Bully For You

Bully For You (A Zacky Vengeance Story):
*********************************************


So break my bones
And throw your stones
We all know that life ain't fair
But there is more of us
We're everywhere ~ "Bully" by Shinedown



Kallie Stevens hefted her backpack further up onto her shoulder, clutching her thick three-ring binder to her chest with a sigh. Her battered clarinet case was hanging from her hand, her heart pounding loudly in her ears. She swallowed hard, staring at the front of yet another new school. Huntington Beach High School would be her sixth in just over two years. She always felt nauseous at the thought of having to try and make at least one new friend so going through the hellishly long days were a bit better.

Kallie really hoped this school would be the fresh start she so desperately needed. She'd just moved to California from Tennessee because of her dad's job, and it was already a couple of months into the school year. It probably would have been better for her of she'd started on the first day alongside everybody else. It would have made her feel less like she was sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Might as well get this over with," she mumbled to herself as she slowly started towards the office.

Kallie pulled the door open and was just about steamrolled before she had a chance to step one foot inside the building. She hit the wall with her back and gave a startled squeak as her stomach flip-flopped, wincing as her arms scraped against the rough brick.

"Watch where you're going, freak!" a nasally-voiced brunette cheerleader said, fixing Kallie with a disgusted glare.

"Ewww, look at her clothes," a blonde cheerleader sneered.

"What's wrong with her hair?" a third cheerleader added.

"Let's go," the obvious leader of the group said, flipping her hair over her shoulders before walking off, her clone-like friends following closely behind.

Kallie blinked rapidly, confused as to why these girls seemed to have some kind of problem with her just on sight. She stepped inside and found her way to the main office pretty easily. It'd be pretty hard to miss the huge sign painted above the open, nook-like window.

"Good morning, dear," the secretary closest to the window greeted warmly.

"M-Morning," Kallie replied, voice barely audible and not making eye contact with the woman.

"What can I help you with?"

Kallie took a deep breath, then sighed. "Uhm...I...uh...I'm new here, and I...uh...don't have my schedule and I don't know where I'm going."

"What's your name, dear?"

"Uh, Kallie. K-Kallie Stevens."

The secretary shuffled through a pile of papers on her desk and, a brief moment later, separated a packet with a smile on her face. She stood from her desk and walked over to the window. "Here you go, Kallie. Here's your class schedule with your locker number and combination and a map of the campus."

Kallie took the stapled papers from the secretary and groaned. The map was overly simplistic yet realliy confusing. It would be an aggravating day and she wasn't looking forward to it at all.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A couple of hours later.......



Kallie had avoided going to her locker because she didn't want to cut into any of the limited time she had to find each class, but after third period, the text books were really weighing her down, and she was afraid the bottom would fall out of her years-old backpack. She struggled with the lock, having to spin the dial numerous times before the numbers registered and the door squeaked open. She shoved her text books and folders inside and then shut the door, giving the dial a final spin to make sure it relocked. She had only managed to turn around and take a couple of steps before she was knocked into once again.

"I told you to watch where you're going, freak!" the same cheerleader from that morning snarled at her.

"S-Sorry," Kallie mumbled, eyes downcast.

"You will be," the girl said before shoving Kallie down to the floor.

Kallie winced and cried out as she hit the floor pretty hard. There was a collective gasp from everyone in the hallway and it seemed as if time stopped. Kallie stayed where she was, trying to calm herself down, hoping that this girl and her friends would leave her alone. She had never been in a physical fight and didn't want this to turn into her first.

"Summer!" another girl growled out.

Kallie didn't dare look up but did notice a pair of legs with black combat boots on the feet step closer to her.

The cheerleader's eyes widened and she and her two friends quickly stepped back from Kallie. They each knew that this girl was no joke and would have no hesitation in kicking their asses. "I-I d-didn't know she was a friend of yours. R-Really, I didn't," Summer stammered, stepping behind one of her friends.

"Yeah, well, now you do. If you ever even look at her in a bad way, I'll know, and I'll kick your ass. Understand?"

"Un-Understand," Summer answered and then scampered off with her friends.

Kallie flinched when a hand came down into view. She swallowed hard and then slowly looked up, her stomach turning with nausea. She was a bit confused by the warm smile she was getting from a purple-haired girl. She put her hand into the girl's and allowed her to pull her up to her feet.

"Are you all right?"

Kallie nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm f-fine. Th-Thanks."

"No problem. I'm Ziah Blackthorne. Welcome to Huntington Beach High," she smiled, shaking Kallie's hand.

"Th-Thanks," Kallie replied shyly, shaking Ziah's hand a little bit.

"Can I see your schedule...uhm...what's your name?"

"Kallie...Stevens," Kallie answered, handing her class schedule to the other girl.

"Cool. Well, Kallie, looks like we have the rest of your classes together. You're a junior, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"So am I. C'mon, let's get to English. I'm sure you'll like Mrs. Travis."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Ziah was right. Kallie did like Mrs. Travis. Even though she knew she'd definitely come to loathe English, having a cool teacher wouldn't get old.

"So my friends can be a bit...out there, but don't let that scare you. They're all really nice," Ziah said, pulling the cafeteria door open, holding it for Kallie and stepping inside behind her.

Kallie nodded her head. While she was nervous about meeting more people, she was happy that she'd met Ziah. The purple-haired girl was down-to-earth, genuinely friendly and confident in her own skin. She just hoped Ziah's friends were the same.

"Did you bring your lunch or do you need to get some food?" Ziah asked.

"I brought my lunch," Kallie replied, holding up her insulated bag.

Ziah nodded. "Okay, cool. The table's this way."

Ziah led Kallie over to the table that took up the farthest back corner of the cafeteria. Already seated along both sides of the long rectangular table were mostly guys, all dressed in black band tees and jeans with hair in varying levels of crazy and multiple piercings. She was also a bit taken aback by the tattoos they each wore proudly.

"Hey, guys, this is Kallie. She's new here, so be nice or I'll kick your ass," Ziah said, pulling Kallie down onto the long bench seat beside her. "Kallie, that's Matt, his girlfriend, Zowie, Johnny and Jimmy."

"Hey, Kallie," they all replied at once.

"Hi," Kallie responded softly, giving a shy wave.

"There are a few people missing. Johnny's girlfriend, Rayna, Zacky, my twin sister, Teilo, and my boyfriend, Brian."

"Who exactly said I was missing?" a brown-eyed boy with long, feathery black hair asked as he set a few pizza boxes in the center of the table, then sitting down beside Ziah.

"You weren't in study hall. I thought you got in trouble."

"Again," Zowie added with a grin, laughing when Brian glared at her.

Brian rolled his eyes, shook his head and pressed a kiss to Ziah's lips. "Nah, babe. Today is pizza day, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," Ziah replied, placing a kiss of her own to her boyfriend's lips.

Brian slid his arms around Ziah and pulled her close to him, letting their kiss start to build. That was until a balled up brown paper bag hit them in their faces, breaking them apart.

"Not when I'm about to eat," Jimmy stated, yanking the tops of the pizza boxes open. He examined all of the pizza before grabbing a piece and immediately taking a huge bite out of it. "Don't let them gross you out with their tongue fucking.

"Eeww, Jimmy, don't talk with your mouth full. That's gross!" Zowie said with a sneer.

Ziah rolled her eyes and threw the crumpled bag back at Jimmy, hitting him between his eyes as he was midbite. She glared at the lanky boy as if daring him to throw it back at her. "Anyways," she sighed. "Zacky, Brian, this is Kallie. She's new here so be nice or else. Kallie, this is Zacky and Brian."

"Sup," Zacky greeted with a head jerk.

Kallie gave another shy wave, her cheeks turning pink when Brian and Zacky continued to look at her. Ziah nudged Brian in the side to get him to stop staring at the new girl without saying something.

"Hey. Summer and her skank squad set their sights on you?" Brian asked.

"It seems that way. I don't know why though. I've never seen them before," Kallie answered.

"Don't let them get to you. We'll kick their asses if they start more shit with you," Zowie stated with a smirk.

"They pretty much pissed themselves when Ziah stepped in," Johnny laughed, popping a piece of pepperoni into his mouth.

Brian grinned proudly, kissing Ziah's cheek. "Of course, they did. They didn't want a repeat of what happened the last time."

"What happened last time?" Kallie asked in confusion.

"She put itching powder in their underwear right before a huge pep rall. Made everyone think they had crabs," Matt answered with a laugh of his own. "And we can't forget the open cans of tuna she shoved into the bottoms of their lockers."

"Those bitches had cats following them for weeks," Ziah added with a grin.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



A few weeks later.......



Ziah and Kallie were sitting in her bedroom. It was a Friday night and they were waiting for Brian and Zacky to pick them up for a double date to the movies. Even though Zacky had asked Kallie to go to the movies with him and had used the words 'double date', she couldn't believe he would like her in that way.

"Uhm, Ziah, can I, uhm, ask you something?"

Ziah nodded. "What's up?"

"Did you tell Brian you liked him first or....?"

"We kind of told each other at the same time. Why?"

"Uhm, no reason. I was just curious."

Ziah raised her eyebrows and a smile worked its way across her face. "Are you planning on telling Zacky that you like him?"

Kallie shook her head, her face turning red. "What? N-No!"

"And why not?"

"B-Because he won't like me like that."

Ziah put her arm around Kallie's shoulders and gave her a friendly squeeze. "Do you really think Zacky would have asked you out if he didn't like you?"

"Well, I..."

The doorbell rang before Kallie could fully answer. Ziah looked down at her for a moment, waiting for her to finish. The doorbell rang for a second time. With a sigh, the purple-haired girl shook her head and stood from her bed.

"Come on, let's go. Brian will lay on the doorbell if we don't hurry up. Sometimes I wonder why I'm dating such an annoying little shit."

"Because you love him," Kallie laughed, following Ziah downstairs.

Ziah snorted and rolled her eyes. She jumped the last two stairs, grabbed the handle of the front door and jerked it open, catching Brian about to press the doorbell for a third time. "Would you like to lose your finger?" she grumbled, eyebrow arched up and arms crossed over her chest.

"Of course not," Brian answered, yanking his hand down.

"Mmph," Ziah huffed, rolling her eyes again.

"I'm sorry," Brian murmured, pulling his girlfriend into his arms and kissing the side of her head.

"Whatever," Ziah mumbled, putting her arms around Brian's waist.

"Hey, Kal," Brian greeted with a smile.

Kallie gave a little wave, which was fast becoming her normal greeting around friends. "Hey."

Ziah pulled back from Brian and looked around in confusion. "Where's Zack?"

"He asked me to come pick you girls up first. He had to watch his brother until his parents got home from work.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Kallie bit her bottom lip as the lights went down in the theater. She was sitting right beside Zacky and her stomach was full of butterflies. She'd barely eaten the dinner Zacky had bought her. He was acting like this was a real date, and to him, that's exactly what it truly was. She just couldn't fathom why or how someone as cute and sweet would be interested in her in any kind of non platonic way. If Kallie's nervousness hadn't made her stomach all topsy turvy, the horror movie she'd been talked into seeing definitely would have. She gasped at a particularly gruesome scene, squeezing her eyes shut. She jumped and about lost what dinner she had managed to eat when an arm went around her shoulders.

"You okay?" Zacky whispered, giving Kallie a little squeeze.

Kallie nodded her head, eyes opening and focusing back on the movie. "Y-Yeah, I'm f-fine."

"Are you sure? If you don't like this movie, we can go watch another one. I won't be mad or anything."

Kallie shook her head, turning to briefly look at Zacky with a smile. "No, this is fine. That part was just really gross."

Zacky nodded. "Mmhhmm."

Zacky and Kallie fell back into silence, watching the movie and occasionally looking at each other briefly, giving smiles each time before turning back to the enormous screen. The movie was more than halfway over when Zacky pulled Kallie's hand into his, fingers entwined until the credits started rolling and the lights came up. She could feel herself blushing pretty much the entire time. She didn't know what Zacky was thinking. She just hoped he wouldn't play with her emotions. She felt her face turning a darker shade of pink when she and Zacky met up with Brian and Ziah near the bathrooms. Kallie kept her eyes down on the floor because the way Brian was smirking, eyebrow raised, made her feel like she was under a microscope and it made her uncomfortable.

Brian grunted, rubbing his side after Ziah elbowed him. "What?" he asked, looking down at his girlfriend.

"Stop staring at them," Ziah replied with a roll of her eyes.

"I wasn't...Sorry," Brian sighed.

"No worries, bro," Zacky said. "It's gonna be so much worse when we get back to school."

"Why?" Kallie asked in confusion.

"Zacky's been the target for all the single girls and sluts at our school for the past two years. They're gonna be so pissed," Ziah answered.

Kallie was even more confused then. "Why?"

"Because I have an awesome girlfriend," Zacky replied, smiling down at Kallie