Mackenzie

Chapter 2

I waited outside the house, eating my sandwich. I usually walked with Bambi to school. Just then, a car with blaring music stopped in front of me. My eyes widened as Bambi rolled down the window.

"Mornin' Kenzi! Hop in," she said, flipping her hair and smiling.

I laughed as my mouth hung open. "Bambi, this is sleek!" I studied the car. "When did you get this?"

"Last year. Come in, or we will be late for school," she said.

I got into the passenger’s seat beside her. "It's a really nice car," I told her.

"Thank you." She smiled as she bobbed her head to the music.

"Who got it for you?" I was so damn curious.

"Dad," She answered.

"Wow," I whispered as I settled in the seat, clutching the seatbelt. "Why are you listening to The Weeknd anyway?" I asked.

"He's amazing!" she answered, chuckling. "How do you feel about resuming school today?"

I bit my lip. "I can't lie, Bambi, I am nervous."

"Aw," she stretched a hand out to pull my cheek, "you will be just fine. I will be by your side."

"Alright, but when Jesse comes around, don't get—"

"I won't. I was only talking dreamily. There's no way in hell anything can happen between Jesse and I."

"Why?"

"As I said, Kenzi, a lot has changed." She moved uncomfortably in her seat as she tapped on the steering wheel.

"Yeah, you did tell me that, but what?" I asked.

"Jesse's a player now."

"What? You said he was single!" I shrieked.

"Well, if you think about it, he's single. He gets any girl he wants, but he doesn't date them."

"Oh," I said," I see three different guys here. Edward has a girlfriend, Jesse is a player, and Tommy doesn't let girls get close."

"Who's Tommy?" Bambi looked at me.

"The Greek god?" I looked at her with a 'duh' look.

"Tanner!"

"Oops, my bad." I chuckled lightly.

She rolled her eyes and soon pulled up to the school's parking lot. My breath caught in my throat.

"You will be fine," Bambi told me.

We got out of the car, and I looked at Bambi as I asked, "Bambi, is Ryan still here?"

She smiled widely. "I thought you would never ask! Yes. Ryan is still here."

I smiled in satisfaction. Ryan was the brother I never had just like Bambi was the sister I never had. We all grew up together since we were 10. With that, Bambi and I walked into the hallway.

'That's Mackenzie!'

'She's back... Again'

'I thought she was dead. That's what I heard'

"What?!" I looked at Bambi.

"What?" She looked at me.

"Didn't you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Someone just said she heard I was dead!" I said in disbelief.

"That's ridiculous."

"I know, right! Where the hell did she hear that, anyway?" I shook my head.

I walked to my locker, which I always left locked when I was away. Bambi's locker was right beside mine. I opened my locker and started coughing as I searched inside. Damn, it was dusty. I sneezed.

"Here," Bambi said, handing a duster to me. She always kept one in her locker.

"Thank you." I told her.

I cleared up my locker and handed the duster back to her.

"Maldición... de que planeta vino?" I said to myself, staring.

{Damn... What planet did he drop from?}

"What the f**k did you just say?" Bambi said, and I snapped out of my gaze and looked at her. "You just said something in Spanish. May I know what you said?" She asked.

I chuckled. "I asked what planet that guy dropped from."

"What guy?"

"That guy." I used my eyes to show her the guy.

"Tanner McCann!" She said, smiling as she looked at me.

"That's the Tanner?"

"Yep." she nodded.

"Whoa..." I said to myself.

I couldn't see his face, but I was guessing he was about a 5'9. That alone was hot. He soon started walking towards us.

"He's coming here, he's coming here, Bambi," I said nervously. Why was I nervous?

"Don't be too excited, Kenzi. I got a class now, bye girl," she said and walked away.

"What?! When did your classes change?!" I shouted after her, but she was long gone.

I sighed and looked back at my locker. I sensed a presence beside me and decided to take a look at the person. It was the Greek god, as they say. I was staring up at the most beautiful eyes ever; they were black and looked like rich coffee. His hair was dark-brown, and it looked a lot like Jack Gilinsky's. He was muscled, not freakishly, though. And his face was shaped, like—

"Why are you staring at me?" He asked, glaring at me. If eyes could kill, 6ft underground here I go.

What?

"You probably need a pencil now that you've studied me. I know I'm hot, but stop staring," He said as he closed his locker and walked away, leaving my mouth hung open.

Bambi was right about his dollar sign coming to life, because I was about to have an attack—yeah, an asthma attack—with the strong scent of his cologne, but she didn't tell me he was such a proud jerk! How could he say that to me? I watched girls stare at him, and I felt like slapping their faces. Bambi just said he didn't let girls near, she never said he was such a douche. The bell rang and I hurried to class. When I got into the class, Mrs. Martinez, who taught Trigonometry, was already teaching. Had the time of classes shifted? I tried to slip in without her noticing, but—

"Starr! It's been a while." She smiled at me. "Welcome back!"

I smiled lightly as I scanned the room for a place to sit. No seat. Second row. No seat. Third row. No seat. Fourth r- Ah-ah! I found a vacant seat, but when I looked at the person beside it, I rescanned. When I didn't see another seat, I had no choice but to go sit with Proud Jerk Tanner. He was doodling in his note. I moved uncomfortably in my seat as I took out my note. I looked down at my notebook; it stopped at March 13, 2017. This year? It was all in Bambi's handwriting. Ah, she was too sweet. Although we were already in the month of June, I understood she was probably busy so she had to stop writing. I had to see the number of pages to leave. I cleared my throat in confidence as I turned to Proud Jerk Tanner.

"Uh, can I take a look at your notebook, please?" I asked.

He looked at me for a while, probably about to say something nasty, but then he clicked his tongue inside his lower lip and pushed his note to me. I opened his notes and looked at the pages. I stared in disbelief and embarrassment.

Fuck Trig.

Those were the words written on all the pages, and then he drew goofy faces alongside the words.

I sighed inwardly as I pushed his note back to him."Thank you."

"Keep the sarcasm, okay? You asked to take a look," He said.

I rolled my eyes at him. Sitting beside him wouldn't help me. First off, I wouldn't be able to put up with this crazy attitude of his. Then, his cologne was driving me nuts, and I didn't have my inhaler with me. An on top of that he was distracting me with the sound he was making by tapping his pencil against his desk.

"I'm sorry if you don't mind, that noise is really disturbing," I said quietly.

"Do you have to be such a—"

He didn't complete his words, but I had the strong feeling he was about to call me a b***h. I angrily looked at him as I said, "Excuse me? It takes nothing for you to just stop making that ear piercing sound-"

"And it takes nothing for you to leave this seat."

I looked at him in disbelief. It was unfair that he treated me this way. We'd never even met before.

"No tengo idea que mierda es su problema ... no es como se me conociera o cualquier cosa." I muttered to myself.

{I have no f*****g idea what your problem is. It’s not like you know me or anything.}

I caught him by the corner of my eyes and saw the look he gave me. He heard me, alright, but he wouldn't understand what I said.

"Of course, I don't know who you are, but what I know is you really should shut up," he said.

I looked at him in surprise. He understood what I just said? I was whipped! So I couldn't make a snide remark about him? My life couldn't get any worse, so I just let the sound of the pencil against the table disturb me. I couldn't wait for the class to be over.

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

As soon as the bell rang, I sprang up from my seat and carried my backpack over my shoulder, and not once did I turn to look at him, but I could swear I felt his gaze burn at my back. I didn't intend on speaking to that jerk again.

After a few other classes, I walked up to my locker and put my books in it. It was going to be hell having Proud Jerk Tanner's locker beside mine.

"Kenzi!" I heard a voice call from behind me.

I turned around to see Ryan. "Ryan!" I squealed as I hugged him. He hugged me tighter as he planted a sloppy kiss on my forehead, something he always did. I laughed, "Ryan!"

"Look at you, Kenzi! Spain did you well, didn't it? I missed you so much!" He pulled my cheek.

"Me too. How have you been, Ryan? What class are you in?"

"Your class!"

"No, you're kidding. I didn't see you."

"Well I saw you. You sat beside Tanner McCann," hesaid.

"Ryan!"

"Just believe me already. I was at the back that's why you didn't see me."

And then, Proud Jerk Tanner walked up to his locker but not before greeting Ryan.

"Yeah, what's up man?" Ryan greeted back as they did that handshake guys do.

"Proud Jerk," I said to myself as he left.

"What did you say?" Ryan asked, poking me on my nose with a finger.

"I called him a proud jerk. Yeah, that's what he is."

"I swear you're the only girl I've heard calling him that."

"Yeah, well." I shrugged mindlessly.

"He's not bad, c'mon." He took my hand and we walked together to the cafeteria. It was time for lunch.

"You didn't ask about the third musketeer." Bambi's voice stopped Ryan and I dead in our tracks.

"Hey Bambi." Ryan laughed.

"Hey!" She hugged him then looked at me.

"You deserved it, Bambi," I said.

"Why? What did I do?" She asked, taking a sip of her Dr. Pepper as we still walked.

"You didn't tell me Tanner McCann was a jerk."

"What? He's not bad," She said.

"You too?" I stared at her in disbelief. "Well I refuse to believe you and Ryan. He was a total asshole to me today. I understand he doesn't want girls too close, but is he like that to all girls?"

"No, he isn't like that to Bambi or Lenore or—" Ryan started.

"Alright, I get it. He hates me."

"No, he doesn't," Bambi said.

"Okay, so we've been walking for an hour already and we haven't gotten to where we will be sitting," I complained.

"Hold up, we've not been walking for an hour, plus we're almost there," Ryan said.

"Where?" I looked up at him.

"There." He looked to a table. The first person I saw was Proud Jerk Tanner.

"Uh-uh, I'm not sitting there." I stopped walking.

"C'mon, Kenzi," Bambi said.

"Didn't you hear what I said? He's been a jerk to me all day and now you tell me to go eat lunch on a table he's sitting on?"

"It doesn't matter. You don't have to pay attention to him," Bambi said

I sighed and looked at Ryan who nodded fiercely.

"Alright, but if he's being rude, I'm f*****g out," I said.

We walked over to their table.

"Mackenzie!" Edward smiled as he got up and walked to me as he hugged me.

"Hello Edward." I hugged him back. I have no idea what made me look at Tanner, but I did. He was watching us intently. Must be a keen observer.

"How have you been, Mackenzie?" Lenore asked me, smiling.

"Fine!"

I took a seat beside Ryan and looked at Jesse who just sat.

"Welcome back to the USA, Mackenzie," He said, winking. That wink. Yeah. Bambi was right.

Throughout my meal, I avoided Proud Jerk Tanner's eyes. Apart from the fact that they were too beautiful, I really didn't want to earn some rude remark from him.

Everyone made small talk and even Proud Jerk Tanner made contributions from time to time, of course, to everybody but me. At a time, I heard someone say something and I laughed and said, "I know right!"

And then, the table ran quiet as Proud Jerk Tanner said as he looked at me, "I probably have Alzheimer's because I don't remember talking to you."

I slammed my fist on the table as I got up. "You know I've been trying so hard to avoid you saying anything negative to me." I looked at Bambi and Ryan who looked at me in surprise. "I told you guys I wasn't coming here, but all you said was ‘he's not bad’." I turned back to look at him, "Yeah, he's not bad. He'sjust a bag of Pampers so, so self absorbed and full of s**t!" I watched his face light up in surprise. Alright, his cologne was killing me and I could feel the attack coming, but I was so angry, I had to let it all out."We've never ever met before today, but you're so rudeand, and..."

It. Was. Here.

"Kenzi? Kenzi, are you okay?" Ryan asked as he got up.

"Yeah, yeah. I… I... Am." I was hyperventilating already.

"Dammit! Where's her inhaler? She is having an attack!" Bambi said, panicking as she got up and ran to me. "Try, Kenzi! Where's your inhaler?” When she got no response from me, she screamed at everyone else, “Ryan, Lenore, Edward, Tanner, Jesse, we've got to take her to the nurse, please."

What I couldn't miss seeing before passing out was the worried, scared look in Proud Jerk Tanner's eyes.