Chapter 1:

Zack Mooneyham walked down the one of the upper hallways at Horace Green Preparatory High School. His first day of grade nine had started out not so good. When Zack got off the bus five minutes before, he almost crossed the street to his former school: Horace Green Preparatory School; where he had gone for the past eight years off his life. If his best friend Freddy Jones hadn't been there to stop him, Zack would have gone straight into him former class room.

Zack walked up to his locker. Beside him was a girl who looked to be about his age. She had long dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. She smiled at him when he came to stand beside her.

"Are you new?" Zack asked as he had never seen her before and most of the students at Horace Green Prep. High had gone through Zack's old school.

"I am," she replied. "I just moved here from Canada. But I'm not new to the city. My Uncle Bret lives here."

"Cool. I've never been. Is it nice up there?" he asked as he tried to open his locker.

"It depends on where you are. It was nice where I was from. It was right outside Toronto. I'm Krys Moore. It's spelt k-r-y-s as in crystal. Which is my name only with a 'k' but only my family calls me that when their pissed. Am I babbling?"

Zack smiled. "A little, but don't worry about it. My friend Michelle babbles all the time. I'm Zack Mooneyham by the way. Grade nine, you?"

"I'm a minor niner just as much as you are." Krys chuckled.

"'Minor niner' I like that. And I bet that Freddy would like that too."

"Who?"

"Oh. Sorry about that. My best friend Freddy Jones, he likes that kind of thing," Zack said as he finally opened his locker and put his things in.

"This is really stupid but can you show me how to get to class?" Krys asked going slightly red.

"Don't be embarrassed," Zack old her as he shut away his things. "I used to go to the elementary school across the street and this morning I almost walked over there." He laughed with Krys. "Can I see you schedule?"

She handed him a piece of paper, "You have English with Young in Room 213. That should be downstairs." Zack said as he walked down the hall to the nearest staircase. "Wait a minute you have music with Mr. Shneebly second period. That's with me, Freddy, Katie, and Larry. The rest of the band didn't get this class."

"Band? What kind of band?" Krys asked interested.

"Well we're called School of Rock and we were started in grade five by a sub who wasn't really a sub. Does that make sense?" Zack explained.

"Not really," Krys replied with a confused look on her face. They turned through a doorway and were greeted by a flight of stairs. As they headed down them, Zack began to more thoroughly explain how the band was formed.

"Well one day on her way to work, our teacher Mrs. Dunham, was hit by a car and broke her leg. She wasn't actually really young so of course she was unable to come to work for a couple weeks." Krys looked horrified. "Oh it gets better. We found out later when Mrs. Dunham came back that it was that sub that wasn't really a sub who hit her."

Krys gasped. "Oh my God! How did you know?"

"I'm getting to that part. Well this guy who was supposedly our sub called himself Mr. Shneebly and this isn't the Mr. Shneebly we're taking classes with but a friend of his. Our sub was really called Dewey Finn and had faked being Mr. S so that he could make some money. Instead of really teaching us you know math and world cultures and stuff. He taught us how to create real musical fusion and not the classical crap we were taught in music class." Krys had never heard anything like it before and Zack was still not done.

"Well he was discovered on parent's night because of the real Mr. Shneebly's weird girlfriend. We were all bummed because the next day we were going to play in Battle of the Bands. The next day we decided to stick it to the Man. Do you know what that means?" Zack asked her. Krys nodded. "Good. So we played hooky and went to get Dewey and we played Battle of the Bands. All of our parent's -who were pissed of at Miss Mullins the principle- were their complaining about you know what so they found out that we left and came to find us and watched us play our first show ever. It was a kick ass show. We didn't win but it was still kick ass."

"That's a good story; one to tell your children." They laughed.

"That's your class right there," Zack said as he pointed to a door with the numbers 213 above it.

"You have English here too? First Period?" asked a female voice from behind them. They turned to see a tall girl with dark brown hair and eyes.

"Hey Katie. Katie this is Krys. Krys this is Katie, she play's bass for School of Rock." Zack introduced the two.

"Hi," Krys said.

"Hey. I see Zacky boy over there has drawn you into the world of the band. Sorry about that. Sometimes I think that the band is all this kid thinks about." Both girls laughed at think. Zack could tell that they would be great friends. Katie was good friends with the girls, but she really got along with the guys. Zack felt that Krys was the same way.

"Shut up Posh," was Zack's snapped. Katie stuck her tongue out at Zack. They smiled at each other as a bell rang through the halls. "That's the five minute bell. We best be going. See ya Katie!"

"See you in class," Krys called over the suddenly busy hallways.

"Yup!" was her response as she walked in the classroom.

As Zack walked back to his locker after a dreadfully boring math class, he saw Krys standing waiting for him by their lockers.

"How was class?" he asked as he once again attempted to open his locker.

"Good. Katie's great. But I don't know how to get to music class."

"I thought it was something like that. Don't worry I'll show you," Zack said as he closed his lock and they set of down the hallway.

They entered class to find that Katie and the other's were already there. Krys was introduced to everyone including the real Mr. Shneebly. As she met him, something dawned on her.

"Hey you never told me how you knew that the van was Dewey's!"

"Man," Freddy said, "does this chick know your whole life story?"

"No, and we knew because later when Mrs. Dunham told us about her accident, she told us the type of van that hit her. We knew it was Dewey's because it had the Grim Reaper playing a flying v on the side of it." Zack explained.

"That is so cool. I want one!" as Krys said this, the bell rang once again and the kids took their seats.

"Hey guys. My name is Mr. Shneebly and obviously I'm going to be your music teacher this semester. Know I know that this sounds a little stupid but we're going to go around and say our name, what kind of music we're into, and what instrument we play. I'll go first.

"I'm Mr. Shneebly, I play the bass and guitar, and I am into real rock music." Mr. Shneebly then said that they would go by rows and pointed to a blond sitting in front of Freddy.

"I'm Annie, I like pop and R&B and I sing"

"I'm Chris, I play the sax and I like jazz."

"I'm Larry, I play piano and keyboards and I like rock."

"I'm Roxanne, I play clarinet and I like pop music."

"I'm Freddy, I drum and I like rock. Oh and I like to burn stuff," Freddy added as an after thought. The band members laughed and they could tell that Mr. Shneebly was trying to suppress a grin.

"I am Katie, I play bass and cello when I'm not allowed to play my bass and I live for rock music."

"I'm Justin. I like soft rock/pop music and I play acoustic guitar."

"I'm Gracie, I play the flute and I like pop and R&B."

"I'm Krys, I sing and I like classic and alternative rock."

"Hi I'm Lizzie I like pop and I sing and play the flute."

"I'm Greg, I play the clarinet and I like jazz."

"I am Zack and I'm into all types of rock and I play guitar."

"Good, now that we all know each other. We are going to get started. I would like each of you to play something or sing something to give us or me an idea of your talent. This time we'll go in reverse order. Zack, if you will."

At that Zack played his solo from the song Its a Long Way to the Top. He hit every note and his guitar was in perfect tune. He was better that Krys had thought. Most kids their age couldn't play like that. Some adults couldn't even play like that. To anyone who had never heard Zack play before, this was amazing.

Both Greg and Lizzie played something that Krys had never heard before. Then it was her turn. During Greg and Lizzie's performances Krys and been contemplating what would she sing. Ashlee Simpson wasn't someone she would normally listen to but this song was one that Krys felt described her life perfectly.

"Krys if you will," Mr. Shneebly invited her, and then she began to sing.

"I was six years old


When my parents went away
I was stuck inside a broken life
I couldn't wish away
She was beautiful
She had everything and more
And my escape was hiding out and running for the door

Somebody listen please
It used to be so hard being me
Living in the shadow
Of someone else's dream
Trying to find a hand to hold but every touch felt cold to me
Living in a nightmare
A never-ending sleep
But now that I am wide awake
My chains are finally free
Don't feel sorry for me

All the days collided
One less perfect than the next
I was stuck inside someone else's life and always second best
Oh, I love you now 'cause now I realize
That it's safe outside to come alive in my identity

So if you're listening
There's so much more to me you haven't seen
Living in the shadow
Of someone else's dream
Trying to find a hand to hold but every touch felt cold to me
Living in a nightmare
A never-ending sleep
But now that I am wide awake
Then I can finally be
Don't feel sorry-

Mother, sister, father, sister, mother
Everything's cool now
Mother, sister, father, sister, mother
Everything's cool now
Oh, my life is good
I've got more than anyone should
Oh, my life is good
And the past in the past

I was living in the shadow
Of someone else's dream
Trying to find a hand to hold but every touch felt cold to me
I'm living in a new day
I'm living it for me
And now that I am wide awake
Then I can finally be
Don't feel sorry for me
Don't feel sorry, don't feel sorry for me

Living in, living in, living in the shadow
Living in, living in, living in a new day"

When Krys had ended her song, the member's of School of Rock all caught each others eyes. They were all thinking the same thing. Every note hit and held and there was no change of key. It was perfect. She was perfect. She liked even liked rock music; she had said so herself. That day at lunch School of Rock invited Krys to come to practice.

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A/N: this wasn't the greatest chatpter but it'll do. i am trying to make this as non Mary Sue as possible. if anyone spots anything Mary Sue please review and tell me because i would like to know. thanks a ton!

The Banana Effect!

Disclaimer: I... I... don't own School of Rock and or Shadow. there i said it.