A/N: Now, here we have Zack and Katie's part! Just to warn you, the original draft of this chapter was written entirely on receipt paper during my 5-hour shift at the grocery story tonight. I'm tired and hungry, so if something doesn't make sense, that's why. Well, enjoy!
Chapter 10: How Zack and Katie lost themselves
The responses from parents continued to trickle in. The very next day, both Jordan and Rory received letters from their parents. Anxiously, they ran back to their cabin to read them.
"You go first," said Jordan as they collapsed on their bunks.
"No, you," urged Rory.
Grinning, Jordan tore open the envelope. He pulled out the letter, covered in his father's untidy scrawl. Clearing his throat, Jordan began to read:
"Dear Jordan,
"Needless to say, your letter caught me rather off guard today. I can't believe you got to meet Dewey Finn... how is the old guy, by the way? He was an awesome man to work with - he was always into the music, no matter what. Is he still like that?
"So you want the whole story, do you? I have to admit, this story is pretty painful for me to tell. I haven't talked about 'School of Rock' in a long time..."
FLASHBACK
Zack sat at his kitchen table on Friday evening and stabbed moodily at a potato. It had been four days since 'School of Rock' had called it quits, and he still felt absolutely miserable. He knew his mother was worried about him; he'd seen her puttering about outside his bedroom, hoping to be confided in. But what was he supposed to say? "How was your day, Mom? Did you sell any houses? Oh, by the way, 'School of Rock' broke up. Pretty lousy weather we're having, eh?" As if.
His mother looked at her watch. "Zack, honey, it's six thirty. Aren't you and the rest of the band supposed to be at Jimmy's by now?"
Could his mother read minds or something? Zack sighed - he may as well tell her. "Actually, no. We, uh... we broke up."
Zack's father's head shot up. "What? You broke up?" Zack nodded numbly. "You mean you don't play anymore?"
"Of course I still play!" exclaimed Zack indignantly. "Just not with the others."
"Oh," his father replied.
"Are you okay, sweetheart?" asked his mother, putting a concerned hand on his shoulder.
Zack swallowed a mouthful green beans, not tasting them at all (which was probably a good thing - he had this thing about green beans). "Yeah, I'm fine," he lied.
Later that evening, Zack began feeling really warm. The excessive heat seemed to be coming from the living room. He made his way downstairs, prepared to complain to whichever of his parents he found first, and turned the corner.
His father was sitting on a footstool in front of the fireplace. In it was a roaring blaze that filled the entire fireplace. He couldn't understand what his father thought he was doing - sure, it was almost December, but it wasn't that cold out!
And that's when Zack saw it, among the orange flames. The white-beige corner of his flying-V guitar.
"NO!" he cried in horror. He leapt towards where the fire-poker was kept, intending to fish his guitar out of the blaze, but he discovered that the poker wasn't there. He turned, open-mouthed, to stare at his father.
"What are you doing?!"
"I let you play your guitar in that band because it got you some friends," said his father cooly. "That's over now. You've spent far too much time on that foolish instrument. You're not to play guitar any more! It's almost time for university - you need to focus on that!"
"But Dad -"
"But nothing! You're not 'Zack Attack' anymore, man."
Something inside Zack's body snapped. "You don't understand! You never have and you never will! Guitar playing is my life! And there's no way you can stop me playing forever - I'll just buy a new one! But that's not the problem - the problem is, you don't want to understand me! You never even try to see my side -" he yelled. His father turned and walked out of the room.
Zack sank to his knees as his precious guitar melted before him, feeling as if his whole body was broken.
END FLASHBACK
"Wow," said Rory softly.
"Yeah," Jordan agreed. There seemed to be nothing more to say.
They sat in silence for a few moments. Then, Jordan said, "Read yours." Rory ripped open the letter from his mother and did so.
FLASHBACK
The doorbell rang at 8:37 pm. Katie clattered down the stairs, her hair pulled into a high ponytail and her face covered in purple face mask. As she was the only one home, she had no choice but to answer the door. Of course, the fact that she had forgotten her face mask made it much easier to do so.
She flung the front door open and there stood Zack. He was a mess. His eyes were red and puffy, his hair was mussed, and his green plaid shirt was rumpled. "Can I come in?" he asked. She nodded, and he stepped inside. "I - what's on your face?"
Katie's fingers flew to her cheeks. Blushing (although you couldn't tell), she said, "Give me one minute, okay?" She hurried into the bathroom and came out not long after with her hair down, and not a trace of purple.
"What's up?" she asked, sitting next to him on the couch. "You look awful."
Zack told her the whole story. By the time he was finished, Katie's face was white.
"You're kidding," she said. "He actually burned your guitar?"
"Yeah," croaked Zack.
"And now you can't play?"
"Not until I save enough money to buy a new one. Which will be never, cause I have to save for university too."
"Tell you what," said Katie. "Until you can play guitar again, I'll save my money too, and I won't play my bass."
"Why?" asked Zack, shocked. "You love your bass!"
"I know," she told him. "I want to. And besides, I love other things more than my bass."
Zack looked her right in the eye. "Thanks," he whispered, and he melted into his girlfriend's arms.
FLASHBACK
A month and a half later, Katie's older sister Krysta came home for the holidays. On Krysta's last night home, they were sitting in Katie's room, talking. Katie excused herself to go to the bathroom. When she did not return for ten minutes, Krysta began to get worried. She knocked on the door to Katie's en suite.
"Katie? It's me. Are you all right?" she called through the door. There was no reply. All she could hear from inside the bathroom was the faint sound of Katie crying.
This alarmed Krysta. "Katie! What's going on? I'm coming in!" she cried, barging into the bathroom.
Katie was sitting on the cold tile floor, her head leaning against the cupboard. She was sobbing, something she never did, and something white was clutched in her fist.
"What the - Katie, is that a pregnancy test?!" Krysta wanted to know, shocked. Numbly, Katie nodded.
"What does it say?" asked Krysta. She held her breath. And then -
"I'm - pregnant," choked Katie.
"Oh God," murmured Krysta. She sank down onto the floor beside her sister. "Is Zack the father?" she asked, almost knowing the answer. Katie was a loyal girl. Katie nodded, not daring to speak.
"You've gotta tell Mom and Dad. And Zack," Krysta told her.
"No!" exclaimed Katie, sitting up straight. "Well, okay, I'll tell Mom and Dad. But definitely not Zack."
Krysta was dumbfounded. "Why not?"
Katie shook her head. "Zack has enough problems right now without any of this. When I start to show, I'll - I'll just miss school. I'll break it off with him now, so he won't come looking for me."
"You can't keep it a secret forever, you know," reasoned Krysta. "He's gonna find out eventually."
Katie's eyes blazed with a kind of confidant defiance.
"Watch me."
END FLASHBACK
This letter rendered even more silence from the two boys. Each of them sat perfectly still on their beds, processing this information. Neither dared speak. Eventually, Jordan decided that something must be said.
"Holy crap."
A/N: Did that shock any of you, or were you all expecting that? Hopefully this doesn't upset any of you - yeah, it's turning into one big soap opera, but oh well. Oh, and some of you may have realized that for the Eclipse kids to be the same age, all of them would have to have been born at the same time as Rory. Well, for the purposes of this story (and the fact that I'm too lazy to go back and change everything) we'll just disregard that little fact. It's really late right now, and I'm soooo tired. I want to get this chapter posted tonight. So instead of personalized thank-yous, I'll just say one huge thank you to everyone:
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If there's any pressing questions or comments I have to answer, I'll do so next chapter. Read and review, of course!