Status: new chapter june 8

The Ballerina and the Rocker

Chapter 5

Zacky

Well, the school year wasn’t off to the most glorious start. Unless you considered a fist fight, detention, and two other demerits glorious. Which Zacky’s parents didn’t.

Two weeks in, only about thirty some odd more to go.

“I’m serious, Zacky,” Maria said to her son as she cut a french baguette. “I know you had a rough year last year. I don’t want you to have another one.”

Zacky was leaning against the fridge with his arms crossed. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

“I told you, it wasn’t my fault,” he explained.

“Maybe not, but you still got involved.” She finished cutting the bread and looked up at Zacky with the sincerest look in her eyes. “I know you want to go touring with your band instead of going to college, and I get that. But I want you to graduate, and I want you to go out on a good note!”

She grabbed the bread slices and placed them in the wicker basket on the counter beside her. Zacky took the moment of silence as an opportunity to leave the kitchen before his mother started talking again. As far as mom’s went she was a pretty cool one, but that didn’t mean she didn’t annoy Zacky every once and a while.

He headed out to the backyard and grabbed a baseball that was sitting in the grass. He tossed it up into the air then caught it with both hands when it came back down. He repeated the action as a means of calming down.

“I thought you needed a glove for baseball,” he heard Quinn’s voice say out of the blue. He caught the ball and looked to his right where he saw Quinn, wearing overalls and bright green socks, sitting on a poolside lawn chair. He smiled and walked over to her.

“I’m hoping to get a glove when I get signed by the Angels or Dodgers,” he replied with a smirk.

“I thought you were going to become a famous rockstar?” Quinn playfully shot back.

“Back up plan.”

“Ah, gotcha.”

“So, what’s your plan?” Quinn held up the book she was holding in her lap. The cover was a picture of two kids riding a winged creature. “Author?” Zacky guessed.

“Wizard.”

“Oh yeah, a lot more practical.” Quinn flared her nostrils. “But really,” Zacky continued.

“Well, I want to go to Juilliard for ballet,” she explained. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted. If I don’t get in, I honestly don’t know what I’ll do.”

“You’ll get in.”

“You’ve never even seen me dance. I could be horrible.”

“Well… are you?” He was almost afraid to ask. Quinn shook her head. “Then you’ll get in.” She smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Thanks.” She sounded bashful, and Zacky thought it was absolutely adorable.

“Oh!” Zacky exclaimed, breaking the brief silence. “I almost forgot - my band’s got a gig on Saturday. You should come, you know, if you’re free.”

“Yeah, cool.”

“Cool. Ok. Great. So, see you then! Well, maybe.”

The back door opened and Maria stuck her head out, signaling Zacky to come to dinner. He gave a quick “bye” to Quinn before heading back inside, feeling extremely flustered.

Quinn

She didn’t really know how to dress for this concert. She decided on a forest green bandana halter top and black cuffed jeans, feeling that was ok for any type of music. She pushed her long hair back with a black headband and headed downstairs.

“Be careful,” her mother said as she handed her the car keys.

“I will,” Quinn assured her.

“Back by twelve?”

“Back by twelve.”

She kissed her mother on the cheek.

Zacky

“Loooook at what I have!” a bubbly brunette said as she held up a black t-shirt with the deathbat design on it.

“Val, thanks so much for doing this,” Matt said to the girl as he wrapped an arm around her small waist.

“Oh my god, of course,” Val said with a smile. “I don’t have a lot, but hopefully it’ll help get things started.”

Zacky, as well as the rest of the guys, was so thankful for Val; not only was she a great friend to them all, but she was just as passionate and determined about the band’s success as they were. She was better than any of them deserved.

Val left the group to go set up their extremely tiny merch display at a table in the corner of the venue. Zacky followed her.

“Hey, Val,” he said. He leaned his arms on the table.

“What’s up, Zacky?” she said as she opened up a plastic bag and took out another black t-shirt that read Avenged Sevenfold across the chest.

“So, I’ve got a friend coming to the show tonight,” he began, “and, well, she doesn’t really know anyone. And this isn’t really her scene, either. I don’t want her to be uncomfortable or feel weird or anything, so…”

“I’ll have her sit here with me,” Val finished with a knowing smile.

“Yeah, great! Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

“Mmhm.”

“Well, I’m gonna go see if she’s here then and I’ll bring her over.”

He began walking to the main entrance when he heard Brian call his name.

“Yo Zack, c’mon we gotta sound check,” he said. Zacky nodded.

“I’ll be right back.”

Pushing his way past kids walking into the venue was like trying to walk in a river upstream. Eventually, Zacky managed to squirm his way through to the front door.

Quinn

Zacky was waiting for her on the sidewalk just in front of the small theater. Dressed in all black and smoking a cigarette, Quinn thought he looked almost kind of dashing, if you were into that sort of thing.

“Hey,” Zacky greeted her as she walked up to him.

“Hey,” she said.

“Glad you could make it.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Well, uh, let’s go inside. I’ve got one more person for you to meet.”

Quinn followed Zacky inside the theater where she was greeted by a swarm of people all clad in mostly black, and suddenly she felt more comfortable with her wardrobe choice. She walked closely behind Zacky as he brought her over to a small round table.

Sitting behind the table was a brunette girl, who looked to be the same age as Quinn. She must have gotten the “wear black” memo seeing as she, too, was dressed head to toe in the color; Quinn admired the way the girl was able to dress like she knew how to rock but also keep a touch of class. She was also clearly far more capable than Quinn with the art of make-up, but then again almost every girl was.

“Hey Val,” Zacky said to the girl. “This is my friend, Quinn.”

The girl named Val stretched out her arm and offered a hand out to Quinn, which she promptly shook.

“Nice to meet you, Quinn,” she said with a friendly smile.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Quinn said.

Zacky left the two girls at the table to go back to his bandmates before taking the stage. Val pulled up a chair beside her and motioned for Quinn.

“Thanks,” she said as she took the seat. “And thanks for letting me sit with you.”

“Any friend of Zacky’s is a friend of mine,” Val replied with sincerity.

From what she could tell just at first glance and minimal interaction, Val must have been an incredibly sweet and genuine person, and Quinn was glad Zacky had thought to sit her with Val instead of letting her to fend for herself in a sea full of sweaty strangers.

Val asked Quinn the question she was constantly regaled with - where did you move from - and Quinn managed to get through her spiel rather quickly. Not that she didn’t like to talk about moving around the country and her dad being in the Navy, but she got a little tired telling the same story over and over again. Except Val seemed genuinely interested in her backstory, so Quinn didn’t feel as annoyed or bored as she usually did.

“So how many places have you actually lived?” Val asked, engrossed in every detail. Quinn had to think briefly before spewing out her answer.

“...seven,” she said slowly, as if Val would know if she were right or wrong.

“Shut up.” Val’s face showed disbelief. “I thought moving once was a big deal.” Quinn laughed.

“Yeah, it doesn’t even phase me anymore.”

The two girls talked more: about their siblings, their shared love of dance (“I’m not much of a ballerina,” Val confessed, “but I love it.”), and, of course, boys.

“You picked a cute one,” Quinn said when Val mentioned she and Matt were dating. Val smiled and looked over at him across the room where he was laughing to Jimmy.

“I don’t care if people say you’re too young,” she said with a glimmer in her eye. “When you meet the one, you know.”

Quinn wondered if she’d ever find that feeling.
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So I'm a complete wreck because I got to see our boys just a few days ago in Minneapolis. What an absolutely phenomenal show! The rush you get from being surrounded by all those other A7X fans and it's the energy and excitement you feel as soon as those five take the stage is absolutely insane.

In other news: please don't be a passive reader!
xo