Zed combed his fingers through his thick green hair. Then wrung his hands around the strap of his backpack. Then tugged at the bottom of his flannel.

To say he was nervous heading to school would be a major understatement.

One, his face looked like he'd been hit by a truck. And two, what were the guys on the team gonna do? To top it off, Addison seemed quiet as they walked.

His mind was racing and his anxiousness was rising. He thought they'd had a breakthrough last night! She seemed into the lovey-dovey stuff! Or maybe he was reading too far into it.

He physically shook his head. He could work on his and Addison's relationship later. Right now, he was gripped with the crippling fear of how shitty his day was about to go.

"Ya know," Addison said, breaking the silence and drawing Zed out of his internal spiraling, "we could just skip if you're not feelin' up to it." She offered casually. Zed breathed out a chuckle, combing his fingers through his hair again. At least she was still talking to him…even if it was about the worst suggestion of his entire high school career.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I can handle whatever shit the guys can throw at me! I mean, it can't get any worse, right?" He joked, pointing to the massive bruise on his nose.

Addison giggled, she knew his humor was a cover-up for his fear of getting caught skipping. But she wasn't going to mention it.

She smiled more to herself, he was just so cute and innocent. How had he gotten so caught up on her? She's the exact opposite of him! She brushed it off as some kind of 'opposites attract' bullshit and leaned her head against his shoulder to comfort him as they walked.

"If any of those numb skulls give you a hard time, they'll have me to answer to." She assured him quietly.

Zed softened, slipping his arm around her shoulders for a quick side hug. "Thanks, Addy. I'm feeling better." He said to ease her worry over him. He'd be fine, even without her threatening the football team.

It was his turn to protect her.


Addison attended all her classes that day. And she made sure to walk with Zed between each one. Even hanging on his arm to keep wandering eyes off him.

"You can stop glaring at everyone," Zed whispered teasingly. She looked up at him with a pout.

"Don't make fun of me. If they weren't such assholes, I wouldn't have to anyway!" She argued, earning a chuckle that made her shoulders relax.

"Yeah, you're right. But you're just gonna stress yourself out if you worry about what they think all the time," he countered, slipping his arm out from under her grasp to wrap around her shoulders instead. "'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.'" He jokingly quoted the child's saying.

It was Addison's turn to laugh until it slowly died in her throat. "I don't want them to bring you down…like they always do to me…" she admitted, eyes glued to the floor tiles in front of them.

Zed stopped them in the middle of the hallway, turning her gently to face him.

"Their opinions don't matter, Addy. You're beautiful just the way you are," he told her, tilting her chin up with his knuckle when she scoffed. "I'm serious. You are beautiful, Addison."

Addison couldn't breathe. She stared up into his eyes with complete and utter wonder. The sincerity in his voice almost making her believe it.

The warning bell rang, successfully startling and pulling Addison out of her trance. She glanced around nervously, though Zed continued to watch her with soft eyes. She shyly tucked her white hair behind her ear.

"You better stop before it starts sounding like you like me or something," she said with a teasing smile, already starting to continue their walk to class.

'I don't like you, I love you.' He thought to himself with a sigh, forcing on a smile as he hurried to catch up with her.

"Anyway, like I said before, I can handle them from now on. You don't need to worry about me." He assured once he fell into step with her, changing the subject away from his feelings. At least for the time being.

Addison smirked over at him, looping her arm through his as she had in the beginning. "I'm not worried about you, Stud Muffin. I'm just posting my claim on you!" At his stunned expression, she elaborated with a dramatic eye roll. "The only ass you're getting is mine. Duh. Keep up, Buttercup!" She teased him further.

Zed buried his face in his free hand, embarrassed not only by her teasing, but also by the fact that she was 'claiming him' for the whole school to see. She noticed his mood shift and gently elbowed his side without releasing her hold on him.

"I'm sorry for teasing you. I didn't mean for it to be…well…mean." She apologized quietly, for a little added privacy. He peeked at her over his fingers and his blush only deepened. He couldn't believe how cute she looked when she was genuinely concerned.

He did his best to slow down his pounding heart and offered her a smile of reassurance. "No offense taken, Addy. Don't sweat it." He said with sincerity.

Addison relaxed beside him, returning a small smile. Though it quickly dropped into a scowl when she noticed a group of girls whispering and pointing in their direction. Zed's chuckle drew her attention back. "Just ignore them Adds," he said softly, walking with his head held high.

Her back straightened on instinct, his confidence was infectious and she felt a need to match it. If he wasn't bothered, then she figured she should be either.


Zed caught wind of the rumors that had started spreading across the school. To his surprise, they weren't that bad. Word was, Zed had gotten into a scuffle for Addison. He overheard some of the cheerleaders chattering about it in the back of his last class.

"You shoulda seen the other guy! I heard he broke the asshole's nose so badly it'll never be straight again!" One gossiped.

"How romantic." Another across from her sighed dreamily. The other girls around her gave her an odd look. "Oh come on! Imagine a guy getting so defensive over you that he beats someone to a pulp!"

The other girls giggled and chimed with their agreement. "I can only imagine how hot and steamy his relationship with Addison must be. He's really tall and lean. I bet she's a really lucky girl in the bedroom." A third speculated in a sensual tone.

Zed blushed furiously and did his best to stop eavesdropping in favor of hiding his beet-red face behind his textbook, hoping no one would notice. He didn't pay attention for the rest of class. His mind was elsewhere.

Did those girls know what happened? Or were they just making assumptions? Did they know who he'd gotten into that fight with? Would Tanner and the other guys be upset about what everyone was saying?

His thoughts wandered to everything that they could possibly do to make his life even more of a living hell than it already was. The muscles in his back twitched subconsciously, protesting the ache he was sure he'd be feeling after football practice.

The bell jarred Zed back to reality. He was quick to recover though, shoving his notebook into his backpack.

"Oh hi~! It's Zed, right~?" One of the girls he'd previously overheard gossiping before asked from behind him. He blushed on instinct from the memory as he turned to offer a smile.

"Y-yeah! That's me," he greeted. To his surprise, the girl looked at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes, her finger twirling a curl while she nibbled on her bottom lip.

"So I was just wondering if you'd wanna go out for smoothies after school! Maybe we could even catch a movie while we're at it? The theater is pretty dark, especially in the back rows~" he didn't miss the suggestive nature of her question. This wasn't just an innocent 'asking him on a date'.

Zed scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Uh, sorry! I think I'll have to pass! I've got football after school anyways so it wouldn't really work out," Zed let her down as easily as he could muster. Luckily, she didn't look too surprised. She honestly looked pretty impressed.

"Don't worry about it! I'm sure Addison wouldn't have appreciated me edging into her turf too!" She said with a knowing wink before practically skipping back to her posse.

Zed blinked in confusion. He shook it off as he realized he was left as the last student still in the classroom. Quickly gathering the rest of his stuff, he sprinted out of there and into the busy hallway. He didn't get far before he was stopped by a small group of guys laughing and joking amongst themselves.

"Hey! Zed!" One waved him over. "Up top!" He said excitedly with his hand raised to high-five his green-haired peer. Zed was hesitant but clapped hands with him anyways. As he continued walking, he got a variety of nods and shouts.

It seemed that Zed was suddenly seen as a big man on campus.

He let out a relieved sigh. Maybe things would turn out alright after all.


Tucking the football under his arm, he was quick to squeeze through the hole the offensive line created for him before taking off. The whistle blew for them to reset. Zed skidded to a halt, bouncing on the balls of his feet, before hurrying back behind the line.

It was weird. The whole team felt different.

Once again, they ran the play again. And again, the line blocked for him. When the defense got a hand on him, they didn't use full force to slam him into the ground. The quarterback was actually giving him the ball when they scrimmaged.

Speaking of the quarterback…

Coach sounded the bullhorn from the sidelines. "Water break!" He called out. Hoots and hollers rang out across the players while Zed let out a breath of relief before jogging over to the sidelines.

He stopped in his tracks when he spotted Tanner lingering with his closest buddies near the water cooler. Sure he'd been handing him the ball without giving him death stares, but he didn't want to test his luck too much.

Zed was about to just turn around and suck it up without a water break before he made eye contact with the quarterback.

"Shit." Zed muttered under his breath as his spine stiffened, fearing that he'd just ruined his efforts not to aggravate.

But Tanner surprised him by giving a silent nod. A sign of respect?

He guessed for not snitching about the incident yesterday, or maybe for showing enough balls to take on three dudes at once in a fight. But either way, it seemed like his torment with the team was finally over.

His shoulders relaxed as he smiled and nodded in return, to show his gratitude. Zed jogged forward to get a much needed drink. Some of the other players even included him as they bantered with laughs and jokes.

Zed smiled to himself, laughing genuinely when one of the guys did an impersonation of a zombie which the whole team deemed was Zed's new nickname on the field. They told him he's the best running back they've had, no offense to Dillan. Dillan waved the comment off.

"None taken! I know I suck!" He laughed, causing everyone else to join in. A couple of the guys giving him playful knuckle sandwiches as they deny his comment being true.

Zed just stood back and watched his new teammate's antics, letting it sink in that they'd finally accepted him into the team. This tight-knit group allowed him into their circle. He realized they probably hadn't had anyone coming in from the outside in a really really long time, and he could definitely understand that change is scary, but this is progress. Not only for him but for this school.

Maybe things won't be as hard for the next new student that walked through the halls of Seabrook High.