Mac Vs PC: Infected

Battle Cry

She could just picture her whole high school career tumbling at her hot pink Nike clad feet. She could hear every award she had strived for, every honorable mention she sweated over, every cheer from the crowd directed at her crash onto the tile floor her mother had just cleaned.

There was one reason for this: one conceited, arrogant, vain, misogynistic, talented reason.

Mackenzie Tosh.

Although he attended her rival school, St Joe's, an all boy catholic school, it never kept him from ruining her life; nothing could keep him from that. It was as if his goal to become a Pro athlete came to a screeching halt the moment he met her.

"Absolutely not, Mother." Switching tactics, she begged. "Please don't do this, Mommy."

She was not threatened by a 6'2'' male whose goal was to make her submit to him. She was not intimidated by the way he played soccer, his eyes always observing, yet never calculating. He took stupid, illogical risks that were based solely on emotion, something that she hated purely on principle. It was completely unrelated to her hatred for him.

"There has got to be another way."

Just the thought of him made her skin crawl, the smug smile that sat underneath a nose too big for his face. His eyes were as green as the grass on her softball field, his hair as dark as the night on the late Friday night football games. His skin was an exotic mix of his mother's Egyptian background and his father's Greek pedigree. It was a fair combination is she was forced to admit it. He could actually be attractive had it not been for his personality that made Piper want to brake his face in half.

Her friends didn't see it the same way. They drooled, giggled and pranced around him as if they didn't believe anything she said. Even her best friend, Cassandra Bates said that Piper overreacted to his practical jokes when they were kids. He pissed in her hair in kindergarten during nap time. Any reaction she had, Piper felt was justified. So yes, she broke his arm. Overreaction? Maybe. Maybe she just needed new friends.

"Mom, he'll torture me."

So maybe she was playing victim for the time being. But desperate times...

She could not have Mackenzie in her house. They were in the middle of a war. It was like inviting Hitler to stay with Anne Frank. She didn't hesitate to compare Mackenzie to a man whose goal in life was based on genocide. It could be because she was losing in their twisted game.

The current score:

Mac: 234 Piper:228

Each tally represented something: a prank, a win in sports, academics, medals, even relationships. This was an 11 year battle and this was their senior year. This was her year. She made the varsity team for soccer, she was made president of model UN and secretary for the student union. She was focused and driven. This was her year. He would not take that from her. At Madison High, she had no competition for the Madison High Athletics Scholarship that awarded a student a full sports or leadership grant up to 100 grand. If he moved into her district, he would be eligible. She knew without a doubt that he would take it from her with no hesitation.

"Mom! Are you listening to me?" She slammed her hand on to the granite counter, trying get her mother's attention. "Did you even ask me how I felt about this?"

"I figured you would welcome him, Piper Connelly Ward." Her mother's voice was small unlike her own, soft with a Brooklyn accent horse from her days as a smoker. Anger subtly dripped from her voice, while the guilt attacked Piper. "He just lost his mother. I just lost my best friend."

"Ma." Emotions that didn't involve revenge or anger weren't something she displayed. Since she was little, she was always picked on by the guys because she wanted to join in their games. She hated the boy vs. girl games because the girls always lost, more focused on the way their hair looked and who was looking at them then kicking the damn ball. She was exposed to the addiction of revenge young, after Mackenzie aimed the tennis ball machine at her and placed it on turbo speed. She was pelted by flying yellow orbs until her future best friend unplugged the machine. As much as she hated him, he was still part of her life whether she wanted it or not. "She was sick for a long time. We said our goodbyes years ago."