let her go ; jenzie

14. | i'd rather not tell the whole world

MACKENZIE ZIEGLER stood nervously in the centre of the room, feeling nauseous. every single eye in the room was trained on her, waiting for her to embarrass herself or maybe collapse. ah, that would be quite a story. a ziegler fainting because she was weak. perfect to add to her reputation. avoiding that train of thought, she noticed ria kingston on the far left, but she wasn't even auditioning. lily must've let her in.

"oh, fuck you lily," mackenzie muttered to herself, feeling the corner of her mouth turn up slightly. she didn't know why, but the more lily chee pissed her off, the more mackenzie liked her. it was strange really, but maybe it was because lily's attitude screamed she didn't give a fuck about anything.

"so, mackenzie," madison said, her face full on poker straight. "what little act have you prepared for us?"

"i.. i, uh, i'm gonna be singing dancing on my own," madison nodded once and began scribbling furiously on her clipboard. mackenzie wondered if she did that to make people nervous. it sure as heck did work on her.

"hm, interesting. any reason why?" madison drawled, twirling a strand of hair. jack kelly, her ex, was another one of the judges, and he was staring at madison's lips, completely unaware of his surroundings. if it made madison uncomfortable, she most certainly didn't show it.

madison rested her head on her hand, looking intrigued. it took all of mackenzie's willpower to not walk to the blonde and punch her in the face. wasn't she just crying in her arms about orlando boy around a week ago? this is what you call bipolar, mackenzie thought bitterly.

"it's perfect for people like me," mackenzie said through gritted teeth, forcing a smile onto her face. it must be amusing, seeing her younger sister struggle. negativity flooded mackenzie's mind, ruling over all the happiness she contained several moments ago.

"and why is that, may i ask?" madison smiled, her voice sugary sweet. mackenzie didn't know what she was getting at, maybe the older girl did it for her reputation? a dare? or a test to see how strong her baby sister was?

"i'd rather not tell the whole world," the brunette shot, "we're all looking at you here, kingston," the said girl blushed slightly and shrugged, tucking her phone away, implying 'and you were saying?"

"ahem," madison coughed pointedly, shooting ria a dirty look, "you may begin."

mackenzie took a deep breath, and began to sing. her voice was stunning, a pleasure for anyone to hear. power and confidence filled her voice, quite unlike the girl she secretly was. she was in her own little world, only she existed as she sang her heart out, no one could extinguish the feeling she had.

all too soon it ended, much to everyone's disappointment. as mackenzie was the last audition, people headed towards the door, ready to leave. it was tiring, standing up for quite a while, but seeing as it was a chance to skip a bit of school, most took the audition day to their advantage.

everyone chatted animatedly, and lexi jayde was about to pull on the door handle when johnny orlando came crashing through the door.

"sorry," the green-eyed boy whispered breathlessly, his hair messy, a tiny smear of lipstick on his bottom lip. "do i still have time to audition?"

• • •

－ author's note.

updates are slightly slower now, but i'll try to update at least twice a week.