
Lucy grinned. "Okay. Maybe you could meet mine too. My best friends are really cool. You'd get along really well with them too, probably."
"Really?" Zac looked interested. "What are their names?"
"Gale and Dan," Lucy answered.
"Dan? You mean like, Dan as in, short for Danielle?" Zac asked.
Lucy shook her head. "Nah. Dan's a guy. He's really cool. You guys would probably get along well."
Zac grinned. "Cool."
"Hey, do you wanna go inside?" Lucy said suddenly. "I'll show you my room."
"Okay!" Zac agreed. He walked over to the ladder, and crawled down after Lucy. Just to show off, he jumped down the last two feet off the ladder to the ground. He landed on his feet in front of Lucy with a smirk on his face.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Bravo."
Zac beamed. "Thanks!"
Lucy rolled her eyes again. "Come on, let's go."
Lucy headed over to the sliding glass doors with Zac following behind. As they entered the house and started climbing up the stairs, Zac looked around the house.
"Wow, you guys have a big house," Zac commented, as he followed Lucy up the stairs.
Lucy shrugged. "Well, our family's like, huge, so whaddaya gonna do. We had to find a place that was big enough for everyone to fit in."
Zac laughed. "Yeah, but still! I mean, I've got a big family too, but our house isn't as big as yours."
They walked down the hall and stopped in front of a door. Lucy pushed open the door and sauntered in. Zac followed her in.
Zac looked around the room. It was pretty messy; there were magazines, clothes, shoes, and a whole lot of other stuff scattered all over the carpeted floor. Lucy's closet door was wide open with clothes and other things spilling out of it.
"Nice, tidy room ya got here," Zac said sarcastically.
Lucy grinned. "My mom's always telling me to clean it and keep it neater and more organized, but....." She shrugged. "I guess you could say I'm not a neat freak!"
"Yeah, you're just a freak!" Zac joked.
Lucy made a face at him and threw her pillow at him. "Ha ha, very funny."
"Hey! I'm just kidding!" Zac yelped, as the pillow hit him on the chin.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah; whatever."
Just then, Alleigh stuck her head in the room, and peered over at them.
"Hi guys," Alleigh greeted.
"Als!" Zac exclaimed. He ran over to her quickly. "Are you okay? Are you still dizzy or something?"
Alleigh smiled. "No, I'm okay now. I just got a little too excited and then got tired, that's all."
Zac let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Whew! I thought we lost ya there for a moment, Als!"
Alleigh giggled. "No, I'm back, see? I'm here, in the flesh!"
Zac laughed. "Well, good! Next time we play tag, hopefully you won't pass out again. We wouldn't wanna lose ya!"
Alleigh laughed. "Awww....that's so sweet of you, Zac. Thanks." She smiled at him brightly before leaving the room.
As soon as Alleigh was out of earshot, Lucy rolled her eyes. "Als??? Are you kidding or something??"
Zac turned back around to look at Lucy, and shrugged. "I dunno; it's just a nickname. She didn't seem to mind."
Lucy rolled her eyes again. "Well, duh, of course not!"
"Of course not??" Zac frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Lucy looked at Zac. "Do you like her?"
Zac looked confused. "Who?"
Lucy rolled her eyes. "The imaginary girl in this room.......Alleigh, you dumbbell!"
Zac scratched his head confusedly. "Alleigh?" he said uncertainly.
"Yes, Alleigh!" Lucy exclaimed. "My sister? You know; as in the girl who conked out outside, and you just talked to her?? That Alleigh?? Ring a bell??" She gave Zac a pointed look.
Zac shrugged. "I dunno; she's kinda' cute, I guess."
Lucy grimaced. "Cute???!" she repeated. "Ugghhh, I think I'm gonna be sick."
Zac frowned. "What? All I said was she's kinda' cute, that's all."
Lucy started gagging. "Gross..."
"Well, you were the one who asked me," Zac retorted, making a face at her.
"What??! I didn't ask if you thought she was cute; I asked if you liked her or not," Lucy shot back.
Zac frowned. "Do I like her? Ummm......I dunno." He gave Lucy a weird look. "Why are you asking me that??"
"Well, cause Alleigh likes you," Lucy informed him.
"She does?" Zac asked uncertainly.
Lucy nodded. "Yep. But she doesn't want you to know that, so don't say anything to her about it. But I just thought I might tell ya, that's all."
A smirk slowly turned up at the corners of Zac's lips. "So, Alleigh likes me, huh?" He nodded. "Yep, I know; I'm just a ladies man. Women love me."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. Sure, whatever."
"I'm just a girl magnet," Zac continued to brag. "I just attract girls from all the four corners of the globe--"
Lucy grabbed another pillow off her bed and hurled it at Zac, which hit him on the side of his head. He looked up, dazed, at Lucy.
"You're full of it, ya know that??" Lucy demanded.
Zac grinned. "Yep. Full of stuff that makes girls love me!"
Lucy rolled her eyes for what seemed like the umpteenth time. "Shut up, Zac." She reached for another pillow and flung it at Zac, but this time Zac ducked out of the way, laughing.
"Missed me." Zac smirked.
"Don't worry," Lucy replied. "I'll get you."
.;~;. Chapter 7 .;~;.
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