Note: Yes, I'm back. I couldn't help myself. I was a School of Rock fan from way back, if you look at my past stories and then they went and made an adaption of it with this TV series. And I like it... so much potential.

So here's my ZxS contribution to the fandom.

_0_0_0_0_

Addiction.

It all started when Mr Finn suggested that the two of them team up for songwriting once a week, being two of the main songwriters in the group. Zack already knew about Summer's relentless obsession with Freddy well before they started meeting up. It wasn't a surprise, Freddy was his best friend, and he was charming. Zack was used to it, and counted Summer as just another that was sucked into his charm. Freddy was a great guy though, he could see where Summer was coming from - in a completely platonic way.

But after the first few sessions with Summer, having half the songs she came up with about Freddy's dreamy eyes and such, Zack started to get less and less amused with the whole Freddy crush.

Freddy was painfully oblivious to it all, and Zack was starting to see Tomika's point about how it was "not healthy" (from the conversations he'd overheard with the girls). And he felt bad for Summer, because Freddy obviously didn't notice her the way that she wanted him to and she sorta deserved someone who actually liked her for her, rather than having some distant obsession with someone who didn't show the same interest in her.

"La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la." Summer tried to sing a melody in tune enough for Zack to get it.

She really was an amazing person, he was finding that out more each week, the more time they spent in the Kwan's living room in songwriting sessions together. Summer even humored him in pretending that they were still 'dating' whenever his brother was around. She was a really great friend to do that for him.

"So what's this song?" Zack asked about the new one she was trying to show him.

"Oh, it's about a really special guy who is pretty much perfect in every way and about all those little quirks that make him who he is."

Zack didn't even try to hide the roll of the eyes this time. He didn't know how to approach the truth to her, would she even be willing to hear it? Maybe Mr Finn would be able to give him some pointers, but knowing Mr Finn, his advice about Summer would probably be all wrong. Besides, it was Zack himself that had gotten to know Summer so well over these last couple of months. If anyone would know what to say, it should be him.

"What's wrong with it? You think it's too much."

Zack's smile faltered. "Um, Summer." He leaned forward over his guitar and gave her a serious look. "I get that you like Freddy and everything, I really do. And you know, it's great that you know so much about him..." From being stalker. "But wouldn't you rather be with someone that knows you and gets you? Instead of just holding out for someone who hasn't shown an interest in you?"

Summer pouted. "Freddy shows an interest in me plenty of times."

"Does he?" Zack showed genuine confusion. "Does he know that your favorite food is peach pie? And that you get lonely without anyone to talk to at home, so you actually like being at school? And that you are so imaginative and creative that it's crazy sometimes, with these ingenious ideas that come out completely left field..."

The pout turned into a frown. Summer tried to recover from the blow that had just come from his words. "Well, he doesn't know all that. But he'll get to know it some time. He's got the rest of his life to know me like that."

Zack sighed. She was so far in denial that it dug right underneath his skin. "Yeah, I guess. I just thought relationships were more organic when it's just two people discovering things about each other because they want to, because the more they learn the more they like... because it sort of becomes an addiction to find out more, but it's an addiction you share together."

Summer seemed to be thinking it over. "That's a good idea for the song."

Zack wore that confused expression again.

"Addiction," Summer spoke up. "Like what you said. An addiction to knowing more about a person because you're starting to discover them bit by bit. Not um..." Summer blushed and lowered her voice, "obsessivly."

Zack blushed too. He would have hated to make her feel bad about herself and she'd just complimented him on the song idea that was totally not a song idea, just him speaking passionately about something he hadn't realized until now. He liked her. He was starting to like Summer. And part of him felt completely dumb about it since he had to go and like a girl who was obsessed with his best friend. "Thanks."

Zack fiddled around with a riff while Summer bit her lip. Finally she spoke again. "You're creative too." Zack lifted his eyes right to hers and she squirmed a little under his scrutinizing gaze. "I mean it, your family want you to be all straight-laced and boring but you never just fit into the box they've made for you. You do things your own way."

He felt his face heat up again. That was really awkward, just to know that she'd noticed things about him as well. He managed to smile at her. "Thanks."

"You're a really good friend." Summer nodded a long with him, and now Zack felt like he'd gone and made things weird. Was he too transparent? He had to work on that.

"Um, yeah. So are you." He was staring at her again and she seemed as uncomfortable as he felt. Yeah, he'd gone and made it weird. Way to go Zack. "So how about this song?" Did she notice his voice cracking?

"Well, we could start with something like:
Learning more about you...
And feeling like it's right...
Discovering things...
That keep me up all night..."

Zack's mouth fell open. She was officially awesome. How the heck couldn't Freddy see that? What was wrong with his best friend? "How did you do that?"

Summer shrugged. "You had the idea, I just built on it."

He played around with some sounds with his guitar and then sung to what she'd written. "Like that?"

Summer just nodded. It was like they were on the same wavelength. Their brains working in unison. They finished the song in no time... and the two of them were grinning giddily.

"This is sooo good. I can't wait until everyone else hears what we came up with."

"They'll be blown away." Summer looked at the time on her phone. "It's really late though, I'd better get going. I stayed way later than my parents expected."

"Yeah, I probably need to get to my homework."

Zack put his guitar down and Summer briefly hugged him goodbye. He tensed. It got weird again.

"See you at school." Summer said coolly, opening the door.

"Um yeah, see ya." And when she left he couldn't help going over the lyrics to that song again and thinking of what an idiot he was. He was going to be kept up by the girl who went to bed dreaming about his best friend. He officially had the worst taste in girls ever.

_0_0_0_0_