My name is Addison Davis. I'm a junior at Seabrook High, sixteen years old. I live with my mom, who's the mayor of Seabrook, and my dad, who's the chief of police.
Way back when I was a freshman, I had dreams of being a cheerleader. But cheerleaders are dicks so screw that dream. Besides, I had better things to do than parade myself around the school with snooty Aceys in miniskirts, thinking I was better than everyone.
My story starts on the first day of junior year.
If I was a cheerleader—like I had once dreamed of—I wouldn't have to worry about picking a new outfit everyday because cheerleaders had to wear their uniforms daily. But alas, I wasn't, so I woke up and got dressed for the first day, grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs for breakfast. To no surprise, my best friend is already eating breakfast with my parents, like usual.
Zed Necrodopolus, eighteen, also a junior at Seabrook High. He spends at least sixty percent of his free time at my house, eating my food, and being a complete waste of space. I too spend sixty percent of my free time at his house, eating his food, and being a complete waste of time. It's how we roll.
We met freshman year. Zed was rejected from football, and I was rejected from cheerleading. We were moping at the park and ran into each other. Zed was skateboarding and showed me the basics. Then we met up after school the next day, and we talked and Zed showed me more skateboarding tricks. We kept hanging out and became best friends within the next few days.
We've been best friends for three years. It took the two initial months of our friendship to convince both of our parents that we weren't dating. As if a boy and a girl couldn't be friends without dating.
Zed didn't care what people thought of him. He was chill like that. He liked to be unproblematic, dressed plainly (usually jeans and a hoodie). Occasionally, he would get in trouble but it was usually for something stupid like a dress code violation or something.
Aside from that, Zed was awesome. He was funny and did stupid shit with me, and on top of that he was genuinely really sweet and caring. Which was why my parents still let me hang around him. As the daughter of the mayor and chief of police, I spent a lot of time under public scrutiny (in the newspaper, for all the old people). They were very particular about my friends but let me keep Zed.
When Zed saw me, he grinned and waved like an excited puppy. "Good morning Addy! First day of school!"
"Kill me now," I joked as I walked into the kitchen.
Mom looked over at me and immediately shook her head. "Go back and change, you're not wearing that."
"Don't be such a prude, Mom. It's a tee shirt and jeans." I told her.
"I'm seeing way too much stomach, young lady."
"Your mother is right, Addison," Dad agreed.
I looked at Zed for some help. For some reason, he always managed to get my parents to ease up on whatever they were lecturing me about. "It's junior year, let her live a little," Zed said. "She won't get in trouble for wearing that."
"She can't show her midriff," Mom pointed out.
"I'll wear a jacket," I suggested. "But this outfit is way too cute to not be worn. Especially on the first day."
"And if worse comes to worse, you can have my hoodie, and cover up completely. Though your outfit is really cute."
"See! Zed agrees! Just let me wear it."
Mom and Dad exchanged a look, having a silent argument about my outfit. I already knew that, because of Zed, they were reconsidering and would probably let me leave (with a jacket).
"Fine, but go get the jacket you plan on wearing," Mom said.
I groaned but complied, heading back upstairs to grab my favorite jean jacket and pulling it on before heading back for breakfast. I stopped in front of my parents for a second, waiting for my mom to nod and tell me it was better. I went and poured myself a bowl of cereal, taking the seat next to Zed.
"Excited for your first day of junior year?" Mom asked.
"Absolutely," Zed stated. "Two years then we're out of here! That's something to celebrate!"
I couldn't help but laugh. Zed had been looking forward to graduation since freshman year, especially after all the instances he'd been publicly humiliated by annoying football players or cheerleaders.
"Then it's off to college," I said.
"Skateboards, fresh air, and no more Seabrook. The dream." Zed said wistfully. He looked at my mom and added, "No offense. I know how hard you work to make Seabrook awesome."
Mom held her hands up, completely understanding. "Not offended. I know how much you absolutely despise Seabrook."
"Everyone's so snooty," I said, my nose wrinkled in disgust.
"Don't get all people-hating now. We have to see these jerks today."
Zed was right, of course. The people in Seabrook sucked, but no one was worse than the kids in high school. "Whatever, I can't wait to graduate and get my ass into college."
"Addison," Dad said warningly.
I held my hands up in defense. Zed said to me, "Hurry up, Addy. We gotta get going if we wanna get all the best seats and the best lockers and hang out with our friends."
"Don't get your panties in a twist, I'm almost finished," I said, shoveling more cereal into my mouth.
Zed kept up conversation with my parents while I finished eating. I put my dishes away before I actually finished, went back to the kitchen and tugged on Zed's arm. "We gotta go if we don't wanna be late," I said.
Zed went and put his dishes away in the kitchen. I went around the table, giving each of my parents a hug. "Bye, see you later," I told them.
"Have a good day, Honey," Mom said.
"Don't get into any trouble," Dad warned.
"I won't, see you guys later."
They walked Zed and I to the door. I grabbed my backpack and Zed pulled his from the hook, then passed me my skateboard.
Mine was in worse shape than Zed's because of all the stupid things we'd done over the summer. On a more positive note, I learned how to kickflip over a fire hydrant. And on a not so positive note, I broke my arm in a few places and got a bad concussion learning that trick. Which is why I now have to wear all the protective padding.
That didn't mean that Zed's board was nice in the slightest. He'd been skating since he was nine, so it was way worse for wear. Mine had just been through a lot in a short amount of time and was currently being held together by superglue, duct tape, and that stuff that dad's keep in their garage to fix holes in walls.
Once we got to school, we went straight to the school store. There was still a half hour until the first bell and the only people already there were freshmen, so we got our lockers pretty easily. As always, they were in between the science and the math hallways, close enough to our home rooms and not too far from the library. The perfect lockers.
I put my board in the bottom then closed it, setting up my lock. Zed was leaning against his own locker, on his phone. I leaned over and saw he was texting Eliza.
"Where is she?"
"Sleeping," Zed hummed. "Bonzo and Bree are in the library though. Let's go."
Zed grabbed me by my jacket sleeve and pulled me toward the library. It took a minute to spot two of our friends, Bree and Bonzo. I met Bree Jefferson the first day of freshman year. We both had tried out for cheerleading and neither of us made it because of the stuck up, snooty Aceys. And James Izaki—aka Bonzo—had been Zed's best friend since they were kids. When Zed and I became friends, his friends became mine and my one friend became his. And then Bree asked Bonzo out. And now they've been dating for two and a half years.
Bonzo and Bree had taken the chairs and couches near the back as their own spot, which meant within the week it'd be our spot to hang out. Her and Bonzo were chilling on the couch when we showed up.
"Addison!" Bree exclaimed excitedly, jumping up to greet me. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
I laughed at my other best friend's excitement. "That's not true. You're the one who drove me to the hospital."
"That was back in June!"
"I didn't tell you to go to the Bahamas. That was your decision." I joked.
Bree gasped excitedly. "I brought you gifts!" She exclaimed. She looked at Zed and added, "Both of you! I'll bring them tomorrow, I swear."
"Oh sweet, I love presents," Zed said. He looked at Bonzo and asked, "What'd she get you?"
Bonzo shrugged. "Her parents flew me out for the last two weeks. It was awesome!"
Zed laughed; he sat down on the couch across from Bonzo and I sat next to him. "Must be nice hanging out in the Bahamas with your girlfriend."
"Maybe try getting a girlfriend first," I joked.
Zed pouted at that. "You're the only single straight girl who wants to talk to me."
"I wonder why? Maybe 'cause you're lame."
Zed stuck his tongue out at me in retaliation.
If you remember from before, I said that my parents thought I was dating Zed and that I made it clear that I wasn't interested in Zed. And if you're wondering why, let me clarify. Yes, Zed is cute. Okay, he's more than cute. He's very hot and attractive, with his cute little nose and his hair always kind of messy but still really hot. And he was tall and muscular and athletic, he skateboarded so he was obviously the kind of cool where he didn't care what other people said.
What was I saying?
Oh, why I'm not dating Zed. Simply because he never seemed to be interested. Besides, we're already best friends. It'd suck to lose my favorite best friend over some stupid relationship.
It didn't matter. According to Eliza, we acted couple-like. I didn't do anything, I was just hanging out with my best friend. To others, always being around each other, having sleepovers, arms around each other, all of that was too couple-esque for their simple minds. Whatever.
We hung out in the library for another twenty-ish minutes. Eliza Scythes showed up a few minutes before the bell, still fixing her hair because she obviously overslept. It was very much in her character to be late and unprepared, even though she was probably the smartest and most well-equipped person I knew. Somehow, no matter how late or unprepared she was, she always knew what to do and how to do it, or had what you needed.
When Eliza came to school, we were already out of the library and on our way to home room. We had run into her in the hallway, to which she greeted us with, "Morning Losers."
"Nice to see you too, Sleep Beauty," Zed joked. "Shirt all crumpled and hair frizzy. What a queen."
Eliza scowled at him. "Fuck you."
Zed just laughed her off. He snuck the arm the wasn't around my shoulder over hers, pulling Eliza into his side. "Come on babes, let's head to class and get this year started so it can be over already."
That was how the day started. I never would have guessed how much of a turn it was about to take and how royally fucked I was after it.