A/N: Enjoy. This was inspired by the ending of 'Goodbye Zoey Part 2'. I don't own this show, or some of the lines used in this oneshot. So enjoy. I felt like it had to be done. What a cliffhanger…
Everything in italics is what she's seeing on camera, okay? Okay. Read as if she were at PCA, watching this but she's like invisible. Think of it like that.
She Knows
She's miles away from PCA, California and even the United States. There are days where she wishes she could just hop a plane and come back. But she can't. She wants to prove to her parents that she's mature enough to handle this, so she'll stay in England. She'll stay in England and try to adapt for the sake of maturity, and it's not very mature to cry, so she wipes the tears away.
Her first day is today, so she's home now with a lot of homework to occupy her thoughts so she won't have to fill her head with something else. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen should be interesting to read, even though she's read it before. But whatever.
She cracks the book open to the cover, but frowns putting it back because she simply doesn't have the motivation to read it. Flipping through a magazine, she flips through it, concluding that she'll have to appreciate England and the country's ways. Going by Buckingham Palace will be exciting, because she's always had a small crush on Prince William, and even for her to admit that, makes her cheeks go red.
She'll be here for a while. Maybe she'll return to the United States but will be a totally different Zoey Brooks. Her well-known slight Southern twang will be replaced with a slight British accent.
Not that she's worried about that. She's used to flipping through magazines, while sipping Blix, and sitting in a beanbag with Lola, discussing boys with her on her right, and Quinn, testing out her latest Quinnvention, on her left. But it's normal to her, and it really wouldn't be so silent like this.
It really is silent, even though the house is half an hour away from her new school, Covington Prepatory Academy – "where all children learn", the brochure says.
She looks up, hearing a slight beep, and is confused as she realizes it's coming from the computer. Does someone want to talk to her? What could possibly be the problem?
She ponders this greatly, as hears Michael's voice through the computer speakers.
Zoey sees the little video box in the corner, with Michael, Logan, and Chase in her view. What could she have stumbled on?
--
"You don't think it's a little weird that right after she leaves PCA, you make friends with some bizzaro girl that just happens to look like Zoey?" Michael questions Chase.
"Gretchen is a lot of fun!"
"Ha, yeah," she hears Logan's bitter, and sarcastic laugh. "…the way she spits and picks her nose…"
Michael seems to follow Logan's sarcasm streak, "Don't forget the fun way she popped her pimple at lunch!"
--
She knows she's miles away from PCA, but feels as if she were standing right there in the guys' dorm, watching all of this tension and drama between the three boys transpire, invisible. She quietly sighs, trying not to make too much noise. She's already in a house, and bedroom that is incredibly homey and silent.
It won't change anything. As of right now, she knows that she's been replaced with a girl named Gretchen. This Gretchen girl is supposedly her carbon copy. Well, that's fine, her head tells her. She'll be here for a while, so it would be incredibly selfish to force her brother and all the friends she made in PCA to hang on to her, and the memories they had.
Because it isn't fair, and that's all she is.
A memory that they're going to have to forget about even if it is the day after. It's wrong to spy on people – her morals and high values tell her that but as Logan basically calls him out for being in denial, and with Chase getting angrier (he starts to go red in the face), she simply can't bring herself to click that red DISCONNECT button.
--
"Well, lookie here. Zoey gave you this, didn't she?" Logan questions, and she knows better than anyone else that Chase is having his buttons pushed. Zoey knows a lot of things don't bug him, but he absolutely hates being provoked. She remembers that stuffed giraffe, vividly because she gave him that as a birthday present instead of the pen he had originally received.
"Maybe she did. Put that down…"
"Logan…" Michael warns, and as she watches Zoey lets out a breath she forgets she was holding. A million things zoom through her head.
"No, no," Logan holds up a hand to cut Michael off. She knows that Logan is a jerk, self-centered, selfish among other things. But she also knows Logan has this freakishly amazing talent for turning people's heads. She's afraid to blink because she's afraid she'll miss something. Still, the voice telling her to click the DISCONNECT button is there, almost screaming it, but it's as if she has no control over her body. She can't operate anything even if she wants to. She sees Logan again. "If you don't miss Zoey, then why should you care about a stupid little stuffed animal she gave you?"
"Logan…" Michael says, in a last ditch attempt.
"You're right. I don't care!" is Chase's reply, and Zoey feels her stomach sink to her toes. But the devil sitting on her shoulder says that it's okay, because they'll forget about her. All of them will soon enough. So, why not start now? Better sooner than later.
"So, you wouldn't care if I did this?"
The sound of the head of the stuffed giraffe being torn is almost echoed, but she's really unprepared for what comes next. Zoey's eyes widen, and she almost gasps as Chase almost pounces on Logan, sending him flying into the computer. Michael is left to deal with a livid Chase, as Michael holds him back for a split second. Realization dawns on him, and backs away.
"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"
Logan has set out to do what he wanted so he's being uncharacteristically gracious, "It's cool. It's…cool…"
Zoey, while on the other side of world, sits watching, and unmoving.
--
She doesn't know Chase is capable of that.
But she doesn't know what's going through his head, so she can't jump to that conclusion.
Zoey stares at the screen, unable to process what just happened. Her parents are in the house somewhere, and there's her first weekend away from PCA. Covington Prep is a new environment to her, so with no friends to vent to, and no real emotional outlet, she locks herself in the bathroom stall, silently crying for a good ten minutes before she can fix her makeup and go to class.
She gets to walk into a classroom with a teacher, and sit among students that are dressed the same as her. It's called a uniform, and by being mature, Zoey will need to learn how to deal.
--
She watches him, plant himself in the middle of their dorm floor, the colour draining from his face. He looks flushed. Logan squats in front of him, and Michael sits.
"Everything you guys said is true…" he admits, realizing that everything he had done to cover any trace of romantic feelings, just explodes in his face, leaving him with his a truth he tried to dismiss. He knows for sure.
"We know you miss Zoey, man…" Michael says, in a tone of understanding, with Logan nodding in agreement.
"I don't just miss her," Chase confesses. Zoey thanks God she has great balance or slipping off her chair in shock would have been her next option, as she hears Chase's voice again. "…I'm in love with her. I've been in love with her since the day I met her…when she stepped out of her dad's car, and I saw standing her there. I rode my bike into that stupid flag pole. I was in love with her before I hit the ground, and I don't think those feelings will ever go away…"
She knows he looks like he's on the brink of tears. Maybe she is too, but she remains silent. She's shocked as predicted, but that's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said about her. He isn't anyone. He's Chase.
The guy who plays tic-tac-toe with her, instead of listening to a lesson of photosynthesis.
The same guy who carries her around after she takes a nasty tumble, and breaks her ankle. The guy she can talk to about everything and anything…the conversations may seem stupid and pointless to others, but it matters to them.
She sighs, closing her eyes, and then she opens them, finally pressing that red DISCONNECT button, and the screen goes black…
--
She knows the truth.
If he's been keeping it in for as long as he says, then it's been three years. She sits on her bed almost numb. Zoey feels the beginnings of a migraine, but knows it's anything but. One can't start crying because of some dumb little head pain. It would be better for her to down some aspirin, and that's it.
But she's been hit with the bomb of her life, and isn't sure. Are they reciprocal? Can she really love him back?
She flashes back to a time, when Lola and Chase were dating…even if it was just for a day. Her animosity towards Rebecca, even though she is rumored to be dating Vince Blake, is still there. It's still there, and Zoey can't bring herself to forgive and forget – and she's the most forgiving person ever.
Zoey doesn't hold a grudge against Chase for making Logan look like a saint. She can't even though every cell in her body screams at her to be angry with him because that's the justified emotion.
Her heart won't allow it. Her heart won't allow her to wholly date other boys – Lance Rivers, and Danny, among others she might be infatuated with. The courtships end as quickly as they started and Zoey is left single again.
"Why did you do this to me?" she asks herself, as the tears flow down her cheeks. "Why Chase?"
Three years, and now he chooses to crack? He has terrible timing, Zoey's head says, but her heart justifies by saying, You wouldn't be able to handle it.
…which is true.
She knows her own truth – she is oblivious, and now knows that she should have listened to Lola at the very beginning of the year.
Zoey wants nothing more than to rewind everything. She wants to pretend she never heard Chase's declaration of love for her. She wants. She wants. She wants, but will never get. That will stay implanted in her mind, playing like a broken record on loop. It will always stay with her, because it helps her discover her own truth.
Her own revelation smacks her in the face so hard, but she can't subconsciously shove this in the back of her mind. Zoey lies on her back, the tears still streaking her face. She stares up at the beige ceiling. The clock ticks telling her that time will continue to press forward, and never go back.
Zoey has one thought as fresh, warm tears cascade down her cheeks one more time.
She knows.
Chase loves me…
And in knowing, she discovers.
I love him back…
A/N: My 18th birthday is tomorrow, so this is a little gift to myself. I've decided not to write the sequel to Goodbyes Are the Hardest Things. I was writing it, and it wasn't coming together the way I wanted, so I scraped it.
I will, however, write a oneshot sequel to this time. I saw the episode on Friday, and it's Sunday. I'm still in complete shock. That's how good the episode was. Seriously. I did the whole flashback from memory, after watching it FIVE times! So sorry if I screwed up. And they're not mine, so yeah…this is my 45th story! Woot!
I'm done. Check out my other stuff. I was in the mood for angst, so deal. To watch it, go to zoey101. eyeabove. com (take out the spaces, and don't write the triple W thing) and when you see a drop down list, click Goodboye Zoey Part 1, and then do for part Two.
Reviews would make a nice gift, if you can't give me anything else…
-Erika
