Bucky: Just a warning everyone is gonna be at the banquet today

Addison: Meaning?

Bucky: My parents and siblings

Bucky: All of them

Bucky: And your cousins

Bucky: On your dad's side

Bucky: Your parents are tryna diffuse them and make everyone less angry at you but it is not working

Addison: Angry at me?

Addison: You're kidding

Bucky: I shit you not. Raina's planning on making a whole scene. She's hella pissed. Be prepared.

Bucky: We're heading out, see you soon

"So what I'm thinking is that I'm just gonna be super polite and respectful," Addison told Zed. "Kinda like you are when people start disrespecting Zombies."

Zed raised a questioning eyebrow. "How am I, exactly?"

"Well you don't get angry and you just let their words roll off your back," Addison explained. "I'll do that."

"Yeah but I do that so that I can prove them wrong."

"What are you not getting? I haven't had a formal conversation with those people since Thanksgiving. Some of them will beat around the bush and not bring it up. And then the others, like Bucky's sister, will give me shit about it all night long."

Zed nodded. "They're your family, not mine. I can't tell you what to do."

"But…?"

Zed raised a curious eyebrow, not catching her hint. Addison sighed and said, "But you'll be there for me, right? In case…something happened."

"Oh." Zed nodded in agreement. "If you end up crying I might just end up going Zombie on their asses."

Addison giggled. "Appreciated, but probably not the best idea."

Zed hummed in agreement. "At least you got a warning. Last time they were dicks you were not prepared."

"As in my whole life?" Addison joked in a sadistic way. "I've been dealing with their shit forever. And I'm really glad I've gotten to know you and Eliza, because now I know how to stand up for myself."

Zed grinned, then leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Glad I could help."

Addison spent the walk to the banquet hall going through her family pictures and pointing out all her cousins and relatives. "Bucky is the youngest of four. Mikey, Anthony, and Raina. In that order. They're all intimidating, but Raina is the worst one. She's like Bucky, turned up to fifty. Mikey and Anthony are wild cards. It all depends how the feel. They aren't twins, but they act like it."

"I remember them," Zed stated. "I think they like that I'm good at football."

Addison rolled her eyes. "That's Mikey and Anthony and any guy in my family. They all gave Bucky shit for being like Raina and cheering. At least until he won championships."

"S'not good," Zoey piped from her spot a few feet ahead. "Daddy and Zed always say that family shouldn't care if you're a star or the best. That they should love and support you no matter what."

"Why else do you think I love being with you all and not my own family?"

Zoey whooped and did a cartwheel down the sidewalk. Both Zevon and Zed said to her, "No stunts in the road!"

Addison chuckled and shook her head. "So on my dad's side are Nick and Chris. They're two years apart, but are also almost like twins. They're huge football guys. They'll like you. Bucky tells me they were like, in love with your performance at that one game they went to."

"So what you're saying is I only have to win over Raina?"

Addison laughed at him. "God, if it were that easy. There's still my aunts and uncle, and my parents."

"I already won over your parents."

Addison shook her head. "They don't mind you, but mom said on Thursday that she still doesn't like you and that you stole her baby from her."

"Oh great," Zed said, nodding along. "Your dad—"

"Hates you," Addison said. "I mean, he likes that you're honest with him. It doesn't change the fact that you're the guy who's gonna take his little girl from him."

"Think of it this way, son," Zevon said. "Imagine the person who's gonna date Zoey."

"Oh I'll kill them without even going Zombie."

Both Zoey and Addison looked at him and exclaimed, "Zed!"

"You're my baby sister and any person, man or woman, will have to fight me to get to you." Addison gave him a pointed look and he nodded. "Okay, I get what you mean now."

"And my dad's sister, Carla, is a bitch. Her wife, Erika, is a lot nice. My mom's sister, Janet who we sometimes call Kitty, is also a bitch. She's Bucky's mom. And her husband, Phillip, is a lot like her. So both are pretty horrible."

"I feel very stressed out," Zed said honestly.

"You should be yourself that's the coolest thing!" Zoey exclaimed. "That's what I'm gonna do. Everyone loves an adorable little kid!"

"I'm fifteen and six-foot-two. I'm way past the stage of 'cute little kid'."

"You're a cute young man," Addison said, pinching his cheek. "And I honestly don't care if they like you or not. I just think you should be prepared for the hellstorm that is my family."

"Bucky is cool," Zoey stated. "I mean, he was a little mean at first. But like I said: everyone loves a cute little kid."

Zevon chuckled at his daughter. "C'mere my little Zombie Angel."

Addison smiled and squeezed Zed's hand. "You'll do great! You're charismatic and cute and charming. All the girls want you and all the guys questions their sexuality around you. And I get the pleasure of being yours. I don't care what they think of you, remember that."

Zed smirked, kissed the top of her head, then said, "Let them talk if they wanna."

Addison grinned and responded with, "Let them talk, 'cause they're gonna."

"You and me, we're gonna do what we wanna."

"Hey," Zevon warned. "I know where this is going. You're going to sing then dance. And the rules apply to you both too: no dancing in the street."

The teenagers giggled to themselves. "Sorry Pops," Zed said.

Five seconds after they hung up their coats, Bree pounced on them. Zed wasn't even sure where she had come from or how she had found them. He chalked it down to the magic of Bree and just hugged her when she got to him.

"You guys look so good! I love the whole family-matching thing you got going! And how the colors compliment Addison's outfit! Oh my god, I wish my family would color coordinate with me!"

Zed chuckled and said, "We didn't do it on purpose."

"That's. Even. Cuter!" Bree exclaimed, punctuating each word with a slap to Zed's arm.

"Ow! Why are humans so violent!"

"Not humans, just cheerleaders," Addison said cheekily.

"You guys have to take pictures!" Bree went on. "Everyone has been waiting for Zoey to get here because all the guys want to show her off to their families."

"Me?"

"They love you, Zoe," Bree said. She then grabbed Addison and Zed's arm and began dragging them toward the photographer. "Come on!"

Bree had the photographer take tens of pictures, first of the Necrodopolus family, then of Zed and Zoey, then solo photos, then Zed and Addison, then of Bree and Addison. The only reason they stopped was because Bucky had come out of the ballroom and found them immediately.

"What are you doing out here! The party is inside!" Bucky exclaimed once he was in earshot.

"Hello to you too," Addison said cheekily. "How are you today, cousin?"

"Horrible!" Bucky all but shouted. "I have to deal with my siblings and your cousins alone! Do you know how horrible that is?"

"It's even worse when you have to deal with Bucky too."

Bucky glared at her and said, "Don't start with me. It's been a long day and you need to get your butt in that ballroom immediately."

"I don't wanna," Addison whined.

"Addison!"

"Raina is in there and I don't want to see her," Addison whined.

"Hey," Zed said soothingly. He took Addison's hand and squeezed it, drawing her attention to his face. "Think of me as your bodyguard. Anyone you don't want to talk to, you won't. We got this."

Addison took a deep breath and nodded. "We got this."

She reached down and took Zoey's hand. "C'mon Necrodopoluses. We got this!"

"Why are you at a different table?" Zed asked.

"Auntie Missy wants to show off Mr. Necrodopolus to my parents and the cousins want to openly attack Zed and Zoey." Bucky stated.

"Oh my god," Addison muttered.

"We're fine!" Zed said optimistically.

Addison looked at him fearfully and he gave her his best smile. "Good luck with the adults, Dad," Zed said. "I'll be controlling the…other adults who are slightly younger."

Zevon chuckled to hide his own nervousness. Zed just exhaled deeply. He picked up his little sister then took Addison's hand, walking with his two favorite girls into the ballroom. Addison squeezed his hand tightly and leaned against him. "They're watching us," she whispered.

She nodded her head toward the front of the room. Zed recognized her parents and aunts and uncle at one table and her cousins at the other, all watching them as they walked over.

"Don't look so terrified," Zed whispered to Addison.

Zoey clutched onto her brother tightly. "I've never seen so many mean looking humans," she whispered.

Zed was tempted to bring up the cheer championship, when every human in the room was booing her. Then he thought that his sister probably didn't notice they hated her there.

Bucky got to the table before them and sat down, leaving two seats and a smaller chair that was clearly out their for Zoey at the table. All conveniently between Raina and some guy cousin who looked suspiciously like an older version of Bucky.

One of the other guy cousins—one of the ones on her dad's side, maybe Chris—grinned and stood. "Addy-Catty! You came! You actually came!"

Addison smiled nervously. "Well, I am a cheerleader and statistician," she said. "Um, I don't know if you remember but this is my boyfriend, Zed."

Zed smiled because he didn't have a free hand to wave.

"And this is his little sister, Zoey," Addison introduced. "You guys know Bucky. That's his sister, Raina. His brothers, Michael—"

"Mikey," Zoey corrected.

"And Anthony," Addison went on. "And my other cousins, Chris and Nick."

"Well Baby Cuz, I must say you all look lovely," Nick stated. "I was a little worried they'd show up in coveralls."

"I'd look adorable no matter what," Zoey said with a smile. "I can't say the same about Zed, though."

"Okay, that's enough from you," Zed said. "You're nearly eight and you know how to walk." He set her down on the ground and said, "Don't do anything stupid."

"No promises!" Zoey said excitedly before running off. Zed and Addison and everyone at the table watched her cartwheel across the empty space and toward another table.

"I love that kid," Addison said wistfully.

She then pulled Zed to the open seats, putting him next to Raina. "I'm surprised you even sat with us," Raina commented.

"Well, family is important and you are Addison's," Zed said with a smile. He was tempted to add the fact that they were the bane of Addison's existence and, by the transitive property of relation, the bane of his, but decided against it.

"Is your Z-Band functioning properly? I wouldn't want an accident, especially sitting so close to you."

Addison laughed bitterly. "I was going to say that if Zed went Zombie he wouldn't hurt anyone, but then I remembered the fact that it's been mere minutes since we got here and you're already acting like a bitch. And still, Zed wouldn't hurt you because he's that good of a person."

Zed squeezed Addison hand as if to reassure her that he was there and she could calm down a bit. Addison sighed and looked at her cousins across from her. "I haven't talked to you guys in ages. How have you been?"

"Well Addy Catty, I can tell things are still tense between us," Mikey said.

"I asked Zed to switch from loving-boyfriend to bodyguard-boyfriend," Addison deadpanned.

"To be fair, being protective of Addy is what I do twenty-four seven," Zed said with a shrug. "She's so beautiful and nice, and I'm so lucky to have her."

Addison smiled and leaned into his side. "I'm more lucky to have you."

Zed smiled and kissed her cheek. Bucky groaned and said, "They're literally like this all the time. It's a little annoying."

"You're just upset because I have a cute boyfriend and you don't," Addison said without any real venom.

"Y'all two are real cute," Chris said in a mock country accent.

"Could you keep the PDA to a minimum though? I'd rather not watch a Zombie suck face with my Baby Cousin." Raina said in disgust.

Addison frowned and opened her mouth to say something. Before she could, though, Zed said, "It's funny that you seem to care so much about Addison all of a sudden because you never once make any attempt to check up on her. I know her parents come and ask me how's she's doing. Bucky sees us in school and checks on Addison. But you—none of you really—made an effort to even find out if Addison is eating or sleeping or even alive. But sure, the problem here is me showing my girlfriend affection and love."

"But Uncle Dale told us not to bother Addison," Mikey argued.

"If you really cared about her you'd at least find a way to check on her and make sure she was healthy and doing well and maybe even happy," Zed spat back. "But yes, I'm the problem here."

"Zed," Bucky said in a warning tone.

Zed glared at him slightly. "Don't try to talk me down," Zed stated. "I'm teetering on the edge of blowing my lid and you remember what that's like, don't you Benedict?"

Bucky paled and sat back, fully remembering the day Zed threatened him not even two weeks ago.

His siblings looked at him in slight horror. "Did he hurt you?" Anthony asked.

"Yes," Zed seriously. "I went right up to him in the school hallway. I got a few of my buddies from the team and I threatened his life because he was being unfair and too hard on Addison. I told him—and I say this with full meaning to everyone at this table—that if any of you do anything to hurt Addison, I swear to every god out there I will fuck you up without even going offline."

The table was silent as everyone processed what Zed said. He stood after a quiet second. "I'll be back," he said in a forced tone.

Zed walked quickly through the ballroom and out into the lobby. He turned down the hall toward what he hoped was the bathroom. He only stopped when he heard Addison calling after him. His anger dissolved and he loosened up immediately as she made her way over to him.

He opened his mouth to apologize. Addison threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down, kissing him hard. He squeaked in surprise but only took a second to recover, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

Addison pulled back, breathing hard with flushed cheeks and kiss-swollen lips. "I just have to say that was the hottest thing I've ever seen," she rushed out. "You get like, ten times more attractive when you threaten people in my defense."

Zed couldn't help but grin at that. "I'll do it however many times more you need, Babe," he whispered, then leaned down and kissed her, this time more gently. Addison whimpered slightly and tugged on the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Oh my god." Very regretfully, Zed and Addison separated and looked further down the hall to see Tracey and Lacey and Stacey watching them in surprise.

"We love an impromptu make out session more than anyone else," Lacey said. "But are you sure this is the time or place for that?"

Zed felt his face heat up and held Addison protectively. Addison grinned and hugged him back. "I was surprised at first that you guys went everywhere together, then I remembered you're the Aceys."

She giggled then pulled away from Zed. "Let's get back. I think we've struck complete fear in them so I wanna see how this evening plays out."

"So the plan is that we'll play the video recapping your regular season as well as cheer during dinner. Then when we serve dessert. We'll watch the cheer championship and the highlights from the championship game. After that we'll introduce you and then your speech."

"Yay," Zed said, feigning excitement.

His sarcasm went unnoticed by Principal Lee. "That's the spirit. Go enjoy the party for now."

Zoey slipped up to the table of Addison's older cousins, who all stopped their conversation as she made her way to Raina. The young Zombie held her hands behind her back and crossed her legs, bouncing slightly.

"Ms. Raina, can you please take me to the bathroom?" Zoey asked.

Raina furrowed her brows in confusion. "You're seven, aren't you potty trained?"

"Daddy and Zed said I'm not allowed to go by myself when we're in a very…human filled place. And I can't find Addy anywhere. I have to go real bad."

"What do you mean you can't find Addison?" Nick asked from across the table.

"It doesn't matter! I need to pee!" Zoey said in frustration. "Please please take me!"

Raina sighed and stood. Zoey grabbed her hand and ran off, dragging the human out of the ballroom. Raina had no choice but to run with her. Zoey ran into the bathroom and dropped Raina's hand, then ran into a stall.

Raina had to fight the urge to scrub her hands in the sink. 'She's just a little kid. If you get overpowered by a little kid then you deserve it.'

Zoey finished not long after and skipped her way to the sink. "I was scared you might leave me," Zoey said. "I know you don't like Zombies."

"Can you blame me? They tried to eat my grandfather."

"Yeah, well that was a long time ago," Zoey said. "If anything, Zombies are terrified of humans. It's why I can't go to the bathroom alone. In case an angry human comes and tries to kill me."

"Why would a human ever hurt a Zombie?"

"Well Ms. Raina, you may not realize it, but humans don't really like Zombies. They're scared of us, and that fear turns into them thinking that if they hurt us first, then Zombies can't hurt them. But to Zombies, especially like me, who were born way after the Outbreak, it's just humans coming into Zombietown and burning our houses and destroying our stuff and killing us for no reason."

Raina stood there, completely stunned. Everything Zoey had said had rang true in her head. It wasn't like a Zombie had ever done anything to her. She just…she always assumed that if she didn't hurt them first—if she let them walk freely—then they'd have the chance to hurt her.

"I've never even thought of eating brains," Zoey went on. "It sounds yucky. Plus, it'd be hard to get my tiny fingers through someone's skull. I could in theory, of course. But seems like it's more trouble than it's worth. Plus, if I hurt a human, I'd have to spend years in Zombie Containment. Zed spent forever there and he didn't even touch anyone."

"What's Zombie Containment?"

"Super high security lock up for bad Zombies." Zoey turned away from the sink and moved to the hand driers. "It's like that place. Alfalfa."

"Do you mean Alcatraz?"

"I'm seven, Ms. Raina."

"Why do you keep calling me 'Ms. Raina'?"

Zoey waited for her hands to dry before answering. She moved to Raina and said, "Zed said I need to show you respect because he made you angry and you can't hate the entire Necrodopolus family. He'd rather you hate him than me. But who could hate me! I'm a sweet little kid! All I want in life is to make people happy!"

Raina couldn't help the smile that came to her face. "Bucky told me you cheer," she said. "He said that because of you, Seabrook got second in the cheer championship."

Zoey grinned even wider. "I don't like to brag about it, but yeah!"

Zoey was so adorable and sweet, Raina could help but melt a little around her.

Because it was Seabrook the videos played out perfectly. None of them went over their allotted time frame or ended early. They were all so perfectly timed it made Zed sick.

It was definitely the perfect planning of Seabrook and not the prospect of saying his speech—four pages long—in front of the room. After all the videos finished, Principal Lee began to talk about what characterized an MVP.

Then Zed was being called up to the stage. Everyone applauded him as he went to the podium and Principal Lee shook his hand and congratulated him quietly.

When the applause died down and Zed had adjusted the microphone for his height, he began. "Good evening, everyone," Zed said into the microphone. "Before I begin I'd just like to warn you all that this speech is kinda long. I hope it interests you and if not I'm truly sorry. I spent a long time researching MVP speeches because I just didn't know what I was supposed to say here. And, after a long conversation with my dad, I figured out what I needed to say. So now I'm actually gonna read from what I wrote because this took me a really long time to perfect and I worked really hard on this."

Zed took a deep breath, then started. "Good evening teammates, cheerleaders, parents of teammates and cheerleaders, and everyone in between. My name is Zed Necrodopolus, and I was chosen by my coach and teammates as the MVP for the season of 2017.

"Most of you probably think it's because I'm a Zombie. Some of you may think it was an unfair ruling because I 'cheated' during our regular season games. It's the reason why the first thing I wanted to talk about in my speech was the regular season.

"I grew up in Zombietown, surrounded by Zombies. Everyone loved me growing up, including the few humans I interacted with. I was a scientific miracle and I just made everyone happy by being myself. And when I found out I'd get to go to human high school, I was ecstatic. My dad tried to warn me about the real world. I can remember his words exactly that first day of school. 'You're a great kid, it's just...You haven't spent a whole lot of time around humans and humans don't really like Zombies.' And I thought that I could do the same thing I'd done for the first fifteen years of my life and win them over with a smile and being myself.

"That first day of school was a nightmare. All Zombies were crammed in the basement and we weren't allowed to leave. Which meant I couldn't accomplish my one goal, which was to join the football team. Of course, I didn't let that stop me. I knew that if I was given the chance to prove myself, things wouldn't be so bad between humans and Zombies.

"Then I was rejected from football. I didn't even get the chance to try out because I was a Zombie. It stung a little. All my life, people had been praising me for just being me. And now, the only thing I got was frightened looks and people doing their best to stay as far from me as possible.

"In the time it took me to get from sneaking out of the basement to football tryouts, I met a girl who was trying out for cheer. She eventually became my girlfriend, which is a story for another time. She was nice and different and didn't treat me the same way as every other human had that day. And then I saw her outside my house that night, getting ready to egg it, and my spirits were crushed.

"Humans are bad. Cheerleaders are monsters. That's the one thing my best friend would repeat to me over and over again. And I believed her, for one night. Then the same human who was ready to egg my house came to the basement that was filled to the max with Zombies, and apologized. And all of a sudden, humans weren't so bad. And Addison invited us to the pep rally that day.

"At that pep rally, the cheerleaders got the idea to use these spirit sticks that are basically sticks on fire. They did it because they wanted us to go Zombie so we could be shunned. One of my friends freaked out for very wise reasons that aren't my business to tell. I ran after him, because he's one of my closest friends. And in the process, my Z-Band shut off and I began to go Zombie. My friend ran through the gym and scared everyone off. Including the cheerleaders that had just tossed up Addison, who was now coming to the ground at full speed.

"When I'm Zombie, it's harder to comprehend things. But I knew that I needed to save Addison, so I ran for my life to catch her. I was told later that I completely crushed the offensive lineman. As Coach said, I 'ran through the offensive linemen like they were scrawny freshmen!' That's how I got on the team.

"I tried to play as regular olé Zed at first. But the guys on my team weren't too fond of having to play with a Zombie. They didn't even block for me. I didn't want to let anyone down. If I won football games than Zombies would get more benefits, like an actual classroom and lockers and maybe even human food. I did what I felt was the right thing. I played as a full Zombie in every game, and won every game. It hurt a lot, and my Zombie wants to rip my throat out now. But it was worth every agonizing minute because it meant good for all Zombies. It stopped being about people liking me and became equality for all Zombies. I don't want my little sister to have to make the decisions I had to. I want her to be able to dream something and do it, and not have to worry about people telling her no because of who she is.

"I'm proud to be a Zombie. I wouldn't have wanted my life to turn out any other way. I'm proud I got to play with such amazing guys this year, that I got to ride with them all the way to State Champions. I don't know if they only like me because I won them games or if we're actually friends. And I don't care anymore. I couldn't win by myself, it was a team effort. We did it together. That's what matters.

"Before I end my speech, I want to thank some special people for getting me where I am. Like my dad, who came to every game. Yes, he's one man who's a Zombie and had to support two kids. But he made sure he was there for every game. He couldn't make it to the states game though, but that's okay. Because I know he was with me.

"I definitely want to thank my little sister. You've given me the ability to learn how to work with and care for another person. You taught me how to find my strengths and excel at them, even though you probably didn't know it. And all the running around I did after you growing up definitely paid off.

"I wanna give a quick shout out to my amazing girlfriend. She was a cheerleader during our regular season and was obligated to be at every game. But during all our other games, she came out and volunteered as statistician and worked her butt off and only missed one game. Which was, coincidentally, the only game I did really bad in. Your amazing, I love you.

"Of course I wanna thank my team and my coach and everyone at school who always supported me. The Zombie Patrol, for always being there whenever there was a little mishap with the Z-Band. And also whoever gave us WiFi in the Z-Bands because you are a blessing.

"I wanna shout out my two best friends, Eliza and Bonzo, who couldn't come tonight because neither cheer nor play football. They're support really got me through everything, even when they didn't agree with what I was doing. They were always there for me.

"Lastly—and I'll warn you now that I might end up crying—I'd like to thank my mom. When I was really little she taught me how to play football. She found an old ball in a storage unit and played with me every night, no matter how tired she was or how early she'd have to leave in the morning for work. She always made time to play with me. And when she died a few years ago—" Zed paused and took a deep breath. He looked up and, in the light shining on him, it was clear that his eyes were shining with tears.

"When she died a few years ago, I just couldn't play anymore. It hurt playing football without her. It felt like I was trying to take one of our traditions and flush it down the toilet because she wasn't here and it was a Mommy and Zed thing. If…if I played without her it'd be like none of that matter. Those nine years of my life meant nothing if I did the things I usually did with her, without her. But now, whenever I get out on that field and I run until my legs burn and I play, I do it in your honor. I'll never forget you, Mom. You'll always be in my heart, and you're always with me whenever I play."

Zed took a step back from the microphone and ducked his head down. Addison looked at Zoey and saw her crying too. She reached into her bag and pulled out a box of tissues, offering it to the little girl. Zoey took the box, then jumped out of her seat and ran to her brother.

And, if they weren't crying then, seeing the two siblings hug and share the box of tissues was sure to melt every heart in the room and make everyone tear up.

Then Zoey took the tissues to her dad and then people were really crying. Zed watched them with a watery smile and moved back to the microphone.

"I'm sorry, I lost my place," he said, his voice thick and wavering. "Um, so I'm just really happy to be given this chance and thankful of everyone in my life who helped me get here. Thank you."