Call Me Crazy

I peaked around the corner and spotted Mackenzie at her locker, surrounded by a few other blonds. I walked past, trying to look inconspicuous, but my damn shoes squeaked. She looked up, curious, but upon noticing me, she just scoffed and said something to her posse. They laughed, a high nasally sound. I rolled my eyes, and before I walked away I took notice of her locker number. Check, I thought with a smirk.

I walked into homeroom with the smirk still on my face, and sat down next to Alexis. She looked at me skeptically but I shrugged it off. I was still in my own world. I began to think of the things Mackenzie hated: chipmunks, squirrels, being alone, not looking nice, and apparently, me.

So how could I incorporate that all into one scheme? Bingo.

“Hey, Niki, the bell rang,” a female voice called me from my thoughts, “you all right?”

“Yes, I am,” I stated evilly, smiling up at Alexis.

“Do I want to know?” she asked as we walked from the room.

“Actually, yeah, you do,” I said before walking to math. Kevin greeted me once inside the room. I gave him a smile, not an evil one, and sat down. I didn’t plan on informing him of my revenge. The only reason I was involving Alexis was because there was no way I could pull this off on my own. It would require much more thought than I have given it so far, and another mind to spot any holes in the plan. Over all, I was an evil genius.

“Well I talked to Ben,” Kevin said to me, looking calm. Maybe that meant it was good news, “He apologizes for acting the way he did, and he wants to talk to you.”

“Oh, ok,” I stuttered, “That’s good then,” I added with a smile. It truly was good. That meant I had one less problem to deal with, and more of my time could be focused on the Mackenzie thing.

Kevin opened his mouth to say more, but Mr. Carson began talking. Something about numbers, I didn’t really know, but then, it was math class, so I’d assume numbers would have something to do with it. Either way, I tuned him out and began to sort some things out.

***

By the time lunch rolled around, I had sat through one period plus homeroom of Mr. Stewart, who made no effort to hide his dislike of me, one period of endless numbers, and two periods with Mackenzie glaring at me. Her dislike for me only will make my revenge ever so sweeter.

“Did you see Mr. Cole’s face?” Kevin shrieked at me on our way to lunch. I found it amazing how Kevin could be the supportive person you needed and then switch off to complete goof ball. It made him even more fun to be around.

“I know!” I laughed, “He was completely dumbstruck!”

“I swear that ball just bounced off of his face, wiping off the ‘Mr. Drill sergeant’ act,” he added, starting to calm down. I let out a last chuckle as we reached our little group. Alexis and John looked up at us expectantly.

“Dude, what’s so funny?” John asked, raising his eyebrow. Kevin took this opportunity to sit down and retell the story about how our gym teacher got hit during dodge ball. I shook my head and sat down next to Ben.

“Hey,” I said calmly, glancing casually over at him. He looked deep in thought, his black hair hanging to his shoulders, and his eyes looking far into the distance. When he didn’t reply I let out a small sigh and looked in the opposite direction. We stayed in this silence for a while, listening to an animated Kevin talking to John and Alexis, as well as the conversations of many others in the courtyard.

“Hey,” Ben’s voice came, breaking the silence. I looked over at him; he was still staring off, but he seemed more grounded this time. “I’m sorry for acting like a douche,” he continued, “And I hope we can start over,” he finished, turning to look at me. His hazel eyes boring into mine. I had never gotten such a close look at them before. The around the pupil, the color was almost gold, but faded to a grayish green around the edges.

I swallowed, “Ok,” I finally said, letting my smile show. I could tell there was something he wasn’t telling me, but I wasn’t going to push it. I had just gotten him to apologize and things were looking up. I wasn’t going to ruin that.

“So, why did you move away from here in the first place?” he asked causally. I chuckled and he looked confused.

“You aren’t the first person to ask me that,” I stated.

“Who else did?” he asked, furrowing his brow.

“Adam,” I said nonchalantly, but he tensed.

“Oh, about that…” he started, but I cut him off.

“He was not flirting with me! I repeat: N. O. T.” I said defensively, “Why does everyone keep insisting that he likes me!”

“I wasn’t going to say that, but now that you mention it,” he teased. I hit him lightly on the shoulder. It didn’t even faze him, “And you didn’t answer my question.”

“Fine. My dad got a new job there so we moved. Simple as that,” I said, faking impatience. He smirked, and opened his mouth to say something, but the next words that entered my ears were not his.

“So you are a whore!” I looked up to glare at Mackenzie. Her comment had not only grasped my attention, but it had torn Kevin, John, and Alexis from their conversation. “You still can’t keep away from all the guys,” she said snidely, directing the comment at Ben.

I tensed and began to stand up, but Ben laid his hand on my shoulder, keeping me sitting. Mackenzie laughed a malice laugh and stalked off, her group of blonds following her. We stayed silent for a minute, before John broke the silence.

“She’s such a bitch!” he exclaimed. Alexis laughed at this, but leaned to me with a serious face.

“She’s so in for it,” she whispered in a low tone.

“I’m way ahead of you,” I said with a smirk. Realization dawned on her and a knowing smile appeared on her face. The bell rang and we stood up to leave.

“I like the way you think,” she added before we parted ways.