one-shots ⇝ jenzie

F 0 R T Y - N I N E

THIS IS A PART TWO FOR CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE'S ONE-SHOT, "PEN PALS".

❝ the meeting ❞
third person's point of view

time skip to june, a week before
the school year ends

it had been months ever since mackenzie wrote that first letter to the stranger named johnny orlando. not much had changed, although johnny did turn eleven during that time. she sent him a long birthday letter along with a drawing of a cake. mrs. ives, who had to read all the letters before giving them to mrs. marsh, found it very sweet. all the students in her class had bonded quite well with their pen pals, but something about johnny and mackenzie's friendship was special.

now, there was only a week of school left before mackenzie was done with fifth grade. she was very excited that summer was coming soon. she could finally spend her days swimming in her pool and dancing in her backyard, and she was going on a trip to mexico which was bound to be very fun.

that day, mrs. ives arrived in the class with a huge smile etched on her face. she quickly announced to the class that she had excellent news.

"what are they?" ruby asked eagerly.

"well, i've arranged with mrs. marsh a fun activity so you can meet your pen pals!"

the whole class cheered. at the beginning of the year, they were all skeptical of the whole pen pal thing, but it turned out to be very fun.

"when will we meet them?" mackenzie asked.

she was very happy that she was going to meet johnny. he was so nice and always took interest in everything she told him in her letters. she had a feeling they were going to become amazing friends.

"you will get to meet them not tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow, so wednesday! i've arranged with mrs. marsh a fun day at the park next to our schools!"

again, a chorus of cheers could be heard throughout the classroom. mrs. ives was very happy that all her students were ecstatic about meeting their pen pals considering how much time she spent planning everything. she handed out a form that each parent needed to sign so their kid could go spend the day at the park.

that night, mackenzie handed the form solemnly to her mom, melissa.

"well, what is this?" she asked.

"it's a form you need to sign so i can go to the park and meet johnny," mackenzie chirped.

"johnny as in your pen pal? is the whole class going?"

mackenzie nodded as she ate popcorn out of a bowl. her mom smiled and signed the sheet.

let's just say mackenzie had difficulty sleeping the next two nights because of how excited she was.

∗

it was finally wednesday. it seemed as if the time went by slowly those two previous days. mackenzie jumped out of bed and immediately opened her drawers. she wanted to look pretty today. this was a special occasion!

she slipped on a bright yellow dress, one that she only wore when she went to her friends' birthday parties, and she even put on peace-sign earrings and a dab of lipgloss. she brushed her hair lightly. her thick brown locks were all over the place, so she breaded them agilely into two french braids.

she then headed downstairs where she was greeted by her mom.

"well don't you look pretty today! you wanna look nice for johnny?" melissa teased, knowing her daughter would instantly deny it.

"nuh-uh!" mackenzie shook her head as she poured milk in her cereal bowl.

her mom simply chuckled lightly as she watched mackenzie eat her cereals at lighting speed.

"woah, there, tiger," maddie, who had just arrived downstairs, commented. "you don't wanna throw up on your boyfriend, do you?"

"i don't have a boyfriend!" mackenzie protested, a thin line of milk above her upper lip. "he's my friend, and his name is johnny."

"friend. sure," maddie smirked.

the younger girl pouted and continued eating her breakfast.

she could barely sit still during the bus ride to school, and she was barely listening when mrs. ives told them to look both sides of the road when crossing it.

and then finally, they had arrived at the park. they all put their lunchboxes on picnic tables and ran towards the playgrounds. a couple minutes later, mrs. marsh's class arrived.

mrs. ives called her class. the students all rushed towards the other class and searched for their pen pal.

mackenzie looked at all the strangers in search of a boy with light brown hair and emerald eyes. she noticed one boy who seemed to be standing farther away from everyone else, his head looking at the ground. she walked towards him.

"are you looking for your pen pal?" she asked.

he lifted his head, and she noticed he had green eyes that sparkled in the sun.

"ya. her name is mackenzie, but i call her kenzie. do you know her?"

she giggled, but she was a little starstruck by how... cute johnny was. he was really cute.

"it's me, you dummy!" she exclaimed.

johnny's eyes lit up as he observed the brunette girl with a huge grin on her face. she was wearing a yellow dress that made her look like a ray of sunshine. she was also quite short compared to him.

"well, it's nice to meet you, kenzie," he said as he extended his hand.

"oh, come on, we're not gonna shake hands like boring adults," she laughed as she jumped in his arms.

he was taken aback by the hug, but he ended up wrapping his hands around her back too.

they then pushed away from the embrace and looked at each other with stars in their eyes. both of them had never felt that tingly sensation before.

"well, what are we doing? let's go play! i'll show you what an aerial is!" she cheered as she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the grass.

from a bench a couple meters away, mrs. ives and mrs. marsh were looking at the girl in the yellow dress and the boy with the green eyes play together, and they couldn't help but to smile.

"you know, beverly, i think we might have done something," mrs. ives said as she looked at mrs. marsh.

"i think we did, jane," beverly responded with a smile on her face.

i guess johnny and mackenzie can both thank sophia birlem for that.

one-shot by jamiethewriter
this is really rough, but you all asked for a part two of my previous one-shot so here it is! i hope you enjoyed it! also, if you caught the IT and stranger things references, you're a real one ;)

word count: 1132