Just Like Maddie

{7} Selfish?!

Chapter 7-

Selfish?!

Mackenzie woke up Tuesday morning bearing a huge burden on her shoulders. The thought of the weekend was already dragging her down and it was only Tuesday, she wasn't used to dreading the weekend. This caused Mackenzie to put in a bare minimum amount of effort into her appearance, a pair of plain black leggings and a grey baggy top with her brunette tied back into a ponytail would do just fine. There was no need for make up. She had pictured meeting the girls again in her head over and over but she just wasn't ready, sure she had facetimed Nia and Little Brooke maybe once or twice and exchanged a few texts with Kendall but it didn't compare to seeing them in person. Would they see the difference in Mackenzie? Would they notice the happy carefree little girl they knew was well gone, would they even want to know the new girl that stood in her place? The thoughts made her stomach churn, causing her to toss the freshly made toast Melissa had left her on the counter straight into the bin. After all Casey did say losing a few pounds here and there wouldn't hurt.

"Hey Jas, hey Taylor. Where's Case?" Mackenzie yawned greeting the back heads of the two girls. Jasmin closed her locker and turned to her, her large smile fading at her sight. "Eugh," Jasmin backed off, "what happened to you?" Mackenzie frowned, it wasn't that bad. "Jas, she had obviously had a tough morning. Back off a bit," Taylor firmly stated, strangely out of character. Mackenzie's frown deepened, "bad night actually but thanks Taylor," Mackenzie said warily. Jasmin rolled her eyes, "yeah whatever, Casey isn't going to like this." Taylor murmured something under her breath and moved towards Mackenzie a little, leaving space for a smirking Casey to slip in. "Casey isn't going to like what?" She said patronisingly. Jasmin opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a surprisngly brave Taylor, "Mackenzie had a bad night last night and Jasmin is critiquing her appearence." Casey nodded slowly, eyeing Mackenzie up and down causing Mackenzie to squirm. There was nothing worse than having someone stand right and front of you and judge you. "So what happened last night Kenz?" Casey asked with some ungenuine concern laced through her voice. Mackenzie wondered what Maddie would do in a situation like this, she would probably gain control of it and steer it in the direction she pleased. Mackenzie's only problem was she didn't know how to so she let Casey do that instead. "It's a long story," Mackenzie began filling the group in on all of last nights events while Jasmin glared at her obviously annoyed she was in trouble with Casey, Taylor stared sympathetically and Casey kept smirking as usual. Once Mackenzie had finished her recap of last night leaving out details on the Maddie situation, referring to it only as a family issue, Casey's smirk had been changed to an excited smile. "So you're going to be with all the dance mom's girls at the weekend? Don't like some of them have over a million instagram followers?" Casey almost yelled. Mackenzie resisted the urge to roll her eyes, she just poured all her feelings out and that's what she had to say? "Yeah, but so does Kenz. What's so exciting about them?" Taylor questioned working her way up the list of Mackenzie's favorite people. Casey rolled her eyes and laughed. "Isn't it obvious? Everyone here is used to Mackenzie, not the rest of them. Besides Mackenzie was always behind her sister anyway," Casey laughed unaware that the sentence that just came out of her mouth just broke Mackenzie's heart into tiny pieces. "Oh yeah! Kenz could we like come to the competition and meet them? Our popularity would go up even further," Jasmin giggled jumping on the band wagon. Mackenzie sighed and shook her head, "I'm sorry but no. It will be hard enough this weekend, I don't need to add new friends to the mix." She stated surprisingly firm. Casey red lipstick formed a large O-shape. "God Mackenzie, you are so selfish! Let's leave girls," Casey said turning her back, "when you get us tickets to come watch, that's when we can be friends again." Casey walked away with Jasmin and Taylor who whipped her head around and mouthed sorry. Selfish? Mackenzie wasn't the one being selfish? She could feel the tears begining to blur her vision and dashed off to the girls bathroom as quick as she could.

She clutched her folders tight to her chest and avoided any eye contact by keeping her head pointing downwards. She didn't want anyone to see her upset and she especially didn't want anyone to ask her why she was upset. The topic of Maddie was something Mackenzie dodged like a bullet. Mackenzie was knocked out of her thoughts as she charged straight into someones chest. She looked up and her eyes met with Carters. She could feel the heat rush to her face and heard a simple "Mackenzie?" escape his mouth before she ran. Mackenzie ran all the way to the toilet and locked herself in. Then she began to sob. She cried about how she missed Maddie, she cried about how she missed Pittsburgh, she cried because of Casey and her little clique making her feel useless and she cried about Carter. Perfect Carter who would never like someone like Mackenzie. She wished she could go back a year and still be the carefree happy little kid who worried about nothing except how her outfit looked or what her place would be on the infamous pyramid at aldc. She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, bringing up her mom's contact details and calling her, Mackenzie had no intention of staying in school today. Not with how she felt. "Hello, mom? I'm not feeling good at all do you think I could come home?" Mackenzie asked sheepishly. She desperately needed to leave school. Melissa sounded nervous, asking Mackenzie over and over is she was sure she couldn't just carry on at school but Mackenzie insisted she couldn't. Melissa sighed, "ok, ok go to the nurses office and I will come pick you up. I have to talk to you though Mackenzie," she eventually gave in. Mackenzie wasn't worried about what Melissa had to say, at this point she really didn't care. Her head was already a mess and it was about to get messed up even further.