holding on • jenzie

13 ⇝ welcome home

» Be careful with your words. They can be forgiven, but not forgotten. «

「 In which Jenzie have to make 'progress'. 」

Dedicated to: taytayshipsjenzie for leaving funny comments ;)

A/N ~ Sorry if you're gettting annoyed at my updating schedule, but please remember chapters can not be rushed. They take time, effort, and thought <3
^ also WHY IS KZ SO FKN GORGEOUS

POV: Mackenzie Ziegler
DATE: 15 January 2026

•••

After about half an hour of me doing nothing while Johnny's at the supermarket I sit bolt upright on the couch. This is it! I realise. I can shrink his shirts now!

After jumping up excitedly, I run down the hall in my socks which is a very precarious, but fun, thing to do when under pressure. Light fills my otherwise dark room when I open the door, and I flick the light on to aid my vision. The last few nights I've taken to falling asleep on the couch while watching or talking to the Orlando's, so I haven't spent much time in my room at all– as a result it's horribly messy.

I daintily pick my way across the room on my tiptoes, careful not to crush any of the strewn papers or the almost-toppling-over piles of washing, and open the drawer where I've been keeping Johnny's shirts. I've got a good number by now (six to be exact) so after grabbing them all I slip and slide back down the hall to the laundry.

I hear the bell sound through the apartment, which means someones coming up the stairs. After a quick glance at the clock I confer that Lauren won't be home for another forty-five minutes– it's about quarter to five and she gets home at 5:30. It must be John, and I frantically shove his shirts in the dryer shute when I realise this, heart pounding in my chest. Seconds later I hear his keys plonk down on the bench followed with a husky yell.

"It's me!"

"Oh. Um– thats good! Welcome home!" I blurt before blushing a deep crimson.

Seconds later he rounds the corner of the hall where I'm standing. I lean back on the sink and cross my arms over my chest, very aware of the fact that he's wearing a tight black shirt which is accentuating his muscles and clinging to his body, probably because of the recent rain. "What?" He then asks, bringing me out of my reverie.

"Don't worry." I sigh, feeling defeated by the smirk on his lips.

"No no, you said welcome home." He presses. "Does this mean I can stay?"

"I've got to... I've got to go have a shower." I mumble in the way of an answer, looking down.

"Oh." He blinks, a little startled at my awkwardness. "Okay."

I push past him, hoping I kept up my act well enough. Thanks to the uncomfortable scene I caused, I'm sure he hardly noticed the dryer that I managed to turn on seconds before he came in the door. I haven't won three golden globes for nothing.

Before showering, I start tidying some of my room in hope of making it look decent but I fall bored after mere minutes and give up with a huff. Instead of persevering, I grab some pajamas and head to my ensuite, hoping that the hot water will release the building tension in my joints.

It somewhat does, but the cold hard shock and pure surprise I feel when I notice that my familiar shampoo isn't so familiar completely counter effects that.

And when I feel how sticky my hair is and when I smell how sickly my 'shampoo' is, I yell out in anger, swiping at a few bottles on the top shelf to help me feel less furious. As they crash down to the ground it clears my head, with a few words forming through my mind.

Johnny Orlando. Prank war. Maple syrup in my shampoo.

Yanking the hot water off, I scarcely look at the towel I snatch up and wrap around my body before storming into the hall.

"Johnny!" I scream out, feeling slightly confused when I hear the front door open and Johnny yelling out "Mackenzie Ziegler!" at the same time.

At the sight of Johnny in only his boxers with a pile of shirts in his hand I begin to holler at him.

"How dare you swap my shampoo out for fucking syrup! How dare you! It's rude, and unkind, and– THIS IS NOT FUNNY ORLANDO!"

He laughs mirthlessly, rolling his eyes. "Says the girl who messes with some of my favourite shirts? I don't think so!" He then yells back at me.

"That's different!" I reason. "That's funny! You can buy new shirts Orlando, but I can't buy new hair!"

He rolls his eyes again, making me even angrier. "That's my favourite shampoo and it gets sent from France you dickwad! Now you've gone and tipped it down the drain!"

"Yeah, that's right!" He cries, eyes flashing with indigance. He's tempted to roll them a third time, I can tell. "I tipped it all down the freaking sink!"

"You know what? You can pack your bags Orlando. I though you'd chang–"

"Stop it you two!" I hear a girls voice cry, and I whip around to see Lauren a few metres away from us with an annoyed and upset look on her features. To my intense surprise, she marches over and grabs Johnny and I by our ears. We shriek in pain, and try and twist from her grip to no avail. She has us tight, and she's marching us somewhere.

"You two have more problems than a fucking maths textbook." She grimaces, mumbling, before shoving us into her bathroom.

We complain, scrambling over to the door hurriedly, but it's locked– from the outside.

"Lauren, let us out." Johnny grumbles authoritatively, at the same time as I ask "How are we locked in?"

"I got the lock switched from the inside to outside when you two started fighting, but I hoped I would never have to use it." She sighs.

I back up until my back reaches the basin behind me.

"Lauren..." Johnny warns angrily.

"Get talking. I'll only let you two out when you've made progress."

"Progress?" I shriek, and from his position (with his hand balled into fists on the door) he looks back at me, who's clad in a really, really short beige towel and has wet hair straggling around her face.

I can tell already that it's going to be a long time until we make 'progress.'

•••

CHALLENGE ALERT!

if you guys can get this chapter to 100 votes & 50 comments in 24 hours I will post a very, very interesting chapter! ;)

ps, there's a new story on my page if you wanna add it to your library xx

[1140 words]