Sorry for the late update, everyone! Life and school got in the way, but let's hope I won't update this late again!

By the way, I fell as if this isn't my best chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bones or Zack Addy. Abby belongs to me.


When Zack and Elijah went to bed that night, the younger of the two couldn't stop thinking about the next day. "What if Cadee's right?" Zack kept asking. "What if Abby will not want to play with me tomorrow?"

"Let's face it, Zack," Elijah mumbled, "you really aren't much for playing."

"I know, but still! She might suggest that we play, or she might not." Zack turned to his older brother. "What do you think, Eli?"

"I think you should go to sleep!" Elijah groaned, covering his face with a pillow.

Zack sighed, turning over to face the window. In the quiet of the house, he was left with only his thoughts. Eventually, thoughts the next day made him tired, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The following morning, Zack's mom dropped everyone off a few minutes earlier than usual. "I have a big conference I have to go to, kids," she had said, "so now you have a few minutes to play with your friends!"

Most of the kids hated going to school, which Zack thought was absurd. However, he was nervous about going to school today, partly because of Abby. But deep inside, he secretly wanted Abby to see him.

When everyone was let off, Zack was left alone to wander the school. There wasn't much to do. The swings were taken, the bigger kids dominated the playground, and the big plank in the ground was being used for wall ball.

Suddenly, he heard a faint shuffling behind him, which got louder and louder until he felt someone standing right behind him.

"Hello, Abigail," Zack said, turning around to see the messy mop of red that was Abby. She looked surprised to see that he knew it was her. "I wanted to surprise you!" She said. "And anyway, how did you know it was me?" she asked.

"I don't get surprised very easily." Zack said. "I heard your backpack shuffling, so there must be stuff rattling inside. And it might be too loose for you."

Abby's expression when to bewilderment to defensive. "It's my brother's old backpack," she said bitterly, "and he gave it to me as a first day of school present."

"That was nice of him," Zack returned, completely unaware of Abby's rising temper. "Is he still in school?"

"He's in middle school," Abby said sharply. Suddenly, she realized she was being very rude. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"About what?" Zack asked. He hated being the late one to know things.

"I'm sorry for being so rude."

Zack was still lost. "Uh, that's alright. But I still don't understand. You were being rude?"

Abby laughed nervously. "You're funny!"

"I wasn't trying to be humorous," Zack responded. "I was just…"

But, thankfully, the bell rang. "See you at recess, Zack," she called racing off to Mr. Franken's class.

Gee, he thought, girls are so strange. Yet Zack still stopped and considered what just happened. Maybe Abby was looking for him. Zack smiled at this thought.

However, when he smiled, one of the bullies saw him. "What are you smiling at, hobo?" he barked. "Did your mommy give you a new pair of underwear?"

Zack wasn't in the mood for this, so he just ran off to his class. "Go ahead and run, coward!" he bellowed. "You'll get it someday. Just you wait and see!"

Zack ran and ran, until he was at Mrs. Kim's class. He knew it was fruitless to tell Mrs. Kim. Plus, there were other things to worry about: Abby, and her fickle personalities. He quickly made a goal to talk to her at recess while everyone was sitting for "circle time."

He just hoped she would still want to talk to him.


At recess, when Zack went to his usual bench, he was surprised to see Abby already there.

"Hello again," Abby greeted, moving over to let Zack sit. It wasn't that small of a bench.

"Hello," Zack replied, sitting down.

After moment of silence, Abby asked, "Um, remember yesterday, where you said you had a lot of siblings?"

Zack remembered it clearly. "Yes. What about it?"

"Do you guys get along?" She almost sounded sad.

"Yes. Well, most of the time." Then Zack remembered he had to ask Abby something. "Uh, Abby, why were you acting so strange at the beginning of school?"

Abby's expression now contained grief. "Well, people tease me and tell me that my brother is a bad kid, and he's not, I know he isn't."

"Well, how would I know?" Zack asked, bewilderment in his voice. "I don't even know your brother."

"I know. I just…wanted to make sure, that's all."

Abby thought for a moment, and then asked, "Zack, do you have any plans after school?"

"No, not that I can think of. Why?"

"Would you like to come over?"

A look of puzzlement crossed over Zack's face. "Come over…where?"

"To my house."

"Uh…sure. I don't see why not. What would we do there?"

"Well," Abby explained, "I could show you my favorite book. I didn't bring it today because I didn't have room in my backpack."

Before Zack could answer, for the second time that day he was "saved by the bell". Now I understand what that phrase means, he thought. But how am I going to answer Abby?

As the two of them got up, Abby said, "You don't have to come over. I just thought it would be fun."

"No, I'd like to come over," Zack said. "I'll see you at lunch. Bye Abby."

When they both went to their separate classes, the truth struck Zack; he had never been to someone's house before, much less a girl's! He didn't know what to do!

When he got into Mrs. Kim's classroom, a quick idea came to him. He would have to be careful about this. He looked at the clock. Yes, he thought, I have time.

As his classmates sat down, Zack raised his hand. "Mrs. Kim, may I please call my brother?"

"Whatever for, Zack?"

"I need advice."

Most of the kids started whispering and gigging. "Zack, you know you can always ask your teacher for advice," she said in a sweet, motherly voice.

"I know," Zack replied. Mrs. Kim and him stared at each other for a minute, then she sighed and pointed to the phone. "Dial nine before calling your brother, Zack."

"Thank you," he said before getting up and going to the phone. The class was entirely silence now, because no one had ever stood up to Mrs. Kim before.

After dialing the number, Zack waited patiently while the rest of the class went into "reading time." Finally, the other line answered. "Hello?"

"Hi Johnny. It's me, Zack."

"Zack?! What are you doing? Shouldn't you be in class?" The fifth grader scolded.

The younger Addy ignored the comment. "Johnny, I need advice."

"What for?"

"My new friend, Abby, asked me to come over to her house today, and I don't know whether I should go or not."

"Well, maybe you should. I mean, you could get to know her better."

"Thank you, Johnny. I'm probably going to be home a little late."

"That's ok, Zack-wait, did you say yes already?"

"Yes."

Silence on the other line. "Johnny?" Zack asked, hoping his brother wasn't in trouble.

"Zack, sometimes I don't understand you," Johnny said, muttered. "I gotta go. See ya when I see ya."

"Wait, you weren't in class?"

"No, I'm in the bathroom. Mr. Don is giving a big lecture, so thanks." And with that, Johnny hung up.

No, Zack thought, thank you.


How did you like it? Be sure to tell me in the reviews!

Also, I heard season 10 aired last night…yeah.

See you soon!