Addison was startled awake by the sound of her phone ringing. She was reaching to ignore the call when the melody of it finally entered her sleepy brain. It was the ringtone she had set for Zed.
Suddenly more alert, Addy sat upright and grabbed her phone, quickly accepting the call. "Zed? What's wrong?" She looked at the clock and internally groaned when she saw it was 1 am. She had to be up for school in five hours.
"Addison..." The small, timid voice on the other end of the phone was most definitely not Zed's.
"Zoey? What's going on? Where's Zed?" Addison felt a wave of panic hit her and it was all she could do to stop the stream of questions she had.
"He's in his room...I stole his phone 'cause he didn't want me to call you, but something's wrong with him and I think he needs help," Zoey said shakily. Zoey was one of the bravest people that Addison had ever met. She had seen that little girl stand in front of a crowd of hundreds that were all booing her without blinking an eye. Yet right now, Zoey sounded truly scared and that freaked Addison out even more.
"Alright, I'm coming," Addison responded. She cradled the phone as she started to pull on her clothes. "But Zoey, where is your father?"
"He's working the overnight shift, it was the only one he could get. Zed got really angry when I said we should call dad's work. He said that dad really needs this job and can't afford to leave for something so silly," Zoey's voice now took on a bit of a whine. She sounded a bit more like a normal kid who hadn't gotten her way.
"But you don't think it's silly," Addy commented as she pulled on her sneakers.
"No, Zed's not acting normal," Zoey said.
"Zoey, what exactly is wrong with Zed?" Addison asked. She was all ready but she wanted to hear the answer to this question before she ended the call.
"He's-" Zoey started to answer but then cut off. "Hey!" She shouted, but her voice was far away.
"Zoey? Zoey, what's going on?" Addison whispered as loud as she dared.
"Addy, everything's fine," Zed's voice now came through her phone. Addison sat down on her bed in relief.
"Zed, what the heck is going on?" She asked.
"Nothing, Zoey's just been on edge since the whole football fiasco. Everything is good over here," Zed responded. He voice sounded strained and tired, but other than that he sounded like himself.
"Clearly everything is not good if Zoey was scared enough to call me. What does she think is wrong with you? She said you were acting not like yourself," Addison argued, sensing that Zed wasn't giving her the full story.
"It's not a zombie thing, don't worry," Zed rushed to reassure her. "Everything is just catching up with me and I'm just exhausted, that's all."
"You're just tired…" Addison said in a way that let him know she didn't believe him.
"Yes, and you absolutely do not need to come here. I don't want you to get into any more trouble than you already are," Zed said firmly.
It had been a week since cheerleaders and zombies had joined together to cheer. Even though her parents were slowly warming up to the idea of Zed, they had still grounded her for lying to them and breaking the rules. Addy was only allowed to go to school and cheer practice for the foreseeable future.
"You sure you are okay?" She asked. She knew that sneaking into Zombietown at this hour could get her in trouble with not only her parents but also the police, but Zed always came first and she had a bad feeling in her gut that he wasn't okay.
"Yes. I'm fine and you can see that for yourself tomorrow at school," Zed answered in a tone that told her there was no arguing with him.
"Okay, but call me if you need anything," She said, giving in.
"Will do."
"Oh and Zed? Tell Zoey that she is free to call me anytime she needs me."
"That's dangerous, Addy," Zed said with a soft laugh. "She'll call you for every little thing."
"I'm okay with that," Addison said seriously. There was a slight pause on the other end of the phone before Zed responded,
"You are really sweet. I will tell her. Goodnight Addison."
"Goodnight Zed," She responded and then hung up the phone.
The first thing that she did after was to go to her bedroom door and put her ear against it. She strained to hear if any of the sounds of her whispered phone conversation had reached her parents. To her relief, the house was silent.
The next thing she did was have a mental argument with herself. Her instincts and her heart were telling her to sneak out anyway and go check on Zed herself, but her mind was telling her that it was risky and that Zed had told her he was fine.
But on the other hand, there had to have been a reason Zoey had called her. It was possible the young girl was overreacting, but she was still reacting to something. Addison had a suspicion that something was more than simple exhaustion.
In the end, she made the decision that she was always going to make and climbed out of her window.
