Coming to school the next day was nerve wracking; there was no telling on what could happen now. Sighing, I pulled my ponytail and into a messy bun before I entered my worst nightmare. Closing the doors behind me, I walked to my locker, unlocked it, and loaded my materials inside.
As soon as I locked up my locker, I turned to look for Dean and see if he was okay. Suddenly however, I felt someone wrap their arms around me from behind as soon as I was about let out a surprised scream; I felt a hand slap over my mouth. The person ran with me in their arms and strangely people were too occupied to even notice.
Once we made it to the Janitor’s closet, the person opened the door and threw me inside. I fell onto the floor with a shocked grunt and immediately picked myself up. Once I was standing, I was surprised to see it was Scott who had brought me here since I thought he just sat and wrongly watch the drama happen instead of stirring it up. “Scott?”
“McKenzie, I’m sorry for taking you like this but we need to talk,” Scott said to me as he crossed his arms and leaned against the door.
“No we don’t!” I snapped at him. “Now, please let me leave.”
“No, not until you hear what I have to say.” Scott insisted.
“Why would I?” I asked him as I crossed my arms. “You let Dean get beat up by your friends.”
“You really like him don’t you?” Scott wondered with a sigh.
“What?”
“McKenzie, you have feelings for him! I see the way he looks at you and the way you look at him, he was never that happy at least before—anyway, what I’m trying to say is, you need to stay away from him. I know you make him happy and all, but that needs to stop,” Scott snapped as he rolled his eyes. “I’m trying to protect you.”
“I don’t have feelings for him,” I denied even though something was stirring up inside of me, “and I’m not going to give up my friendship with him just because you cannot control your easily angered friends.”
“You have too McKenzie, Austen and Kale believe that he’s choosing you over us. Just let him have his friends back, ignore what you feel about him,” He retorted.
“I don’t…” But something was stopping me from continuing and I didn’t know what, blushing I glanced at the floor.
“Please McKenzie!” Scott urged. “If you really care about him, you’d do what’s best for him.”
Scott was wrong, letting Dean go back to his friends who’d probably end up shooting him if he angered them enough was a ridiculous idea. I’d never forgive myself if I let him actually do that; I love him too much—wait a second, did I--?
Suddenly, the door busted open and Scott immediately jumped away from the door. Caroline leaned against the door and raised her eyebrow, “What’s going on in here?”
Scott suddenly blushed, “I was uh—
“Come on McKenzie, let’s get you out here,” Caroline said to me as she pulled me out of the closet and slammed the door behind her. “Are you okay?”
Suddenly, the bell rung before I could reply and she continued, “I have to go, later McKenzie.” And with that, she departed. Sighing, I ran my fingers through my hair, collected my materials that were near my locker, and ran to Chemistry class.
As soon as I opened the door, Mrs. Rial was teaching something and she immediately stopped when she saw me. The whole class noticed this and turned towards me while I flushed. “You’re late,” My teacher pointed out with an irritated frown. “Why?” Some students must have realized that Mrs. Rial wasn’t an irritated person so now they were looking at her with puzzled eyes.
I guess everyone is not who they seem. “I uh, forgot something.”
Mrs. Rial tossed me an angry expression and sighed, “See me after class then. Now class like I was saying, hydrogen or H comes from…” Sighing as she went on, I closed the door behind me and sat in my seat. I was bit overwhelmed by the events that happened already.
I could also tell that Mrs. Rial is upset with me for saying Kale was involved with bullying Dean because the way she was acting was definitely off. Sighing I pulled a blank sheet of paper and copied all of the notes down.
After her lecture, she sent us off to do homework which she allowed us to work along with partner so now it was safe to talk. Sighing, I swirled around and saw Dean plopping in the seat next to me since the person who I believed sat there was absent. “Why were you late to class, that’s so unlike you?”
I blushed, “Well, I would have been on time if it wasn’t for Scott…”
“Scott?” Dean asked confused. “What—
“He dragged me towards the janitor’s closet and tried to persuade me to stop hanging out with you and let you hang with him. He also—”I immediately cut myself off and decided to leave the accusation of liking Dean to myself. “Uh actually, Caroline came to rescue me from him.”
Dean suddenly put his hand on mine and leaned closer to me until he was near my ear, “I promise I’ll make sure they’ll never bother you or hurt you again.” And once he was done speaking, he looked at me in the eyes and I looked right back. His green eyes were serious, worried, and caring.
I blushed at this and tightened my hand around his without thinking which caused me to flush big time and I immediately released my hand. Looking away, I realized something: I did have feelings for Dean whether I liked it or not.
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As soon as class was over, I took a deep breath, fixed my hair, and turned to see Dean toss me a reassuring smile which eased off the nervous just a bit. However, Mrs. Rial’s shocking anger wasn’t that easy to be eased off. Turning back, I picked up my materials and walked over to her desk.
As soon as I approached it, she wasn’t welcoming at all. In fact, she was scaring me with a creepy frown that showed she was extremely furious and that she wanted to punch me but she couldn’t. “Look,” She stated angrily as she crossed her arms, “I’m going to make this nice and simple. You are bullying Kale aren’t you?”
“What? No--
“Don’t you dare,” Mrs. Rial exclaimed furiously as she raised her arms in the air, “lie to me! I know you are bullying Kale and I need you to stay the hell away from him!”
“Mrs. R—
“Don’t you try to same my name in vain, you bit—McKenzie!” She retorted furiously as she suddenly grabbed onto my arm and pulled me closer to her. “Back off or I’ll get you expelled!”
“I—
“Don’t you say one word McKenzie,” She exclaimed viciously in face and I feel tears in my eyes, “or I’ll call the office right now missy!”
I was about to cry, I couldn’t believe how furious Mrs. Rial was. I never bullied Kale and things were just too off about her to make any sense. It was so strange, I’ve never seen with so much hatred and I never seen her call anyone by their first name except for Kale. It was almost….inhuman.
Gasping, I looked at Mrs. Rial’s face and her eyebrows were creased inward, a look she gave when she was furious and her lips were pursed. But her eyes…they was something off about her eyes. I fixated my eyes on hers and suddenly I remembered something:
If Dean couldn’t see the bracelet that my insecurity ghost made for me then how did Mrs. Rial find it? How did she see it and how could she touch it? Wait a second—oh my gosh! Mrs. Rial is the ghost that my insecurity ghost created!
Pulling my arm away from her, I cleared my throat and ran for it. As soon as I closed the door, I felt my heart beating so fast that I thought it was going to explode. Taking a deep breath, I told myself to calm down.
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As soon as I was putting my materials away and getting ready to go to the cafeteria, something occurred to me. Now that I realized I have feelings for Dean, I want what’s best for him. And since he’s my friend, I bet my insecurity ghost is going to use him against me.
Sighing, I knew what I had to do now. Dean has been telling the truth to me and I’ve been hiding the fact that I know how May had passed and now it’s time. Taking a deep breath, I closed my locker shut and locked it up. As I roamed around the halls, I was starting to have second thoughts.
What if he thought that I was crazy? What if he didn’t want be my friend anymore? But I had to try; the insecurities of what he’d think about me need to fade. When, I couldn’t find him in the halls, I decided to check the cafeteria as soon as I opened the doors, I spotted Dean texting at a random table.
I wanted to turn around and leave, but I had to do this once and for all. I had to protect him, I had to get rid of this awful feeling, I just had too. And with that, I walked straight up to him and he tossed me a smile. “Hey McKenzie, how did the talk with Mrs. Rial go?”
“It was horrible,” I replied with a sigh. “Mrs. Rial isn’t uh what she seems.”
“I feel you,” He agreed with a nod. “Anyway, what’s up?”
“Um, I need to tell you something,” I told him nervously as I cleared my throat. “It’s about May.”
“May,” Dean’s mood suddenly dropped and his eyes looked sullen, “What about her?”
“Uh,” I said back softly, “I know how she died and I know who ran you over. It was my…insecurity ghost.”
“What?” Dean asked me shockingly as he cocked his eyebrows and then he laughed. “That’s sick McKenzie, stop joking!” But then, he immediately stopped laughing once he looked into my eyes. I didn’t know what he saw, but I bet it was the fact that I was telling the truth.
“You’re serious aren’t you?” Dean asked me quietly.
“Yes,” I replied back.
“You didn’t think to tell me this before?!” Dean exclaimed angrily as he slammed his phone on the table. “So, this whole time you knew exactly how my sister died and who ran me over but you kept your mouth shut?!”
“I did,” I said apologetically upset that I had hurt his feelings, “I’m sorry it’s just I was--
“No,” Dean interrupted me, “just stop McKenzie, I c--can’t believe this.” He suddenly grabbed his phone, placed it in his pocket, and started to walk away from me.
“Dean, wait please I--
I immediately cut myself off once I realized that people were staring and that Dean wasn’t going to respond to me anytime. Sighing, I immediately wiped the tears from my tears even though I knew they were going to keep shedding.