"you, are the stupidest idiot i've ever seen," nadia fumed as she dragged mackenzie by the ear, ignoring her yelps of pain as she scrabbled as the queen bee's hands.

"my ear is going to get torn off if you continue pulling at me," mackenzie complained, skidding to a stop when nadia turned to face her furiously.

"what are those ears for if you don't even listen to me when i told you not to do stupid stuff?" nadia crossed her arms as she eyed mackenzie, "guess what the whole school is saying now? mackenzie ziegler the slut just stole sophia birlem's boyfriend. and most of them support her, not you. a few more days like this and there's gonna be a hate campaign about you,"

"she's called sophia?" mackenzie wrinkled her nose, "that's a terrible name, she should be called hoephia"

"that's not the f**king point," nadia knocked mackenzie on the head none to gently, sending her reeling backwards, "i know revenge tastes amazing, but this is definitely not the way to do it,"

"i know, i've thought about it yesterday night and realised that it was pretty dumb," mackenzie sighed, "look, what kind of person am i becoming? i don't even know anymore,"

"remain as the mackenzie ziegler i chose as my best friend, please," nadia patted mackenzie on the head like a child, "i still love you, but i'm worried for you,"

"i can't nads, i don't see the point in living my life the way i want anymore," mackenzie rubbed her temples tiredly.

"and what you did yesterday just made it worse," nadia pursed her lips, before narrowing them as she peered behind mackenzie's shoulders, "talk of the devil, look who's here,"

spinning around, mackenzie cursed under her breath as she caught sight of sophia stalking towards her, looking enraged.

"oh frickity frack, nads, hide me," mackenzie groaned as she grabbed nadia and pulled her in front of sophia.

"i don't think so, you made this mess, so you are going to face it on your own," nadia wrinkled her nose as she gave mackenzie a huge shove, causing her to spiral into sophia's path. cussing, mackenzie turned around to give nadia the finger as she flashed her a thumbs up.

. . .

"what did you just say?" mackenzie narrowed her eyes at sophia as she crossed her arms, throwing back her head. she had been trying to 'solve the problem' like what nadia had told her to do, but the things that sophia was saying were triggering her so bad that she just couldn't take it anymore.

"stay away from him," sophia warned again, while mackenzie scoffed.

"stay away from him? who are you to tell me what i should and should not do?" mackenzie laughed, guilt prickling her as she remembered what she had sworn - to stop liking johnny. why was she still acting so protective?

"i'm his girlfriend,"

"woah, big deal, darling,"

"just get away from him, you slut," sophia snarled as she bunched her hands up into fists.

slut? mackenzie gritted her teeth. she hated that word. she hated how everyone kept referring to her with that word.

"i'm not a slut, shut up," mackenzie spat, her vision turning red gradually.

"you don't deserve him, he deserves someone better,"

"you don't know half the things that i have been through!" mackenzie yelled, way past her breaking point as she walked right up into sophia's face, before continuing,"you don't know anything, so back off, bitch! he's mine, and mine only,"

she could only watch as sophia's eyes flashed as she lifted her hand towards mackenzie's face. not another slap. she was getting quite a lot of those recently. she winced as she put up her own hands to ward off the slap, only to look down, confused.

sophia's hand didn't land on mackenzie's face at all. instead, almost dramatically, she yelled out in pain as she crumpled into a heap on the floor. mackenzie frowned. what was she playing at again? this must be one of her ploys. sighing, she regarded sophia suspiciously, debating whether to help her, when a cough interrupted her thoughts.

mackenzie spun around, biting her lips when she caught sight of johnny walking towards both of them. she was always bumping into him everywhere. since the catastrophe the previous day, she had not seen him yet. controlling her emotions as her heart gave an involuntary thump, mackenzie forced a smile.

"what happened here?" johnny asked, as he looked at both of them, raising his eyebrows. mackenzie's heart rose to the top of her throat. if he found out what she had said to sophia, she would be dead for sure.

stammering nervously, she failed to catch sight of the glint in sophia's eyes.

"johnny, help me. i was just trying to find out what happened yesterday, but mackenzie pushed me," sophia laid awkwardly on the floor as she sniffed, turning her big doe-like eyes towards johnny while clutching her ankle.

mackenzie widened her eyes. since when did she ever touch sophia? that scheming bitch. she must have caught sight of johnny and decided to make mackenzie the scapegoat in order to cover up her actions. clenching and unclenching her hands, mackenzie sighed. she was never going to be able to explain this.

"mackenzie pushed you?" johnny turned to mackenzie, "why would you do that?"

"i did not ever push her," mackenzie retorted fiercely as she glared at sophia, causing her to burst into tears.

"look, john, she's denying it again, i-" sophia started, but was cut off as mackenzie stepped forward and tugged at her roughly, pulling her up as she steadied herself.

"there you go, good as new. stop faking that others pushed you if you didn't even get an injury," mackenzie dusted her hands off, eyeing sophia beadily.

"john, she-" those torrents of tears came again as mackenzie wrinkled her nose. sophia was a good actress, too bad it wasn't going to work on johnny.

or so she thought. mackenzie felt a gush of jealously shoot through her veins as she watched johnny walk forward, "do you wanna go to the nurse?"

"it's alright," sophia sniffled, while mackenzie pursed her lips. if she heads to the nurse's office, she would be exposed for sure.

"well, then you should head to class first. i need to talk to mackenzie," johnny waved at sophia awkwardly, while mackenzie looked on coldly as sophia gave her a fierce glower.

. . .

"what grudge do you have against sophia?" johnny crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall lazily.

"a grudge?" mackenzie scoffed, tugging back her hair. so he didn't believe her. "i do not have a grudge against her,"

"then what did she do to you?" johnny frowned, standing up straight as he looked at mackenzie intently.

"what did she do to me?" she took you away from me, she destroyed all the chances we ever had, mackenzie thought savagely as she bit down on her tongue, hard, "she didn't do anything,"

"then why? why are you doing," johnny spread out his hands, "all these?"

"doing what? you tell me what i'm doing," mackenzie walked up to johnny, poking her finger into his chest harshly as her temper rose.

"acting like this. going around kissing all the boys, touching them," johnny cursed, brushing his hand through his hair. he was getting all angry for nothing.

"you think i'm easy?" mackenzie raised her voice as she stared at him incredulously, "why do you even care?"

"i never said that," johnny and her were just inches apart as they yelled into each other's faces.

"then what do you mean? gods, i'm just doing it for-" you. mackenzie broke off halfway, feeling the first of tears clouding her vision as she continued lamely, "i'm just doing it for him,"

"him?" johnny narrowed his eyes, "who is he?"

it's you. it's always you. mackenzie brushed away the pearls of water dripping down her face harshly. she mustn't cry in front of him.

"why care now?" mackenzie choked, "just-just leave me alone,"

"who is he." johnny clenched his teeth.

"it's just him! it's always been him! he's funny, kind, smart, talented, and he'll never ever notice me," mackenzie swallowed as she looked into johnny's deep green eyes. will he get the hint?

"how could he not notice you?" johnny creased his eyebrows, "you are-"

"he just won't, okay?" mackenzie didn't even know why she was getting so angry, "i've liked him for five f**king years, and he never ever realised,"

"but-" johnny started to speak, but mackenzie shook her head despondently as she adjusted her clothes wearily.

"you are so blind sometimes, john. you are so f**king blind. i'm done now. i'm done with everything," mackenzie smiled bitterly. she would just have to learn how to cope with it. it might take days, months, years even. but before she knew it, it would just be a memory buried in her heart.

"mackenzie, i-" johnny reached out to touch her shoulders, but mackenzie jumped back before his fingertips could graze her skin.

"don't follow me, please, that's the last thing i'll ever ask from you," mackenzie sighed as she turned around and walked down the hallways, her figure disappearing into the crowds.

. . .

johnny paused as he stared at the letter which was scrunched up from holding it so tightly during his conversation with mackenzie, hovering his hands above the bin uncertainly. he could see the words peeking out from the top of the paper.

dear mackenzie,

johnny turned away. it didn't matter anymore.

but he still slipped the letter into his pocket as he stalked off to his next lesson.

. . .

it hurts.

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qotd - how much do you rate school?
i rate it 3 -_-