As summer drew to a close Zed felt conflicted. He had finally finished high school and was meant to be the first Zombie to go to college. It seemed life had different plans however as his summer wasn't filled with dates with Addison. It wasn't filled with time with his friends. No, it was filled with work and bills and trying to figure out how the hell he was meant to raise his sister. How his sister raised them alone he would never know. Zoey was an easy kid all things considered but she was still getting used to Zed being a parent. Hell Zed was too.

It mattered not however for today was her first day of 6th grade, her last year of middle school. So Zed dragged her out of bed, no matter how much she complained.
"But Zed, I don't want to go to school!" she complained. Zed laughed
"Why?"
"Because it's boring!" she whined. Zed rolled his eyes
"School is meant to be boring Zoe, that's kind of the point. Look at it like this though. It's your final year before high school and so it's the final year before you can try out for the cheerleading squad." At the mention of cheerleading Zoey's eyes lit up
"I guess you have a point!" Zed laughed
"I always have a point Zoey I'm a genius!." Zoey shook her head and sat down to eat her breakfast.

As the morning went on they got ready for work and school respectively. Zed walked Zoey to school but she stopped him just before she left
"Zed?" she asked, Zed hummed and looked down.
"Will you be home when I finish school?" she asked. Zed sighed and leant down to face her
"No, my shift finished at four thirty so you'll already be home before I get there."
"Oh…" she said quietly. Zed raised his eyebrow
"You'll only be on your own for twenty minutes Zoey, I promise I'll be home as soon as I can and you know Mrs Zambi is next door and you have mine and Addison's number on the home phone if anything goes wrong." He insisted
"But what if something goes wrong on the way home? Why can't I have my own phone?" she asked. Zed ran a hand through his hair
"Zoey… you know that we don't have a lot of money right now… what happened to your old phone?" he asked. Zoey looked down
"I threw it at a wall the night dad died." Zed laughed and Zoey looked up perplexed, she was sure he'd be angry.
"Look I'll see what I can do but no promised okay, no go on. Schools a waiting" she grinned and kissed Zed's cheek
"Bye Zed, thanks, love you!" Zed watched her go into school and turned on his heel, leaving for work.

Work passed by painfully slowly for Zed. The Diner was dead so Zed spent most of his time scrubbing the floor. When he was done he waited behind the counter and watched the customer walk by. Then at four thirty, he left for home.

As he trudged through Zombietown he nodded at a few of his neighbours. When he got to his house his first thought was that it was too quiet. As he opened the door he felt relieved however when he found his sister writing in her homework book. Zed laughed and stood up to hug him
"How was school?" Zed asked, Zoey, shrugged
"It was alright, my uh teacher wants to speak to you though," she told him. Zed stilled
"Why?" he asked. Zoey bit her lip
"She said it was something to with you being my guardian." Zed sagged, he thought he had managed to do everything he needed to in regards to his guardianship.
"Alright well, I'm off work tomorrow so I'll come in with you okay?" Zoey nodded and carried on with her homework whilst Zed began to stress about what the school could possibly want.

The next morning found Zed in the principles office, twiddling his thumbs. The principal was a small woman who quite possibly was a serial killer in another life. She sat down across from him
"Sorry to bring you in like this Mr Nedrcocropilus, it's just in light of your situation we need to update Zoey's records. We tried contacting you but our calls weren't going through." Zed sighed
"Yeah sorry about that. I got a new number a couple of months ago and I didn't think to update the records." The principal laughed and sent offered him a glass of water.
"That's quite alright Mr Nec-"
"Please call me Zed, calling me by my last name makes me sound old"
"Then please call me Sarah." Zed smiled at her and nodded
"So Zed, I understand that `you and your sister have been through a really traumatic time. I just want to put your mind at ease that Zoey seems to be settling in okay. We have offered her counselling but she has refused it." Zed ran a hand through his hair, anxious.

"Do… do you think she needs it?" he asked.
"I am not a doctor so I don't really know. I can say that she seems okay for now."
"Oh, oh good!"
"Yes well the main reason I have asked you t meet with me is to basically fill out some forms. We need to update you to Zoey's primary guardian. If possible could I also have a secondary guardian, just in case we can't reach you? We need to have your permission to be in charge of any medical needs that could happen until you get here." Zed nodded and filled in the form, feeling dread in his stomach. He knew that being Zoey's guardian was going to be hard but it was just beginning to feel really real. For the first time since his father had died Zed felt scared, just how the hell was he meant to raise his sister when he was barely an adult himself?.