I don't own Disney or anything affiliated. As an adult I love mature stories and as a child on the inside I love Disney.
This is a more mature version. It starts out light and will get more mature. I will post warnings in the chapters before that happens.
Also I want to put this out there. I am in no way an English major. I will make mistakes. I will try to fix them if I find them later on.
Please enjoy and as always, feedback is appreciated.
Addison looked herself over in her dorm mirror, happy that for once she was able to wear something other than Seabrook high school's signature pink, blue and green. She smoothed her hands down over the front of her dark purple dress, a color she had never worn before but was quickly becoming one of her favorites.
She heard a gasp as her dorm mate Bree came into reflection behind her. "I love it!" She squealed.
"It's not too much is it?" Maybe she should change, she thought to herself. She had that baby blue dress hanging in her closet and that would probably be more appropriate.
"Addison this is college; this is your time to shine. Get out there! Experiment. LIVE." Bree was right. She had spent two hours at the local outlet malls looking for the perfect back to school outfit. "You're gonna turn heads."
"Will I be seeing you at the cheer tryouts later?" Addison asked Bree. "My cousin Bucky is the captain you know, so I do have an in."
"I don't know." stated Bree "I didn't lose as much weight as I wanted to over the summer and I really wanted to be a flyer. I might just skip until next year." The excitement gone from her voice.
"Come on, that's not the spirit. What did you just say? Experiment and live! All you can do is try. Besides you don't weigh much more than I do. You just have a little junk in the trunk, which I'm told is a good thing."
"Your right." She agreed. And with that it was time to rush out the door or they would be late for their classes.
It was a little bizarre to see zombies walking around the university nonchalantly like they had been there all this time. She kept to the edges of sidewalks, giving them a wide berth and keeping her head down as they passed. Her parents were on the board of committees and had voted against the zombies joining the school, however they were voted out by one point. Since they couldn't control a zombie free school they decided on some rules. Zombies were only allowed on campus during the day and were not allowed anywhere near the dorms. If a zombie wanted to attend, they needed to have their own residence established off campus.
All she had heard from her parents were how bad zombies were and how they would eat your face off the second they were given the chance. They didn't seem so bad she guessed. Most of the day had gone by and so far not a face had been eaten. Not even a lick. She continued on towards the library, head down, out of habit.
The University's library was three times bigger than her high schools, which was great because she already three papers due by the end of next week. Who knew college was going to be so tough. She found the aisle she needed empty and breathed out a sigh of relief. Her first paper was due on the history of the Great Outbreak of 49. A lot of the professors had redesigned their syllabus' to reflect the zombie integration and wanted the students to be informed of the facts. Addison thought this was a great idea. Her parents didn't.
In the darkest corner of the library sat the section on zombies. It was small, but it was what she needed. She ran her hands across the dusty books as she slowly walked down the aisle, looking for anything on the history of where it all began. She reached for a book that sat by itself on an upper shelf above her head when she heard a voice.
"That's not the one you want."
Startled, she dropped the book and scrambled to pick it up. Clutching the book in her arms she looked around, but the aisle was still as empty as before. "Hello?" she called out.
"Why Hello." It answered. It was a male's voice coming from the other side of the book shelves. She realized he could probably see her through the gap at the shelf above her head, but she was too short to see hi.
"Don't get any ideas mister." She warned, "The only thing worse than my high kick, is my low kick."
"Ouch. Calm down, no need for any low kicks today." he said. "I was just going to suggest that maybe you pick a different book. That one has a lot of misinformation in it."
"Oh, have you taken Mr. Heard's class before?"
"No, you could just say, I know a lot of information about the history of the zombie's." He said smugly.
"Is that right? Well, which book would you suggest then?" she said, slowly making her way to the end of the aisle. She could hear the shuffle of his feet as he walked in the same direction.
"Well, you could always give me your number, and then I could teach you first hand everything you would want to know about the zombies."
She bit her lip, trying to hold back a smile. "Well, maybe that could be arranged." She said nearing the end. "I'm Addison, by the way."
"Zed." He responded. They rounded the corner and finally she met the mystery boy she was talking to, her first thought…
"Aaaaaah, Zombie!" She screamed, punching him hard in the face. He let out a rough yell as his head flew back and he immediately reached to pinch the bridge of his nose. Still holding his nose, he looked back down at her and she could see the remnants of black veins around his eyes before they faded away.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry." she panicked. "It's a habit my parents have ingrained into me since I was a little girl." She nervously wrung her hands, having dropped the book she was holding when she punched him.
"You make a habit of punching zombies?" He asked. He was still checking his nose for any signs of blood.
"No, that's not, I just…" she couldn't think of the right words. "Here, take this." She dug a tissue out of her bag and handed it to him. He took the tissue and started to dab his nostrils, looking for signs of blood and she took the time to study him. She was correct in thinking that he was taller than her and he had the typical zombie look of green hair and red rimmed eyes. His skin was a little pale and ashy and he wore the same style the rest of the zombies had adapted over the years. She didn't hate the look. In fact, he was rather handsome in an edgy way. Coming back to her thoughts this morning, she needed to experiment and live a little. Go for it, she thought.
"Uh, I see why you know a lot about zombie's now." she nervously laughed, picking up the book she had dropped. "And I would love to have a firsthand outlook on things from an actual zombie." She finished, hoping the punch didn't scare him away.
"If you think you can kick that habit of punching us zombies in the face then I think we can work something out." He smiled at her and reached for his phone in his back pocket. She reached for hers from her bag and they exchanged numbers.
"Um, I have to get to cheer tryouts now, but I'll see you around?" She hoped.
"You'll definitely see me Addison." He smiled. She turned to leave out of the library, and swore her heart stopped for about ten seconds.
Cheer tryouts were ruthless. Bucky ran a tight ship and if you weren't fully on board, he made you walk the plank. At least four girls and one guy ran away crying and that's not counting the dozens of others he quickly eliminated. There were about 10 people left standing in a row. He and his lackeys walked down the line, scrutinizing each person in great detail.
"Do you think it's at all possible, that you can bend your leg any higher?" he asked one girl. She already had her leg above her head; the next step would be considered contortionism. She cried and nodded her head, pulling her leg unbelievably closer to her head. "There ya go, congratulations. You made the team." He said rather sarcastically. The girl let her leg down and sniffled in some tears as his main lacky, Lacey, handed the girl some pon poms.
"Oh dear cousin Addy, I was so excited to see you try out. Work on that double barrel backflip and you won't get cut. Congratulations." She couldn't contain herself. Squealing she lunged forward and embraced him in a hug. "OK calm down. I don't want anyone else to think that they can get any ideas like that." He continued on past her and Lacey presented her with her own pon poms.
He cut two more people he didn't think had the potential and made his way to Bree. "You're a little fat don't you think?" She gasped and stuttered a little. "I..I lost five pounds over the summer." She scrambled to keep her thoughts together. Addison thought this wasn't Bucky. This was a monster that took over Bucky's body. Maybe she didn't know him as well as she once did. Is this what college does to people, she thought?
"You wanted to be a flyer, did you not?" Bree nodded her head, squeezing her eyes closed, preparing for the worst. "Well lose that ass and maybe I'll let you fly, for now, you're second string. Congratulations." He snatched the Poms from Lacey and threw them at Brees face. Then continued on down the line, weeding out the last few stragglers.
Addison and Bree both let out all the air from their lungs they must have been holding and when Bucky dismissed them all for the evening, they hugged in celebration.