Treehouse

one; jumping out of windows

"Earth to September. Do you hear me?"

"Huh?"

Mackenzie heaved a long sigh as she put her face in between her hands. We have been studying at each other's houses once a week ever since the 5th grade. The 5th grade was when life started to hit harder. It was when the pressure of making yourself into someone and something heightened. Mackenzie and I have known each other for much longer though. We both weren't sure about how we became friends. I guess it just happened naturally.

"Of course I heard you. Now would you just repeat whatever you said more slowly and detailed?" I mumbled, rubbing my forehead.

"Okay, well math can be fu-"

"Please don't say-"

"Fun," she blurted. Mackenzie took out her binder showing me the formula of how to find the distance of a line segment. She said to subtract both X coordinates from both points. Or is it adding? I couldn't comprehend.

"Mack, this is honestly useless. Just let me fail and be a stripper for the rest of my life!"

"One: I'm not going to let you fail. Two: if you focus more you will get it. And three: stripper really? Come on now. Working at Mcdonald's for the rest of your life sounds more promising," she said smirking.

"I can't do this," I murmured.

"Just focus."

"No matter how many times you tell me to focus, it's never going to change the fact that I physically can't, Mackenzie."

"You are stronger than your ADHD," Mackenzie hollered. She rubbed my shoulders as if she was prepping and hyping me up for a wrestling or karate tournament.

"Fatality," I over exaggerated a deep voice, earning a laugh from her.

She never liked to laugh much except for when she was around me. Mackenzie was never confident about herself and was always shy around others. I never understood why. She had dark, almost black, straight hair with piercing blue eyes. I had brown, tangled hair with dull brown eyes. She wore thick framed glasses and classy clothes. I threw on whatever smelled clean. She was a natural scholar. I had to work hard to barely even pass a class. She walked the earth with delicacy and precision. I was constantly ruining everything in my way. She was patient with me when I couldn't even put up with myself. She had goals. I was a waste a space. We were complete opposites but we understood each other.

"I just need to get this off my chest before giving you my undivided attention. It's been bothering me," I said.

"What is it?"

"Is it just me or does 'OK' look like a person sideways?"

"Someone save this child," Mackenzie pleaded. She rubbed her temples. "I thought it was a serious matter."

"When is it ever serious with me?"

"Point taken."

"On a serious note, I'm thirsty. Drinks?" I asked.

Mackenzie nodded in agreement. I got up from the floor that we were laying on and began leading the way downstairs. We began to make our way by foot to The Hideout, which was a local coffee shop only 5 minutes away. I ordered my usual latte while Mackenzie ordered green tea. We sat down at the lounge on black leather seats. The sound of small talk filled the air along with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

"So talk to me," Mackenzie said while adding sugar to her tea. I laughed at that because she acted as if we were old friends catching up.

"It's been rough with the newborn, you know," I played along, "Tim has been busy with work. It truly makes me feel like a single parent."

"Maybe he'll pull through. You have to have some faith."

"I know. How have you been doing?"

"I'm the CEO of Google, but you're ignorant and didn't know. Are we even friends? Are we just acquaintances?" She deadpanned.

~

After finishing our drinks, we headed back to my house. Mackenzie tried to continue our study session but I just couldn't cooperate. I reached for my phone in the back pocket of my jeans. Mackenzie rested her binder down onto the desk, clearly beginning to become impatient. She slightly glared at me for constantly getting distracted. I was only using my phone to check the time. It was 8:15 PM. I had always tended to usher her out in a hurry because I never knew whether or not my mother would come home with a bad mood. I wanted to protected Mackenzie from experiencing that side of her. Mackenzie had an idea of what my mother was like due to the fact that I told her everything and never kept anything from her. But she never knew the intensity of my mother's actions. And I never wanted Mackenzie to find out. I didn't want her worrying about me. I didn't want her pitying me. My mom just had "off" days.

"Mack you got to go. My mom's coming soon," I mumbled looking out the window. Right on cue, I saw headlights shining through the house as a car pulled into the driveway. I started to panick. "Go through the back door or something."

"That is unoriginal," she remarked. She fixed her glasses and tucked her black hair behind her ears. With one last look, she jumped out the window.

"NOOOOO!"

"September. We are on the first floor."

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