Disclaimer: School of Rock and its characters do not belong to me. Neither do any pop culture references I may choose to include.

Author's notes: I took long again...I know I'm terribly bad. School is starting up again though and I'm busy. I'm doing my best. Thanks for the reviews.

Ch6

Summer, Zack, and Dani were working their way through the wreckage, which was mostly fallen shelves. They had yet to see anyone, but in the dim emergency lights, it was hard to tell what was what. "This is so much fun." Dani began, bouncing around in front of Zack and Summer. "It reminds of this movie Katie watched once. Volcano. With how hot it is in here, and all the stuff just lying around. Actually, it started a lot like this. Something like an earthquake happened, but it all turned out to be a volcano eruption, that they had to save the city from. Isn't that cool?"

"Yeah." Summer nodded uneasily as she limped. "Very."

"Wait till all the kids at school hear about this. They're going to be sooo jealous. And this will be a perfect story for my next narrative. It'll get an A for sure."

"I'm sure you will." Zack encouraged Dani, as she excitedly continued walking. He leaned in closer to Summer. "She'll run out of things to talk about eventually." He whispered. "Or will be outside and she'll have other people to talk to. Either way, it's not a bad trade."

Summer half-smiled. "Point taken. How's the head?"

"Not bad. It's had worse. Throbbing a bit, but not bad."

"Good."

Before Summer could continue talking Dani jumped in. "Which way do we wanna go now. There's an exit if we go either way. I know because I mapped out the mall once for geography. It was really easy."

Summer interrupted quickly. "Which way is fastest?"

"Well if we go by way of the Gap, it takes us right to the main exit." Dani informed happily.

"I vote we go that way." Zack began, already walking, Summer with him, due to the fact that she was leaning on him. "The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we...well the sooner we're out of here."

Dani stopped walking and gave him a look. "There was absolutely no purpose for that sentence. You know this right? I mean it was so repetitive."

"Dani." Zack cut her off. "You can correct me later. Just keep walking."

§ § §

"How much longer are we gonna have to wait?" Katie asked, pacing in front of Freddy, frustrated. Her parents were examining all of the patients in the make shift emergency room to see if they had missed someone somehow. "They aren't sending anyone in further than the food court. What if they aren't in the food court?"

"Knowing Dani, they probably were." Freddy tried to assure. "But you have to remember, it's a mall. A lot of people go to malls, especially on weekends. And the medics are probably taking people in order of severity, which would mean they are perfectly fine."

"Yeah. Or dead." Katie muttered, bitterly, but in a worried tone.

"No, no, no." Freddy shook his head. "I did not just hear you say they were dead." He himself began pacing. "Because they aren't. They did not go through all they've been through, to die in some stupid gas main explosion. "You are jumping to conclusions."

"Oh yeah?" Katie challenged, pacing by him. "If they are so perfectly fine then why haven't they just walked out the door like some other people? Answer that."

"I don't know. Is that what you want to hear? I don't know. I don't know why they haven't walked out, or why we haven't at least seen them. I don't know why Summer hasn't called anyone on her cell-phone, or why Zack doesn't cut his hair anymore. OK? I'm just a 14-year-old who's worried about his friends. I don't know jack about why things have or have not happened. I just know they're fine. I can feel it."

"Really, what does it feel like then? Can you FEEL if they have absolutely no injuries? Do you FEEL perfectly fine, just like they should if they are so perfectly unharmed?"

"I didn't say I felt what they did, Katie."

"And it's a good thing." A new voice called out. "Because overall we feel like total--."The voice trails off.

"Were you gonna say a bad word? You were weren't you? If mom was here she'd make you put a quarter in the swear jar. She thinks that'll make you stop." Another voice babbled.

Katie turned around. Freddy was already facing that direction. Both could see Zack, Summer, and Dani, rather covered in dirt. Zack had an egg sized bump on his forehead, turning black and blue. Nothing else appeared wrong with him. Summer was leaning on Zack putting weight on only one foot. She only had one sleeve on her shirt, the other sleeve could be seen, soaked through with blood next to her eye. Dani was quite obviously fine, her babbling incessant. "Are you guys all right?" She hurriedly ran up and pulled Dani into a hug.

"Put me down." Dani squirmed in Katie's arms. "We're fine."

Katie refused to put Dani down. "Sorry, I don't trust your word. Zack, clarify on the actual extent."

"We walked out didn't we?" Zack almost sent a smirk her way.

Freddy, who had yet to move from his spot, grinned and walked forward, giving Zack a brotherly hug, and then giving Summer the same. Summer's lasted much longer, as she didn't seem to want to let go. "Give us the injury count man. What's the deal with that lump? Man, my mom will be waiting on you hand and foot when she sees that."

"I got a little knock on the head." Zack shrugged.

"A little knock?" Dani rolled her eyes, from Katie's arms. "You were unconscious for at least seven minutes."

"Dani, I don't tell you this very often." Zack began. "I happen to find your conversations very entertaining, but right now I'm telling you one thing, and one thing only. Shut up."

"Seven minutes?!" Katie half exclaimed. "Shouldn't you be sitting down or something? What if you have a concussion, or a spinal injury?"

"We already covered that." Summer nodded. "However, I think it's time we pose the question? Why haven't the paramedics shown up? Because the gaping head wound is causing some blood loss, and the blood loss isn't exactly making me the most, I don't know, willing to be conscious person."

"I'll go get them." Freddy volunteered. "And I'll get Katie's parents while I'm at it. You should just...sit down or something until they get here."

Zack, as Freddy left, helped Summer sit down. "I'd certainly say this was the most interesting trip to the mall I've had in a while."

§ § §

"You get plenty of rest, and stay off that ankle as much as possible for at least a week." The doctor who had stitched up Summer's forehead ordered before leaving the room. She was left with everyone. Zack, Dani, Freddy, Katie, Katie's parents, as well as Freddy's.

"That'll be fun." Summer remarked dryly.

"Consider yourself lucky Summer." Katie's mother began. "Because I'm sure you and Zack will be out on dates again long before Katie and Freddy here."

"What do you mean?" Zack wanted to know.

"They didn't tell you how they got to the mall?" Katie's dad questioned. "It's a rather interesting tale."

"We just assumed that you picked them up before going there yourself." Summer trailed off. "Though now I'm doubting that."

Katie looked to her shoes guiltily. "We took a car and Freddy drove."

"Punk rock." Zack remarked, nodding his head. "Not very smart, but very punk rock. I'm sure Dewey will be proud. On the other hand, you might not be going to practice for a very long time."

"They have to go to practice. We have The Today Show in a month." Summer pointed out.

"We wouldn't jeopardize that." Freddy's dad nodded. "We were discussing an alternative form of grounding. They can only go to band practice and school for a month. Punishment ends the day you head into the city."

"That seems fair." Freddy nodded, hoping to avoid anything else. "That sounds extremely fair."

Dani snorted. "Suck-up." She muttered.

"We should get going." Freddy's mother informed, standing up from one of the hospital's chairs. "Summer, we're going to give you a ride home. And you're dad's home by now, isn't he?"

"Uh, yeah." Summer grabbed the crutches handed to her by Zack. "I'll see you at band tomorrow, Katie."

Katie nodded. "Yeah. I'll see you there."

§ § §

Zack, was walking Summer to the door of her house. The lights were off and the door had a note taped to it. Summer grabbed it with one hand and scanned quickly before crumpling it up. "What a shock. Dad has another trip to make."

Zack looked at her. "If you want to grab a bag of stuff, you can probably come over and stay with us."

Summer shook her head. "I don't need to. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"No." Summer answered bluntly. "But I think it will better if at least for tonight I stay here."

"As long as your sure." Zack nodded.

"OK." Summer nodded with him. "I'll see you tomorrow at practice."

"Yeah. Love you."

"Love you too." They shared a quick kiss before Zack turned around and started walking back towards Freddy's parents car. "Hey Z?"

"Yeah?" He turned back, his hair flipping back in his face.

"I was thinking...maybe you can come with me to Dr. Phillips on Monday. You should know what's going on with me and stuff."

"If you want me too." Zack nodded, half smiling. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mermer."

"See you tomorrow Z."

The end.

That is the last of Into the Dark. It'll probably be a while before I post something else, as I'm starting at a new school, where they might actually be teaching me something. If they don't I'll probably have a rather frequent posting schedule, but if I don't, that's my perfectly reasonable excuse.

To answer Chinsky's question I'm a bit north of Portland. Not very far.

A final thank you to everyone who reviewed.

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