Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot and new characters. Sad, I
know.
Author's Notes: I'm gonna focus a bit more on Nicole now. Sorry, I can't help it!! ='c For the record, my pairings are Zack/Summer and...I'll keep the rest secret for now..ü
Fudge, I got the names wrong. Alicia's the black girl and Marta's the blond chick. Damn, sorry! I'll try to change it when I have time.^^ I'm really sorry, I was still kinda sleepy then. Oh, and thanks to all those who reviewed! If you think this is another cliché fic, keep reading. *grins* I have major plans for this fic. *cackles evilly* Ehem, anyways, on with the story!
As I promised, it's kind of a long chapter so...yeah.xp Things are really gonna kick into motion in the next one, promise!
Summary: The band has been going strong for 5 years, all of them choosing to transfer to the same high school, Martin High. Needless to say, they rule the school. That is, up until a new girl joins their class. Can Freddy keep his title as the band's drummer? Read and find out.ü
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're late!" Summer snapped accusingly at Zack and Freddy as they entered the room. Everyone paused in their duties to look at them.
Zack shrugged off his cloth guitar case (the leather one's strap got busted when Freddy yanked it) and slouched onto the couch. He started massaging his temples, looking like something was really wrong. Freddy had swept past everyone and started an angry beat on his drum set.
Katie looked at her best friends in turn. "What's up with you two? Someone die?"
"Oh my God, did you lose Freddy's brain again?" Alicia asked, eyes going wide in mock-awe. Freddy tossed the cushion on his stool at her. "I was just joking, Fred! We all know you lost your mind years ago," she added, laughing.
Summer was sitting beside Zack, arm around his neck. "What happened to you guys anyway?" she asked. "You look like you ate some bad sushi or something,"
Zack looked up at Freddy, who shrugged and went back to playing. "There's a new band called 'Ravyn', and we just found out they were preapproved-"
"Pre-fucking-approved!" Freddy emphasized, angrily hitting the nearest thing, which happened to be the window.
"for that State-wide rock tour," Zack finished. He glared at the glass figurine resting on the coffee table in front of him as though it was the figurine's fault that they had new rivals. "How do you get preapproved for something like that, anyway!?" he hissed angrily.
Summer massaged his arm comfortingly. "Come on, guys. I'm sure we're a lot better than them! I mean, hello? We've worked our asses off the past couple of years and we deserve to be on that tour!"
"Yeah, we'll I'd kill to be able to say that they suck, but we haven't heard them play yet," Freddy said quietly, twirling his drumsticks with his fingers. He sighed and leaned back on the windowsill, where he was now sitting. "But they have a gig tonight at that old club down by 86th, you guys wanna come with us and check 'em out?"
"Sorry, but I have a clarinet rehersal. My recital's on Sunday already, remember? So all of you better be there," Summer said, a hint of threat in her voice.
"Katie?" Freddy asked hopefully.
The girl looked at him apologetically. "I already have plans, sorry,"
"How about you, Lawrence?"
The boy shook his head. "My grandmother's coming into town for a visit. Sorry,"
Freddy sighed. "Marta? Alicia? Tomika?" All three girls shook their heads 'no', as did everyone else.
Freddy shrugged. "Fine, just you and me then, Zack man."
*
Zack stubbed out his cigarette as he saw Freddy's blonde head push through the dense crowd towards him. "Hey dude," he greeted, slapping his hand.
Freddy ran a hand through his hair. "Dammit, didn't have time to gel my hair. Does it look OK?" he asked, looking around as if expecting the Fashion Police to come out and arrest him because his hair looked less dangerous than usual.
Zack sniggered. "You care more about your hair than every girl I know, Summer included,"
Freddy punched him hard on the arm. "Shut up man." He said, looking pissed. Then he looked around the dimly lit alley. "Shit, a lot of people here for one gig, huh? You got the tickets?"
Zack nodded and the both of them made their way inside the club. Once in a while Freddy would grunt in pain as someone stepped on his new shoes or something. The up side was that they didn't have to wait very long for the band to come out and play.
A guy who looked like he was in his mid-20s stepped out, dressed in a black shirt that read 'LEGALIZE HEMP'. He had dreadlocks that went to his back. "Hey y'all, thanks for waiting. We just had a little technical problem-"
Zack and Freddy sniggered. That was what they always made Summer announce when a fight had broken out backstage.
"so here we are. 'Ravyn', ladies and gents!"
The crowd roared as the band trooped onto the stage. The guy with the dreadlocks swung a Gibson fender over his shoulder and did a few practice riffs. Two more guys took the bass and an electric guitar consecutively, and, surprisingly, a girl took her seat behind the Tama drum set. Another guy stepped out soon after, looking murderous, but settled behind the keyboards.
The guy on bass pulled a microphone towards him. He had spiky black hair that would have rivaled Freddy's and had so many piercings he looked like he belong in Ripley's Believe It Or Not. "The first song we're gonna play is an old School of Rock song, so major thanks to them,"
At those words, the band launched into the intro to the first song Zack had ever written and had been played by the band. Zack and Freddy grinned at each other. Zack didn't want to say it but he was admiring how they had changed most of the song. They weren't major changes but subtle ones that made the song sound even better. For one, they changed the lyrics during the part where Tomika was supposed to do her solo and the dude on the keyboards sang it.
"Thanks y'all," The guy with the dreadlocks said, grinning as the crowd went into a new frenzy when they finished their song.
The guy with the piercings took off the strap of his eguitar and switched places with the girl that had been playing the drums. She stepped into the strobe light and they found that she was wearing a short black skirt with a red cross on it, knee-length platform boots, fishnets and a red sleeveless top. Her hair was hidden under a black cap and she was wearing netted gloves with the fingers cut out.
"Hey y'all!" she greeted, pale rose lips breaking into a grin.
The guy with dreads grinned as well. "This is our newbie, Nix,"
The girl rolled her pale blue eyes. "Aaron, our kick-ass lead guitarist!"
"OK, our next song is by Shaun Seether, featuring Ravyn's own version of Amy Lee! Here we go, 'Broken'..."
The girl named Nix stepped up to the front mic and started the guitar plucking.
"I wanted you to know that I love the way you laugh. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away.... I keep your photograph, and I know it serves me well. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain..." Aaron wailed.
Then Nix joined in. "'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome, and I don't feel right when you've gone away..."
Aaron again with the bridge. "You've gone away. You don't feel me here...anymore..."
"The worst is over now, and we can breathe again. I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away. There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain," Nix sang, rivaling Amy Lee herself.
"'Cause I'm broken when I'm open, and I don't feel like I am strong enough. 'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome, and I don't feel right when you've gone away.... " both sang.
Then came a 20 second long instrumental interlude.
"'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome, and I don't feel right when
you're gone..."
"You're gone away, you don't feel me here... anymore...."
The crowd roared.
"All right, one last song, and we're giving the newbie to redeem herself after those excruciating notes!" the guy on the piano called.
Nix stuck her tongue out at him, looking adorable. "Well, y'all, I'm a major Evanescence fan. So here's 'Taking Over Me'...
"You don't remember me but I remember you... I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you But who can decide what they dream? And dream I do... I believe in you, I'll give everything just find you. I have to be with you To live To breathe You're taking over me Have you forgotten all I know And all we had? You saw me mourning my love for you And touched my hand; I knew you loved me then. I believe in you I'll give up everything just to find you, I have to be with you To live To breathe You're taking over me. I look in the mirror and see your lies And if look enough, So many things inside that are just like you are Taking over I believe in you, I'll give up everything just to find you I have to be with you, To live To breathe You're taking over me... I believe in you, I'll give up everything just to find you I have to be with you To live To breathe You're taking over... Taking over me You're taking over me Taking over... Taking over me..."
She lifted her eyes from doing a slamming guitar solo and looked at Zack and Freddy. Her eyes widened slightly but then she smirked and twirled around, giving them a little show. Zack stared at her, mouth wide open in awe, and Freddy's eyes were narrowed slightly, but he was smiling.
He watched her as her fingers flew across the frets and her body moved in time with the music. She was beautiful.
After Ravyn's set, Zack bullied Freddy into accompanying him outside for a quick smoke. No one knew that Zack had been a smoker for a year now and the band, especially Dewey, would kill him if they found out. But he trusted Freddy, so they bailed and ducked out of the dark club.
Zack was already outside and was fumbling in his pockets for his lighter when he heard Freddy give a loud 'Umph!'
This guy that looked around a few years older than them with a ponytail was standing in front of the blonde imperiously. "Watch where I'm going, you little brat," he snapped and turned to go back inside.
"That's it!" Freddy exploded. "I've been stepped on 6 times now and some steroid-pumped idiot like you is telling me off!? What the hell is wrong with the people here!? Can't you see where one person is going or are you blind? Wow, blind AND stupid. You're just a modern-day Einstein, aren't you!?"
The guy looked back at him, then, smirking, motioned for about three even bigger guys to join him. "What did you just say, kid?" he said with a growl.
Freddy, unfazed, drew himself up to his full height, which wasn't really that impressive since he was bit short for his age. "Oh, so you're deaf, too! Talk about-"
Zack intervened. "Excuse me?" he said, looking weary and tired. "Is there a problem here?"
"Yeah. If you don't get this little rodent out of my sight in the next two seconds, BOTH of you are gonna be eating dirt."
Zack's eyebrows went up despite himself. "Hey, man, no need for any threats and shit. You guys just had a misunderstanding here, right? So-"
One of the guys pretended to check his watch. "That's it, 2 seconds past. You two are getting your asses kicked,"
The four of them grabbed Zack and Freddy and yanked them to the small alleyway beside the club.
"FUCK YOU!" Freddy yelled angrily, trying to get the thug off him by kicking his shin, but the result was the other guy in front of him gave him a strong punch square on the nose. He yelled as he bled freely.
"Freddy!" Zack called, panicking now.
The dude that stared it all smirked and started laughing like an idiot. "Worried about your boyfriend are you?"
Zack grimaced. "Up yours, asshole!"
*
"Bye, Nix! See you next week?"
"Yeah, bye you guys!"
"You sure you don't want us to walk you home or anything?"
"No thanks, Rip. I'll be fine. You guys take care, OK?"
"You too! Bye, Nix!"
Nicole buried her hands into the pockets of her parka and sighed happily. Every sucky thing that had happened that week vanished the second she stepped onto the stage. That was one of the things she loved about being in Ravyn; It made her feel wanted. Still wearing a grin, she turned down the small alley like she usually did because it was shorter.
Her blue eyes went wide at the scene unfolding before her. She ran and pushed away the nearest thug. "Matt! Jacob! Leo! Maurice! What in the hell are you guys doing!?" she cried, pushing them away from the two highschoolers. In the process her hat fell off and her blond hair flew around her, accenting her anger.
Maurice, the guy with the ponytail, disconnected his fist from Zack's ribs. "Nix, I thought you guys'd still be inside..."
"Maurice!" Nicole screamed. "GET OUT OF HERE AND NEVER TOUCH THESE TWO AGAIN!!" She turned to Zack and Freddy, who were in varying degrees of pain. She ignored a few grunts of apology and helped Zack sit up. "Are you all right?"
"Who're you?" Zack mumbled dimly.
"Nix...it's me, Nicole, the girl who sits behind you in class. Are you all right? Anything broken?" she prompted, inspecting his face. He had a black eye and a monster bruise on his cheek but he didn't look that horrible.
"I'm fine, nothing's broken," Zack muttered. "Freddy," He attempted to point in his best friend's direction but found he didn't have enough energy after trying to fight them off.
Nicole left him when she was sure he was leaning on the stone wall and went over to Freddy, who was still bleeding profusely. She helped him sit up and tilted his head back. She pinched his nose.
Freddy grunted. He opened his eyes slightly when he felt his body move. He felt like he was about to die. Every inch of his body hurt like hell but when he opened his eyes slightly he saw probably the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. He grunted again, wanting to ask where he was but then he blanked out.
"He's out cold," Nicole stated and turned back to Zack. "Are you sure you're all right?"
The boy took a deep breath before answering. "I need to lie down,"
She lowered Freddy's head onto her lap and rummaged around in her bag. "Where's a cell phone when you need it?" she hissed angrily. She finally found it and speed-dialed something. She watched Freddy sleep as she arranged for her father's driver to pick her up. God, he was handsome when he wasn't shooting someone a death-glare.
She stood up and cushioned his head with her bag then walked over to Zack. She pushed his bangs away from his face and inspected his black eye. "You need to go to a hospital, you know that, don't you?"
Zack nodded slightly. "I don't think I broke anything," he told her.
"Where does it hurt?"
He pointed to his chest. "My pride hurts," he said, smiling slightly then winced. God, even smiling hurt!
Nicole laughed slightly. His stomach did an unexpected back flip. "Don't sweat it, those guys are total jerks. They pick on everyone but they're scared of me. Imagine, scared of a girl!"
"You don't seem to have very much self-confidence," Zack stated, his words sloppy. He wanted to keep talking so that he wouldn't black out like Freddy did.
She frowned slightly. "Maybe."
A car pulled up in front of the street and a man dressed in black hurried over.
Nicole helped Zack stand up while the driver carried Freddy. "OK with your parents to spend the night?" she asked him.
Zack was dimly aware that he was so close to her body but he was concentrating on staying conscious. "Call them tomorrow," he said, voice barely above a whisper.
They got into the car. Freddy was lying down in the back seat, and Zack was lying down as well, but his head rested on Nicole's lap.
"Ma'am, shall we go to your father's?" the driver queried, looking at the young girl's face in the rearview mirror. She looked paler than usual.
"He's still out?" she asked.
"He'll come home a bit late, ma'am,"
"Home then,"
Author's Notes: I'm gonna focus a bit more on Nicole now. Sorry, I can't help it!! ='c For the record, my pairings are Zack/Summer and...I'll keep the rest secret for now..ü
Fudge, I got the names wrong. Alicia's the black girl and Marta's the blond chick. Damn, sorry! I'll try to change it when I have time.^^ I'm really sorry, I was still kinda sleepy then. Oh, and thanks to all those who reviewed! If you think this is another cliché fic, keep reading. *grins* I have major plans for this fic. *cackles evilly* Ehem, anyways, on with the story!
As I promised, it's kind of a long chapter so...yeah.xp Things are really gonna kick into motion in the next one, promise!
Summary: The band has been going strong for 5 years, all of them choosing to transfer to the same high school, Martin High. Needless to say, they rule the school. That is, up until a new girl joins their class. Can Freddy keep his title as the band's drummer? Read and find out.ü
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're late!" Summer snapped accusingly at Zack and Freddy as they entered the room. Everyone paused in their duties to look at them.
Zack shrugged off his cloth guitar case (the leather one's strap got busted when Freddy yanked it) and slouched onto the couch. He started massaging his temples, looking like something was really wrong. Freddy had swept past everyone and started an angry beat on his drum set.
Katie looked at her best friends in turn. "What's up with you two? Someone die?"
"Oh my God, did you lose Freddy's brain again?" Alicia asked, eyes going wide in mock-awe. Freddy tossed the cushion on his stool at her. "I was just joking, Fred! We all know you lost your mind years ago," she added, laughing.
Summer was sitting beside Zack, arm around his neck. "What happened to you guys anyway?" she asked. "You look like you ate some bad sushi or something,"
Zack looked up at Freddy, who shrugged and went back to playing. "There's a new band called 'Ravyn', and we just found out they were preapproved-"
"Pre-fucking-approved!" Freddy emphasized, angrily hitting the nearest thing, which happened to be the window.
"for that State-wide rock tour," Zack finished. He glared at the glass figurine resting on the coffee table in front of him as though it was the figurine's fault that they had new rivals. "How do you get preapproved for something like that, anyway!?" he hissed angrily.
Summer massaged his arm comfortingly. "Come on, guys. I'm sure we're a lot better than them! I mean, hello? We've worked our asses off the past couple of years and we deserve to be on that tour!"
"Yeah, we'll I'd kill to be able to say that they suck, but we haven't heard them play yet," Freddy said quietly, twirling his drumsticks with his fingers. He sighed and leaned back on the windowsill, where he was now sitting. "But they have a gig tonight at that old club down by 86th, you guys wanna come with us and check 'em out?"
"Sorry, but I have a clarinet rehersal. My recital's on Sunday already, remember? So all of you better be there," Summer said, a hint of threat in her voice.
"Katie?" Freddy asked hopefully.
The girl looked at him apologetically. "I already have plans, sorry,"
"How about you, Lawrence?"
The boy shook his head. "My grandmother's coming into town for a visit. Sorry,"
Freddy sighed. "Marta? Alicia? Tomika?" All three girls shook their heads 'no', as did everyone else.
Freddy shrugged. "Fine, just you and me then, Zack man."
*
Zack stubbed out his cigarette as he saw Freddy's blonde head push through the dense crowd towards him. "Hey dude," he greeted, slapping his hand.
Freddy ran a hand through his hair. "Dammit, didn't have time to gel my hair. Does it look OK?" he asked, looking around as if expecting the Fashion Police to come out and arrest him because his hair looked less dangerous than usual.
Zack sniggered. "You care more about your hair than every girl I know, Summer included,"
Freddy punched him hard on the arm. "Shut up man." He said, looking pissed. Then he looked around the dimly lit alley. "Shit, a lot of people here for one gig, huh? You got the tickets?"
Zack nodded and the both of them made their way inside the club. Once in a while Freddy would grunt in pain as someone stepped on his new shoes or something. The up side was that they didn't have to wait very long for the band to come out and play.
A guy who looked like he was in his mid-20s stepped out, dressed in a black shirt that read 'LEGALIZE HEMP'. He had dreadlocks that went to his back. "Hey y'all, thanks for waiting. We just had a little technical problem-"
Zack and Freddy sniggered. That was what they always made Summer announce when a fight had broken out backstage.
"so here we are. 'Ravyn', ladies and gents!"
The crowd roared as the band trooped onto the stage. The guy with the dreadlocks swung a Gibson fender over his shoulder and did a few practice riffs. Two more guys took the bass and an electric guitar consecutively, and, surprisingly, a girl took her seat behind the Tama drum set. Another guy stepped out soon after, looking murderous, but settled behind the keyboards.
The guy on bass pulled a microphone towards him. He had spiky black hair that would have rivaled Freddy's and had so many piercings he looked like he belong in Ripley's Believe It Or Not. "The first song we're gonna play is an old School of Rock song, so major thanks to them,"
At those words, the band launched into the intro to the first song Zack had ever written and had been played by the band. Zack and Freddy grinned at each other. Zack didn't want to say it but he was admiring how they had changed most of the song. They weren't major changes but subtle ones that made the song sound even better. For one, they changed the lyrics during the part where Tomika was supposed to do her solo and the dude on the keyboards sang it.
"Thanks y'all," The guy with the dreadlocks said, grinning as the crowd went into a new frenzy when they finished their song.
The guy with the piercings took off the strap of his eguitar and switched places with the girl that had been playing the drums. She stepped into the strobe light and they found that she was wearing a short black skirt with a red cross on it, knee-length platform boots, fishnets and a red sleeveless top. Her hair was hidden under a black cap and she was wearing netted gloves with the fingers cut out.
"Hey y'all!" she greeted, pale rose lips breaking into a grin.
The guy with dreads grinned as well. "This is our newbie, Nix,"
The girl rolled her pale blue eyes. "Aaron, our kick-ass lead guitarist!"
"OK, our next song is by Shaun Seether, featuring Ravyn's own version of Amy Lee! Here we go, 'Broken'..."
The girl named Nix stepped up to the front mic and started the guitar plucking.
"I wanted you to know that I love the way you laugh. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away.... I keep your photograph, and I know it serves me well. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain..." Aaron wailed.
Then Nix joined in. "'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome, and I don't feel right when you've gone away..."
Aaron again with the bridge. "You've gone away. You don't feel me here...anymore..."
"The worst is over now, and we can breathe again. I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away. There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain," Nix sang, rivaling Amy Lee herself.
"'Cause I'm broken when I'm open, and I don't feel like I am strong enough. 'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome, and I don't feel right when you've gone away.... " both sang.
Then came a 20 second long instrumental interlude.
"'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome, and I don't feel right when
you're gone..."
"You're gone away, you don't feel me here... anymore...."
The crowd roared.
"All right, one last song, and we're giving the newbie to redeem herself after those excruciating notes!" the guy on the piano called.
Nix stuck her tongue out at him, looking adorable. "Well, y'all, I'm a major Evanescence fan. So here's 'Taking Over Me'...
"You don't remember me but I remember you... I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you But who can decide what they dream? And dream I do... I believe in you, I'll give everything just find you. I have to be with you To live To breathe You're taking over me Have you forgotten all I know And all we had? You saw me mourning my love for you And touched my hand; I knew you loved me then. I believe in you I'll give up everything just to find you, I have to be with you To live To breathe You're taking over me. I look in the mirror and see your lies And if look enough, So many things inside that are just like you are Taking over I believe in you, I'll give up everything just to find you I have to be with you, To live To breathe You're taking over me... I believe in you, I'll give up everything just to find you I have to be with you To live To breathe You're taking over... Taking over me You're taking over me Taking over... Taking over me..."
She lifted her eyes from doing a slamming guitar solo and looked at Zack and Freddy. Her eyes widened slightly but then she smirked and twirled around, giving them a little show. Zack stared at her, mouth wide open in awe, and Freddy's eyes were narrowed slightly, but he was smiling.
He watched her as her fingers flew across the frets and her body moved in time with the music. She was beautiful.
After Ravyn's set, Zack bullied Freddy into accompanying him outside for a quick smoke. No one knew that Zack had been a smoker for a year now and the band, especially Dewey, would kill him if they found out. But he trusted Freddy, so they bailed and ducked out of the dark club.
Zack was already outside and was fumbling in his pockets for his lighter when he heard Freddy give a loud 'Umph!'
This guy that looked around a few years older than them with a ponytail was standing in front of the blonde imperiously. "Watch where I'm going, you little brat," he snapped and turned to go back inside.
"That's it!" Freddy exploded. "I've been stepped on 6 times now and some steroid-pumped idiot like you is telling me off!? What the hell is wrong with the people here!? Can't you see where one person is going or are you blind? Wow, blind AND stupid. You're just a modern-day Einstein, aren't you!?"
The guy looked back at him, then, smirking, motioned for about three even bigger guys to join him. "What did you just say, kid?" he said with a growl.
Freddy, unfazed, drew himself up to his full height, which wasn't really that impressive since he was bit short for his age. "Oh, so you're deaf, too! Talk about-"
Zack intervened. "Excuse me?" he said, looking weary and tired. "Is there a problem here?"
"Yeah. If you don't get this little rodent out of my sight in the next two seconds, BOTH of you are gonna be eating dirt."
Zack's eyebrows went up despite himself. "Hey, man, no need for any threats and shit. You guys just had a misunderstanding here, right? So-"
One of the guys pretended to check his watch. "That's it, 2 seconds past. You two are getting your asses kicked,"
The four of them grabbed Zack and Freddy and yanked them to the small alleyway beside the club.
"FUCK YOU!" Freddy yelled angrily, trying to get the thug off him by kicking his shin, but the result was the other guy in front of him gave him a strong punch square on the nose. He yelled as he bled freely.
"Freddy!" Zack called, panicking now.
The dude that stared it all smirked and started laughing like an idiot. "Worried about your boyfriend are you?"
Zack grimaced. "Up yours, asshole!"
*
"Bye, Nix! See you next week?"
"Yeah, bye you guys!"
"You sure you don't want us to walk you home or anything?"
"No thanks, Rip. I'll be fine. You guys take care, OK?"
"You too! Bye, Nix!"
Nicole buried her hands into the pockets of her parka and sighed happily. Every sucky thing that had happened that week vanished the second she stepped onto the stage. That was one of the things she loved about being in Ravyn; It made her feel wanted. Still wearing a grin, she turned down the small alley like she usually did because it was shorter.
Her blue eyes went wide at the scene unfolding before her. She ran and pushed away the nearest thug. "Matt! Jacob! Leo! Maurice! What in the hell are you guys doing!?" she cried, pushing them away from the two highschoolers. In the process her hat fell off and her blond hair flew around her, accenting her anger.
Maurice, the guy with the ponytail, disconnected his fist from Zack's ribs. "Nix, I thought you guys'd still be inside..."
"Maurice!" Nicole screamed. "GET OUT OF HERE AND NEVER TOUCH THESE TWO AGAIN!!" She turned to Zack and Freddy, who were in varying degrees of pain. She ignored a few grunts of apology and helped Zack sit up. "Are you all right?"
"Who're you?" Zack mumbled dimly.
"Nix...it's me, Nicole, the girl who sits behind you in class. Are you all right? Anything broken?" she prompted, inspecting his face. He had a black eye and a monster bruise on his cheek but he didn't look that horrible.
"I'm fine, nothing's broken," Zack muttered. "Freddy," He attempted to point in his best friend's direction but found he didn't have enough energy after trying to fight them off.
Nicole left him when she was sure he was leaning on the stone wall and went over to Freddy, who was still bleeding profusely. She helped him sit up and tilted his head back. She pinched his nose.
Freddy grunted. He opened his eyes slightly when he felt his body move. He felt like he was about to die. Every inch of his body hurt like hell but when he opened his eyes slightly he saw probably the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. He grunted again, wanting to ask where he was but then he blanked out.
"He's out cold," Nicole stated and turned back to Zack. "Are you sure you're all right?"
The boy took a deep breath before answering. "I need to lie down,"
She lowered Freddy's head onto her lap and rummaged around in her bag. "Where's a cell phone when you need it?" she hissed angrily. She finally found it and speed-dialed something. She watched Freddy sleep as she arranged for her father's driver to pick her up. God, he was handsome when he wasn't shooting someone a death-glare.
She stood up and cushioned his head with her bag then walked over to Zack. She pushed his bangs away from his face and inspected his black eye. "You need to go to a hospital, you know that, don't you?"
Zack nodded slightly. "I don't think I broke anything," he told her.
"Where does it hurt?"
He pointed to his chest. "My pride hurts," he said, smiling slightly then winced. God, even smiling hurt!
Nicole laughed slightly. His stomach did an unexpected back flip. "Don't sweat it, those guys are total jerks. They pick on everyone but they're scared of me. Imagine, scared of a girl!"
"You don't seem to have very much self-confidence," Zack stated, his words sloppy. He wanted to keep talking so that he wouldn't black out like Freddy did.
She frowned slightly. "Maybe."
A car pulled up in front of the street and a man dressed in black hurried over.
Nicole helped Zack stand up while the driver carried Freddy. "OK with your parents to spend the night?" she asked him.
Zack was dimly aware that he was so close to her body but he was concentrating on staying conscious. "Call them tomorrow," he said, voice barely above a whisper.
They got into the car. Freddy was lying down in the back seat, and Zack was lying down as well, but his head rested on Nicole's lap.
"Ma'am, shall we go to your father's?" the driver queried, looking at the young girl's face in the rearview mirror. She looked paler than usual.
"He's still out?" she asked.
"He'll come home a bit late, ma'am,"
"Home then,"