Tuesday Morning came bright and early for Zed, he had stayed up late the night before thinking about everything going on. He wanted so badly to try to fix things, but he had no idea where to begin. The main problem was that the panic wasn't caused specifically by the zombies, but by the fear of werewolves out in the woods. Zed didn't doubt Addison's claim, he had heard the howls too even if he never saw anything. The werewolves had scared Addison, and by extension everyone else, but he really didn't think they could be a threat. They had left Addison alone in the woods without harming a hair on her perfect head. And if they had tried anything, they would have gotten a taste of what a zombie could do. He was still bummed about both of his failed Prawnposals, but wasn't panicking about it, too much at least. He had a clear obstacle to tackle, he just had to come up with a game plan to make the touchdown. Or follow whatever play Coach Eliza gave him.
Zoey was just as optimistic as ever, she had hung hand-drawn posters all over their neighborhood asking for a werefriend. She had also left a bowl of Puppy's food and water along with a few toys out on their porch in hopes of enticing any werewolves that might pass by.
The biggest thing Zed worried about as usual was Addison, in this case, her parents. He knew they were the power behind the decision to reinforce the Monster Laws, and he really thought they liked him now. Especially with everything that had happened over the last few months since events with Pierce, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, they had been nothing but supportive of his and Addison's relationship, to cut him off from Prawn, one of the biggest nights of the year for no real reason stung. He really wanted to go talk to them, but if Addison couldn't even get anything out of them, he doubted he could. Not for the first time, he thought that everything would be so much easier if he was human, or that Seabrook would move on from the past. But no, everyone still saw them as dangerous monsters. Maybe Missy and Dale did still hate him, and everything else was just minor bright spots when he was still firmly on the darker side in their eyes.
When he walked outside with Zoey, the elementary bus was parked just outside the barrier like usual, but it was completely surrounded by Z-Patrol guards. After seeing Zoey off, he was about to head towards Addison's house to walk to school with her like normal, but the Z-Patrol had plastic and metal barriers along both sides of the road, leaving only the path directly to Seabrook High open to travel.
Eliza muttered under her breath beside him. "This is so stupid. They see one werewolf and we can't do anything again."
"Hey Eliza, I'm assuming you have some ideas by now?"
"Well, yeah, but most of the stuff I was working on was for the powerplant, and none of that is going to happen now. Unless we get in contact with the wolves so we can work together to prove they aren't a danger to Seabrook I don't think we can do anything besides protest. We can still use my walkout idea. I planned it for fifth period during History, I think there's a chance Mr. Clevenger may even support us. He even let me edit the history textbook a few months ago."
"Well, I've been emailing Principal Lee and she wants me to give a speech at the assembly today so wish me luck." Zed was looking down at his phone, texting Addison that he couldn't walk her to school.
"OMZ do I need to proofread it? I know your brain is in a million different places right now."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because I can see you keep looking towards the direction of Addison's house. I think you can wait a few more minutes to see her Romeo. This is the first day in months you've walked with us to school. Oh, speaking of, have you had a chance to ask her again?"
"Yes I did, I did it at the City Council meeting, but she said no because thirty seconds before I did it they banned us from Prawn."
"Alright email the speech to me before the assembly. I don't trust your rhetoric skills right now."
"Your faith in me is heartwarming. Fine, I'll do it once we get to school."
There was only one good thing Zed noticed as they approached the front doors. "Thank Z they don't have that stupid fence up the middle again."
"If it was I'd tear it down myself." Addison promised as she walked over from the direction of her house with Bree. Taking her place under Zed's arms as they met for a hug.
"See you later guys, I have to go to a meeting quick." Eliza waved as she entered the school.
"Greunos diaz Bonzo." Bree said as she too gave Bonzo a hug in greeting.
"Grallo Breezka." Bonzo returned.
"How were your guys' nights?" Addison asked.
"Mostly spent with Eliza trying to brainstorm, none of us really have anything yet."
"I don't either. My parents are standing firm in their decision still." Addison explained to the rest as they all headed into school, Bree and Bonzo splitting off to head to their lockers.
Zed and Addison continued walking through the hallways.
"I really thought we'd all be at the Prawn together. I thought Seabrook had changed." Addison sighed.
"It did. Believe me, I will find a way to get us to the Prawn." Zed promised.
"Or we can miss it together." Addison suggested with a coy smile.
"No way." Zed shook his head, shutting her down immediately. "I'm not letting you miss the Prawn."
"If you can't go, I'm not going."
"Well, I like you too much not to let you go."
"Well, I like you too much to leave you behind. I am so not going."
"Ugh, you guys even fight like a perfect couple." Eliza returned to them.
"How's it going Eliza?" Addison asked.
"Oh you know, fighting injustice is keeping me busy."
"And looking good doing it Zom-bae."
They all turned as they heard Bucky walking down the hall in the distance with Jacey following loyally behind him carrying a clipboard. "I'm thinking the Prawn King should get his own corner office. Let's see if we can move out the Math Department. Write that down." As he walked past, Bucky called out. "Hey Addison, time to officially nominate me for Prawn King!" He turned back to Jacey. "Let's keep it understated yet extravagant. And flashy."
Addison sighed. "Cheer is so much more than just pom-poming for Bucky. I wish he and the Aceys could understand that. They could bring so much more to the team, but I swear since Cheer Camp started they've just gotten worse and worse."
Just then Lacey and Stacey walked up to Addison. "Addison, as cheer captain, with the Monster Laws back in place don't you think it would be better if the Zombie cheerleaders were removed from the team?"
"Yeah, with practice they may miss the curfew and we wouldn't want them to get into any trouble with the Z-Patrol." Stacey added.
"No, absolutely not. The monster laws are only temporary, and even if they did ban that, which they have not, as cheer captain I say everyone is welcome to stay, even you two and the rest of your Bucky posse. Because I believe cheer brings people together. See you at practice this afternoon."
"You shouldn't even be cheer captain freak." Lacey whispered under her breath as she and Stacey walked away.
Zed heard the insult and squeezed Addison's hand in reassurance but she acted like she hadn't heard it, giving him a squeeze in return before she walked away toward homeroom.
Zed watched her as she walked away, before looking down at Eliza. "I've got to find a way to get us to the Prawn."
"We could crash it. We can't make the rules, but we can break them."
"But we can make the rules!" Zed shouted excitedly, slapping his forehead in realization. "I'm still the president, and I think I just had an idea. I'm going to go talk to Principal Lee quick before the assembly." Zed rushed off down the hallways.
"Are you gonna fill me in?" Eliza called out.
"It's a surprise." Zed yelled back.
"I'm not your girlfriend. I don't like surprises!"
Now at the assembly a few minutes later, Principal Lee was standing behind a pink podium that perfectly matched her suit. "Good morning everyone and thank you for coming. I know the last few days have come as a surprise to us all, but I urge you not to panic. We have the Z-Patrol to keep us safe from any werewolves living in the woods. For anyone wondering, I want to put any rumors to rest. No one was injured by the crashed bus, or by any werewolves in the forest. With certain laws back in place, I want to make one thing clear. All our students are still welcome here. We just have to stay calm and trust that this danger will pass us by and that we will be able to finish the school year strong. For the bad news, just so everything is clear, the curfew for Zombies is in effect again, as well as a ban on certain extracurricular activities, but groups such as the Cheer Squad and Band are still allowed to meet after school, but as of right now, they may not be able to attend the competitions beginning next month. But not to worry I'm sure this will all blow over soon enough. Now I'll turn it over to Zed, our student body president."
Zed walked calmly up to the podium. He met Addison's eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "What's up Seabrook?!" Zed shouted, bringing the depressed crowd back to life.
Addison and Bree led the rest of the cheerleaders to try to bring the energy level back up, and it did work somewhat. Many students clapped along with their cheers.
"Thank you all. I can't promise you I have any easy answers for you. None of us expected the week after Spring Break to go like this. But I know if we stand strong as a united front, nothing will bring us down. We've all learned a lot from each other this year, haven't we?"
"YEAH!" The crowd shouted.
"We've proved that Seabrook is better than ever when all of us work together, whether it's on the field, in the auditorium, in the classroom, and throughout our great city. Am I right?"
"Yeah!" More and more students rose to their feet as the mood turned from downcast to electric.
"I know I am, and I know all of you believe it too. I also know, just like me, we all planned to have the best Prawn ever, thanks to our wonderful Prawn committee led by Bucky."
"You're welcome, no need to thank me, but you can thank me by voting Bucky Buchannan for Prawn King!" Bucky stood up with a flourish to receive his favorite thing in the world, a round of applause.
"So as I was saying. I don't want to miss the Prawn just because of some scary werewolves that are wandering the forest somewhere. I know they scared everyone, but I know we're all safe. Soon everyone else will realize that too and everything will return to normal. But in the meantime, I really don't want to miss Prawn so, I have proposed a plan, and with Principal Lee's approval, I think it can work."
Now all the students looked intrigued as they leaned forward to hear every word. "This Thursday, we will have a vote, from the entire student body, to show that we support all of us going to Prawn together. We will count all the votes, and I know we can succeed because all of us Mighty Shrimp are awesome. We will then send the results to the city council to prove that everyone wants to go to Prawn together, and for all of Seabrook to be united once again. This is just the first step to returning things to normal but by doing this I know we won't have to give up one of the most important nights of high school. So do I have your support?"
"ZED! ZED! ZED! ZED!" The crowd roared its approval, zombies and humans alike.
"Woah Woah." Bucky ran up on stage, "As Chair of the Prawn Committee I haven't agreed to this. Are you sure he can do this Principal Lee? What about the Anti-monster thingy?"
"He has a point Bucky, as president Zed can organize a vote on whatever he wants. It is up to the student body and the city council to follow his lead and I support his campaign wholeheartedly. I know most of you have been planning for this night for weeks if not months, and everyone should have the opportunity to attend."
"How about this?" Bucky suggested. "Then I propose on Thursday morning, before the voting begins, that we truly examine both sides of this issue. I nominate myself to debate against our president because I believe it is best for the safety of all of Seabrook if we allow the current rules to remain in place. Who else is with me?"
A smattering of applause followed Bucky's proposal. Mostly led by the Aceys and other members of the A-team from cheer camp, but a few scattered students also clapped fearfully.
"What? No Principal Lee-" Zed started.
Principal Lee held up her hands for quiet. "In the spirit of fairness, sportsmanship, and democracy I suppose a debate will be alright. Even though I fully endorse Zed's plan I think it is only right that voices are heard on both sides of this issue. So we will hold a debate on Thursday before voting starts. But I trust that we will all come to the right decision. I will contact the City Council so they are prepared to consider the results when they arrive. That is all I have to say. If you have anything to add Zed?" Principal Lee walked away from the stage with Bucky following behind so Zed took his place back behind the podium once more.
"I know we are better together stronger side by side this is the moment its our time. So we're different whatever. Everyone can shine. This is the moment of our lives cause we're better together!" Zed closed out his speech to the cheers of the crowd.
"ZED! ZED! ZED! ZED!"
"I promise. I'm your president and you all chose me because you trust me to lead you, both on the football field and in the hallways. I know Seabrook is a place that can truly embrace Zombies and-"
"Werewolves!" Someone screamed from the crowd.
"Um no, why would we want to…WEREWOLVES!" Zed shouted and pointed at the gym doors.
An entire pack burst through the doors staring and snarling aggressively, scanning the quickly panicking crowd as they all tried to run as far away as possible from the monsters.
Addison, Eliza, and Coach all ran up to the podium near Zed. While Bree sprinted to Bonzo's side where they grabbed onto each other and huddled with the other band members.
"There she is!" One of the wolves' eyes locked onto Addison, and she flinched away automatically as they all rushed towards her snarling.
Addison froze, but she could hear Zed behind calling to the football team. "Football Team Defense! D-24 Right!"
"Let's go Mighty Shrimp!" The football team, all dressed in their blue varsity jackets like always, surrounded the podium in formation, following their captain's orders and built a wall around Addison.
"Where's the Moonstone white hair?" asked the first werewolf girl, who seemed to be the leader, as she stopped the other wolves from attacking the football team, for now.
"I think you've got the wrong person." Addison said with fright. She could tell the small army of football players in front of her were just as terrified, and everything was still being drowned out by screams of terror as everyone tried to flee the gym or get as far away from the werewolves as possible. Also, she was a little hurt, even these wild creatures only noticed her different looks.
"Uh, Eliza what are you doing?" Zed asked as she rapidly tried jamming the buttons on her Z-Band.
"Let's smash our Z-bands and zombie out, we can use our strength to fend them off."
"We can't lose control, we are not monsters." Zed disagreed pulling her arm away as they both got into fighting stances, even though Eliza kept her hand poised over her Z-Band. "My Prawn plan will never work if we go full-Zom in front of everyone."
One of the female wolves loudly snarled. "Our razor-sharp claws will gut them and splatter their blood!"
Everyone gasped in fright, even more, tense than before. Shrinking away even further. Addison instinctively moved closer to Zed, so that she could feel his breath billowing over the top of her head.
The wolves relaxed for a few seconds looking over at the one who had spoken.
She realized all eyes were now on her. "Too much?" She asked.
"Wolves!" Willa shouted, her moonstone glowing blue and her eyes burning yellow. "On my command!" She growled, revealing her sharpened fangs and claws.
The rest of the wolves tensed to pounce, growling as their eyes all started glowing in unison.
Addison could still hear Eliza rapidly trying to hack her Z-band off but without success so far, and being pressed so close to Zed, she could hear his normally slow heartbeat speeding up. She couldn't turn away from the threat in front of her, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see he wasn't going full Zom, yet. But she almost thought he would need to.
"Willa!" One of the wolves shouted, stopping her and the rest from lunging. "We can't go to war with the whole town. We'll never find the Moonstone if they're on high alert."
Willa scanned the room around them for a moment, even in just this gym they were vastly outnumbered. And even though all the zombies were equally as terrified as the humans, she knew they were unpredictable. "I hate it when you're right." Willa growled to her brother. "Wolves! Stand down." She ordered.
The rest of the pack slowly relaxed as the light left their eyes and necklaces.
Willa took a breath and tried to put a beaming grin on her face. "Sorry. We werewolves so admire your town and we just came to…join your school!" Willa gave her best friendly smile, but couldn't help showing a lot of fang.
The rest of the students slowly started to relax as well and looked around confused.
"What?" Bucky demanded, where he had been hiding heroically behind the Aceys. "They can't join our school!" Bucky looked disgusted.
Coach joined the conversation. "Technically, the Forbidden Forest is within the school district…"
"So welcome to Seabrook!" Addison smiled, always the optimist, she told the football players to break formation so she could give the wolves a wave of her pom-poms. She was sure this whole situation must just be some big misunderstanding, and if the wolves joined the school like everyone else, maybe her parents would realize there was no danger and no need for the monster laws.
Principal Lee reappeared from wherever she had been hiding. "Welcome." She said nervously. "We're always happy to welcome new students. Do you have any guardians I could speak with to discuss you all joining our student body?"
"I'm the Alpha. I'm Willa."
"Wonderful, would you like to come to my office to discuss class schedules, lockers, and everything else needed for you to join or hallowed halls of learning?"
"Yes. I would love to." She forced out through gritted teeth.
"Great you can follow me then. The rest of your friends can stay here for now. Coach, you're in charge of supervising them."
"Yes Principal Lee, you got it. I'll be on them like a dog on a bone, I mean I'll keep them on a tight leash, I mean uh. You got it. Don't worry about a thing."
"Everyone else, please head back to class." Principal Lee announced.
Most of the students began to filter back into the hallways, including Zed and Addison. Wyatt tried to follow her, but Willa called him back.
"You're coming with me." She ordered.
"Why? I can go talk to the Great Alpha."
"You wanted to do it the nice way, you can help me be nice to their Alpha."
"My plan wasn't join the school."
"Well that's where we are, come on, we don't want to keep the Alpha waiting. Wynter, you're in charge, but no hunting games."
"You got it."
"So…what kind of games do you play? Coach asked nervously as he was now all alone with the wolves."
"You probably don't want to know. Wynter sat down in the now abandoned bleachers with the rest of the wolves, and began examining her claws."
"OK do you ever play fetch—I mean catch?" Coach tried to awkwardly make small talk.
