The Part of Me That You Don't See~a Dance Moms Maddie AND Mackenzie story~

Ch. 17: THIS IS THE CHAPTER YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!

Mackenzie's POV

I took a deep breath of fresh air as I stepped outside. It felt so good to not have to be committed to school right now. 

"This way. It's only a short walk!" James ecstatically said, snapping me out of my trance.

"Oh, uhm, ok!" I said with fake cheerfulness in my voice. I mean, It's kinda hard to be happy when you've gotten repeatedly punched.

"Kenzie? Are you sure you're okay?" James asked with curiosity and worry pooling in his eyes. 

"No." I whimper, not caring how weak I sound. "My ribs!" I groan. 

James lifts up the bottom of my shirt very gently, but not too high up. Just enough so that he sees my bruise. Tears spring to his eyes, catching me off guard.

"Are you alright? Don't get so upset over me!" I cried. James didn't listen. Instead he enveloped me in his arms, and I never wanted to leave our warm hug.

"They can't just do this to you!" He shouted, furiously, pulling away. 

"But I can't hit them back! I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings." I said softly.

"You won't. But you need to start standing up for yourself. I know you;re strong and you can do it, if only you'll muster up the courage." He said, pointing toward his house. "It's right there.

We both started to jog, me lagging behind, eager to get as far away from school as we can.

James bent down to get the key which was underneath the purple flowerpot. 

As he opened the door a warm and comforting smell filled my nostrils. I liked his house already. 

"Gosh Mackenzie, come in!" James told me. 

"OH! YEAH, sorry!" I stuttered. 

"Are you SURE you're okay?" He questioned for what seemed like the billionth time.

"Yes!" I rolled my eyes, walking into his spacious house. 

"You should lie down. I'll get you an ice pack." He said. As I flopped down on the light brown couch, I glanced at my phone. It read, ~incoming facetime call- Maddie~ I groaned and answered the call. Maddie looked so depressed. She was looking down, but her eyes shifted to the camera when I cleared my throat. The expression filling her eyes changed to pure terror. 

"MACKENZIE WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?" She yelled in a loud whisper. I glanced at myself in the top left corner. Wow. I guess I looked worse than I felt. The sincere concern in her voice made me so happy. 

"Um, I fell down the stairs?" I lied. 

"Hey, Kenz, do you want something to eat?" James called from the kitchen.

"Who is that?" She demanded. 

"Who's who?" I laughed nervously.

"That's a boy! MACKENZIE ZIEGLER DO NOT LIE TO ME, DID THIS BOY DO THAT TO YOUR FACE!????" Maddie raged. 

"No." I mumbled shortly.

"WHERE ARE YOU!?!?!?" She shouted, so loud that I had to turn my volume down. 

"AHHHHGGGG!" I heard James roar, once again catching my sister's attention.

"What's wrong? Who was that?! Why is that boy so angry!!!!" She continued to question.

When I didn't respond she got even more upset. "I'm getting mom." She threatened shaking her head.

"NO! MADDIE!" I pleaded. 

"MOM!" Maddie screamed. In a panic I said, Bye Maddie! and hung up. Breathing a sigh of relief as I set down my phone on the couch next to me.

I got up and trudged into the kitchen to see why James had yelled. 

I saw him clutching his foot, putting my ice pack on it. 

"What happened?" I asked.

"Stubbed my toe." He snapped, and I burst out laughing.

"It's NOT funny!" He said.

"Sorry! I giggled.

"Come with me!" He suddenly declared, grabbing my hand and pulling me up the stairs.

"Where are we going?" I inquired.

"My room." He said with an interesting excitement to his voice.

"And why exactly are we going there?" I demanded.

"No no no, not the way it sounded!" James said, blushing. I hadn't even thought of it like that until he mentioned it. He opened the door and what I saw amazed me! Nobody had ever done such a thing for me in years! Many many years!

"Happy Birthday Mackenzie!" He shouted. His room was filled with dozens of colorful balloons and there was even a cupcake box sitting on his bed, but the one thing that caught my eye was the sparkly box next to the cupcake.

"Oh my gosh James!" I cried, giving him a hug. I even started to cry a little as we walked all the way in. 

"Wow! I hoped you'd be this happy, but it's like nobody's even told you happy birthday today!" HE chuckled. My face fell, but I attempted a fake laugh to brush it off.

I sat down on the bed, opening the lime green card. It had a very sweet note from James saying, 

M is for how magnificent you are

A is for your awesomeness

C is for your charm

K is for your kindness

E is for your beautiful eyes

N is for the fact that you're never mean

Z is for your um... zebra ;) sorry

I is for your intriguing dance improv

and E is for, will you go out with mE?

I could feel myself blushing, my face probably red as my favorite food, a nice plump strawberry.

"Of course I'll go out with you! I've known you like,  practically forever!" I shrieked. 

James grinned.

"And again, you're acting like nobody has even told you happy birthday!" James laughed as I over excitedly took a bite of the cupcake.

"Well, actually, Mom hates me and Maddie does too. Nobody even cares about my birthday, and nobody even remembered." I said, my head drooping.

"What?" He confusedly asked. I thought your and Maddie's tension was all fake, just for Tv!" 

"Well, it's not." I snapped, then instantly felt bad.

"I'm sorry." I muttered

"It's okay," James sympathetically replied. "Lets just have fun today though. Forget about them!" He suggested. 

"Okay! I said perking up." We both ran downstairs to make lunch. We had chicken nuggets and they were so much better than the school lunch burger that tastes like horse meat. Yuck! We were having fun, talking, laughing, and enjoying each others company when the doorbell rang. James went over and swung open the door without seeing who it was first. It was Maddie, her hands on her hips, looking like she was going to murder me. Based on the way she acts lately, she probably would. 

But then she surprised me.

"Are you okay? Why are you at James's house?" She ambushed me with questions.

"I'm fine Maddie," I answered, "But how did you find me?" She held up her phone. 

"Find My Iphone." She said. 

"Dang it." I thought.

"Let's go!" she said, wrapping her arm around me caringly. "You never come back here during school again, okay? But don't worry I won't tell Mom. "

"Wait!" James called as I started out the front door. 

"I made a mistake Mackenzie! We need do break up!"