Chapter 10 – Halloween Part 1

The weeks following the cafeteria incident were tense. Willa and Eliza's relationship was strained, and Bree and Bonzo's was on very thin ice. But luckily for Wynter and Zed, the werewolves had left them alone. The Aceys have written several more articles about them, including a very detailed account of the cafeteria incident, making it the hottest gossip on campus.

But quite frankly, neither Zed nor Wynter cared. Wynter had officially moved in with Zed, and whilst they still hadn't had sex, they did now share a bed, and often enjoyed evenings snuggled up watching movies. Things were going great between them, and despite the occasional comment from another random student, they were living their best life.

September and October flew by, and soon they found themselves on Halloween, getting ready for the now annual Halloween Zombie Mash, hosted in an abandoned warehouse near Mountain College campus. Like back in Seabrook, Eliza was DJing, and so had spent the last week and a half preparing her skills and playlists for it to be prefect on the night.

At 7:00pm, Zed stood in front of the mirror waiting for Wynter to finish getting ready. He straightened his black waistcoat, practiced the quickdraw of his blaster and smiled. For years he had wanted to dress as Han Solo for Halloween, but Addison had never let him. But now, after weeks of sewing and preparing, he finally had the outfit perfect.

"Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking, nerf-herder," he heard Wynter say, as she finally opened the bedroom door. Zed spun to see Wynter dressed in a silk, white gown, with her hair tied up into two circular buns on the side of her head and holding an old blaster that Zed had been bought as a kid. She really is the perfect Princess Leia, he thought.

"Who you calling scruffy-looking?", Zed asked, doing the iconic Han Solo shrug. He couldn't help but smile, as she ran over to him, passionately kissing him, as she ran her fingers through his already messy hair. "You look fantastic," Zed finally said, after a minute of kissing.

"Let's go, we're going to be late," Wynter smiled pulling him towards the door.

Zed pulled Wynter through the crowded warehouse, as loud musics and strobe lights pulsed. The crowd consisted of mostly college kids, all dressed in a variety of different Halloween costumes, and most of whom were drinking some kind of alcohol. The only way to describe the atmosphere was truly electric.

They eventually spotted Bonzo (mostly due to his large height) and weaved their way through the crowd once again to get to him. "Oh my god!", Bonzo shouted over the music. "You guys look amazing!"

"You do too, Bonz!", Zed replied. Bonzo was dressed as Gandalf the Grey, complete with grey robe, a huge white beard, wizard hat and staff. The three chatted for a moment or two, before Bree interrupted them.

As she approached, Bree shot Zed and Wynter a dirty look. She was dressed as Anna, from the Disney movie Frozen, which led Zed to believe that Addison was probably around, dressed as Elsa. "Bonz, we've finally found a table over there," she said returning her gaze to Bonzo. "Come on."

Whilst Zed and Wynter hadn't exactly spoken to Bree since the cafeteria incident, things between them were still tense. And Zed wouldn't have expected them to have changed; he knew first hand that both Bree and Addison could definitely hold a grudge when they wanted to. So, he was prepared for the next few months to be filled with dirty looks and occasional comments.

Wynter on the other hand was still pissed. As far as she was concerned, they were the ones in the wrong, and she was tired of being treated like the bad guy. Addison and Bree had done a great job of alienating her from her friends, and that was something she wouldn't forgive too easily.

"It's fine! Go! We're going to go dance anyway," Zed told Bonzo, as he was pulled away by Bree. They watched him mouth "I'm sorry", as she pulled him into the crowd. Turning back to Wynter, Zed asked, in his adorable British accent, "Would the Lady Barkowitz honour me with a dance?"

"Why yes, Lord Necrodopolis," Wynter giggled, in an ever so slightly improved British accent. They made their way to the dance floor, which was packed with more costumed people, dancing to the music. Zed and Wynter danced with each other, laughing and giggling at each other and sharing goofy smiles. And of course, the occasional kiss.

About 20 minutes later, a slightly exhausted Zed and Wynter filtered off the dance floor. "I'll grab us some drinks, if you want to find a table," Zed offered.

"Coke Zero, please," Wynter replied, as she started to search the crowded warehouse for a free seat.

Zed pushed his way through the crowds up to the make-shift bar that had been set up in the corner of the warehouse. Eventually he got there, and made several failed attempts to grab the bartender's attention. Seeing they were busy, Zed opted to wait a couple of minutes, and instead started scanning the room to try and find where Wynter had sat (one of the perks of being over 6ft tall).

"So, you finally dressed as Han Solo." Zed turned and saw Addison leant up against the bar next to him. Like he thought, she was dressed in a light blue dress, decorated with snowflakes across it, with her white her braided, and falling over her shoulder. "At least you make the waistcoat cute," she smirked, pulling on his black waistcoat.

"So, Elsa?", he said, carefully removing her hands from his chest.

"Well Bree wanted to do Anna, and there's only so many costumes that work with white hair," she replied, looking slightly hurt. "It's a shame that Bonzo refused to wear the Olaf costume; they would have looked cute."

"Sure," Zed said quietly, as they fell into awkward silence. Time seemed to completely stop, as they both stood, waiting for drinks.

After about a minute (which felt like 2 hours), Addison finally said, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"So you keep saying," Zed replied, bluntly.

"Yeah, I do keep saying, because it's true. I've tried to apologise like a million times. I admit it; I fucked up. It was a mistake. But I want to make it right! I just want to go back to how things were before! So why can't you forgive me! What more can I possibly do?"

"Addie, there's nothing you can do!", he shouted back. "There are some things you just can't forgive."

"Come on! We're Zeddison! We've gotten through worse before. Are you really going to let this be the thing that breaks us apart!"

"I tried to kill myself, you know." At that, Addison fell silent. "The night I found out, I kicked you out and tried to kill myself. It's hard for zombies though, so when Wynter got there, looking for you, I tried to get her to do it." Zed swallowed hard. "I'd probably be dead if it wasn't for her. She was there for me, and you weren't. And that's what I can't forgive."

"Zed, I had no idea. But you kicked me out and-"

"I tried to kick Wynter out too. But she stayed. She refused to leave, because she cares about me. Which is more than I can say about you right now."

Addison looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Zed, I'm so sorry I wasn't there. But it doesn't mean I don't care about you. I just-"

She was interrupted by a crash and a series oh howls that echoed through the room.

"Wynnie," Zed whispered, as he jumped up and sprinted across the warehouse.