thunderstruck - zac efron and vanessa hudgens

chapter 3 - vanessa

[tw: mentions of death] 

I'm about to faint. Looking at me from the floor of an apartment that I've never been in before this, is a girl who was dead 5 minutes ago. Who I just revived.

"Who are you guys?" the girl asks, but I'm too shocked to say a word. Behind me, I hear the door opening, and someone runs past me, diving onto the floor and hugging the girl. Roxy.

"Jess!" Roxy exclaims, crying into her sister's arms on the floor.

"Holy shit," Zac says under his breath.

"Did we just- did we just revive her?" I ask.

"I think we did," he answers. We look up from the sisters and instead look at each other, still completely shocked.

"What's going on right now?" Jess asks, drawing our attention back to her.

"You... passed out," Roxy says. Zac and I exchange a look, but neither one of us knows what to say.

"And who are these?" Jess motions toward me and Zac, her other arm still wrapped around Roxy's shoulder.

"Uh... they're friends from school. They came in here to go to the bathroom but you were passed out, and we all got scared," Roxy continues to lie. "But I think they'll probably head home now, right?" Zac and I nod awkwardly, backing up out of the room as Roxy stands up to come and talk to us. She softly shuts the door behind her and looks at each of us, her eyes still teary.

"We don't have a ride home," I point out.

"Okay, well, I was going to thank you guys first," Roxy says. "I came over here last night when I thought she'd be asleep, but I just saw her lying there, so I took her pulse, and there wasn't one. I tried everything to wake her up, and she just didn't, and it was the most terrifying experience of my life. So, just, thank you."

"You're welcome," Zac says, a little absentminded.

"Uh, yeah, you're welcome, but I'm still extremely confused, because, you know, I just revived a dead person," I admit.

"I know it's confusing, but let's talk about it tomorrow, okay? It's getting late," Roxy replies. I nod, not knowing how else to react. "You guys need a ride home, right?"

"Yeah," I answer. I pull out my phone from my pocket, adding, "I can probably get us a ride- oh, shit. I'm out of battery. Zac, you got anything?"

"Uh..." he starts, going over to where we set our backpacks down and pulling his phone out of his backpack pocket. "I think I'm out, too. Sorry."

"I don't have one right now," Roxy says. "I broke my old one and I don't have a new one yet. But Jess can't drive right now, so I could let you guys borrow her truck just for the drive home?"

"We're 15," I state.

"Oh."

"I mean, I've done some driving practice with my dad," Zac chimes in. "I could drive us home, if that's okay."

"Absolutely not," I say instinctively. "I'm not letting you drive me anywhere, I'd rather stay here for the night." Roxy looks at me with a weird look of fear with that one.

"Well, I'm not letting you drive, with your anger issues and all, so I guess we're stuck here," Zac answers. I glare at him.

"Wait, maybe I can get a ride with Jess's phone," Roxy suggests, and Zac and I both give her a look of relief. "Hold on for a sec." Roxy leaves the room to go get her sister's phone, leaving me and Zac in the living room. For once, we don't take this chance to argue, instead remaining silent until Roxy comes back to let us know that a taxi will come here to pick us up in ten minutes. For those ten minutes, Zac and I barely say anything to each other, instead opting to put on our backpacks and eat some snacks from Jess's kitchen. When the taxi finally arrives, Roxy isn't even in the room with us, so we just stand there for a few moments.