Never Slow Dance with a Zombie - By E. Van Lowe Page 0,63
Amanda," I said quickly. "All you'll be is a math geek zombie."
"Oh?" she said as she considered this. Her grip on the rope tightened.
The gym had fifteen-foot windows that looked out onto the campus. Through them I could see the walkways that wound through campus, lined with light posts that gave off soft yellow light. The world outside was quiet, green, safe. It seemed warm and inviting.
Since middle school I'd been an outsider wanting in. Now,
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as I hung high above the gym floor teeming with zombies, I wanted out.
"Hey, Amanda, remember Baron Chomsky and Milton Sharp?"
"Who?"
"Two geek boys, one imitates James Bond all the time and the other wears T-shirts with goofy cartoon characters on them."
"Hello? I have other things on my mind right now." She gestured toward the moaning horde below.
"I know, but it looks like we're going to be up here for a while. Do you know who I'm talking about?"
She thought about it for like a nanosecond. "Yes, I know who you mean." She was clearly annoyed with the conversation.
"I was just wondering if you'd seen them around?"
"I can't remember. I don't keep tabs on geeks."
"Of course you don't. But I mean, since everyone else is a zombie, they would have been easy to spot."
The floor below had become a virtual sea of zombies, all aching to get at us.
She sighed. "If you must know, I've seen them quite a bit. They were always giving the jock zombies wedgies, or hanging kick me signs on their backs, or placing morsels of food on their heads. So childish."
"Yeah," I said, smiling as I pictured Baron toying with the zombies. I recalled the look of pride on his face the day he'd shown me and Sybil the wedgie he'd given the jock zombie. "Did you know they disappeared a few days ago?"
"I couldn't care less. I'm going to disappear in a few minutes if you don't figure out a way to get us out of here."
I ignored her snarky tone. "Did you know they invented an antidote that could change everyone back?"
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Her eyes widened, and I could tell she was hearing this for the first time. "What? And they didn't use it? Idiots! I guess they thought they'd be better off keeping everything as it is so they could be big shots."
No, that was me.
'If I'd had a cure, I would have changed things back a long time ago. You have no idea how hard it is being popular when there's no one to flaunt it in front of."
Actually, I did know.
'That's probably why Principal Tart locked them in the boiler room."
My body stiffened as my eyes widened.
"At the time I thought it was some kind of detention for teasing the zombies. But he probably wanted them and their antidote out of the way."
It was good knowing what had happened to my friends. I wondered if they were still among the living. Before I could deal with that, however, there was something I needed to get off my chest.
"You know, Amanda, for as far back as I can remember I've wanted to be you."
"Well, of course you do. Who wants to be a nobody?"
"Back when I thought you were a zombie, I would have let you bite me, so that I might roam the halls of Salesian by your side for all eternity. Before you became a zombie, I wanted to hang with you. If you'd said, 'Margot, you look cute today ,'I would have rejoiced, and if you'd said, 'I hate those shoes' I would have taken them home and burned them."
Note to self: You really have to start writing some of this stuff down--it's brilliant!
I continued: "What a fool I've been wasting my time on you."
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The smug smile that graced her lips slowly faded. She hung there above the zombies, staring at me. Her eyes narrowed.
"I've never liked you."
"You just asked me to hang out with you next semester."
"I don't need to like you to hang with you," she said.
"Is that why you stopped talking to me after seventh-grade summer camp?" The question flew from my lips so quickly I didn't realize I was going to ask it. It was a question I'd been torturing myself about since I was twelve years old. I knew the answer would never free me from the years of pain the snub had caused. Still, I had to know. As I stared at her, waiting for her reply, a lump formed in my throat.