"so where is lover boy?"
mackenzie yelps, putting her hand over her heart as she attempts to catch her breath. an unfazed sage stares back at her, waiting for his question to be answered. at the moment, he's very pissed off with his so called "best friend" and is mad about having to find out about her new relationship status from the people gossiping about it in front of him during math class.
"are you trying to get me to have a heart attack!" mackenzie yells, still recovering from the fright of her life.
sage doesn't laugh or joke around, his expression hardens as he grabs her hand and drags mackenzie into an empty classroom, locking the door behind him, his grip on his backpack straps stay firm as he stands in front of her. she looks confused and nervous, for the first time ever, she looks scared of him. good. that's exactly what he wants.
"what's going on sage?" she quivers, gulping at the sight of the boy who currently looks like her best friend but isn't acting like him.
"i could ask you the same question mackenzie" he fires back. calling mackenzie by her first name is something sage hasn't done in a long time. he only ever calls her by her first name when he's really pissed and right now, he's exactly that.
mackenzie is clueless however. she has no idea why he's so mad at her. sure she didn't call him for the rest of the weekend but that seriously can't be why he's acting like this. sage may be overprotective and a little possessive but he'd never be this upset offer her not calling him.
"when were you going to tell me you had a boyfriend and when were you going to tell me that it was johnny fucking whorelando" he spits, furious at the thought of his sweet innocent kenzie swapping saliva with the schools bike. you know, because everyone rides him.
a clicking sound goes off in her head and suddenly it all makes perfect sense. she smiles, laughing only a little. she had forgot to tell sage about their deal and she can see why he'd be upset, having no idea that it was all fake. he must've been going out of his mind all morning.
"it's not funny!" he growls.
"no it is though, because you don't know the truth" she smiles, shaking her head.
sage furrows his eyebrows. why is she laughing? what truth? what the heck is going on?
"well then, please do enlighten me because i'm dying to know" he frowns, folding his arms. mackenzie extends her own arm, reaching out for sage.
the stubborn boy doesn't move although he wants to. rolling her eyes, mackenzie makes a move, tearing his arms away from each other and holding his hands in hers, using her thumb to stroke the back of his left hand.
"there's nothing going on between johnny and i. he repulses me really, but for now i have to tolerate him" she starts off, slowly so he can understand.
sage softens his expression finally but is still more than confused. what does she mean by that?
"johnny and i have a deal" mackenzie states, sitting on the desk behind her, her hands pulling sage along with her.
"what kind of deal?" he asks, his eyebrow raised is questions.
"i be his shadow for my paper and get all the information i need but only if i do something for him in return"
sage feels anger boil up inside of him as he takes what she said out of context. how dare that greasy rat think he can blackmail his best friend into sleeping with him all for the sake of a lousy english paper. scumbag.
"i'm going to kick his ass" sage roars, already stomping out of the room but mackenzie is fast this time, fast enough to stop him.
"it's not what you're thinking! it's my fault, i shouldn't have phrased it like that! i'm sorry, calm down" she rambles, wrapping her arms around him.
the instant contact with the smaller girl does calm him down and he wraps his own arms around her, letting out a deep breath.
"i'm pretending to be his girlfriend in public so nadia gets jealous to the point she wants him back. no real feelings involved, no extreme physical contact, no nothing inappropriate, okay? so i need you to not be mad and to trust me" mackenzie begs. the only person that can mess this up for her right now is sage and his overly protective nature.
the tall boy groans, not wanting to go along with this at all. but he'd do anything for mackenzie. she's like the little sister he's never had and the bestest friend he could ask for. so if it's that important to her then fine. he'll do it.
"it's not you that i don't trust" he confesses, pulling away from her grasp.
mackenzie frowns. she hates when he's upset and it's usually because she does dumb shit he doesn't like but this, this is next level dumb shit.
"sage, i promise i'll be fine, i have you looking out for me don't i?" she smiles, trying to lighten the mood.
he stifles a laugh, mackenzie's arms wrapping around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder. he leans his head against hers.
"always" he replies.
"does that mean you're okay with it?" she asks in hope that he'll say yes.
"i'm not okay with it, i never will be but if it's what you want and you're sure that you're not going to develop feelings for the douchebag then fine, i'll go along with it" he tells her.
mackenzie scoffs loudly.
"as if i'd ever have real feelings towards johnny orlando".
________________________________________________________________________
sage and kenzie's friendship
is so pure, fight me
