Flirting With Death

Chapter 1

I woke up to the sound of my own loud, heavy breathing and thunder. I could faintly see the lightening through my window. After staring at it for a while, I became so bored, I started to count the seconds until the next lightening strikes.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10...

And there it goes.

I turn my head to take a quick look at the time, only to see it was far too early for me to be awake.


5 a.m.

I shift onto my other side, when I could've sworn I saw a figure standing at the end of my bed. Instead of illuminating my room to clarify that what I'd seen was only there due to my lack of sleep, I lazily shake it off and try to go back to sleep.

My eyes seemed to be drifting after a few moments of keeping account of the weather. I was slowly fading away when a loud boom of thunder shook my window, clearly scaring the living everything out of me.

But after that boom, the thunder stopped, which left only the sound of the rain, pitter pattering on my window, helping me fall back asleep.

***

"Hey, Mackenzie, where were you saturday? I thought we were going to watch Catching Fire! I was so excited to watch it and you ditched me! Some kind of friend you are!" Clark dramatically lectured me, almost tripping on the sidewalk in the process.

Instead of resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I do so, while continuing to walk in a faster pace than him.

"Mackenzie! Mackenzie! Will you slow down and just answer me? You're so damn moody. Are you PMS-ing?"

"Calm down, Clark, I had to babysit for the Palmers again." I managed to get out without losing my temper.

Clark and I have only known each other since Sophomore year, but I've never been as close to anyone as I am to Clark. Even though we are total and complete opposites. In any other situation, he may be too perky for my taste.

I kept my head down on the rest of the way to school, staring at the uneven sidewalk and making sure I don't step on any cracks while I'm at it. I remember when I used to do that when I was a kid, making sure that I never step on a crack that could possibly injure my mothers back. I smile at the memory and continue dragging my feet towards school.

Ahh, school.

What a wonderful place.

Not.

Don't get me wrong, it's not because I'm completely failing every class. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I have a 3.7 GPA; trying to get into University is not easy if you have a crappy GPA.

And trust me, I really, really want to get into University of Chicago.



And I will.


But senior year didn't seem to mark the end of anything, or the start of anything like it did for all my peers. Instead, it felt like any other year dragging along.


The beginning of November had quickly arrived and people were still recovering from their latest Halloween scares. I personally loved Halloween; not only do you get to dress up like someone you're not, but you also get food. Bonus.

Clark and I still go trick-or-treating every year, despite our age, we act very much like the scattered children begging for candy. In other words: we're not very mature.

"So, did you hear what happened in Mr. Tivan's class?" Clark asked, probably knowing I didn't have a clue what he was about to tell me. Although Clark was a perky person, he still had a smooth, low voice, which for some reason had all the ladies swooning.

I responded with a blunt no, as I made my way inside the school to the emptiest wing in our school; which, of course, had my locker all the way at the end. I've had this locker for the past three years, but not once had I requested to be moved to a more convenient space.

I actually loved my locker; since no one really dared to come to this side of the school because of the "Loc Nessly Monster" curse. Creative, since our school name is Nessly High, I know. It really didn't have anything to do with the Loc Ness Monster, but the brain dead idiots who decided to start this rumor thought it was clever.

Huh, go figure.

Anyway, it wasn't really even a curse. It's just bad luck, juju, whatever you want to call it.

But I'm alive so far so it can't be that bad. But people do call me Loc Ness now because I'm the only one still in that hall. I'm surprised Clark even agrees to walk me there everyday, but he doesn't pay any attention to the name calling. Mostly because he doesn't get called names.

He's the popular one in this relationship, not me.

I could see him giving head nods to all the pretty girls in the halls, and you could hear their fan-girling giggles echo down the hall.

"Well, Scott Jay was caught cheating on the History test, but that's not even the worst part. When he was caught, he got up and started ranting at the girl who helped him copy, which, by the way, was his ex-girlfriend."

I gasped, "Sally? No way."


"No, not that one, the other one."


"Oh, Jane. I never really liked her."

"Psh, who does." We both burst into a fit of laughter. I may not be a fan of school, but I'm all for the gossip; it's the only thing that kept this school alive.

I close my locker and start walking to the cafeteria, which is in the center of the entire school. I checked my phone, that was fortunate enough to survive the many falls it had encountered, and see that we still have a good fifteen minutes left until the first bell rings.

Clark opened the door to the cafe for me while attempting to do some sort of bow, which I had responded to with a very British thank you and a curtsy. We cackled on our way in, and it suddenly became ten times colder than it was in the hall.

My hands were immediately crossed on my chest, hold my arms and letting a shiver run up my spine.

"Jesus, it doesn't take a fortune to heat up the entire school. If you're going to heat one part, why don't you just heat the other along with it?" I complained, shuffling my feet to our usual table, which was small and round. My seat was pushed up against the wall, like it's always been, giving me the comfort of placing my feet up on the chair in front of me while Clark sat on the opposite side.

I looked around the cafe, and I saw a few people scattered around the different tables, chatting away their lives. It's not as full as it usually is because people usually decide to arrive at school five minutes before the bell rings.

But who can blame them? Not me.

"Hey, Clark?" My eyes roam to the other side of the table only to see Clark very obviously boring holes into another girl.

I kept my gaze fixated on him; with an arched eyebrow and a knowing smile taking over my face. I waited a few second until he turned around, and I could tell that he was annoyed by my expression from the way he rolled his eyes. I could also see a bit of the blush creeping its way onto his cheeks.

I grinned.

"Clark Simone Elk-" I was interrupted by a groan.

"I told you not to say my middle name in public."

"Shush, Simone. I saw you. You liiike her." I wiggle my eyebrows, earning a hearty laugh with a bitter ending.

"Hahaha, no." His smile quickly faded and a bored expression came over his face.

"What's got your panties in a twist? Did little Sarah Ralowski break your wittle heart?" I made a pouty face, sticking my bottom lip out and narrowing my eyebrows.

"No," he answered a bit too quickly. After a few moments of silence, I couldn't take it.

"Dude, seriously, what's wrong?" I puff out, along with a sigh.

"It's my mom."

My blood ran cold, and my heart dropped to the ground.

"Is there anymore news about her? What happened? Did they tell you anything?" I bombarded him with questions about his poor mother.

He didn't answer my question, he only smiled.

"They did it."


And that sentence was enough to send me to the moon.


I jumped out my seat, ecstatic to hear the results we've been been waiting for since the surgery. Running over to the other side of the table, shrieking my head off, I enveloped Clark in a big, bear hug, making him fly out of his seat and onto the ground.

We were still hugging, and I honestly felt like I would never let go.


"Wh-when, when did they tell you? H-how is she, where is she now?" I stumbled with my words, my face hurting from all my smiling.



I could feel peoples eyes on me but I didn't care.



"I-I got the call yesterday and you know how my mom had to go to California for the cancer-removal surgery? Well, they called me yesterday and-and they said it's gone," he grinned, and I could see tears brimming, "The cancer's gone, Mack. It's gone." A tear escaped my eye, and the urge to show him how happy I was for him and Mama Elk was never ending. I gave him another hug, and when I let go of him, I saw that he let some tears run down his face freely.



Then I swatted him on the arm.

He gave me a confused expression.


"You knew since yesterday, and you decided to tell me now?" I yell, giving him an irritated look.



"Actually, I was going to wait after school when you came over but...I just couldn't hold it in any longer!" He beamed and my heart soared with relief and happiness.



He had suffered for too long, and the fact that he has his mom back; his beautiful, loving mother, is too amazing.



Clark has two younger sisters; twins. Carly and Joanna were the sweetest little angels and they didn't deserve to lose their mother for this long. But now she's back, and now they can have exactly what they wanted. Someone to tuck them in at night and braid their hair for school.



They deserved their mother from the beginning, but breast cancer took her away from them. The evil that was spreading through her body kept two amazing kids from what they needed.



And their father. Well, their father didn't have a deadly disease as an excise for not being there. Before the twins were born, he was long gone; off with some younger brunette who probably didn't have much going for her, just like him.



So Clark had to take over everything. And I mean, everything, at such a young age.



I remember his face when he told me this story. He had a melancholy expression; the whole time, he tried to smile, but instead it looked like he was going to cry.



When Clark and I met sophomore year, he invited me over to his house to study and it was then he had slipped something out about his mother, resulting in the telling his entire story.



We've been the closest of friends since then, despite our social differences.




I started laughing even though some tears were still threatening to slide down my face again, and I glanced over at Clark, whose face was red from crying. He ran a hand through his chocolate brown hair, and raised both his eyebrows and his expression was almost indescribable.



It was almost as though he couldn't believe it was true.



I held his face gently, both hands positioned on his cheeks, almost making him look me in the eyes.


"Clark, it's happening. You're mom's coming home." I whispered, giving him a gentle smile.


"Yeah." It came out breathy, as if he was still trying to process it all in his brain.


I let go of his face and jumped up; a light bulb going off in my head.


"We should go celebrate! At, like, a club or something!"


He gave me an uneasy look.


"A club? Mack, you do realize you need to be twenty-one to get into a club, right?" He shoved his hands in the front pocket of his adidas and scuffed the heel of his sneakers on the floor. He let out a deep chuckle, and it's easy to see what all the girls see in him.


"No, remember that club that lets eighteen year old's go in there so long as they don't drink?" I said in a 'duh' tone, and he lifted an eyebrow, as if he was thinking it over.


"Even then, you're not eighteen yet, your birthday is still a while from now, smart one."


"It's only a week away," I said, even though I shouldn't be surprised that he didn't exactly know when my birthday was. We have only been friends for a couple of years.


"Oh, right! I forgot! It's the seventeenth, I'm so sorry! I kept thinking it was the twenty-first for some reason." He lifted his hand to his face and rubbed his temple softly.


I put a hand on his shoulder and chuckled softly, "It's alright, I don't expect you to remember it. But seriously," I backed away slowly when I heard the first bell ring, "We should go."

I grabbed my bag and gave Clark a last salute before heading to first period.



•• •• ••

Hope you like?
Don't worry, it's just the beginning.

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-Wazzi