From behind the bleachers, Eliza watched with fascination as Bucky conducted the cheer tryouts. Although she expected him to be ruthless—as cheer was just a major sport for the humans—Bucky gave the candidates quite a few tries before cutting them from the team. The trio from before were the merciless judges, wanting to cut some based on their looks, but claiming it was for them being a beat behind.
On more than one occasion, Bucky stood up for students the trio wanted to kick. Each time, Bucky would challenge the trio's decisions by having the student in question redo whatever action caused the discrepancy. Every single time, the students were able to prove the trio wrong by performing better than they had before.
Bucky looked like he was about to bite their heads off when the trio wanted to cut his cousin.
Well, Eliza assumed she was his cousin. The pretty blonde—with skin almost as pasty as her own—looked overly relieved when Bucky intervened. For the final time, Bucky challenged the trio by having his cousin Addison do her flips one more time. As predicted, Addison pulled off the flips flawlessly without a single hair out of place.
Or so it appeared.
After lashing out the trio—warning them not to over-step their boundaries—Bucky called for a quick five-minute break. While most of the students grabbed their drinks, Bucky took his cousin's arm and dragged her to the side for a private conversation. After a few short seconds, Addison's facial expression changed to horror as she grabbed her hair, where showed a strand of abnormally white hair. Quickly running to the locker room, Addison returned by the end of the break with her hair braided and the white streak gone, like it wasn't there to begin with.
Strange . . .
After going through the list of students that made it onto the squad, Bucky and Addison had another quick conversation. By the end of it, Addison looked incredibly happy while Bucky was announcing to her friend that she also made the team, but as a temporary stand in until she got a little more practice to permanently perform with the squad.
While that surprised the trio, they were even more shocked when Bucky announced a chance to the traditional cheer initiation. Starting that school year, the new recruits will perform their own solo during the pep rally to prove they have what it takes to be on the team.
"What did you do before?" Eliza wondered curiously after the other cheerleaders left the gym, leaving her alone with the cheer captain. "For the initiation?"
"For years, the newbies would have to egg a zombie's house," Bucky confessed with a disgusted shake of his head. "I refused to do it last year when I joined. It nearly costed me my spot on the team. This year, I'm putting end to it."
"Why the change of heart?" Eliza interrogated as she took a somewhat menacing step toward him. "Rumor has it you aren't, or weren't, particularly fond of zombies."
"Those rumors aren't true," Bucky claimed, his famous smile still intact. "The only difference between zombies and humans is the pale skin and green hair."
He paused for a moment to tuck a loose strand of Eliza's hair behind her ear. He let his hand linger on her cheek for a few moments longer. "Your beautiful, green hair."
Eliza smiled a little shyly as he gave her a quick, simple kiss. Yes, they were moving a little fast, though neither once cared at the moment. They were an unusual couple, so surely an exception can be made for them. Actually . . .
"Can I make a small request?" Eliza pleaded as she found herself holding his hand. "Can we keep us, or this, a secret for now? I think I may sort of like you, and I don't want people finding out about us just yet. They'll try to separate us, and I don't want that to happen."
Bucky shrugged to hide his slight frustration, though his smile grew a little more. "I'm fine with keeping us secret, just until you and your friends are finally accepted."
"That won't be for quite some time," Eliza warned. "Not everyone is as accepting as you."
"By the way," Bucky began with the change of subject, "my cousin, Addison, met a friend of yours. He was tall, lanky, sculpted hair . . ."
"Must be Zed," Eliza deduced after rethinking the events of the day. "He's my best friend. He convinced me to sneak out of the basement to watch him try out for the football team. He was the reason the 'Zombie Alarm' was pulled."
"Well the assistant captains—the trio who convinced everyone to vote them as assistant captains—found him and Addison in a zombie safe room," Bucky informed. "They were freaking out on Zed. I just dragged Addison to cheer tryouts so there wasn't any more conflict. If you give me a few minutes to set up for the pep-rally tomorrow, we'll do something fun."
A few short minutes later, Bucky decided to use their date to teach Eliza a couple easy and essential cheer moves. Turns out, she had no idea how to do a cartwheel and secretly wished she learned as a zombie child. Bucky broke down the steps first before doing a cartwheel in slow motion to demonstrate.
On her first try, Eliza went so slow she ended up falling on top of the cheer captain, knocking herself and him to the ground. Bucky couldn't help laughing once he fell, catching the zombie in his arms. "Payback for earlier?" He assumed jokingly.
"Maybe," she teased, giving him a quick kiss before helping him to his feet.
After a few more failed attempts, Eliza finally managed to do a half-decent cartwheel. After a little more practice, Bucky determined that she was finally ready to challenge the 'master'. They would race around the gymnasium and the winner will get one 'wish' from the loser whenever he or she wanted.
Miraculously, Eliza won with a small lead, collapsing to the ground in dizziness and exhaustion. A moment later, Bucky sat in front of with a small smile. "Congrats."
She rolled her eyes playfully in fake annoyance. "You let me win."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he fibbed as his smile grew to show he was lying. "So? Your wish?"
"I'm not sure yet," she claimed with a small, scheming smile. "I'll think of something eventually. Maybe by then, we won't have to keep us a secret."
From the corner of her eyes, Eliza finally noticed the light fading from the day. "I have to go," she insisted as she scrambled to her feet, Bucky following her lead. "I can get in serious trouble if I'm out past curfew."
"Then you should go," Bucky insisted reluctantly. "Can I text you?"
"Zombies aren't allowed to have cell phones," Eliza informed with a disgruntle huff. "Humans are afraid that it will somehow short-circuit our Z-bands."
"How about coming to the pep rally?"
"I'll see what I can do," she promised. "Maybe I can sneak out of the basement again to catch a few minutes."
Giving her . . . boyfriend a quick kiss, Eliza ran out of the gymnasium, determined to beat the setting sun so she wouldn't have to face the dire consequences of breaking curfew.
After his . . . girlfriend left, Bucky gathered his belongings when his three assistant captains—Stacey, Lacey, and Tracey—appeared out of nowhere. They each wore their assistant captain jackets while Lacey held a carton of smelling eggs.
"Who's ready for the real cheer initiation?" Tracey cheered to rile up his captain.
"This year, we have rotten eggs," Lacey informed with a scheming smile. "That will teach those freaks to stay away."
"I told you earlier we were done with that," Bucky barked as he roughly grabbed the carton.
"You were serious?" Stacey questioned in surprise. "I thought you hated zombies!"
"I never hated zombies," Bucky argued a little defensively. "They are students, just like us. We need to make them feel more welcomed here. If it means breaking a few of our old traditions, then so be it. It's time for a change."
Shouldering his gym bag, he tossed the carton in the nearby garbage can before adverting his attention back to the trio of misfits. "Don't you dare go behind my back," Bucky warned. "If I find out you did, you'll lose your positions as assistant captains. Got it?"
Giving them a stern glare, Bucky stormed out of the gym to get his new girlfriend a special gift.
Once their captain was out of sight, Lacey assumed, "We're still doing it, right?"
"Absolutely," Tracey agreed with a simple nod. "Bucky isn't going to change our minds. Once a monster, always a monster."
