"Zoe, why am I on the floor?"
"You're probably working too hard, mom. I put the pillow under your head."
Being quite selective with the truth, Zoe managed to wiggle her way out of that one. It probably helped that mom hadn't hurt herself in the fall and that it had all happened within the space of a few minutes.
"Why are you blushing?" mom quizzed getting up from the floor trying to keep a beady eye on Zoe. Ordinarily Zoe would have helped her up, but she was more of a flight than fight sort. Walk-running back to her room, she managed to blurt out "homework" in an effort to calm rising suspicions. Unfortunately with her track record, the incident and remark made mom even more curious. Still, anything that made Zoe do her homework was deemed to be good.

Zoe had more peace in her heart about the freeze time zone. Although trying to conceal the truth from her mom didn't sit easy at all. Staring down at the homemade breakfast smoothie, she tried to avoid eye contact as mom paced about the kitchen with her first fresh coffee for the day. Apple cores, banana peels and carrot ends spilled over the wooden cutting board onto the kitchen island counter top. The traditional breakfast smoothie probably had more fruit than vegetables, but was full of goodness. Mom may have been a slouch when it came to making her bed but was an undercover sushi chef when it came to slicing and dicing. Dimple wasn't allowed on the table but somehow managed to make it to the top of the fridge. Now competing with the fridge's buzz, he purred loudly peering down on everything like he had just been sworn into office.

Trying to dislodge the pesky Chia seeds huddled at the base of the blender cup, Zoe soon found herself in an equally close-knit group of students. Marching past the principal's office there was always an air of relief to have ducked the blade and not to be sitting on "the bench". Principal Smith... better known as Agent Smith, was quite proud of her Matrix-inspired nickname. Having access to the security camera feed from her office, she was all-seeing and with little to no privacy on all computer networks, it could have been called Big Brother High. Corporal punishment was a thing of mom's day. Although given the new psychological means of torture and cyber-bullying, a dose of swift sharp physical pain seemed less daunting than the new horrors.

Keeping a low profile was no guarantee of not becoming the next target. One kid became the butt of a series of viral memes after keeping his eyes on the ground so intently that he got clothes-lined by an open locker door. While it had happened in the background of a vlog entry, somehow the school's CCTV footage had been in a better position to capture the "blooper". Even more surprising was that the security footage had been leaked, forcing the poor kid now ordained "Lock-Block" to the shadows before quietly moving schools.

For someone with blue hair and a guitar strapped to her back, Zoe had become quite the chameleon. She had her routes, knew who to avoid and had a pretty mean death stare as a last resort. Her dad's harmless pranks and fun teasing had equipped her with much-needed resilience and skills. Ignoring them helped, but only so far. Agreeing with them siphoned their apparent power, but the best tactic with zombos and zombies for that matter is avoidance.

While Zoe was constantly aware of her surroundings at school, all senses ready for action, having Axe strapped to her back was empowering. She had the ability to freeze time and that made her almost as powerful as the omnipresent Agent Smith. The freeze time zone hadn't been investigated thoroughly, but school seemed like a great place to test it out.

"Right, class." was the way T-Rex started every lesson. Zoe had a flashback of his terrifying face, literally shaking her head to try and get rid of the mental image. Now sitting at the back of the class, she wasn't daydreaming for fear of reliving that nightmare but rather scheming ways she could put Axe into action. She had been blessed with Dad's creativity when it came to pranks... except today she wanted to go with a classic switcheroo. If only Dimple was here to witness it, she thought switching on her pod as T-Rex swiveled around to write something on the board.

Dear Reader,

I'm sorry if you're reading this... because I've made the decision to take the Rockin' the Clock fictional series offline. The bad news is that you won't be able to read about Zoe's crazy adventures as you have been doing so. The good news is that I'm wanting to turn the posts into an e-book or novel. So, while it may be goodbye for now... I hope to have some amazing news for you in the coming months.

If you'd like me to keep you posted, please send us a message with "Rockin' the Clock" as the subject via the contact us page.

Thanks for your understanding and support!

~ Spling, Zoe and Dimple