Status: new chapter june 8

The Ballerina and the Rocker

Chapter 6

Quinn

After constant pleas from Jackson every time she went in to the dance studio, Quinn caved and auditioned for The Nutcracker. But she made it very clear her number one priority was practicing for her Juilliard audition.

“Absolutely,” Jackson beamed after Quinn had danced her combination. “No ‘Clara’, nothing super engaging in the ensemble.”

A few days later she found out she was cast as the Sugar Plum Fairy. Shit.

Zacky

“Is that a huge part?” Zacky asked after Quinn told him her news.

The neighbors sat in their usual bedroom window spots as they conversed; Quinn sat on her bay window with her arms leaning on the widow’s edge while Zacky sat right on his window sill, letting his legs dangle and hit the side of his house.

“Not in the sense that she’s in a lot of the ballet,” Quinn explained. “But it’s probably the part with the most complex dancing.”

“Well, you said you were good, right?” Quinn smiled sheepishly.

“I’m not that good,” she said as she looked away from Zacky and shrugged her shoulders.

“And I’m not that good at the guitar, but I still get out there and play.” Zacky hoped he could lift Quinn’s spirits a bit.

In the mere month and a half they had been neighbors, Zacky had learned that despite Quinn’s passion for ballet she was extremely introverted when it came to her role in the artform. He knew exactly how she felt; Avenged Sevenfold’s gigs hadn’t been the most stupendous so far, but Zacky knew that as long as they kept at it all the shitty shows and experience would pay off in the end. Hopefully.

Quinn seemed to be mulling over his words. When she didn’t say anything back, Zacky stepped in again.

“You know what you need?” he said.

“What?” she asked.

“To unwind.”

Unwind?

“Yeah! You know, let loose. Take your mind off all this stress.” She stared at Zacky with wide eyes, which he took as a sign that she was interested in his offer. “What are you doing next weekend?”

Quinn

Besides her older sister, Quinn had never really had a close girlfriend. But that all changed when Zacky had introduced her to Val and in those few short weeks the girls had almost become inseparable. It was a nice feeling.

“You have got a crazy amount of hair,” Val said as she took strands of Quinns hair and sprayed it with temporary black coloring.

Zacky’s idea of getting Quinn to unwind was to go out for Halloween, and Val had offered to help her get ready. Quinn sat on the edge of Val’s bed, flipping through the pages of the latest issue of Teen Vogue, as Val continued attacking the dirty blonde hair with the aerosol can.

“Hey, this was your idea,” Quinn shot back with a chuckle. The bedroom door opened and in walked Michelle, Val’s twin sister with whom Quinn had also begun to befriend. She was already dressed up in a tight white halter dress that showed off a decent amount of cleavage, and her dark brown hair was hidden under a platinum blonde wig.

“Don’t forget to stuff your bra, Marilyn,” Val commented with a smirk.

“Oh please,” Michelle scoffed at her twin as she grabbed her makeup bag from the top of her dresser. “I’m nothing if not natural.” Val laughed and stuck her tongue out at her sister as she left the room to go finish her makeup in the bathroom.

The way Val and Michelle interacted with one another reminded Quinn of how she and Audrey always goofed off, which made her miss her sister more than she had since moving to Huntington Beach.

“Ok,” Val said as she dropped the metallic can on the bed beside her. “We’ll let this dry and then I’ll get braiding!”

Zacky

If you looked at the group of guys sitting in Matt’s garage you would have never guessed it was Halloween. Even with Jimmy donning a full Pirate get-up, complete with ruffled shirt, feathered hat, and plastic hook, you still probably wouldn’t have guessed. Matt and Zacky had opted to go classic, a la heavy eyeliner and pale faces, while Brian simply wore a Scream mask paired with an everyday pair of dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt.

They’d have years ahead of them to get a little more theatrical. For now, sitting in the garage drinking beer was just perfect.

“Hope you boys save some for us,” Val said. Zacky looked up and saw Val, hair curled and wearing a red 1920s flapper dress, with her twin and Quinn in tow, walk into the garage.

“Shotgun,” Brian said as he tossed a green Heineken can to Val. “Then we’ll head out.” He tossed another one to Michelle, and then held one out for Quinn to take. “Want one, Wednesday?” He asked, referencing her Wednesday Addams costume. She shook her head.

“Do you know how to shotgun?” Zacky asked as he walked over to Quinn.

“Um, I don’t think so,” she answered hesitantly.

“Here, watch Val,” Brian said. Almost on command, Val proceeded to shotgun her beer by poking a hole in the side of the can with a key and quickly guzzling down the alcohol as it poured out. Michelle followed suit and both finished their cans in just fifteen seconds.

“Wanna try?” Brian asked Quinn again with a smile, offering up another can. She took it tentatively and glanced over at Zacky.

“Got to unwind, right?” she said. Zacky smirked.

“Here,” he said as he handed her a key.

“Don’t make fun of me, you guys,” she told the group. “Here goes.” She followed Val’s steps and downed the beer, the only difference between the girls was that it looked like half of Quinn’s beer was dribbling down her chin.

Zacky couldn’t help but smile and laugh the whole time. Bringing Quinn to her first rock show, teaching her how to shotgun a beer -- it was like watching a baby start taking its first steps.

“Argh, Quinn!” Jimmy exclaimed, shaking his plastic hook in the air, once she finished her beer. She threw the can on the floor and began laughing.

“Welcome to the club,” Matt said as he applauded her. “Now it’s time to get this night started.” He took Val’s hand and walked out of the garage, leading the rest of the group out into the crisp Halloween night.

Quinn

Matt, Val, and Michelle led the group, followed closely by Brian and Jimmy the Pirate, while Quinn and Zacky brought up the back. Despite forming a rather close friendship with Val, and even one with Brian on account of seeing him at school everyday, Quinn still couldn’t help but feel a little awkward around the group of people who had basically taken her under their wing without a second thought; it was in her nature, which is why she was always beyond thankful for Zacky - he was always right beside her making sure she was never uncomfortable.

The two walked shoulder by shoulder as they followed their friends down the PCH.

“So,” Quinn said as she turned her head 45 degrees to look at Zacky. “What are you supposed to be?”

“Well, I was going to be a vampire I guess,” Zacky explained, turning his head as well to meet hers. “But I didn’t have any fangs.”

“That’s kind of an important part.” Zacky chuckled.

“Yeah. So I guess I’m just a scary kid. Or a zombie.” Quinn smiled. “You’ve got a killer costume, by the way,” he motioned to her homemade Wednesday Addams outfit. Her black lipsticked lips pursed into a proud smirk.

She had managed to find a long sleeve knee length sheer black babydoll dress at a thrift shop and, with the help of her mother, sewed on a lacey white collar. She paired it with grey tights and her pair of black Doc Martens and, thanks to Val’s hair help, she didn’t have to invest in a black wig.

Quinn was about to tell Zacky all of this when she realized the group had stopped in front of a bar that had been decked out in Halloween lights and cobwebs.

“Um, what are we doing here?” she asked no one in particular.

“Don’t worry,” Brian turned around to tell her. “We’ve got fakes.”

“Okay, but I don’t.”

“Don’t worry, they don’t turn girls away,” Jimmy explained. “We’ve been here loads of times.”

But Quinn hadn’t, and frankly she didn’t have the ’fuck it’ attitude her new friends did. Zacky must have felt her hesitation because she felt his hand wrap around hers.

“You don’t have to go in,” he reassured her. “But I promise you- it’ll be fine.”

Quinn glanced down from Zacky’s eyes to their intertwined hands. The day they had met, when she moved in next door, they didn’t even shake hands. This was the first time the two had ever touched.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Zacky

Well, the hand holding thing was impulsive and slightly embarrassing. At least she didn’t pull her hand away.

And Matt bought the first round of shots.

“Time to unwind?” Quinn proposed as a toast to Zacky. He clinked his vodka filled shot glass with hers.

“Time to unwind.”
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