𝑻𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒐 ~ 𝐞. 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧

PROLOGUE

Wrong.

Mr Woodsburgh caught them not ten steps past the classroom, Jack's lame excuses that had gone from awkward to absolutely outrageous certainly had not helped their case. And Mackenzie had made a mental note, to never ever trust him again with anything ever again (and she made mental note to always overthink her people judgement because it clearly was very flawed). Because though he was undeniably a trickster and mischief maker, he was an absolutely dreadful one. Not super chill and cool at all when it came down to it.

Well and here they were.

Because the dumb wanker just couldn't take a fucking no and she obviously had issues handling him.

As if to prove her right, he grabbed her arm and started forcefully dragging her through the crowd and over the threshold of the pub.

Surprisingly, nothing happened. There was no thunder or lightning. Certainly, no one kicked them out or even spared them so much as a second glance. Still, Macks was a ball of anxious anticipation because surely, this could not be it.

Mackenzie found herself once more wishing she had simply stayed at home. Even going as far as to question why she had started up a conversation with Jack when they'd been assigned as partners in a discussion about the Pope and Rome in the first place. She'd have known better; never trust people that wear shirts with equations on them. Ever. The amount of stress her body was suffering through definitely could not be healthy.

Then she remembered what home indicated and didn't feel half as bad for herself as before. This wouldn't be too bad if her parents never found out about it. If anything, it would spare her from potentially more stress if everything went well. But if not...

Well, her father would surely kill her and her mum.... her mum would be ten times worse.

Maybe it was a good thing after all that they had walked ages instead of just visiting a bar in Framlingham town. The chance of running into someone that worked with her mother or her father or knew them would have been more likely back there and sore feet in comparison seemed a small price to pay.

If nothing else, maybe she could admit that there was more than draught in Jack's brain.

Maybe.

She still couldn't help but feel paranoid and just not like this overall situation. There were a lot of shifty variables which made it feel like (and very likely that) disaster was waiting just around the corner and Mackenzie wasn't eager to find it, although she had gotten herself into this willingly.

God, when had she become so stupid?

"Come on, they are waiting," Jack stressed, pulling her arm and not so gently pushing her forward.

He seemed to be immune to her death glare. Clearly, too excited to care.

First time in a pub, and Mackenzie was already more than ready to leave. Not that Jack would have any of it, her arm was firmly grasped in his hand as he continued directing them through the room. Mackenzie couldn't see where he was leading them, nor much of what the pub looked like apart from the wooded mahogany floor. She was too busy hiding as much of herself behind hair and hoodie as she could. They were in the bar, yes but they could be thrown out any second.

And by the feeling this place was giving her, Macks couldn't even be entirely sure if she would be really opposed to that.

Way too soon, and before they could be thrown out, they seemed to have reached their destination as Jack came to an abrupt halt.