Perfectionism in Pink | A Zombies FanFiction

5

Her parents would be happy, that's for sure.

Josephine had made the cheer team, nailing her audition, got the crowd excited.

But, she wasn't a flyer.

The dread in her stomach wasn't from not making the position, but the disappointment she'd face the next time she spoke to her parents. But for now, Josephine made a show of putting her pom-poms by the front door so that her parents could see her acceptance and she accepted the congratulations note the next day next to a coupon for some ice cream.

Which, to be honest, was her brother's favorite treat not hers but she would take it as a success.

For a few days it was... nice. Classes went normal, she sat with the other cheerleaders, went to practice after school. Josephine was living the life her mother spoke so highly of. It was... perfect. She finally seemed to fit in even if her height made her stand out.

Josephine wasn't sure what drew her away from the crowd during lunch on Thursday, but there was something about the universal buzzing noise from multiple people talking in a wide open space that made her antsy.

"I feel like you're stalking me." Josephine commented after opening the  stairwell door and meeting wide eyes from a familiar zombie. "What are you doing?"

"I'm..." Zed tried to think of an excuse for his presence out of the basement but couldn't find one. Instead he decided to take his own advice and smiled sheepishly. "I wanted to see if coach would let me play..."

"No, it's like, totally the color of vomit, Stacey."

Josephine recognized cheerleader voices anywhere and knew that the reaction to Zed would be a headache for the rest of the week. So the human made a decision to grab the zombie by the wrist and run down the hallway.

"W-whoa, what's going on?" Zed allowed Josephine to lead him down the hallway, severely confused as to what was going on.

"Cheerleaders." Josephine stated simple, eyeing a computer room and making a B-line towards it. "If anyone sees you, they'll freak. I don't want that headache."

"If you wanted me all to yourself, you could have just said so!" Zed joked as he was pushed into the classroom and Josephine shut the door. "You're pretty fast!"

"...Thanks." Josephine accepted the compliment quietly. It was the first time someone other than her brother acknowledged a skill she liked about herself. "We can't stay here forever though. You really shouldn't be up here..."

Eliza had warned Zed that Josephine was trouble the first time he started talking about her and continued to remind him of her opinion with each meeting. The female zombie reiterated her opinions regarding all cheerleaders whenever he spoke about Addison. But the zombie couldn't help but to think that their opinions on humans were wrong.

"I know, I know, but since we're already here and it's only the beginning of lunch..." Zed trailed off with a grin walking into the room and pulling to roller chairs from their homes to the center of the room. He gave one a pat and looked over at Josephine expectantly. "Come on! Sit!"

The irony in this situation was that the very zombie that she had once labeled a puppy was telling her this.

The sad part? Josephine didn't make any move to say no.

"So..." Zed began, bringing out the 'o' as he looked around the room to ease the nervous human. His eyes caught the cheerleader uniform and a grin landed on his face. "Congratulations on making the cheer team!"

"T-thanks. But we're technically not on the team yet." She figured that she couldn't out run, over power, or escape in general from the zombie so she might as well participate as politely as she could. "We have a week trial and then Friday night we have to do initiation."