The One That Almost Got Away | On Hold

Prologue

"Morning, Mrs. Collins. We have a new student for you, today," Mrs. Stacey, the front office lady, said to my new teacher once we walked into the unfamiliar classroom.

"How nice. And what's you name?" Mrs. Collins asked, walking over to us as the whole class looked my way.

"Um, I'm Mackenzie Stone."

"Well, Mackenzie, it's very nice to meet you. You can sit at any of the free desks available," she said, motioning her arm to the rows of desks in the room, split by an aisle with half the desks on one side of the room and half on the other.

I gave her a lopsided smile and looked around the room, seeing everyone staring at me. I took one step and someone whispered my name.

"Mackenzie; sit here," said a boy with blonde shaggy hair and bright baby blue eyes. I hesitantly walked over to the desk, setting my stuff on the floor and taking the seat.

"I'm Brendan by the way. Where are you from?"

"Um, Florida. I actually moved from there about a week ago but my family had to get all settled in before any of us could get out and about."

"Oh, that's cool. Have you made any other friends yet?"

"No, this is the only class I've been to today because I was getting a tour and stuff all morning when I got here."

"Well I could be your friend. If you want," he said, looking down at the worksheet that sat on his desk.

"I would love that!"

"Great. And when the bell rings, follow me. We go to lunch and you can sit with me and my other friends. I'll introduce you to them."

I nodded as the teacher came up to me, with a few pieces of paper. She explained the notes and the assignment and I immediately started working, looking up to see Brendan looking at me.

*****

"Hey guys. This is Mackenzie, the new girl. I thought she could sit with us," Brendan said, as I followed him to a crowded table, filled with about eight other people.

"That's fine! Just pull up a chair from one of the other tables," some boy said, with shirt, brown hair and braces.

I set my tray on the table and grabbed a chair from one of the near-by tables, pulling it up next to Brendan. I looked around the table, noticing I was the only girl.

"So, Mackenzie, this is Tristan, this is Landon, this is Chris, this is Ethan, this is Michael, this is Alex, this is Justin, and this is Ryan," Brendan said, pointing to each boy and introducing him to me.

"Nice to meet you guys," I said, waving to all of them. I opened my carton of milk, after Brendan showed me how, and took a few sips before starting on my piece of pizza that Brendan had bought me from the snack line.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, quickly checking it before anyone could see, and saw that I had a text from my mom. I opened it up and read it before closing it.

"No phones in school, Mackenzie," Brendan said, messing around with me.

"Oh, shut-up," I said, playfully hitting his arm before getting up and throwing my trash away in one of the near-by trash cans.

"Hey, so are you doing anything tonight," Alex asked me, looking at me while I just sat there and played with my fingers.

"No, I don't think so. Why?"

"Because there's going to be this bonfire tonight at Brendan's house. You should totally come; I'm sure he won't mind, will you Brendan?"

"No, you should definitely come. It'll be fun and some other people will be there that you could become friends with. What do you say?"

"I'll have to ask my mom but yeah, I'll definitely come if I can."

"Great. Well here's my number," he said, pulling a pen out of his backpack and grabbing my hand, writing his number down in neat handwriting on my palm.

"Oh! I want to give you my number," Tristan yelled, getting up and throwing his trash away, all the others doing the same.

"Um, yeah sure. Why don't you just write it down on this piece of paper and I'll put them all in my phone when I get home," I said, ripping a piece of paper out of a binder I had pulled out of my backpack.

They all quickly scribbled their numbers down on the piece of paper and as Justin finished writing his, the bell rang. He wrote the last number and I folded the paper up, sticking it in my pocket.

"Hey, where are you going next?" Brendan asked, nudging me with his elbow to get my attention.

"Um," I started, finding my schedule folded in a pocket in my purse, "I'm going to English with Mrs. Weatherly."

"I know where that is; let me take you."

"I don't want you to be late to class. Especially since you were just taking me to class when I can easily go to the front office and have someone in there show me."

"It's fine; my next teacher will understand," he said, grabbing my arm and leading me out of the cafeteria and down one of the many hallways.

Once we were in front of room two-nineteen, I checked my schedule, to make sure we were at the right place, and then I turned to Brendan.

"See you at the bonfire?" he asked, backing up slowly.

"Definitely. What should I bring?," I said, giving him a smile.

"Just your cute self," he said, before turning the corner. I smiled down at my shoes for a minute before finally open the door and walking into my next class.