Page 45 of Spring Awakening

“It’s just Zach, Mum,” she replies.

“Oops.”

“You can call me Zachariah, Mrs Okeye,” he says, and Mali frowns at him. He winks. “What’s on the list?”

“Oh, stop,” her mum says, with a laugh. “Just Zamina is fine.”

“The list is monumental,” her dad says. “We did the table together, didn’t we, chicken?” He wipes his hand over their handiwork. It’s not good by any means. They never managed to sand out the gauge her dad put in it with the chisel, but she loves it all the same.

“We did, and then we decided we’d pay professionals to do the big jobs.”

Her dad laughs. He’s not a builder—he’s a manager at a data firm. There have been times when he’s told her exactly what he does, but it sounds a lot like spreadsheets and acronyms. “That we did.”

Zach places the dishes in the centre, and there’s a collection of “Oh my god” and “This smells divine” and her father telling them “If he’s as good a cook as he is a rugby player, we’re in for a treat.”

“I can do it,” Zach replies as he sits down. “Just give me a list.”

“Zach is so good at handiwork, Mali,” Miriam chimes in. “And electrics too!”

Mali smiles. “I know. He fixed my fuse for me.”

“Such a clever boy,” Miriam says. Mali thinks she’s about a minute away from squishing his cheeks together. Zach smiles fondly at her, so he’d probably let her get away with it. “And so handsome too.”

Mali gasps. “Right? Oh my God, you guys, look at this photo I took earlier.”

“Stalker,” Zach grumbles.

Miriam taps him on the thigh and says, “Oh, shh. I never get photos of you.”

“Please,” Mali says, with a small squeal. “You have to see this.” She pulls her phone out and scrolls through her photos until she finds the one from this morning. (It takes her a while because Buffy was being silly cute on the windowsill earlier.) Eventually, Mali finds the photo she wants. She made sure she didn’t get the child’s face in her photo, because she’s not trying to be on any lists, and honestly, she only cares about Zach.

She tilts the phone to Miriam, who is so gleeful it’s contagious. As if Mali wasn’t already smiling. Her parents lean in, and Zach looks about as embarrassed as she thinks his face would allow him to look.

“Oh my,” Miriam says, her eyes welling up. Zach looks like Zach, but the happy version of Zach. “You’re such a good boy,” she says, the tears flowing.

“Ma,” Zach says with a fond groan as Miriam leans against him. “It’s just an autograph.”

“I’m always so proud of you. First a new team, then a new house, now this!”

“You’re so dramatic,” Zach replies with a smile. Mali wonders if she should tell her some of the other things Zach does, but the moment moves on.

“Speaking of autographs,” her dad says, as subtle as a bull in a china shop.

“Dad,” Mali groans.

“Mali-Ali, if I wait for you to get them all, I’ll be in my grave.”

“I got you Adebayo’s, didn’t I?” she replies, and Zach laughs.

“Ezra said yes?” He looks right at her, and it makes her heart trip.

“Well, he grunted, but I got two signed tops out of it.”

Zach smiles at his plate. “Well, my autograph isn’t as good as Ezra’s, but if I give you a top, you can pretend it is.”

Her dad claps his hands together. “Success.” He pulls out a small notepad from his back pocket and puts a tick next to the name Zach.

“Dad!”

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