div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Adaline/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"They say that life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. What they fail to mention is death. Death, unfortunately, is what happens when you are in the middle of said plans. A large majority of Earth just found this out. Before I continue, let me set the scene./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"I walked down the overcrowded high school hallway, struggling to find my locker. Just my luck, it was located next to the girls bathroom. Switching schools before the start of sophomore year was already hard enough without having to endure the smell of teen spirit. I looked down at the wrinkled piece of paper in my hand. The previous night I had obsessively folded and unfolded the piece of paper. It was the key to surviving this year from hell. This wrinkled square held my locker number, combination, class schedule and bus number. Due to first day jitters, my locker combo was smudged from embarrassing hand sweat. I've had the combo memorized ever since I got it a few months ago, but the paper was my security blanket. I sighed, attempting to stuff it into the pocket of my jeans. As if in protest, the paper tumbled to the ground./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Great." I growled as I bent to pick it up from the scuffed linoleum floor./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"As I stood up, I was greeted by the cold feeling of blue Gatorade in my face./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""What the hell!" I exclaimed, looking up at the culprit./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"From this one glance I could tell everything I would ever need to know about him. I'm good at reading people, but it helped that he fit every teenage stereotype. He was tall, around 5'10, with brown eyes, blonde hair and a lopsided grin. He was clearly an athlete as you could see how toned his muscles were through his shirt and by the football tucked under his arm. He wore a white V-neck, cargo shorts and white Air Force Ones. Living with a brother only 2 years younger than me has it's perks. I'm thrilled to announce that I know every tacky, overpriced shoe out there. All of these things told me that this boy was probably not the smartest, was used to getting girls, and thought he was the greatest person to ever walk the Earth. /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""I am so sorry," his voice interrupted my thoughts, " I really need to watch where I'm going!" /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"He gave me an apologetic lopsided grin and proceeded to pull out napkins and a tide stick from his backpack. /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Would these help? My sister put this tide stick in my backpack and I honestly don't know what it does." He offered./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"I begrudgingly accepted without saying a word. He probably spilled things on girls all the time just to talk to them. Those girls probably giggled and made sleazy comments about him helping them "clean" their shirts. But I knew how these types of boys worked and didn't want to give him the satisfaction of responding./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""I think we've gotten off on a bad foot. I'm Chase!" He said, extending his hand towards me./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Well Chase, it's been great meeting you and all but I'm going to be late so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find a bathroom and attempt to fix my shirt. Have a nice day." I ignored his hand and proceeded to storm into the girls bathroom a few feet away./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"I left him standing in the middle of the hallway, looking bewildered. Apparently he wasn't used to rejection./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"-/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Chase/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"The day had been off to a bad start. My parents had begun the morning with one of their signature arguments. I managed to sneak past their room and snatch up an apple for breakfast without them seeing me. I wasn't so lucky sneaking past my older sister. Natasha is a senior and very self righteous. She also blames everything on me. For example, this morning she was having a bad hair day and it was somehow my fault. We ended up arguing on our way to school./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Thanks for the ride. It would've been great if you had shut up for at least a minute tho." I said as I slammed the door of her black Ford Focus./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""I hate you." She said while rolling her eyes./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"With that, we stormed off in opposite directions. That was the plus side to being younger than her. At least we didn't share any classes. I looked down at my watch and realized I was going to be late unless I picked up the pace. I grabbed a Gatorade out of my backpack and walked quickly towards May Valley High School. On the way, I noticed a group of my football friends./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Hey dude! Come hang with us!" Yelled my best friend Jake as he tossed me his football./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Can't! Gotta run but thanks for the ball!" I yelled back while sprinting away./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"I really should have been paying more attention, but I was too busy laughing as I entered the school hallway. Before I knew it I had slammed into a girl, and that wasn't necessarily the worst part. Somehow I managed to ruin her shirt with my blue Gatorade. Just. Great. It also didn't help that this girl was pretty. As in majorly pretty. She had long brown hair, warm brown eyes, sun-kissed skin and a perfect smile. I must admit, getting girls has always come easy to me. I couldn't seem to mask the surprise on my face as she sauntered away from me to the girls bathroom without a second glance. I was deep in thought when I heard it- screams. Looking down the hallway, I saw something I never believed could be real. Students were tackled to the ground and seemingly bitten and chewed on by fellow students. I barely had time to think. I sprinted to the closest place in sight- the girls bathroom./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"-/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Adaline/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""WHAT THE H-" I tried to yell, but Chase placed his hand over my mouth./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Slowly, he moved his hand away and whispered to me./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Do NOT make a sound. I'm not going to hurt you, but they will." /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"span class="" style="white-space: pre;" Chase/span pointed to the door. For a moment I was left in confusion, but then I heard the strange groans and screams coming from the hall way. The door of the bathroom had a plexi-glass window and I couldn't believe my eyes. Every zombie show and movie I had ever seen flashed before my eyes. This was it, this was the zombie apocalypse. Understandably, I fainted. /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"When I came to, my head was resting in Chase's lap. I sat up so quickly that my head felt like a bomb close to exploding. Suddenly I remembered everything I had just seen. I looked towards the door in panic./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Don't worry," Said Chase, "there's a lock."/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Still unable to fully comprehend the situation, I sunk back against the rough bathroom wall. I tried desperately to tune out the sounds of chewing and giggling. Wait, giggling?/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"I pressed my face to the floor and found the source. In one stall, I could see three pairs of shoes./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""I know Blue. They haven't come up for air yet." Chase told me with a smirk on his face./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Blue?"/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Well, you never told me your name so I had to make one up. It seems fitting and all since I spilled my blue Gatorade all over you."/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Of course you would make up dumb nicknames during a zombie apocalypse." I said, pouring an overwhelming amount of sass into my voice./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"We made intense eye contact before collapsing into fits of laughter. In our defense, neither of us knew how to process the days events. Shoulders shaking, the laughter quickly turned to sobbing. Sure it was embarrassing to cry in front of an attractive boy, but I figured that this was an acceptable occasion. It was at this moment that our three friends decided to venture out of their stall. /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Flipping her golden hair over her shoulder, the girl stopped in her tracks. Two boys came out after her; one Asian boy who looked like a Korean pop star and another tall jock type with brown hair and a cocky smile. /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Hey guys, come to join the fun?" The girl asked us./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Chase! What's good man!" the K-pop star exclaimed./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Be quiet!" Chase whisper-yelled./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"His words had no effect on the trio. The cocky brunette walked over to the door./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Hey why is this locked?" He asked./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"span class="" style="white-space: pre;" Chase/span and I exchanged glances. In what seemed like slow motion, the clueless jock opened the door at the same time that Chase went to tackle him. Chase was too late. The door was open a crack and it was through this that one of the creatures fell in. In a panic the jock threw it into a bathroom stall. I pressed against the door in a desperate attempt to close it. Chase noticed my struggling and threw himself on the door. Together, we closed it and turned the lock. A strange sound caught our attention. This time it wasn't coming from the hallway, it was coming from the bathroom stall./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"-/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"They say that life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. What they fail to mention is death. Death, unfortunately, is what happens when you are in the middle of said plans. A large majority of Earth just found this out. Before I continue, let me set the scene./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"I walked down the overcrowded high school hallway, struggling to find my locker. Just my luck, it was located next to the girls bathroom. Switching schools before the start of sophomore year was already hard enough without having to endure the smell of teen spirit. I looked down at the wrinkled piece of paper in my hand. The previous night I had obsessively folded and unfolded the piece of paper. It was the key to surviving this year from hell. This wrinkled square held my locker number, combination, class schedule and bus number. Due to first day jitters, my locker combo was smudged from embarrassing hand sweat. I've had the combo memorized ever since I got it a few months ago, but the paper was my security blanket. I sighed, attempting to stuff it into the pocket of my jeans. As if in protest, the paper tumbled to the ground./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Great." I growled as I bent to pick it up from the scuffed linoleum floor./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"As I stood up, I was greeted by the cold feeling of blue Gatorade in my face./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""What the hell!" I exclaimed, looking up at the culprit./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"From this one glance I could tell everything I would ever need to know about him. I'm good at reading people, but it helped that he fit every teenage stereotype. He was tall, around 5'10, with brown eyes, blonde hair and a lopsided grin. He was clearly an athlete as you could see how toned his muscles were through his shirt and by the football tucked under his arm. He wore a white V-neck, cargo shorts and white Air Force Ones. Living with a brother only 2 years younger than me has it's perks. I'm thrilled to announce that I know every tacky, overpriced shoe out there. All of these things told me that this boy was probably not the smartest, was used to getting girls, and thought he was the greatest person to ever walk the Earth. /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""I am so sorry," his voice interrupted my thoughts, " I really need to watch where I'm going!" /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"He gave me an apologetic lopsided grin and proceeded to pull out napkins and a tide stick from his backpack. /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Would these help? My sister put this tide stick in my backpack and I honestly don't know what it does." He offered./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"I begrudgingly accepted without saying a word. He probably spilled things on girls all the time just to talk to them. Those girls probably giggled and made sleazy comments about him helping them "clean" their shirts. But I knew how these types of boys worked and didn't want to give him the satisfaction of responding./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""I think we've gotten off on a bad foot. I'm Chase!" He said, extending his hand towards me./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Well Chase, it's been great meeting you and all but I'm going to be late so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find a bathroom and attempt to fix my shirt. Have a nice day." I ignored his hand and proceeded to storm into the girls bathroom a few feet away./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"I left him standing in the middle of the hallway, looking bewildered. Apparently he wasn't used to rejection./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"-/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Chase/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"The day had been off to a bad start. My parents had begun the morning with one of their signature arguments. I managed to sneak past their room and snatch up an apple for breakfast without them seeing me. I wasn't so lucky sneaking past my older sister. Natasha is a senior and very self righteous. She also blames everything on me. For example, this morning she was having a bad hair day and it was somehow my fault. We ended up arguing on our way to school./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Thanks for the ride. It would've been great if you had shut up for at least a minute tho." I said as I slammed the door of her black Ford Focus./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""I hate you." She said while rolling her eyes./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"With that, we stormed off in opposite directions. That was the plus side to being younger than her. At least we didn't share any classes. I looked down at my watch and realized I was going to be late unless I picked up the pace. I grabbed a Gatorade out of my backpack and walked quickly towards May Valley High School. On the way, I noticed a group of my football friends./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Hey dude! Come hang with us!" Yelled my best friend Jake as he tossed me his football./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Can't! Gotta run but thanks for the ball!" I yelled back while sprinting away./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"I really should have been paying more attention, but I was too busy laughing as I entered the school hallway. Before I knew it I had slammed into a girl, and that wasn't necessarily the worst part. Somehow I managed to ruin her shirt with my blue Gatorade. Just. Great. It also didn't help that this girl was pretty. As in majorly pretty. She had long brown hair, warm brown eyes, sun-kissed skin and a perfect smile. I must admit, getting girls has always come easy to me. I couldn't seem to mask the surprise on my face as she sauntered away from me to the girls bathroom without a second glance. I was deep in thought when I heard it- screams. Looking down the hallway, I saw something I never believed could be real. Students were tackled to the ground and seemingly bitten and chewed on by fellow students. I barely had time to think. I sprinted to the closest place in sight- the girls bathroom./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"-/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Adaline/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""WHAT THE H-" I tried to yell, but Chase placed his hand over my mouth./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Slowly, he moved his hand away and whispered to me./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Do NOT make a sound. I'm not going to hurt you, but they will." /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"span class="" style="white-space: pre;" Chase/span pointed to the door. For a moment I was left in confusion, but then I heard the strange groans and screams coming from the hall way. The door of the bathroom had a plexi-glass window and I couldn't believe my eyes. Every zombie show and movie I had ever seen flashed before my eyes. This was it, this was the zombie apocalypse. Understandably, I fainted. /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"When I came to, my head was resting in Chase's lap. I sat up so quickly that my head felt like a bomb close to exploding. Suddenly I remembered everything I had just seen. I looked towards the door in panic./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Don't worry," Said Chase, "there's a lock."/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Still unable to fully comprehend the situation, I sunk back against the rough bathroom wall. I tried desperately to tune out the sounds of chewing and giggling. Wait, giggling?/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"I pressed my face to the floor and found the source. In one stall, I could see three pairs of shoes./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""I know Blue. They haven't come up for air yet." Chase told me with a smirk on his face./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Blue?"/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Well, you never told me your name so I had to make one up. It seems fitting and all since I spilled my blue Gatorade all over you."/div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Of course you would make up dumb nicknames during a zombie apocalypse." I said, pouring an overwhelming amount of sass into my voice./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"We made intense eye contact before collapsing into fits of laughter. In our defense, neither of us knew how to process the days events. Shoulders shaking, the laughter quickly turned to sobbing. Sure it was embarrassing to cry in front of an attractive boy, but I figured that this was an acceptable occasion. It was at this moment that our three friends decided to venture out of their stall. /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"Flipping her golden hair over her shoulder, the girl stopped in her tracks. Two boys came out after her; one Asian boy who looked like a Korean pop star and another tall jock type with brown hair and a cocky smile. /div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Hey guys, come to join the fun?" The girl asked us./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Chase! What's good man!" the K-pop star exclaimed./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Be quiet!" Chase whisper-yelled./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"His words had no effect on the trio. The cocky brunette walked over to the door./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;""Hey why is this locked?" He asked./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"span class="" style="white-space: pre;" Chase/span and I exchanged glances. In what seemed like slow motion, the clueless jock opened the door at the same time that Chase went to tackle him. Chase was too late. The door was open a crack and it was through this that one of the creatures fell in. In a panic the jock threw it into a bathroom stall. I pressed against the door in a desperate attempt to close it. Chase noticed my struggling and threw himself on the door. Together, we closed it and turned the lock. A strange sound caught our attention. This time it wasn't coming from the hallway, it was coming from the bathroom stall./div
div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"-/div
