A/N: Hey kiddies, last chapter is still not beta'd and neither is this bad boy! Hopefully my beta frees up soon...anyway enjoy!

Hopefully chapter 6 comes soon!

Zed grabs three plates from the cabinet, turning to set the table for dinner. The three plates didn't match in the slightest, but not much in their house did. Not many things in Zombietown did, but that was the beauty of it. Mixing and matching was kinda their thing. A thing that humans would never understand or accept, like him and all the other zombies.

His dad joins him at the table, carrying a pot full of spaghetti and eyeballs, which were just meatballs. The body part puns had long since been a tradition in Zombietown, a little joke they did to scare humans. Now, it just feels distasteful, especially considering the awful day he's had. The football rejection had been a disgusting stain on his mood all day.

The only sliver of positivity he had was meeting her royal highness. Addison's kind and sweet, and smelled like fresh flowers and strawberries. Sure, he only talked to her once, and most of the conversation, she spent tending to his injured nose, but she's still the sweetest, prettiest person he's ever met. Eliza teased him all day about his crush on the princess, but he didn't care. Maybe the adults in charge at Seabrook High had a thing against zombies, but if all humans his age were like Addison, the future of Seabrook was looking bright.

"Earth to Zed!"

Zed jumps, nearly dropping the plates in his hands. He hadn't even noticed, but apparently his dad has been calling his name. For a while too, it seems.

"Sorry, what's up?" He sets the plates down on the table.

His dad frowns, although it's clear he's somewhat amused. Why? Zed has no idea. "I asked where Zoey is, son."

"Oh, she's uh, outside. In her garden."

Zevon nods, putting the food down and calling for Zoey. Zed turns and grabs the silverware from the drying rack, dropping a fork on each person's plate.

"So…I assume you had a good day today?" his dad asks.

He got rejected from football, but he's also sure he met the love of his life. Zed bites his lip to stop himself from smiling. It was a pretty good day. "What makes you think that?"

"You've been smiling like a dope for an hour, so you either got a fresh slice of pizza, or something really great happened at school."

Zed laughs. He does get very excited for pizza, but he doubts it'd be the same type of excitement after meeting Addison.

"Is this football related news…?" his dad asks hopefully.

Zed shakes his head. "They didn't even let me try out. They want us to stay in the basement and not bother anyone. We don't even have a real teacher!" He huffs. The whole football thing sucked, yeah, but on the bright side, he met Addison! And he's pretty sure he's in love.

"I'm sorry, son. They don't know what they're missing."

"It's whatever," Zed says, shrugging.

His little sister, Zoey, comes running in, sliding into her chair at the table. Zed grabs cups from the cabinet, setting them down and taking his own seat. "In other news…I met a girl. And she's…amazing! I mean, she punched me in the face, but it was an accident! And she's so nice and sweet and pretty."

Zevon chuckles. "Oh yeah?" Zed nods. "Does this girl have a name?"

Zed bites his lip. His dad would probably not appreciate Zed pinning over the princess of Seabrook, but Zed tells his dad pretty much everything. He can't keep her identity a secret. "Addison," he says. "Like, the—

Zoey gasps, cutting him off. "Princess Addison!" she screeches, making both Zed and Zevon jump. "You met Princess Addison? No way!"

Zed nods nervously, glancing at his dad who is oddly silent.

Zoey doesn't notice or doesn't care. She continues her excited rant, "Princess Addison punched you in the face! You're basically famous now! Zed!"

Zed chuckles. He doesn't know if all that is true, but he loves her energy.

Zevon clears his throat, and Zed looks over at him, nervously chewing his lower lip. "The princess is your…amazing girl?" his dad asks, sounding more than skeptical.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure about this, son? I mean, not to be rude, but what if she was just being nice?"

"I think she likes me though," Zed says. "I mean, we were both super nervous, but I was more nervous 'cause I was talking to the princess. Plus she's really pretty…" He doesn't include all the times she got flustered because she apparently thinks he's cute. That's just for him.

"If you guys get married, I'll be a princess!" Zoey exclaims.

Zed laughs. "I don't think that's how that works, Zoe. Besides, we're sixteen. I don't think we're at marriage level"

"No duh! You gotta woo her! Make her fall in love with you, dummy!"

Zed laughs again. That was the plan, at least. It involved a lot more sneaking out of the basement, praying she's not with her cousin or his peppy bomb squad, and hoping that she actually wants his advances. Easy stuff.

"Well, son, I commend your enthusiasm, but I think it might be a little difficult to—"

Zevon gets cut off by a cacophony of screaming, coming from right outside their house. Zed jumps up, automatically assuming the worst—someone, most likely Eliza, was caught out past curfew and the Z-Patrol was having a hell of a time exacting 'justice.' The screaming is quickly accompanied by tires screeching, and Zed calms down a bit. The Zombie Patrol wouldn't leave, they'd want as many others to see just how much power they have first.

Which means humans are on their side of the barrier. Sometimes, he thinks they're worse than the actual patrol. Covering the walls in Zombietown with hateful messages, TPing and egging their houses. A few years ago a bunch of them came and poured bleach in all the gardens. Humans suck.

They sounded too close for comfort. What if they'd destroyed Zoey's paper mache garden? Or were out egging houses again?

Zed runs outside, knowing he can scare them off — he managed to do it by accident at school, he can do it on purpose now.

He steps onto the sidewalk and finds the street…empty. In the distance, there's the red taillights of some car speeding off. But it doesn't look like anyone or anything got left behind or damaged.

He turns to gauge the damage to his own house, expecting to see toilet paper, crushed fake flowers, or eggs even. Instead, he locks eyes with her royal highness, Princess Addison Victoria Elizabeth Jada Buchanan-Mountchristen-Wells of Seabrook. Decked out in a cheer uniform and crouching in his little sister's flower garden with some other cheerleader hiding behind her. And she has the nerve to look…sorry.

"Everything okay out here?" his dad asks from the porch.

Zed can barely tear his eyes away from Addison's. The same eyes he'd looked into that morning, that actually made him think there was a chance humans and zombies could coexist, that the two of them could be friends, maybe even something more…

"Zed? Anybody there?"

He could give her up, tell his dad and the world that the princess of Seabrook snuck into Zombietown to egg houses. He could, but he won't. Not just because it would be cruel, but because...it's Addison. As much as it hurts that she would do this, he knows he can't give her up. She may not care about him, but he can't stop himself from caring about her.

Zed finally looks away from her. "Uh, no. Nobody." He glances back towards Addison, who looks down at the ground in shame. At least he hopes it is. It would really suck if she didn't feel bad about nearly egging his house.

"Come on back inside then," his dad says.

Zed nods, though he's still transfixed by the princess hiding in his lawn, eggs in hand. And here he thought humans might be worth it.

"Okay, but why would the princess on Seabrook sneak into Zombietown just to egg your house?" Eliza asks as they walk down the basement stairs.

Zed shrugs. "I don't know, Eliza. Some sick thrill maybe? Put me in my place. Why does it matter?"

"She could just hire someone to mess with you. Send one of her little guard dogs after you…Why would she do her own dirty work!"

Zed eyes his best friend. "Eliza," he says, exasperated. "That's not the point."

The two of them stop at the bottom of the stairs, turning and waiting for Bonzo, who had gotten caught up with Ezra outside of school.

"Hey Bonzo, Zed caught his fair lady trying to egg his house last night," Eliza says with too much glee for his liking.

"Gozig? Garzegg garzrea?"

"Yeah, she was gonna egg his house." Eliza says.

Zed nods. "In addition to getting rejected from football, I met a human and I thought she was cool, you know? I thought she was different. I thought she was the one."

Eliza snorts, but Zed ignores her entirely. They walk into 'class,' the dingy basement they were forced into by the other jerk humans.

"But I was wrong," he continues. "Humans are all terrible."

He spent all day yesterday getting pushed around, mocked, and outcasted. And to make matters worse, the one person, the one person, he thought might actually be on his side tried to egg his house. Sometimes, it's okay to know when you've lost. Throw in the towel on this whole 'humans don't all hate zombies' nonsense, like his dad and Eliza kept telling him.

"Hey, what…" Zed looks up at Mr. Zeck, the janitor turned zombie teacher, who's looking shocked and confused toward the entrance door. "There's no human students in the basement."

Zed and his friends and every zombie in the room turns around to see her. Her royal highness, Princess Addison. Also known as the girl who punched him in the face yesterday, who played him for a fool, thinking he might actually have a chance with a human, let alone the princess. Also also known as the human he caught trying to egg his house last night. He can't even stay mad, which makes him more upset. She seems surprised, and genuinely sad as well, which puts a damper on the whole being upset with her thing.

"Um, someone yakked in the cafeteria," she says.

"Oh, right. Still, the janitor." Mr. Zeck sighs, turning around to grab his mop.

Zed looks back at Addison, who, after surveying the room, looks up at him, with a soft frown. "Wow. This is... Awful."

Zed looks down at the ground. Had she come down here just to rub in his face how sucky his life currently is? Because he doesn't appreciate it, in the slightest.

Eliza jumps in before Zed can think of anything to say. "Yeah, we would have cleaned but the teacher is territorial about his mop," she snarks.

Addison's eyes widen, as if she's just realizing she said that out loud, or how hurtful the statement actually is. "Sorry!"

She steps out of Mr. Zeck's way, letting him get past. Zed watches her with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her to dump him. Even though she can't actually dump him, because they aren't any type of together. But he thought there was at least a little something there, something that could turn into being together. But Eliza was right, a human and a zombie could never be together. Especially not him and the princess.

When she doesn't say anything, Zed sighs and asks, "Addison, what're you doing here?"

She takes a deep breath, then answers, "Apologizing."

Okay, that he wasn't expecting.

"My cousin, he's a jerk about zombies. I didn't know we were going to Zombietown last night and I didn't know what he wanted us to do." She stops, looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry, I'm making excuses. What I did sucked, and I'm so, so sorry, Zed."

He was wrong, he was so wrong to assume the worst of her. Of course it was a misunderstanding! She could never intentionally hurt someone. This is the same girl who almost cried after she punched him because she felt so bad.

"It's okay," he assures her. "But…what if Bucky sees us talking?"

Addison smiles shyly. "We'll make sure he doesn't."

Zed smiles brightly, trying to contain his excitement. The princess of Seabrook, sneaking around to see him? She definitely likes him. He already hears wedding bells…

"Um, will I see you at the pep rally this afternoon? I'm cheering in it!"

Zed grins widely. Of course he would go! He'll take any chance he can take to see her.

Eliza jumps in before he can answer though. "Sorry, your royal perkiness. Zombies don't really do pep rallies."

Zed eyes his best friend sideways. Addison kind of deflates, looking down at the ground and stammering. 'Thanks a lot, Eliza.'

Zed turns back to Addison and tells her, "We'll think about it."

She smiles up at him. "I-I should get to class. Don't wanna be late on the second day."

Zed smiles and nods. "Yeah. I'll see you later, Addison."

She smiles, giving him the cutest wave before she shuffles out of the classroom.

"Okay, can we, like, crack a window open in here? It stinks of human." Eliza complains.

And just like that, Eliza has ruined the moment for the second time today. He rolls his eyes, walking away to find a seat. He calls over his shoulder, "You didn't have to be so mean to her."

Eliza rolls her eyes. "Whatever. And we're not sneaking out to some stupid pep rally."

Mr. Zeck doesn't care enough to stop them from going to the pep rally, so Zed, Bonzo, Azure, Roz, Izabelle and Hazen kind of just get up and go. And Eliza follows, because as much as she doesn't like humans, she refuses to be left out. Though she complains the entire time.

"I can't believe you dragged us out here to see Cheery McCheerstein."

"You followed us!"

Eliza rolls her eyes, ignoring him. Their zombie crew climb the steps of the bleachers, searching for a few empty seats. The human students around them 'subtly' move out of their way. People side eye them, or watch Zed and his friends' every step, fear clear in their eyes. As if there would be a rogue zombie two days in a row.

"I'm gonna be sick," Eliza complains. "Do I look green? Greener than usual?"

Bonzo shrugs. They enter a row near the top of the bleachers, just as music blares out through the gym and everyone around them bursts to life. The entire gym chants, "Bucky! Bucky! Bucky!"

While everyone focuses on Bucky's grand entrance, Zed searches the mass of cheerleaders until he finds a familiar blonde with gorgeous blue eyes. And he swears she looks at him too, and smiles even wider when she does. His undead heart skips a beat.

The cheer music quiets down, as does the student body. Bucky, Addison's mostly annoying cousin and also captain of the cheer team, grins at the crowd. "Welcome to the Seabrook High cheer rally!" he says, earning a round of cheers.

"It is gonna be a great year. We are gonna win the State Cheer Championship again. And, to celebrate the kick-off to another great year, I have a special treat. Cheering with us today is none other than my cousin, Princess Addison Wells!"

The entire gym explodes. Zed is pretty sure a ton of cameras flash, like some press or news crew is there taking pictures or something. He wouldn't be surprised if they were. The princess of Seabrook cheerleading is big news.

Eliza doesn't seem to think so, rolling her eyes again. "Come on, Eliza, ease up," Zed says. "Cheer is contagious."

"So's pink eye."

Zed rolls his eyes. Eliza may be a downer, but she won't crush his spirit. He came to see Addison, after all. Sure, it'd be more fun if his friends were having a good time too, but getting Eliza to have fun at a human pep rally is asking for too much.

The cheer team's performance, or more specifically, Addison's performance, is nothing less than spectacular. They flip and fly and run and cartwheel all over the gym. It's insanely impressive and fantastic, a true spectacle.

Which promptly goes to hell in a matter of twenty five seconds and four cohesive steps. Step One, the music slows, the cheerleaders warrior pose, and it all looks amazing and fantastic. Step Two, more cheerleaders emerge from the sides with fire on sticks. Like sparkly torches. Step Three, the zombies freak out.

If Eliza wasn't as terrified as the rest of them, she would probably say that they've come way too far to still be afraid of fire. But it's only been fifty years since the Outbreak, and only a few weeks since the Zombie Patrol came and torched hundreds of zombie creations in a giant, destructive bonfire in Zombietown Square.

The scars are still fresh. And although Zed freaks out just as much as his friends, he manages to keep his cool because none of the humans seem to be freaking out. What's more, Addison is down there, and though she doesn't have a sparkly torch, she's not afraid. So neither is he.

"Don't worry about it. A little fire's not gonna hurt us." he tells his friends, somehow managing to keep a cool and level head.

Bonzo tenses up at the mention of the deadly combustion, jumping up onto the metal bench behind him and crying out, "Fire!"

People around them jump in panic. Zed joins Bonzo on top of the bench. "It's gonna be fine!" Zed tries to assure him.

Bonzo shoves him off, pushing through the humans in front of them to escape the death chamber the Seabrook gym quickly became.

Zed falls against the metal bench, his whole body rattling from the force of the impact. His brain gets foggy, every breath pained and labored like he just finished running two miles. It takes him a second for him to realize why.

Step Four, his Z-Band shuts off.

He quickly starts to lose control of his consciousness to his zombie side. Zed manages to get up, knowing in a few more seconds, he won't be able to control himself and everyone would be in danger. Even worse, if anyone saw him, it'd be game over for all zombies.

He rushes out into the aisle, fully intending on running and hiding and hoping for the best — anything really. As long as it meant no one sees him zombie-out. At least, that's what he thinks is the worst that can happen. Then he sees Bonzo reach the bottom of the bleachers, heading to run straight into the cheerleaders.

"Bonzo, no! Stop!" he shouts, running down the stairs.

Bonzo either doesn't hear him, or ignores him. The cheerleaders scatter as the large zombie barrels across the gym. The gym floor is a frenzied mess of terrified cheerleaders running away, all of whom forget about the blonde princess they tossed in the air mere seconds ago.

Despite his conscious brain rapidly succumbing to his zombie brain, Zed charges forward, one thought running through his head, 'Save Addison.'

He blacks out when he steps on the gym floor, but the next thing he knows, he's kneeling at halfcourt, his arms hitting the ground and his Z-Band back coming back online, and Addison sinking into his arms.

The whole gym is stunned in silence. Even Zed doesn't know what to say. He nearly zombied-out in front of the whole school, but instead of eating brains he saves his crush and the princess of Seabrook's life.

He manages a smile and says, breathless, "Hey."

Addison stares at him with wide eyes. "Hi."

There's a flash. The both of them look over towards the stands, where dozens of cameras greet them. He can see the headlines now:

Zombie Saves Princess Addison!