Monday morning came too fast for Addison's liking. After sleeping in that next morning, she'd finally turned on her phone. She had multiple texts from her parents; her mother is begging her to be reasonable, her father is making sure she made it back to safety. Bucky had sent her a few messages too, but she'd been too afraid to open them. What if she'd been kicked out of the squad? Warner had sent her a slew of scathing texts, a very angry voicemail and a screenshot of his brand new single relationship status online. Needless to say, Addison hadn't answered him. A few cheerleaders on the squad had reached out, asking her if she was okay. They were the only one she'd answered. Turning on her phone also meant she'd been flooded with notifications: tags, comments, DM invitations. No matter which platform she scrolled through, she was always sure to find a picture or a video of herself. After an entire weekend of reading hateful comments—whenever Bree wasn't watching her like a hawk she didn't do exactly that, Addison thought she was ready to face people.

Although she shared her afternoon class with Bree, she didn't know anyone in the morning one. She didn't have a choice, she had to go to class; it wasn't like she could avoid it forever, anyway. She braced herself as she walked out of her dorm room with only 20 minutes before class. She walked down the usual path that would take her to the lecture hall. It didn't take long for the hushed whispers to reach her ears. She resisted the instinctive urge to double-check her wig. She wasn't wearing it. Almost twenty years she'd been wearing wigs; a habit so engrained into her routine that she had to remind herself that it was over.

She made it to class with five minutes to spare, more than she hoped for; she must have been walking faster than usual. As she walked in, Addison tried to ignore the way conversations quieted around her, but the stares made it difficult. She felt like a caged animal in a zoo, people gawking at her. Dizziness took over as she walked to her seat. She bit at the inside of her cheek to ground herself to reality and keep the tears away.

Yet another habit she'd developed to cope over the years. Her mother had all but outlawed pacifiers and thumb-sucking by the time she was two. Missy had worried about what the habits would do to her teeth as much as what people would think. This constant habit as a child had tampered off on its own, but Addison found it helpful when anxiety would spike through her.

Addison got herself together and readied herself to take notes. She could do this.

AZAZAZ

She could not do this. Throughout the lecture, Addison felt a seemingly endless succession of eyes on her back. Shame bloomed in her stomach, causing her face to redden self-consciously. All she wanted to do was curl up and die. As the teacher dismissed class for a break, Addison shoved her books in her bag and fled. Whereas she'd been scrutinized all of her life, she felt exposed in a way she had never been before.

She dashed down the same path she'd taken earlier and headed straight for her apartment. She sniffled, trying to keep the tears at bay. She swiped her card to enter the building and managed to climb the stairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator. By the time she made it to her door, her hands shook so much, it took her three tries to unlock it. She slammed the door behind her before dropping her bag and throwing off her shoes. Addison climbed under her blankets and curled tightly into a ball. She only wished the day was over already. Bree could lend her the notes for class because she wasn't leaving her cocoon anytime soon. However, she thought suddenly, the next day was the lecture she shared with Zed. She really didn't want to skip that class. She wanted to see him. He was kind-hearted and she always left the lecture hall bubbly and carefree on Tuesdays. She craved that feeling more than ever right now, as selfish as that might be. Of course, he could turn out to be a stammering idiot. There was always the possibility that he'd ignore her; he might even forego their weekly coffee. Had she misjudged him? Her heart sunk at the thought. Addison had to compose herself. She had to believe Zed would be as considerate as ever.

AZAZAZ

Tuesday morning took far too long to arrive for Zed. He'd been counting down the hours ever since Eliza barged into his house. He spent the weekend agonizing over Addison. He couldn't even start to imagine how she felt after all of this. Seabrook was a town where everyone was perfect. Even toeing the line would prompt Seabrook citizens to treat you like a pariah. Being a zombie, Zed had endured Seabrook's elitism as long as he'd been alive; he had learned to cherish all that made him different. Zombies celebrated their differences. By the look of things, Addison didn't.

Which is why Zed was half an hour early to his 8 a.m. lecture. He'd splurged on getting the biggest coffee size possible. He hoped she'd turn up early so that they could have a conversation, but he wasn't holding his breath; he wasn't sure he'd want to go to class if he were in her shoes. If he couldn't talk to her, he'd settle for seeing her. He needed to see she was okay with his own eyes. His worrying was intense. He knew that, no matter how much Eliza teased him about being delusional. The panic in her eyes in that video? It had been haunting him. Lost in his own thoughts, he almost missed her entrance. Not because he hadn't been paying attention to the door, but because she looked so unlike herself. The Addison he'd come to know, she had held herself tall. Her lips were curved in a gentle smile more often than not. A simple look at that smile and Zed's insides twisted with the urge to grant all her wishes. Walking inside the room right now, she was a drastically different girl. She had her arms wrapped around her middle, her eyes fixated on her shoes and a large hoodie covered most of her white hair. Zed watched as she shuffled her feet before she risked a glance up.

AZAZAZ

Their eyes met and hers widened in surprise. Zed raised his hand in a clumsy wave. Was he waving at her? Addison sneaked a peek over her shoulder, but found no one there. He was still waiting for her! A rush of glee filled her. She made her way to her usual seat, grateful to be early enough that the lecture hall was mostly empty. No one gave her a second glance as she passed them, a welcome change from the day before. She set her bag on her chair, starting to get her notebook out when her eyes fell on the paper cups.

"Oh my God Zed. I am so, so sorry," she gasped, bringing both hands to cover her mouth.
"What?" He questioned, confused.
"I forgot breakfast." Addison admitted, tears welling up in her eyes. "Give me five minutes and I'll get it."

She rummaged through her bag, trying to dig out her wallet. Zed stretched his arm out slowly, giving her enough time to step away from his touch. When she didn't move, he laid a careful hand on Addison's wrist, stopping her movements.

"Hey! It's okay." He soothed her. "I don't care. Hum… I'm just glad to see you. I mean… Don't sweat it… I heard it was a rough weekend for you."

Addison brought her free hand to tug at a strand of hair.

"About that…" Addison began.
"You don't owe anyone an explanation, let alone me." Zed insisted. His hand left Addison's wrist to brush the back of his neck self-consciously. "I love it, though."
"You do?"

Addison was perplexed. No one loved her hair; she wasn't convinced she loved it.

"It's different, but it's awesome. My hair is just green, I can't dye it, even if I was allowed." Zed exaggerated a roll of his eyes, making Addison giggle.

"Nothing can change my hair either. Rare genetic thing, I was born with it…" They both look at each other in a comfortable silence. "And I really like the green, it suits you."

Zed beamed at her, causing her cheeks to pink up. His smile cause butterflies to erupt in her stomach. Every. Single. Time. She grabbed a hold of herself and asked him about his weekend. Sensing her desire to stay away from her deplorable Thanksgiving break, Zed launched into intricate stories about his Thanksgiving and the previous ones; each one making her giggle or laugh and on one specific story, she even snorted. Addison felt a calm wash over her, something she hadn't felt in a very long time. When class finally ended and they went their separate ways, Addison didn't even notice that she'd long pushed her hoodie away from her peculiar hair. Not only that, she almost skipped all the way home, not registering stares and whispers.

Zed headed to the dining hall to meet up with Eliza with a grin on his face. He'd like to think he was the reason Addison left in a good mood. He didn't mention it when she pushed her hoodie away in class, scared she'd just decide to put it back on. One thing for sure, her white hair was almost as breathtaking as her smile.

AZAZAZ

Addison went through the next two weeks with a relative ease that she wasn't expecting. Her hair wasn't the talk of the campus anymore, some frat house had organized a big party and the many videos of students doing terrible things in a drunken stupor were the new viral thing. It also turned out that college cheerleading was more open-minded than high school cheerleading. Or at the very least, Bucky wasn't the one in charge. Addison wasn't kicked out of the squad, the coaches weren't ready to cut one of their best athletes over something as trivial as hair. Their words, not hers. It had been a nice ego boost, she did have to admit. The compliments she kept getting from strangers were also pretty nice.

She wasn't, however, looking forward to heading home for the holidays. While still called Seabrook College, the campus was far enough and big enough that students came from all over the place. It tempered Seabrook's usual insane obsession with perfection. Heading home for the holidays meant she would be right back in the heart of it all. All of Seabrook's expectations placed right back onto her shoulders with no means of escape; it'd be worse than ever, really and for two reasons.

First, she hadn't worn a wig since Thanksgiving. A fact her mother nagged her about continually. Missy couldn't understand why she'd choose to expose her flaws for the entire world to see. Addison wasn't certain of her reasons either; though she knew a big part of it was Zed's shy smile as he told her that he loved her hair. There was hope budding in her chest that maybe he found her beautiful—not in spite of her hair, but because it was one of the things he liked about her. This had led to Addison's decision to try and style the chopped-up mess on top of her head—she did regret not properly cutting it every time it got too long to hide under her wig.

Second, her break-up with Warner was the only thing competing with her real hair as the major source of her family's disappointment. In their eyes, Warner was the best potential suitor for her. He came from one of the oldest families in town—his ancestors helped hers establish Seabrook. Additionally, his family was very affluent and had a spotless public image. Addison was certain her mother fantasized about joining their two families together in marriage. Warner charmed the pants off Bucky, talked about football with her father and shared her grandfather's disdain of zombies—behind closed doors, of course. Her mother's latest guilting technique had been to remind her of how disappointed her grandparents were that Warner wouldn't spend the holidays with them this year. She would then drone on about how her poor grandfather surely only had a few months left to live, couldn't she make him happy before he passes away. As if Addison hadn't heard her spiel every few months since she was twelve. Her grandfather would probably live another fifteen years just to be contradictory. When whining about Warner wouldn't achieve their goal, her family was sure to turn to another tactic. They'd ask her why she didn't have a boyfriend—probably blaming her hair as her inability to keep one—and what she was going to accomplish in her life—clearly she'd be the family's disappointment if Thanksgiving's events foreshadowed her life.

All of it would make for a very painful week with her family. She needed a plan.

AZAZAZ

Her first plan had consisted of convincing Bree to spend the week at her place. Bree's presence should defuse most situations; Addison would have support for the ones that couldn't be avoided. It had been a great plan … until Bree confessed that she was celebrating the holidays with her family in California. Her second plan had been to stay in the dorms over winter break. That plan was dismissed because it was just too depressive and because her parents would drive all the way and pull her by the ear just to bring her home, even if it entailed dragging her kicking and screaming. She briefly entertained breaking a limb, getting thrown in jail or constructing a new identity, but none of these would stop her parents. Addison resigned herself to suffer through the holidays. Millions of people managed every year, there was no doubt she could too.

The last Tuesday before finals, Zed walked to class a little slowly than usual. The best semester of his life was coming to an end and it upset him. He would miss getting a little bit of Addison's every week. She definitely was the highlight of his week. He forced a smile as he got to the building, Addison had been in better spirits last week and he didn't want to bring her mood down.

As he entered the lecture hall, Zed's eyes automatically locked on Addison's form. She looked as defeated as she had the first morning he bought her a coffee. He put his hand on her shoulder to alert her of his presence—he'd been touching her more lately. Not in a creepy way, just light touches on the arm or the shoulder, mirroring hers. She never seemed to think twice about touching him, she just did. He wasn't used to such a behaviour from humans. When Addison didn't shift at his touch, he lightly squeezed her shoulder.

"Everything okay?" Zed asked.

She finally lifted her head to look at him. Her small eyes revealed how weary she was.

"Just stressed out," she promised.
"Finals?" He pressed on.
"I wish. Finals are a walk in the park compared to what's ahead." Addison looked disheartened, her shoulders hunched down like they held the weight of the world.
"Come on, you can talk to me." He cajoled with puppy eyes.

Addison snorted, but some of the tension in her shoulders bled out.

"My family is not like yours."
"I'm guessing they're more of the pinkish, human variety." He joked.
"Well, yeah… But they're not the loving and supportive type. Don't get me wrong, I know they love me. They're just so…"

Zed stayed silent, letting her gather her thoughts.

"You're from Zombietown, you know what Seabrook is like. My family … they are… I'm their biggest disappointment. I was born with this hair. It's freaky. Seabrook doesn't do freaky."

Addison's voice broke on the last words, prompting Zed to place his hand over hers. There was so much he wanted to say, but he also knew Addison needed to get this off her chest.

"My ex-boyfriend broke up with me over it, you know. Sometimes, I think they wish they'd kept him and not me. I'm going home for the holidays. It's going to be all about how weird my hair is, how I'm doing everything wrong, how I can't keep a boyfriend, and how I'll never amount to anything. I planned on bringing Bree with me, but they're visiting family in California. It's just a lot. I wish I didn't have to go alone, I wish I had a date."

The words tumbled out of Zed's mouth before he could process them.

"I'll do it. I'll be your date."

I hope you enjoyed this. We're finally getting to the fake/pretend relationship. As this turned out to be way longer than I thought it'd be when I first started, we are now way past Christmas. I hope you'll keep on reading anyways. I'm always happy to read what you thought of the chapter or where you think this is going.