1. P R E V I O U S L Y : On "ZooPhobia"

CHAPTER XII

*THE FOLLOWING IS A TRANSCRIPTION OF "BAD LUCK JACK" BY VIVZIEPOP*

The next day, the "Big 5" (the collective term used to describe Zill, Kayla, Jack, Vanexa, and Spam) were rehearsing a song for Z.P.A.'s talent show. Wow—we sound really good! Jack thought as he drummed out the beat, listening to Zill and Kayla's duet.

Then the music stopped abruptly when the piano caught on fire.

As usual, Jack's first thought was, Was that me? But he quickly found there was no need to worry about that—because Damian proudly owned up to it by declaring, "Oops," his right hand blazing with black and red flames.

"Damian, what the heck?!" Jack cried angrily. "Again?"

"You got nothin' on me, man," Damian sneered, floating into the air. "Stuff just... happens sometimes!" He cackled wickedly and flew away as Zill quickly put out the fire with an extinguisher.

Kayla let out a long sigh and said, "Well, b'sides the inferno... I think that sounded pretty fiah!"

"Yeah, it did!" Zill agreed, laughing at the pun. He turned to their resident songwriter and flashed him a thumbs-up. "Thanks for the lyrics, Spam!"

Spam giggled as he bounced off the stage. "I made them up!"

Zill blinked. "...You... sure did, buddy!"

"Well, it looks like we wrapped up in good time!" Kayla announced. "Jackie's freshmen are comin' in any second, so we better bustle off to our next class in a tiff!"

"For real," Zill said, leaning against the piano. Then he turned as Jack let out a grunt, struggling to walk off the stage with the entire drum set on his back. "You got that okay, J-man?" Zill asked.

"Uh... yeah!" Jack managed to answer. "I got it, I think—"

Suddenly—as was common whenever Jack was around—something frighteningly unlucky happened: one of the piano's legs simply snapped off with no apparent cause. What was uncommon was the fact that it fell over without touching Jack at all.

Jack blinked in surprise. "Oh, wow!" he exclaimed. "I can't believe that missed—UNGH!"

Zill and Kayla jumped as a stage light dropped from the ceiling and smashed onto Jack's head, knocking him to the ground. Then the piano, eager to get in on the action, flipped on its side and landed on top of the jackal.

"Jack!" Zill cried. He unfurled his wings and pumped them, using their strength to help him heft the piano into the air, clear of his best friend's broken-but-reforming body.

"Ow," Jack moaned.

"You okay, dude?" Zill asked, quickly helping him stand.

"Okay as I ever am when that happens," Jack replied in a pained tone. He winced as another ripple of fresh pain ran through his arm. "Ow..."

Zill frowned, concerned. "Geez. The bad luck thing is really bad today, huh?"

"It's bad every day, honestly," Jack responded sullenly.

-

Outside the theatre, Jack rummaged through his locker as the bell rang throughout the academy. "With how it's acting up, I'm not feeling great about how today's gonna go," he admitted to Zill.

"So you're havin' an especially off-day. Big deal!" Zill scoffed. He grinned and leaned back against the lockers, hands behind his head. "Nothin' I can't help you fix."