Mackenzie

Chapter 17

"Godiva chocolates!" Bambi screamed in my ear as she leaned into me from her locker.

"Yes, Bambi... This is the one hundredth time you're screaming that in my ear. He also got me those too, y'know," I said

"The box of Godiva varieties?" She smirked and my eyes widened as I said, "Wait. He got you the box of different chocolates?"

"What did he get you, sister?" She smiled.

"The normal," I rolled my eyes playfully.

"Sounds cool," she said dryly.

"He got you the box of variety chocolates... Doesn't that mean something?"

"Yeah, it means he has me in mind, of course, more than you-" And she clamped her mouth shut. "No, I didn't just say that."

I chuckled, "Well, it is true. Obviously, he likes you, so..." my voice trailed off when she shot me the death glare. I raised my hand up as I said, "What? You can't blame me.. I was only speaking the truth."

Bambi rolled her eyes and smiled just as Ryan got to us.

"Hey Ryan," Bambi and I smiled.

"When girls do that, like, greet together, smiling, it's definitely because they were having some kind of girl talks." Ryan said and Bambi smiled, clapping, "Wow. Ryan, the girl's​ psychologist."

"Hey, don't judge. I've been with you guys for five years to know all that," he said and I chuckled.

"By the way, Kenzi, I got your call yesterday. That conversation was the longest I'd had in my life."

I got the sarcasm immediately, considering I didn't even call him yesterday, "I'm so sorry,Ryan.. it's just that yesterday turned out terrible and-"

"What happened?" Ryan asked and Bambi looked at me.

"Mom and I are talking and next thing she starts coughing, at the end of the day, she's coughing up blood.. I had to leave the hospital. As if that wasn't enough, I went to Tanner's house and he was being as usual, a jerk-"

"I thought he apologized," Bambi said

"Yeah. A jerk would always be a jerk, I guess. Anyway, I had to leave his house in anger. I got home tired and angry so I had to go to bed immediately," I explained.

"Damn. I'm sorry," Ryan said.

"Maybe we could all visit mom another day?" Bambi said

"Yeah. That'd be nice," I nodded,

"Thanks, guys."

"It's no problem, uh.. is it me or today feels like it's gonna be slow as hell. I mean, the bell hasn't even rung," Bambi said

"I agree," I nodded.

................

I walked alone in the hallway, already walking to class even if the f****d up bell hadn't rung. I didn't think I'd be praying for the bell to ring this much, because I'd never done so before. Bambi had followed Ryan to grab some stuff from his locker and I'd told Ryan I'd see him in class. I brought out my timetable, to check if I did have a free period today. Those were the best classes, anyway. I looked up just in time to realise I was about to bump into a body, but the time I had wasn't enough for me to walk in another direction, so I ended up hitting the body, holding my timetable firmly in my hand. No. I wasn't ready for those movie scenes where the stuff in the girls hand fell and she and the guy had to go down to retrieve whatever fell.

"Hey, are you alright?" The guy asked and I could swear I'd heard that voice before.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I-" I looked up at him," It's you!" I smiled brightly.

"Yeah!" He smiled back as he looked at me, "Hey..."

"I can't believe you're here!"

"Well, I can't believe we met again." He dug his hands inside his pocket.

"So, you're new around here or something?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Where are you coming from?"

"New York," he smiled.

Of course he came from New York! His clothes alone said it.

"You're welcome to our school, then," I stretched out a hand which he took, chuckling. "What class do you have this morning? Can I take a look at your timetable?" I looked at him

"Sure," he handed it to me.

My eyes read through it, "You've got the same timetable with my best friend. She's Bambi."

He nodded, "Right... We're not having any classes together?"

"We are.. but a few, I guess.."

"Oh, okay.." He looked around, "Well, I gotta go to the principal's office, y'know, the stuff that has to be done when you're in a new school..."

I chuckled, "It's no problem... I'd see you around, then."

"Sure," he smiled and turned to leave, but then, he stopped and looked back at me, "How did you find the Organic Valley milk?"

"It was awesome," I laughed. True. I had it with my Apple Jacks this morning and I went on two servings.

He chuckled,"I'm Darren."

"Mackenzie," I smiled and he walked away.

"Who was that extremely hot guy you were just talking to?" Bambi appeared behind me.

"First off, you or Ryan have to give me this power of appearing to people suddenly," I sighed, "That was Darren. He's new here and he's got the same timetable as you.. I met him yesterday at the supermarket Ryan dropped me at."

"He's cute," Bambi said.

"Yeah. And not a jerk too. Where's Ryan?"

"Back at his locker. This is so damn weird. The bell hasn't rung," Bambi said as we walked to Ryan's locker.

"I know, right! Seems like today shoulda been my ditch day!"

"You're still bent on ditching school, aren't you?"

"Of course!"

We hadn't even gotten to Ryan's locker when I saw Ryan and the girl. Today, they both didn't look as serious as they looked before, this time, they were smiling at each other. I looked at Bambi to be sure she was looking at what I was looking at.

"Who is that girl?" She asked.

I shrugged, "He's usually with her, I don't know.. I get the feeling there's something going on between both of them," I went ahead to tell her about the day at the cafeteria and the day I wanted to give him his jacket.

Bambi gasped, "Oh that was why you had been so angry during lunch!"

"Exactly," I nodded, "I'm just suspicious."

"Ryan would have told us," Bambi said.

"Well, he didn't... And still hasn't," I pointed out.

.................

It was true. Trigonometry class was extremely slow. I kept on looking down at my watch. I felt sleepy and the thought of Ryan sleeping at the back made me want to sleep bad. Apparently, something went wrong with the bell and when Mrs Martinez came into the class, she kept on apologizing about it as if we all cared that the stupid thing won't work. I yawned for the tenth time in class, my eyes slowly closing.

"Mackenzie, please stay with us," I heard Mrs Martinez say and I blushed. I must look mad. A drowsy girl blushing.

I struggled to stay awake. Key word being 'stuggled', because I really did battle with keeping ​my eyes open, and so I fell asleep.

"Mackenzie!" I practically jumped.

"What?" I asked.

"Get up.. answer the equation on the board," Mrs Martinez said and I got up, looking at the board. Of course it was something she just explained, and I wasn't awake to listen, so I had no idea how to go about it. I put my pen to my note, though, doing a few possible workings of the equation. I couldn't understand it.

"Mackenzie, we're waiting..."

I closed my eyes, shaking my head, totally embarrassed. No need wasting my time or her time, I didn't know it. I opened my eyes to see a sheet of paper slowly slid to my note.

32cm.

The answer was 32cm?

"Mack-"

"32cm," I said.

Mrs Martinez sighed, "Correct. Thank you, Mackenzie."

I sighed as well. Did Tanner really show me the answer?

"Thank you," I said, not looking at him. I didn't want to know the expression he held in his face, if he was laughing at me or smirking, I didn't want to know, but my subconscious told me to take a quick glance, to look at him with the side of my eyes, and that's what I did. Pushing aside the fear of what to expect in his facial expression, I was surprised to see that he looked normal... Just as serious.

.....................

As soon as the bell rang, I grabbed my notes and got up.

"Class, before you go! You have a test next week! Start preparing for it!" Mrs Martinez announced.

"Mackenzie!" She called.

"s**t," I mumbled to myself as I walked to her. I knew she was going to something was wrong with me officially. I mean, she was practically calling me everyday after a class.

"Yes ma'am," I got to her. "I'm really sorry for-"

"For being such a good tutor?" She smiled,"I mean, I've seen some improvement in Tanner this past two weeks. Great job, Mackenzie."

"Thank you, ma'am," I smiled.

"And of course, I'm worried about you. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, Mrs Martinez, I just had very little sleep over the night."

"Aw, that's okay... I just thought something was wrong."

"No.. nothing at all," I shook my head, smiling.

"Alright, then. Just felt the need to appreciate what you're doing."

"Thank you," I smiled and left the class room.

As soon as I got out of the class, I nearly bumped into Edward.

"f**k," I muttered

"Mackenzie, please would you listen to me?" His eyes pleaded.

I rolled my eyes, sighing. "I don't want to hear it! Don't you understand, Edward? Can't you see that I don't want to be the helpless girl you take me for? I don't."

"I don't see you as-"

"Edward! I've been searching for you" Lenore practically ran to us and when she finally got to us, she put an arm around Edward, smiling.

"Of course you were," I mumbled to myself.

"Aw, hey Mackenzie," she smiled at me, waving.

"Hi," I replied dryly

"Are you okay?" She asked me.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" I said, "I'm running late for my next class already. Bye." And then I walked​ away. I couldn't stay there and talk to her like I didn't know what she had told Edward. A look at her and I felt a bit of irritation.

................

During lunch,

"You were right! Darren's in all my classes," Bambi told me, "He's super cool, and he had some girls in class not paying attention. The good thing is, just as you said, he isn't a jerk. He was friendly with everyone."

I smiled,"I was gonna take a.. uh, Shamrock Farms milk yesterday, he was the one who told me not to take it."

"That's right! It has nuts in them." Bambi nodded. "So, what milk did you go for?"

"Well, I asked him and he told me to go for the Organic Valley milk."

Bambi squealed,"I'm coming for breakfast tomorrow."

I chuckled, then asked, "Where's Ryan, by the way?"

Bambi looked around, "I have no idea."

"He'd probably join us.." I said, taking a sip of my Dr Pepper.

Bambi sighed.

"You okay?" I asked

"Yep," she nodded

"Just tell me.."

"Right. I just don't know if I'm meant to go thank Jesse for the chocolates."

"Girl, what did your mom teach you to do when you received something?"

Bambi rolled her eyes and then let out a chuckle, "I hate you."

"Love you too," I laughed, then said,

"You should thank him. I mean, you didn't even have to ask him before he got it for you... Which, if you ask me, explains something."

......................

"Hey," Darren smiled at me after school

"Hi," I smiled back, "How did you find your first day here?"

"It wasn't bad."

"Very different from New York, yeah?"

"Yeah, but.. it's really cool. I'm sure I'd like it here."

"I'm glad you think so," I smiled, "You've met Bambi, I'm sure."

"Yeah. Just like you said, she was in all my classes. She's quite full of life."

I rolled my eyes playfully, "Tell me something I don't know."

He chuckled. "Are the teachers here all so friendly?"

"Yeah, well, most of them. You shouldn't be in Mrs Godstrum's class."

"I wasn't expecting that, really. Most teachers back in my school at New York are literally the devil's reincarnates.. and Godstrum? What kind of name is that?" He laughed and I joined him.

A part of me wished this was Tanner in front of me. A part wished this was how he was, and what I really didn't understand was why he, Tanner, stood by his locker, watching Darren and I from time to time.....