Chapter 5: An Unexpected Reunion

-Ugh! It's that girl from yesterday! What's she doing here?!

Zac's memories of Hadasa resurfaced in his heart, haunting him for a moment.

-And I thought this punishment couldn't get any worse than that! Welp, it already has!

"Hadasa, Atara, Lia, Shifra, Yosef, Uriah and Eliezer…allow me to introduce you to Zac. Zac, I would like for you to meet Lia…" Mrs. A said, pointing her palm hand at Lia.

"Hiya there, Zac," Lia said, waving her hand at me with a smile on her face, closing her eyes. "It's nice to meet you."

Lia's body was curvy and fresh out of puberty. Her smooth, black skin received lighting from the ceiling. Her light brown, beautifully cow-eyed eyes gazed at Zac. Her black, straight hair was also radiant against the ceiling light. Her face was less pretty than the rest of the group; her big, thick eyebrows and a black dot near her right eyebrow examined Zac for a moment. She wore her white shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers.

"...Eliezer…" Mrs. A continued, pointing her palm at Eliezer.

"Howdy, Zac!" Eliezer said like he was almost fresh out of puberty. He performed the same actions as Lia did, except with his big grin. He saw Zac from behind him. He was a bit shorter than Zac and was almost fresh out of puberty. The ceiling lights shone on his wavy, blond hair as well as his average face and white skin. He wore a green T-shirt, blue pants and green shoes.

"...Atara…" Mrs. A continued on, pointing her palm at Atara.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Zac," Atara said, waving at Zac with her sweet, gentle smile. She also saw Zac from behind her. Atara's body was almost fresh out of puberty and was less curvy than Lia's. Her lighter brown skin, averagely beautiful face and a pair of hazel eyes stared at Zac along with her black, curly hair. She wore an orange shirt, a mini skirt and orange and white sneakers.

"...Uriah…" Mrs. A continued, aiming her palm at Uriah.

"Hiya there!" Uriah answered, waving at Zac with his determined face. Uriah appeared to be either twelve or thirteen. His darker tan skin and black, short hair radiated well against the ceiling light. He had an average facial beauty along with a pair of brown eyes. He wore a red T-shirt, blue pants and red and white shoes.

"...Shifra…" Mrs. A continued, aiming her palm at Shifra.

"Hey, there," Shifra said, waving at Zac with a beautiful grin Shifra looked like she was either eleven or twelve. Her white skin, beautiful face and dark black, short hair shielded themselves well from the ceiling light. Her freckles and a beautiful pair of her sky blue eyes stared at Zac at first. She wore her sky blue shirt, khakis and her sky blue sneakers.

"...Yosef…" Mrs. A continued, pointing her palm at Yosef.

"What's up, man," Yosef answered, waving at Zac with his great, big smile and his brown eyes stared at Zac. Yosef appeared to be either eleven or twelve as well. His black, fuzzy, short hair protected his beautiful face from the ceiling light as well as his smooth, black skin. He wore his blue shirt, long shorts and blue sneakers.

"...And finally, Hadasa," Mrs. A continued, aiming her palm at Hadasa.

"Hey, you're that boy from yesterday. I'm glad we meet each other again! How are you?!" Hadasa answered, waving at Zac with her grin.

-Well, I'm certainly not, bitch! I won't forgive you and your brother for yesterday! So deal with it!

"Oh, so you two met yesterday, huh?" Mrs. A asked, raising her eyebrow, turning to Zac and Hadasa back and forth.

"Uh-huh, we sure did!" Hadasa excitedly responded.

"Yeah…we have, Mrs. A…" Zac responded, turning his annoyed face to his left, crossing his arms.

-Wow, man! Talk about more embarrassment! I don't deserve this kind of punishment! Please, Lord, please take me to a different community service! Anywhere but here!

"Ah, I see…" Mrs. A said, turning to Zac and Hadasa one last time before leaving the room. "Well, if you guys get done with your work or need any help, just let me know and I'll come back here. Otherwise…" She paused for a moment before she sang, "Keep working!"

"We will, Mrs. A," all the adolescents said.

Once Mrs. A shut the door behind her, Hadasa then turned to Zac. "C'mon, Zac. We gotta go get to work!"

"Sure…" Zac said who sounded annoyed at first, "Let's go…!"

Hadasa raised her eyebrow at Zac while he walked towards the group and sat in between Atara and Eliezer. "Okay…?"

"So you're the guy who stole Hadasa's brother's toy to sell it, right?" Yosef asked while he tied the shoelaces.

"Nuh!" Zac cried, widening his eyes while he looked into Yosef's eyes out of shock.

-Hey, what did this kid just ask?!

As Zac stood silent all the sudden, Atara curiously turned to him. "Hey, are you gonna answer the question or what?"

Zac quickly turned to Atara and immediately glared at her. "Uh, why do I care to answer such a question like that?!"

Atara sucked her teeth at Zac. "Eh?! Why do you have to be such a rude ass, huh?!"

-Okay, who the hell does this bitch think she is?! Huh?!

Hadasa nearly closed her eyes while she stared at Zac, before she refocused on tying the shoelaces. "It's alright, guys. Zaccai's still mad about yesterday, so just ignore him until we get our work done at least."

"Okay," Hadasa's friends said as they got back to work. Zac glared at Hadasa more than Atara.

-Ugh! Not only does this lil' bitch told her friends about yesterday, but she also calls me Zaccai…again?! She's so freakin' annoyin'. I just wanna strangle this bitch to death!

When Zac went back to tying shoelaces with Hadasa and the rest of the group, he looked at the shoes below. He moved his eyes sideways as he frowned at them. He tightly held them onto with his two hands. After he got done tying the shoelaces, he didn't even bother to put the shoes in the box. He just stared at the them, without even moving a muscle. He frightenedly shivered.

-Okay, as soon as I get home, I definitely need to talk to my parents about finding me a new community service. I just can't stand to be embarrassed by Hadasa ever again. It's the only way I could get out of this hellhole…

Lia took notice of Zac's lack of bodily movement. "Zac, are you alright there, buddy?"

Zac didn't answer and he still stared at the shoes he was holding. Hadasa and the other five took notice of that too, examining him.

-Because if I don't, I'll be…doomed forever! And that's an unfortunate fact, Zac buddy! Ah!

"Hey, are you okay over there?" Uriah asked, raising his brow at Zac once again.

After Zac failed to respond a second time, Eliezer tapped on Zac's shoulder hard. "Uh, are you okay there, buddy?"

Zac placed his hand on his shoulder, glaring at Eliezer. "Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

"Sorry, man. We wanna know if you're okay or not. Damn! You don't need to be a jerk 'bout it!" Eliezer yelled, raising both his fists up under his chin, angrily examining Zac.

"Yea!" Yosef roared, also glaring at Zac.

"Seriously, bro. What the hell's your problem?!" Shifra angrily asked Zac. "We were worried sick about you, since you were actin' a bit strange."

"Well, I was doin' much fine, thank you very much!" Zac roared at Shifra.

-I'm ready to hurt these people, because they're pissin' me off to no end! Gosh!

"Alright guys, that's enough fightin'!" Lia said. "We gotta get back to work for Elohim! We can't allow our distractions to prevent us from doing our good works."

"Lia's right," Hadasa agreed, "We have to keep on working for the Lord."

Once everybody in the room shook their heads, they immediately went back to work. Zac glared at everyone else in the room while he placed the shoes back into the box, nearing closing his eyes. He then angrily gazed at the shoes, breathing his breaths quietly and quickly.

-Oooh-wheee, I can't wait to tell my parents to get the hell out of this joint, so that I don't have to deal with these assholes anymore. That's for damn sure.

****

After Zac and the entire group finished tying the shoelaces and placed them in the box, they let Mrs. A know about it. Mrs. A allowed them to exit the building for lunch break and picked up that box. As soon as they exitted the building, Hadasa and her friends stared at Zac and talked amongst themselves for a while. Yet Zac's phone rang in his pocket.

-Gee…I wonder who the hell's callin' me now?!

He pulled his phone out from his pocket and looked at its screen. It says:

DAD CALLING

-Oh, it's dad. He's probably checkin' on me to see what I'm up to.

Zac answered the phone. "Oh hey, dad…Yeah, I'm doin' fine…Community service is goin' great so far. All I had to do was the tie some shoelaces and put them in the box for charity. That's all…Yeah, I'm currently on lunch break right now, and I'll have to do one more community service. Once I got that finished, I'll be done for the day. Piece of cake…

"Uh-huh…Uh-huh…Uh-huh…Well, I'll call you back and tell you when community service is done, dad…Dad! Stop callin' me 'Zaccai' alright?! Do you not realize what a dumb, terrible name it is?!...Alrighty then, bye!...I love you, too!"

Zac sighed, looking down at the ground, placing his phone back into his pocket.

-Look, I love my parents and all but they seriously need to stop callin' me Zaccai and realize what a bad name it is. It's gettin' very annoyin' at this point…Ugh…

"Zac!" Shifra's voice echoed behind Zac. Zac widened his eyes after recognizing Shifra's voice. He clenched his fists and glared at the world.

-Oh, what the hell does that little brat want now?!

Zac turned around and glared at Shifra. "What do you want?! Huh?! Make fun of me even more?!"

"Wh-what?! No! What do you think that?!" Shifra asked, glaring back at Zac.

"Because you heard my birth name over my phone call, didn't you?!" Zac questioned.

"No, we weren't even near you, bro. Geesh!" Atara snapped at Zac, glaring at him.

Zac then raised his curious eyebrow. "Okay, so what do you want from me then?"

"We want to invite you to our lunch break," Hadasa said. "Not only because we're hungry, but also because we want to get to know each other better. What do you say?"

-Okay, I'm definitely not goin' out for lunch with these dickheads, especially earlier today?! I don't think so! I'm not interested! I didn't even bring my own money, for Elohim's sake!

"Uh, I don't even have money for lunch, so you'll have to eat lunch by yourselves," Zac responded with his annoyed face, crossing his arms.

Hadasa sighed while sadly looking at Zac. "Nonsense! Atara agreed to treat you if you don't have any money right, Atara?"

"Of course, I will," Atara agreed, closing her eyes with a big smile, displaying her straight, white teeth.

"So, can you please come with us?" Hadasa asked.

"Nope, not interested," Zac replied.

"Awe, please?" Hadasa asked.

"I said, 'No!'" Zac answered.

Then once Hadasa and her friends repeatedly pleaded Zac over it, Zac angrily clenched his fights and put his head down.

"Okay, okay, fine! I'll go!" Zac snapped.

"Yeahie!" Hadasa cried when they left the charity service for lunch break together. Zac annoyedly sighed while he walked with them.