Mackenzie | √

Chapter 22

He wrapped his arms around me.

And I buried my head deep in his chest, holding on to his muscled arm as I cried. I was meant to push him away. I wanted to yell at him​. Tell him to leave me alone, but, there was something about the way he held me, something about the way it felt in his arms. Something the way I felt in his arms. I felt protected. I felt. . . secure, but I shouldn't be comfortable, in fact, I was crazy. Crazy to be in his arms when I knew that in school the next day, he was going to probably tease me.

"It's okay," he said in my ear, voice cracked and raw, "Stop crying."

I sniffed and pulled away from his embrace, ignoring the feeling that came over me as soon as I stepped away from his arms. I couldn't bear to stand there another minute, I needed to leave as fast as I could. I sniffed and turned to walk away, his behavior to me in school the next day would determine if he deserved a thanks or not. I had to go home, bawl my eyes out and finally, fall asleep again.

"Mackenzie."

I stopped dead in my tracks. Wondering what he had to say, I took a deep breath before finally turning around. I couldn't trust my voice and so I didn't say anything, I just stood there, looking at him, waiting for him to say what he had to say, but instead, I saw him taking long strides towards me. When he got to me, he looked at me for a while, and when I realized I was staring into his eyes, his beautiful eyes, may I add, I looked away immediately.

I felt his fingers brush against my cheek and that was when I figured out there were still tears rolling down my cheeks. I looked back up at his face and stared into his eyes as he wiped my tears, his eyes held a lot of emotion, emotions I never thought I'd see.

*

"Don't forget. Your big test comes up next week!" Mrs Martinez said as she walked out of the class that morning. She would never tell us the day, she'd just say that it was next week. But the good thing was that it was never on Monday.

"Yes, Mrs Martinez." Everyone grumbled, packing their books to leave the class.

Tanner remained seated and a very little part of me wondered why. I hadn't looked at him throughout the class today, no matter what he did . He tried to grab my attention, though. He kept on tapping his pencil on his desk, looking for a reaction from me, but the truth was that, I didn't have it in me at that moment to tell him to stop, so as I always did, I let the noise disturb me.

"Mackenzie." I looked up to see Jesse walking towards me, smiling.

"Jesse! Hey." I smiled back at him.

"How are you today?"

"Fine, thanks." I smiled, already kind of knowing what he wanted to ask about, "Bambi, right?"

He smiled and ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah. Actually, I haven't seen her all day, I was wondering if she's okay."

"Yes, she is. I rode with her this morning."

He seemed relieved, "Okay, thanks." He started to walk away.

"Mackenzie?" Tanner called, but at the same time Jesse turned back and said, "Mackenzie."

"Yeah?", I answered to no one in particular, not knowing who to answer of course, but then Jesse started to talk and I saw Tanner glare at him, but he didn't seem​ to notice.

"Are you and Bambi hanging out after school today?"

I smiled, "No, not today."

"Right." He nodded, smiling. "Thanks". He turned back to walk away, leaving Tanner and I alone.