Something He Said (A Limelight Story)

Chapter 4

((Just a little bit of progress before I drop something kind of heavy in the next one...))

Chapter 4 theme songs: Expressing Yourself from Billy Elliot the Musical and If Only You Would Listen from the School Of Rock musical

"... I wish I could've done something..."

"You didn't know how bad it was. And anyway, we were little kids, what else could you do?"

"But I barely did anything!"

"You gave me something to look forward to. You gave me a reason to get away from my dad. I made other friends because of you. I discovered Bowling For Soup because of you! You brought me out of my shell. You have no idea how much I needed you back then, Zeph. I mean, you practically saved me."

"... Is that why you say Catalyst is our song...?"

"Maybe. Do I win that argument now?"

"Maybe. Let's see how the story ends first."

~ What the hell's wrong with expressing yourself? Being who you want to be? ~

Alonzo had always kept to himself at school. Most of the other kids seemed to keep to their own groups; Diaz stuck with Zeke, Ozzy stuck with Zavier, Izabelle stuck with Zadie. And he found it hard to talk to any of the others who weren't especially close to anybody else. Riza was kind of creepy. Suzanne could be really mean. Roz was asleep half the time. Besides, the things his dad said made him hesitate to befriend any of the girls. And then there was Zach, but Zach was just a little... much. At least, everyone else thought so, and Alonzo didn't really want to be the odd one out.

But ever since he became friends with Zephyr, he started to think that, maybe, he could make more friends, and he might as well start with the kids in his class. Except he didn't know how to start.

He hadn't even realised he was humming Love Sick Stomach Ache until he heard Zach's voice beside him.

"Is that Bowling For Soup?"

Well, that was a surprise. Not only did he know the band, but he recognised that specific song. Alonzo highly doubted there was more than one copy of that album in Zombie Town, and he still had it back at home.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I borrow CDs from Paizley sometimes. I had that one a little while ago."

From what Alonzo had seen, and from what the other kids said about him, Zach Fairmourn was the kind of person who tried way too hard to impress people. He was always desperate for attention, and he tended to get in the way and was generally a nuisance. But that didn't sound like the Zach that he was talking to right now. This Zach was just excited to have something in common with him. He wasn't pestering him, or talking over him, or bragging about something that didn't actually matter, or anything else that made the others avoid him. This was someone Alonzo felt like he could just... talk to.

So he did.

– SOMETHING HE SAID –

"You wanna come over to my house?"

Alonzo was back at the park to watch Zephyr and his other friends play again, but he had obviously zoned out and didn't realise that the game was over. He blinked.

"What?"

"We've never actually been to each other's houses before. So do you want to come over, right now? Rizzo went over to Zane's so maybe we won't have to deal with her."