Reality Check by CHINSKY
Disclaimer: YAY!! I own Madison and Rachel. But nothing else. Self-pity is working its way down...
The moment they pulled onto the block, Zack knew which house the party was at. Cars, parked all up and down the block. He could feel the bass from the stereo pumping even in the car. Freddy grinned. "This is what I'm talking about man."
Zack just nodded. Freddy parked the car about a block away from the house and got out. Zack did the same. Freddy started walking towards the big white stucco house in the center of the block. After all, you kind of had to be rich to go to Horace Green.
They opened the door and ear deafening music greeted them. Zack took a second to look around. The party was packed. Literally. There was almost no room to move. There were drinks in the living room, but Zack didn't trust any of those. You had to shout in someone's ear to at least be heard. At that moment, 2 cheerleaders crossed paths with Freddy, giggled, and waved. Freddy shouted in Zack's ear, "I'll be back," and went to greet them.
Zack had no idea where to go or what to do. He decided on standing in the corner and hoping not to be recognized. He chose the dining room, only because the stereo was in the living room and the beer was in the kitchen.
About a minute or 2 later, he caught eye of Freddy. Freddy was definitely enjoying himself, and definitely already had a few drinks. He had his arms around both of the cheerleaders Zack had seen before. He recognized one of them as Madison Miller, the new head cheerleader. Zack had never actually talked to her before, Zack=rocker and Madison=cheerleader, just like oil and water. Yet, he wondered how Freddy did it. Freddy was a rocker too. I guess he just doesn't stick to his image. Zack decided. He was about to leave the dining room when Freddy caught his eye. Freddy had an odd look on his face, and then bent down to whisper to the other cheerleader. R something-or-other. Rose...Rebecca...Rayna... To his surprise, R something-or-other left Freddy and walked over to Zack.
"Hey," she shouted. "I'm Rachel."
That was it, Rachel. "Hi. I'm, um, Zack," he shouted back in her ear.
"Wanna dance?" She yelled, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the living room.
"Well...actually...I..." Zack gave up, and shot a look back at Freddy while being pulled away by Rachel. He had clearly thought he had done Zack a favor. He hadn't paid a second glance after hooking him up with Rachel.
Rachel came really close to Zack and started dancing. Zack hated this kind of music. He hated anything but rock, and this clearly was not rock. He tried to pull away from Rachel but he was packed in so tightly among the others that it did no difference. Thankfully, the song ended soon. He pulled away but Rachel grabbed his arm again and pulled him into the kitchen.
"Get me a drink, Zack?" She shouted.
Zack nodded. "Okay Summer."
Rachel stared at him, confused. "Summer? Why did you just call me Summer?"
Zack asked himself the same question. What did I just call her? He thought to himself. Geez...everywhere I go, she's on my mind. What is with me?? He shrugged at Rachel and mouthed 'Sorry'. He shoved his way through the masses of people chugging beer by the sink. He grabbed a beer for Rachel and took nothing for himself. He shoved his way back out and handed it to her.
"Thanks," she yelled, opened the beer and chugged half of it down. Zack stared. She grinned at him. "What, you've never seen a girl drink before?"
Zack chuckled nervously, though in reality the answer was no. Rachel finished the rest of the beer and tossed it in the garbage can. He looked at her. Long black hair...not nearly as straight or elegant as Summer's though. Blue eyes...Summer's were nicer. Prettier. He sighed to himself. There I go again. But this time, he didn't care. Was there a problem in admitting Summer was prettier than this cheerleader?
Rachel came freakishly close to Zack all of the sudden. She grinned and tilted her head upward but Zack turned away. She pushed back. "Aww, you're no fun," and with that, she left him.
Zack was glad he was alone now. He decided to brave the bathroom. He never knew what he might find in there, but at least it would be quiet. He thought out his choices. Downstairs bathroom, people might be puking. Upstairs bathroom, people might be doing things they didn't want to do in public. He shivered. He decided to try the downstairs bathroom.
He knocked—more like banged, considering how loud the music was—on the door, only to hear no answer. He turned the knob and the door wasn't locked. Praying that there was no one inside, he turned the handle and opened the door.
He heard someone gasp. "Oh, sorry," he replied, and tried to shut the door.
"Wait, Zack?" The girl said, and opened the door again.
"Summer?!" Zack asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same for you," she replied smartly. Then she changed her tone, "I came here with Marco and Alicia. He's off getting drunk and I think Alicia's with her boyfriend upstairs somewhere."
Zack nodded. "I came with Freddy. Last I saw, he was with some cheerleader. Madison, I think."
Summer groaned. "No more Ricki?"
"Apparently not." He smiled. He closed the door behind him and perched himself on the counter. "So, what's up?"
She shrugged. "Nothing much...but this party is making me sick."
"Ditto. Freddy tried to hook me up with this cheerleader, Rachel..." He shivered.
Summer laughed. "Oh, I know her. She's not the most...responsible person. For lack of a better word."
Zack looked confused.
Summer rolled her eyes and smiled softly, "I mean, she gets drunk a lot."
"Oh!" Zack laughed. "Yeah, that's for sure."
They sat in silence for a while. Then, he had an idea. "Hey, Summer, do you want to leave? Go somewhere or....or...something? ...A diner, maybe?"
She barely had to think. She grinned. "Definitely."
He smiled. "Awesome. Hey look, I'm gonna go tell Freddy I'm leaving ok?"
She nodded, "That's a good idea. I'd tell Marco or Alicia, but Marco's probably to drunk to care and Alicia doesn't want to be bothered."
"I'll meet you back here, and then we'll go, okay?" She agreed. Zack left in search of Freddy.
He realized how hard this would be. His plan would be to search the floor, then, he shivered, if he had to, he'd search the upstairs.
Starting with the living room, he saw nothing. He then went into the dining room, rather slowly, due to the masses of people that seemed to arriving by the minute. Nothing. He only had to check the kitchen and then it was the upstairs. Thankfully, he spotted him in the corner, making out with Madison, with a beer bottle in his hand. He winced, and thanked God he had turned away from his cheerleader. The 2 of them together were near revolting. Zack was surprised he hadn't choked her with his tongue yet. He shivered at the thought.
He groaned, realizing now he'd have to pull him apart from her. Might be difficult. He thought. They look really into it. He edged over slowly and tapped Freddy on the shoulder.
"What?!" He exclaimed, and then saw Zack. "Geeeeez, Sack, wuuuut?? Can't you see I'm..." he stumbled for a moment. "...Busy?" He added, looking at Madison who then giggled.
Zack suppressed an eye roll and told him "I'm leaving. Don't look for me later."
Freddy smirked. "With...'hooo?" He asked, slurring his words. "Did...'achel work out?"
"No. Summer," Zack answered.
Freddy's eyes bugged out. "SUMMER? ...'EEERE?"
Zack nodded, "So I'm going. Thanks anyway man. And Freddy...Be careful, okay? Enjoy...Madison."
He rolled his eyes, then smirked, "Oh, I willll...bye Sack....you know, you sould...really 'ave...a drink..."
Zack shook his head and hurried towards the bathroom to find Summer and leave this mad house, once and for all.
He got there, opened the door and called "You ready?"
"Yup. Let's get out of here, now," came her reply. Zack grinned. He couldn't agree more.
A/N: And that concludes the chapter. Thanks to my reviewers:
Lauren: haha, wow you found it and I didn't even tell you my authors name! How'd you do that? (did I put it on my livejournal? I don't remember lol) You're just good I guess. Lol and you KNOWW I just had to put the Spiderman 2 thing in there. (for all of you confused readers I'm like obsessed with that movie.) 33 thankssss :)
Rupertsgurlie: yeah there might be...shhh :) thanks for the review!
Nishia: wish granted! :) thanks for reviewing
Mellowyellow36: Zack is awesome. I love Zack. Thanks for reviewing! :)
Phish Food: AHH I'm flattered!! Thank you so much!!...Your reviews mean a lot, your stories are soo amazing! I like Freddy/Summer too, just, I don't like Katie/Zack as much. I just think their personalities are different. And I love Zack, so I just have to write him up with Summer.
P.S. new chapter coming from Should I... anytime soon? :) hehe, sorry for asking, I just couldn't help myself.
My Divinest: caveman talk I see. Thanks, anyways.
Nanners77: ha, thanks. I like writing Zack weird around Summer. Thanks for reviewing! :)
Sweetcaroline3313: thanks!
My Divinest: don't listen to Kristen. Sorry if you're reading this Kristen but I don't think that's what I'm going to do. Anyways, Amy, you and me kind of talked about this already.