• Own the night • Wyatt Lykensen

t h r e e

"Zombie!" Addison screamed out, punching Zed in the face. Ariel laughed as Zed clutched his jaw, standing back up to his full height.

"What..." He mumbled, seemingly dazed.

"Zed, I'm so sorry. Our parents have always taught me that zombies are disgusting dead-eyed freaks but... You're not hideous at all." Addison admitted, smiling up at Zed.

"Told 'ya they weren't as bad as Mom and Dad said they were. Looks don't decide who you are, and you can't hate people for being different. Mom and Dad are just prejudiced." Ariel grinned at Addison, who sighed and nodded at her older twin sister.

"Thanks. I'll take it." Zed smiled, making Addison smile back up at him. Ariel looked between the pair from where she stood beside Addison, a knowing look on her face.

"Our parents have always hated zombies since one bit my grandpa's ear off." Addison explained, making Zed have an immediate response.

"But now we'll just talk your ear off." To Ariel, this wasn't too funny, but between Addison and Zed, this seemed like the joke of the century. Suddenly, the saferooms' door opened, revealing Bucky who ran into the room, the Acey's on his heels.

"There you are!" He exclaimed, pushing Zed away from the girls as he grabbed their arms, pulling them flush into his chest. Addison remained there, her eyes widened in surprise, but Ariel pushed away from him, crossing her arms, and settling on standing beside him instead.

"Ew! Zombie germs." Lacey exclaimed, leaning away in disgust.

"Nasty!" Tracy yelled, ding the same as Lacey. Stacey stood behind the two, looking at Zed, disgusted.

"If you ever touch my cousins again, it won't be pretty. Which, as you can see, is off-brand for me." Bucky threatened, making Ariel look at him, amusement written on her face as Tracey pulled out a spray, spraying it over Bucky's hands, who rubbed them together exaggeratedly, still looking at Zed.

"To the cheer try-outs. Seabrook awaits." Bucky clicked his fingers, the Acey's leaving first, Ariel trailing behind them, and Bucky wrapping his arms around Addison, dragging her out of the room, slamming the door closed behind them. From there, the group made their way to cheer try-outs, Ariel and Addison meeting Bree on the way. They changed into more 'cheer-appropriate' outfits, consisting of Addison wearing a pink t-shirt and shorts of the same colour. Ariel wore a blue cropped hoodie, the sleeves resting at her elbows, and leggings of the same colour. Bree had a blue and white striped top on, matching with her blue shorts. The three had numbers pinned to their clothes, Ariel sporting the number twenty-five, Addison sporting twenty-four, and Bree with twenty-three.

"Okay, let's go!" Bucky began, blowing his whistle to get the attention of the group trying out.

"Line up. Welcome to cheerleading try-outs. It's nice to see so many... Wannabes." At Bucky's words, it caused Ariel to smirk, causing Addison to elbow her in the side.

"I mean, we'd wanna be us, too, if we weren't already on the cheer squad. You need to bring it, okay? Like my assistant captains. First up we have Stacey. Lacey. And Tracey. The Acey's. Today's try-outs are going to be easy. The hardest thing you'll have to do is a back handspring, funky chicken, round-off match table split with a robot down powering finish." Bucky explained, making most people look at him in fear or confusion. Ariel and Addison, however, looked at each other with wide grins on their faces, knowing exactly what they had to do.

"Sorry, what?" There were many confused faces, all having no clue what Bucky was going on about. The only ones knowing what he said were Bucky himself, the Acey's, Ariel, and Addison. He was right about the wannabes.