It had been three weeks since Addison had left Zed at the factory. She had gone to their apartment and gathered up a few of her things and promptly went home. She had to walk to a payphone since she didn't have her cell anymore, but her parents picked up on the first ring and came to get her with no questions asked. She was sure they were just happy to have her home again. Maybe they knew all along what was going to happen.

She had expected Zed to come for her. To fight for her and get her back, but she hadn't heard from him, not even a text. Eliza had tried to contact her a few times, but that wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to hear excuses from her; she wanted to hear I'm sorry and the truth from Zed. She knew deep down that Zarah was to blame, but Zed wasn't totally innocent. It sure seemed like Zed was enjoying her company and it wasn't like he had tried to push her off of him.

She had been lying in bed and moping around since she walked in the door. The crying had stopped, she had no tears left to cry by this point, and now she felt hollow, dead on the inside. Almost like a zombie herself.

Her mother came into her room that morning and threw open her shades to bring in the sunlight. The light reflected off her old trophies sitting on shelves against the walls and the light bounced right into her eyes. "Rise and shine Addison. Time to get up."

Addison threw her comforter over her head and snuggled down deeper under her pillows. "I don't feel like it." she mumbled.

"Nonsense, I've given you ample time to cry over that boy." She came over and threw the blankets off of Addison. She didn't miss how her mother had said boy and not zombie, or freak. Maybe she was trying to soften the blow of hearing her talk of him.

"Mom, it's summer time I don't have any reason to get up."

"Well you used to get up bright and early and practice your routines and there's no reason you can't do it now."

"Yeah well, that was before I was kicked off the team. I'm sure Bucky has told every team from here to Seacity about me by now."

"Nevertheless, you're a lady. Pick your head up and carry on. Besides, I invited that nice Chad Singleton over. You guys seemed to hit off before that…" she had to stop herself this time, "boy came and ruined it."

Addison groaned loudly showing her displeasure, "He's not that great mom; he's really boring."

"There is nothing wrong with boring. Boring is safe. Now get up and get dressed and for goodness sake put makeup on. You look dead. If I knew better I would say they turned you into one of them." She wasn't thinking when she said it and Addison knew she didn't really mean it, but it still hurt.

She got herself up and went into her bathroom to get ready. Her mother was right, she looked as hollow as she felt. She had lost weight from not having an appetite and she had lost muscle tone from not having cheered for the past 6 months. She would need to get back in the gym. Maybe her mom could talk to Bucky's mom and he would let her back on as second string next year.

She went through the motions of getting ready. She took a shower and actually washed her hair this time before she styled it and put on makeup. She still didn't look like herself, but hopefully Chad wouldn't notice. She would indulge her mother and have a "date" with him at their house. She would definitely not be leaving with him. She wasn't ready for that.

Right before Chad arrived, her mother shoved a picnic basket in her arms and instructed her to set it up out in the garden and that she would show Chad out there when he arrived.

Addison sat on the blanket in her yellow sundress and Chad arrived in his usual Chad fashion. A pair of blue shorts and a sea foam green polo with boat shoes.

"Addison. Looking beautiful as ever." He greeted her.

"Hi Chad." Was all she could muster up.

He sat down on the blanket next to her and she proceeded to open the basket and take out the lunch her mother had packed. Cucumber sandwiches and a small veggie tray, which was expected but under that were chocolate covered strawberries. Real slick mom, she thought. She left those in there hoping Chad didn't see them.

She started laying everything out, only just realizing she had been training for this type of servitude since she was young when Chad spoke.

"I'm really sorry about everything that happened." Addison startled at that and dropped a few cherry tomatoes she had been arranging.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She feigned ignorance. Not wanting to think of it.

"I'm especially sorry for knocking you down at the creamery. I shouldn't have done that. It's not what a gentleman or a man should do."

"It's fine." She sighed. It wasn't.

"I was really excited when your mom called and said you wanted to see me. It meant I hadn't totally blew it before." Addison rolled her eyes at his admission and the fact that her mother lied to him.

"It's in the past Chad. It was almost a year ago now." We'll not quite, but it felt like it.

They ate their sandwiches in silence; Addison's mouth going dry at the taste. It tasted like sadness. She was missing the meals she has gotten used to with her new friends….ex friends.

"So I was thinking we could go for a walk when we finish." Chad mentioned. Addison was quiet. She really didn't want to but honestly what had Chad done to deserve her attitude. He did push her down, but he also did apologize and it sounded genuine. He was lame but was he really that bad?

"Ok." She said quietly. She ate while not speaking with him doing all the talking. He was trying to catch her up on all the things going on around town when one detail caught her ear.

"...totally bombed the championship."

"Wait. Who bombed the cheer championship? Seabrook?"

"No, everyone did. All the teams lost. The judges gave them all a do over set for the end of next month."

Why hadn't her mom said anything to her. Maybe Bucky would want her back on the team and she could go back to her old self. Well, she wouldn't totally be the same. But maybe she could have a little happiness with her first love of cheer.

She went for a walk with Chad who tried to go in for a kiss at the end but she denied him by ducking under him and telling him to have a good night. Her mom tried to pry and ask how it went but she rushed past her as well, she needed to make a phone call.

The phone didn't even ring a whole time before it was answered and the squeal of her best friend sounded in her ears. "Omg Addison. I've missed you so bad. How are you doing? Your mom called me and kept me up to date on everything. I've just been going crazy over here thinking about you." She continued rambling on before Addison was finally able to get a word in.

"I'm still down Bree, but I'm slowly getting better."

"I'm so happy to hear that. It just broke my heart Addy." Addison smiled at her friends caring soul and took the next little while to catch up with her and to verify that Seabrook had indeed not won the championship.

"I'm glad you asked me about that. Bucky is going absolutely crazy. He made us all skip cheer camp and we had to go to his own personal boot camp he set up in the woods. It's absolutely terrible and I wish that you were here so bad. But then again, we probably would have won if we had you still."

"Oh my goodness. So Bucky is really being a tyrant then. More so than usual."

"You should call him Addy. I'm positive he would give you your old spot back. Someone said they heard him mumbling to himself about trying to get you back on the team and he would do anything."

"Thanks Bree. I think I will do that."

They ended up chatting for a little while longer with Addison promising to go over to her house before she made the call to Bucky. He acted like he was doing her a favor by letting her back on the team, but she could have sworn she heard him crying and thanking some 'cheer god'. He told her to show up the next day and she would have her old spot back.

The next couple of weeks she spent trying to get all thoughts of Zed and zombietown from her mind. She pushed herself with the cheer team, even though she was very rusty and her muscles ached harder than ever from the months of misuse. She also had Chad come over several more times as well. He really wasn't all that bad and she had even let him kiss her on the cheek a couple of times. Apparently he thought she wouldn't be interested in talks about taboo subjects and their first date was him trying to keep himself as bland as he thought she would want. But after realizing she was nothing like her parents, their conversations grew and she had to admit that maybe she could be real friends with him. He seemed to be more open minded than she originally thought.

There was only a week until the newly rescheduled cheer championship and Addison stood in her bedroom in front of the mirror working on her arm placement. It was funny the things your body would forget how to do in just a matter of months. The team had spent the entire day in a gym going over routine after routine with Bucky putting extra pressure on her to perfect the Cajun Chicken Roundabout. She was about to call it a night when she heard tapping on her window.

Her heart started slamming out of her chest. Zed! It had to be, she wanted it to be but then, she didn't want it to be. She really didn't want to go back to how she was feeling before. She had just begun to feel a sense of normalcy. Slowly she turned to view her window. She was surprised to see Eliza was sitting on the tree branch directly outside of her house or was she upset to see her old friend. No, she was definitely relieved to see Eliza.

She slid her window open to let the small zom into her room while holding a finger to her lips telling her to be quiet. "What are you doing here?" she whispered after she slowly, silently, slid her window closed. "I don't want to hear an apology for Zed unless it comes straight from his face."

Eliza was silent for a moment as Addison noticed her taking in her bedroom. "No, I didn't come for that." She whispered back. Addison's heart dropped, betraying her. Maybe deep down she did want to hear that he was sorry. That he wanted her back. That he still loved her.

"Don't get me wrong, I could tell you all day how bad he feels. I could tell you how he cried, and I've never seen him cry, not even after Zarah left him. But I'm not here for that."

"So why did you risk coming all the way here at night?"

"Zed claims he can't remember anything that happened. He remembers leaving you to go to the bathroom and then he said he completely blacked out the rest of the night. He said he woke up the next morning, or rather it was afternoon. He was home and you were gone. We all tried to tell him what happened and he's really torn up over it. Bonzo and I have some theories, but we need to hear your side of the whole thing before we can really investigate it."

Eliza had been pacing and talking as quietly as she could and when she finished she came to stand in front of Addison. "Please tell me what happened. You mentioned Zarah showed up at the cafe, but you never said what she did while she was there."

Addison stood silently thinking over things. What did this mean that she wanted to investigate, was she going to go and confront Zarah? Would Zed go confront her? Addison would tell Eliza her side of the story, but they all needed to be clear on a few things. "I'll tell you but you should know, this doesn't change anything. He had plenty of time to come after me and it's been almost two months now."

"I understand." Eliza replied.

"And also you should know, I've sort of started seeing someone else. We aren't official or anything, but it could turn that way."

Eliza dropped her head and nodded. "I had a feeling, but please, if not for Zed then do this for me. Hopefully we're still friends and I have to know what happened." Addison agreed and began to retell everything that had happened since the very first night she met Zarah.