Disclaimer: I own a lot. But not the School of Rock cast.

Author's Note: Sorry for the lack of updates. But here's chapter 6 for your viewing pleasure.

New School

Chapter 6

People Change

The next day was a Friday, and Zach had band practice again. When he got there the only people there were Freddy, Summer, and some guy with short shaggy black hair that he had never seen before.

Freddy walked over to Zach, "Dude, before you ask..."

Zach cut him off, "I'd rather ask before you tell me. Who's this guy and why's he here?"

"That's Dalton Cox." Freddy said, looking at his best friend, "And I don't really know why he's here... You'll want to ask Summer or Katie. In my opinion, he's a stuck-up womanizing jerk."

"You're one to talk about womanizing Freddy." Zach retorted, while holding back a laugh.

Katie ran in, and Zach looked at her and instead of running over to him, she ran over to Dalton. She hugged him and smiled, "I'm glad you made it."

Freddy quickly turned to his drums, and Summer picked up her clipboard and made it look like she was doing something important. Zach simply held his guitar confused; he couldn't even find the words to say.

The band slowly came in, and Alicia walked over to Zach, "How's Ryan?" She asked him.

"He didn't stop talking about you all day." Zach smiled, "You should call him." He took a blue post-it note out of his pocket and handed it to Alicia, "He told me to give this to you."

She smiled and walked over to Tomika and Marta. So far, everyone had spoken to Zach except the one person he wanted to talk to. And that one person was Katie.

Dewey came in and saw that everyone was at their instruments, "Alright, before we start playing, anyone have anything they want to talk about?"

Katie jumped up, "Oh I do!" She exclaimed, she ran over to Dalton and pulled him forward, "This is Dalton, and I was thinking, since Zach might not show up sometimes, seeing as he has all this new stuff to deal with at his school, maybe he can play guitar too!"

Zach choked on air, "Excuse me?"

"What?" Katie looked at Zach, confused.

Everyone looked at the two, and everyone had dreaded this. Everyone had known Katie was going to ask the question, and no one had bothered to inform Zach. The only other person, who hadn't known, was Freddy.

"School of Rock is one of my biggest priorities. I don't think you realize that going to this school was NOT my idea. I wouldn't miss a practice for anything, no matter who tries to stop me. And, why do we need two guitar players anyway? Actually, why do we need three? Dewey's our second one!" Zach exclaimed, still not believing what he had heard.

Katie was speechless. Freddy looked at Zach, then at Katie, "Dude's got a point." He said, eyeing Dalton with a glare that could kill.

Zach's mind suddenly wandered, If Katie wants to replace me, I have another band that wants me to join them. If she really wants me gone that bad, I could just leave. "Look, Katie, if you want me gone, just let me know." Zach exclaimed.

"No Zach! I don't want you out of the band it's just..."

"What then? Why are you trying to replace me!"

Katie ran out of the room, Dalton stood up to follow her. Freddy pushed him back onto the couch, "Zach can handle it." He nodded to his best friend. Zach took this as his cue and ran after Katie.

"Katie! Wait!" He shouted, grabbing Katie's arm. "I just want to know, why are you trying to replace me?"

"You're never there anymore Zach! The only time I get to see you is here! And when Dalton came into school today, he just reminded me so much of you! He was the next best thing..." Her voice faded out.

Zach then predicted what came next, "And let me guess, one thing led to another and you cheated on me with him?"

Katie stared down at the floor.

"I can't believe you! I'm out of here!" Zach stormed away, and Katie walked back to the group. Zach shoved open the door and walked down the street, he didn't want to go home, and he didn't know where he wanted to go.

He heard footsteps follow him, "Zach, wait!"

"Freddy, I don't even know what to believe anymore!" He exclaimed, turning to his best friend.

"Dude, what she did was messed up, but that's no reason for you to leave." Freddy said, looking at Zach.

Zach raised an eyebrow, "That's because you're never the cheatee." Zach explained, "You're always the cheater. You don't know what it feels like to be on the other end."

"You've got me there." Freddy said, he twisted his face and thought, and then he came to a conclusion, "Look, just come back and we can turn practice into an intervention thing. We can kick Dalton to the curb, our style."

"What if Katie's right though?" Zach asked, "Maybe you guys need Dalton more than you need me. I mean, you do see him all the time..."

Freddy smacked Zach, "Do you hear yourself when you talk?" He exclaimed, "The things you're saying are retarded!"

Zach pushed Freddy away, "Freddy, you're my best friend. I respect your opinion. But maybe tonight was a sign. The guys need a guitar player, and Dalton just happened to come along. Maybe it's a sign to me that I should join Adam, Ryan, and Travis, and Dalton should replace me."

The two boys looked up at the window, and everyone was standing there watching them.

"People change Freddy." Zach explained, "I don't know who changed, me or Katie. But something changed to pull us apart. Maybe it's for the better!"

"You're talking crazy!" Freddy exclaimed, he put his hand on Zach's forehead, "You're boiling up!"

"Shut up. I'm boiling because I'm ticked."

Freddy stuck out his bottom lip, "Please just come back." He said, he pointed to the window, "Look at all the people it would mean something to."

"Only because you asked so nicely." Zach said, rolling his eyes, "But this might be my last practice in School of Rock."

"Quit your crazy talk!" Freddy exclaimed as the two walked back into Dewey's house.

Freddy and Zach rejoined everyone else. Katie and Dalton were sitting on the couch, staring at each other. Zach clenched his fist. "I guess we should have told you." Summer said, looking at Zach.

"Wow, when'd you figure that out?"

She dropped her head down and stared at the floor. "Dude, chill." Freddy said, he walked over to Dewey and whispered something to him.

Dewey's jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide, "WHAT! I don't think so!" He stormed over to Dalton and Katie, "You! Out! Posh, back at the bass!"

Zach grabbed Freddy, "Mind if I ask what the hell did you just do!"

"Maybe it slipped to Dewey that you're thinking of leaving?" Freddy said, slightly smiling.

Zach punched him in the arm, "Damn it Freddy!" He exclaimed.

"Look, Zach, you can't let Katie determine if you're still in the band or not!" Dewey exclaimed, "She's hormonal!"

"Hey!" Katie protested.

"Shut up Katie!" Alicia exclaimed, "You know it's true!"

Suddenly the tables turned. "Alicia has a point Katie!" Summer said, looking at her. "If you wanted to go out with Dalton, you didn't have to cheat on Zach! You could have broken up with him first!"

Freddy turned to Zach, "Now, is that the kind of thing you want to leave?" He asked, smiling.

Zach's phone rang, he didn't recognize the number. "Let the battle continue, I'll be back."

"You better be or I'll be after you!" Freddy exclaimed towards Zach's retreating back.

Zack walked down the hall a little bit, "Hello?"

"Hey Zach, I hope you don't mind me calling you. Adam gave me your number. I was kind of hoping to get your voicemail." It took Zach a little while to recognize the voice.

"Tasha?" He asked, curiosity suddenly flooding his voice.

"Yeah..." Tasha replied, "I hope you don't mind me calling."

"Nope, not at all." Zach said, smirking. "But I'll call you back alright? I'm sort of having girlfriend troubles, and I'm at band practice."

Tasha sounded disappointed, "Oh... Okay." She said, "I'll talk to you later." The two hung up.

Zach walked back to the practice/intervention. "Alright Katie, this is how it's going to work!" Everyone backed away as Zach stepped forward, "We're done."

Katie's jaw dropped, "Excuse me?"

"You sound surprised. What you didn't think I'd break up with you after I found out you cheated on me?" He asked, everything he had felt that night coming up. "Oh, of course you didn't! Because when Katie does something wrong, the whole world is supposed to let it slip by, but when someone does something about it, the whole world has to acknowledge it and make it seem like Person B did something wrong!" Everyone was staring at him, "Well this time Person B is going to take a stand! You're no longer dating me, and I'm no longer dating you!" He turned to Dewey, "And I'm staying right here in School of Rock. Unless someone pisses me off! Then I'm taking the first steps towards elsewhere!"

Zach's phone rang again, "Hello?" He asked, flipping it open.

"Hey it's Tasha again, I'm just letting you know that when you call me back, make sure it's before 10."

Zach looked at Dewey, "Be right back." He went into the hall, "No need to call you back, talk to me."

"Well Zach, keep in mind that I did not know you had a girlfriend when I was going to tell you this." She said, "And it's that, I like you. Ever since I first saw you, I think you're cute, funny, and creative." She sighed, "But now that there's nothing I can do about it..."

Zach cut her off, "Tasha?"

"Yeah?"

"Meet me at 197 Thunder Terrace as soon as you can?"

She giggled, "Okay! I'll see you soon!"

"Two can play this game." Zach muttered to Freddy after hanging up the phone.

"What'd you do?"

Zach smirked. "You'll see."

About 15 minutes later, footsteps were heard coming down Dewey's hall.