I'm Trying ||m.z||

Chapter Two

“So, girls, how was school?”

          Mackenzie looked up from her lap and stared at the back of her mother’s seat. Every day on the way home from school, Melissa would ask this question, and Mackenzie was sick of it. Neither of the two girls would ever respond with anything other than fine, so why did she bother?

          Maddie was the first to respond, “Actually, it was pretty good. There was this really easy…”

          As Maddie spoke for what seemed like hours about her day, Mackenzie let out a little sigh of relief; starting at lunch, her day had gone from bad to worse.

Flashback

          Once Tyler’s friends sat down at the girls’ table, they instantly began bombarding Grace with questions because if they got Grace to talk on the first Tuesday of every month, Ava promised them each a dollar. So far they were still going strong.

          “Are you going to the Valentine’s Day Dance?” Tyler’s “second in command” Ryan asked.

          Mackenzie’s eyes flickered up from her lunch to glance at both of her best friends. Ava had a mix of astonishment and sadness shown in her hazel eyes, and Grace wore a devilish grin. Was that Ryan’s way of asking a girl to a dance?

          Grace laughed before responding, “Are you going, Ry?”

          Ryan grunted in reply while everyone else at the table laughed; Grace had used Ryan’s old nickname from kindergarten and she knew her hated it.

          But her statement did seem valid to Mackenzie. There was only one girl in the entire school who thought of Ryan as a decent person, and that was Ava. Other than Ava, Mackenzie didn’t know anyone who would go on a date with him. Ryan was known for being a huge jerk and a player after dating four girls at once in sixth grade. The only think that kept him from being bullied was the fact that Tyler was his best friend, and he was nearly six feet tall.

          “What about you? Kenz, Ava,” Tyler questioned, shooting Mackenzie a lopsided smile that made her heart melt.

          “Oh, I don’t know if I’m going,” Ava said with a shrug.

          “I have dance,” Mackenzie muttered; dance was her excuse for everything, but Ava wasn’t buying it.

          “Didn’t you say you weren’t going to a competition the day of the dance?” She asked.

          Mackenzie felt warmth creeping up to her cheeks, “Er…yeah, I forgot about that.”

          Tyler lightly punched her on the shoulder as he laughed, causing Mackenzie to nearly choke on her turkey sandwich.

          “What are we going to do with you, Kenz?”Tyler’s other friend, Isaac said.

          Mackenzie couldn’t help but smile. It was true; she was always forgetting things: her dance bag, hair ties, homework, extra clothes at sleepovers-which wasn’t fun because she was so short. You name it, Mackenzie forgot it.

          The friends talked for a bit before the warning bell rang, signaling that here were only three minutes left in lunch. Ryan and Isaac took everyone’s trash because they had to put back their trays anyway. The other four packed up and slowly made their way toward the exit of the cafeteria. They knew that if you wanted to get to class on time you had to leave when the warning bell rang.

          Ava, Grace, Ryan, and Isaac headed one way for P.E. while Tyler and Mackenzie went back to their lockers. Once the others were out of earshot, Tyler grabbed Mackenzie’s shoulder, “Can I talk to you for a second?”

          Mackenzie nodded and quickly ran her hand through her hair, hoping it looked good. She hadn’t had time to fix her after class because Mr. Watterson had kept her late.

          “So…” Mackenzie said, trying to fix her hair one last time. When she tried to pull her hand out she felt a sharp yank. Her hand was stuck.

          “You okay, Mackenzie?” Tyler asked.

          She smiled; Tyler had used her full name. Usually that annoyed her but when he said it, she felt special. But then she remembered what had happened just a few seconds before.

          “Um…I have to go.”

          Mackenzie hurriedly turned away from Tyler. And ran.

End Flashback

          “…and Gino asked me to the dance!” Maddie finished describing day with a smile.

          Mackenzie frowned. Perfect Maddie with her perfect dancing, and perfect boyfriend, and perfect life. Why couldn’t her sister let her have the spotlight for once?

          “What about you, Kenzie?”

          She sighed and rested her head in her hands.

          “Fine, Mom,” She said. “It was fine,”