"Quiet landslide when nobody knows
Regretted decisions that nobody chose
Under water and sinking fast
No way out, no way to get back
What might have been is lost in the past."
--Just Give It Time by Jon McLaughlin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

| LANCE |

"Lance, what's happening?" Marcus began when we reached the rooftop of the main building, bewildered. The strong wind was whipping in our faces.

I turned around to face him and pleaded, "Can you be my accompanist, Marcus, please?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "You didn't answer my question."

I blinked, not getting what he meant. "But I did answer it."

Shaking his head, Marcus said, "No. I mean, what's happening between you and Mackenzie?"

Oh, that.

I stared at the blue sky with a heavy sigh. I couldn't deny it to Marcus, so I hesitantly said, "Mackenzie and I had a...falling-out."

His eyes widened in disbelief. "You're talking garbage."

"It is true, Marcus," I admitted with a tinged of sadness in my voice. I was going to let my pride down. "And I am starting to believe that this is all my fault."

Marcus held up both of his hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Lance. Tell me the details first." He paused. "And I didn't know there was an upcoming contest. When is it?"

I nodded my head and told him about the 40th Annual Denver Music Competition for the selected high school students, and me asking Mackenzie to be my accompanist after hearing her play the piano. But I couldn't share with Marcus the full details how our conflict had started. Even though Mackenzie and I weren't in good terms, I should still respect her private love life from the past. And besides, I believe Marcus didn't have a single clue about it anyway, unlike Eunice and Cindy.

When I was finished, Marcus rubbed his temples. "Too much information in my head."

"Apologies."

"So Mackenzie could play the piano but then she backed out as your pianist last Monday because of a personal reason?" he slowly clarified.

"Something like that, yes." I took a deep breath. "How I questioned Mackenzie in a decent manner and then how she answered it without respect aggravated me, and that she did not trust me to tell me the real reason why she wanted to quit. Perhaps that is why I lost it and became hostile toward her; I have spouted such vitriol at her."

"You know, it's a good thing that you're being honest, Lance," said Marcus. "Not many guys nowadays have that kind of attitude like yours, which is quite depressing."

Like that Colfer guy, I thought. He wasn't being veracious with Mackenzie and their relationship. Then I suddenly had the urge to find Brandon Colfer and punch him in the face for hurting my friend.

"So I must be honest with you, too," he went on.

I tilted my head a little to the side. "What are you getting at, Marcus?"

Marcus gave me an apologetic smile. "I have a crush on you and all, but I'm sorry to say that I can't be your pianist for the contest."

I was a little bit disappointed by his response. "It's because of the Weyral Symphony Orchestra, is it not?"

He nodded. "Yeah. As much as I'd like to help and play with you for the competition, the Orchestra's already preparing for a Christmas contest this December. I'm so sorry, Lance."

"I already knew you would decline my invitation, but I still had to ask you anyway." I smiled slightly. "But your reason is understandable, so no need to apologize, Marcus."

Just then, Cindy appeared from the door and happily announced, "I finally gave Mackenzie a pep talk!"

I instantly grew alert. "Why are you so cheerful? And how did you know I was here?"

"'Cause my mission was a success, duh! And Marcus informed me through text," she simply replied.

Marcus gasped, horrified. "Oh, no. Are you serious, Dee?" he asked, referring to the pep-talk topic.

"Yep," she said, popping the p. "And why the long faces? I mean, Rachel approved of it."

"But she did not know the results of your pep talks," I reminded my best friend. "They always go the other way around."

"Yeah," Marcus agreed. "The last time you gave someone a pep talk, the girl almost committed suicide!"

"The lass did no such thing," Cindy countered, scowling at him. "She just transferred to another school. Nothing drastic happened." She turned to me. "And I'm helping you, Lance. You should be thanking me."

"Thank you, then," I flatly replied.

"But what about Mackenzie?" Marcus looked worried. "As far as I know her, she has a fragile heart."

"I will never have an accompanist now," I said sadly.

"News flash, guys: You're hurting my feelings," said Cindy with an eye roll, then paused while staring at me. "Wait, did I hear that right? So Mackenzie's still your pianist?"

"Lance asked me to be his accompanist," Marcus told her, "but I said no 'cause of the Orchestra. The cellists have a big part on the musical piece we're gonna play for this December's contest."

"You made the right choice, girl." Then Dee and Marcus high-fived each other, while I just gazed at them blankly.

They really are my friends, I thought sarcastically.

"But, Lance," uttered Marcus, "even though you asked me to be your pianist, I feel that you truly want Mackenzie to be your accompanist for the competition and no one else. Only her."

My eyes widened at that. I had to admit Mackenzie's playing wasn't graceful and glorious. But her music...it was new to my ears and made me want to hear it forever. And that...I wanted her to play with me. Or me to play with her.

"I...I think so...?" I said after a moment, gazing down at my black Oxford shoes. "And I just realized I have already forgiven her for what she did to me."

"Then apologize to Mackenzie now, you idiot, before it's too late," Dee said while snapping her fingers in front of my face. "I'm pretty sure her perspective has changed after I gave her my honest and sincere pep talk. What could possibly go wrong?"

I shrugged. "A lot of things could go wrong."

"Not sure if you're an angel in disguise, Dee," Marcus jested, and I couldn't help laughing. Cindy rewarded us with her infamous death glare, though, which made us instantly shut up.

"I wish Spencer were here," Marcus commented.

"He's currently devouring his food at The Cafeteria," she casually informed us.

"I will apologize to Mackenzie this Friday," I decided after several minutes of silence.

"What? Friday? Why not now?" Dee was annoyed. "Her emotions are still fresh from my pep talk. You're delaying the inevitable, Lance."

"Well, it was the love of your life's idea that I should wait three days after a quarrel before making a move so that I could think things through," I assured her with a grin plastered on my face. "So in Spencer's words: 'It ain't over till it's over. Just chill, yeah?'"

"We'll see how 'chill' you are if Mackenzie still won't acknowledge your presence this Friday," mumbled Cindy with a scowl.

"Let's not hope for that, shall we?" Marcus nervously responded.

I agreed with him.

🎻 🎻 🎻

Thursday passed by like a blur. I'd just been observing Mackenzie's actions and behavior in the classes we shared together. Of course, I'd done it unobtrusively.

It was a good thing nothing much had happened between Mackenzie and me that day. But doing that experiment in chemistry had been awkward. But at least Sabrina, Marcus and Lauren had been kind enough to make the experience funny and lively for us. Mackenzie had laughed along with them, while I'd just shaken my head at them with a smile. But there'd been a moment when I'd seen in my peripheral vision that Mackenzie had been looking straight at me with an unreadable expression on her face.

I'd wondered what was currently going through her head. If I said sorry to her, would she instantly forgive me and everything would go back to normal?

Let's be positive, Lance, that all is going to be well starting tomorrow, I thought.

But my hunch was wrong. Very wrong.

Friday came. The third day. The Judgment Day.

I was finding the right opportunity to talk to Mackenzie. But, alas, it'd been a busy time both in homeroom and chem. And then when it was finally trigonometry...

"Okay, class," Ms. Herron said after writing some problems about the law of cosines on the white board, "get one whole sheet of yellow paper. I'll give you thirty minutes to solve and answer these twenty problems."

Rachel, who was sitting beside Cindy in the front row, raised her hand and asked, "Can we use our scientific calculator, Ms. Herron?"

"Of course, Ms. Simpson," our teacher replied with a smile.

Chel chuckled. "Just checking."

Come to think of it, ever since Mackenzie and I fought, Rachel and I haven't spoken with each other. I wanted to, but I feared that Chel was angry with me because I'd hurt her best friend. Add the fact that she wasn't initiating to talk to me first and was always watching a latest Korean drama on her phone whenever it was her break time (was it Goblin or Troll? Ah, whatever). Said she needed to catch up and write a reaction paper about it for her foreign language class, which was--you guessed it!--Korean. Perhaps she was smoldering her temper beneath the surface.

I hoped not.

Now, the class fell into silence, concentrating on solving the easy problems. Or maybe it was just for me. I looked around and saw most of my classmates were using their scientific calculators. I didn't bother using mine, even the girl sitting beside me.

After ten minutes, I gawked a little when I saw Mackenzie relaxing on her seat; she was done answering the simple quiz.

What was this? Usually, every time we had a quiz in this subject, it was me who finished first than her. I was still in the middle of solving item number nineteen.

Calm down, Lance, I thought. You don't have to feel irritated just because of that! It's nonsense! And besides, this rarely happens...

All was still quiet as a cemetery when I finished the last problem. I was confident in my answers, so there was no need for me to double-check them.

Stealing a glance at Mackenzie, I saw her chin was placed on her palms and both of her elbows were on her table. I couldn't quite see the expression on her face, though.

I found the perfect opportunity!

I braced myself and whispered, "Mackenzie."

I thought she hadn't heard me, so I repeated to whisper her name. But she still didn't respond. That's when it clicked in my head that Midgetzie was ignoring me. The heck? Couldn't she see that I was making an effort here?

I quietly tore a piece of yellow paper from my pad, crumpled it into a ball in my hand, and threw it in her direction. But I missed. I did it again, and this time the ball of paper hit her head, and then it softly landed on the floor.

Score!

But Mackenzie was still giving me the cold shoulder; she was just gazing at the white board.

I frowned and crumpled many yellow papers into balls, then threw all of them at Mackenzie. Drastic times call for drastic measures, as they say. From my seat, though, I could see that a vein appeared on her temple.

Uh-oh.

"Mr. Collins, Ms. Adams!" Ms. Herron loudly called. "What's going on back there?"

I inwardly cringed. Yikes! I wasn't expecting to make such a scene.

But before I could respond, Mackenzie told her calmly, "He accidentally slipped the paper balls from his hands, Ms. Herron. That's all. There's nothing to worry about."

I straightened on my seat. Did she...did she just save my butt?

Just by looking at Ms. Herron's face, she didn't believe what Mackenzie had said, but she just shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Okay, then..."

Some of Mackenzie's fanboys were shooting me their evil glare. But I just ignored them and kept staring at Mackenzie with a scowl.

When trigo was done and after I quickly threw the paper balls into the trash bin, we passed our papers to Ms. Herron. I saw Mackenzie getting out of the room and swiftly followed her while reaching out a hand. "Macken--" But I didn't get to continue calling her name when she ran to the opposite side of the building and went inside the ladies' restroom. Dejected, my face fell and I dropped my hand limply to my side as soon as the door shut behind her.

Of course, I couldn't enter the ladies' restroom or just wait for her outside. Maybe most of the students would think I was a pervert or something much worse. I didn't want to ruin my image.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I turned around and was shocked to see the rest of the gang looking at me like they were watching a drama film. Even Eunice sniffed while wiping a tear on her cheek with a handkerchief.

"Pretend you guys did not witness anything," I said while rolling my eyes.

Dee turned to Rachel, looking almost angry. "What the heck is wrong with your best friend?"

"Pride," Chel sighed.

"See?" said Cindy, giving me an I-told-you-so look as she gave me my bag. "You should've followed my advice and not Spencer's, Lance."

"Hey! You should give the person time and space after an argument," Spencer defended. "Not like heading to a war without a proper armor and weapon equipped. You have to be prepared and not be careless! Plan things ahead of time!"

"But look what the result is: Mackenzie's still ignoring Lance," she rebutted. "Your plan failed!"

"How sure are you if Lance followed your advice that it'd work, huh?" Spencer said back, his arms folded across his chest.

"One hundred percent sure!"

And then they continued arguing with each other while Eunice was scolding them. "Why're you two doing this in the hallway? Good lord, you're acting like kids. Continue this outside! We're making a scene here, and it's embarrassing!"

I then noticed that Rachel was staring at the door of the ladies' restroom, her expression impassive. Where did the happy-go-lucky Chel go? It was rare to see her like this. When she felt my gaze on her, however, she gave a smile that it made me queasy. Add the fact that her brown eyes, while they were staring at me, spelled mischief.

But before I could approach and talk to her, Chel turned away while saying, "I have to go now, guys. Still need to polish up on my Korean." Then she went on her way without giving us a chance to reply. "Najunge bwa!"

All of us, except for Dee, furrowed our eyebrows at her retreating figure.

"Erm, what did she say?" asked Nis.

"It means 'see you later,'" Dee explained. When we gave her questioning looks, she added, "What? I watch Korean dramas when I feel like it. I'm not as addicted as Chel, though."

"Shoot!" Spence suddenly exclaimed, causing us to be startled. "Thanks to Chel, I just remembered we have an assignment to pass in my Japanese class later. I forgot to do it last night." Then he ran away from us while yelling, "Jā matane!"

"No running in the hallway!" Eunice yelled back, but Spence still ran at full speed anyway. Facing me, she asked, "Do you know what that means?"

"I have watched some animé shows before, and I remember it means 'see you later,' too," I answered.

Dee checked her watch. "It's almost time for my art class." She looked at us. "Well, since they said 'see you later' in the language they're taking for their foreign language subject, then I shall say à tout à l'heure!"

When Dee was gone, Nis faced me. "Oh, right. Dee's taking French."

"Yes. By the way, why is Mackenzie taking a long time in the restroom? Should I call her on my phone to come out?" I asked her. "And your next class is Greek, is it not? You two are going to be late. You are not the kind of person who is tardy, Nis."

"Maybe because you're still standing here...? She's obviously avoiding you," Eunice joked. "Anyway, thanks for your concern, but we don't have Greek today, since Mr. Galanos isn't around, so it's currently our free period. You?"

I smirked. "Violin. But it's okay with Mr. Fisher if I do not attend his classes."

Eunice rolled her eyes with a laugh. "Wow. Your teacher is so ashamed of himself right now." Then her expression turned serious. "Anyway, we need to talk, Lance."

I sighed. "It's about Mackenzie, no doubt."

"Yep."

Both of us started walking away from the restroom.

"How is she?" I began, hesitant. "I mean, if I am not around with you guys."

"She's silent most of the time," answered Nis, looking troubled. "Yes, she responds when we talk to her. Not much with gusto unlike before, though. It's like Mackenzie has a lot of stuff going on in her mind. Maybe she's debating with herself about the things we told her. I dunno. Even Chel's starting to get seriously worried."

Spencer's words from last Tuesday flashed in my mind: That guy hurt her--emotionally.

Add Prince Lancelot Dale Collins to the list of guys who'd hurt her emotionally.

"Rachel is not infuriated with me, right?" I asked her, reluctant.

She shook her head. "No. In fact, she told Mackenzie that it wasn't your fault, that it was her bestie's fault in the first place. Remember when the three of us went out of The Cafeteria? I followed them to the Left Pegasus Park's forest. That's where Rachel told Mackenzie that." Then Nis shared with me all of what had happened while they'd been in the forest, and I, in turn, told her what Dee, Spence and I had talked about after their exit at The Cafeteria.

When the exchanging of stories was done, I scowled. "But why is Chel avoiding me like I am a person who hates Nerds?"

Laughing, Eunice said, "Really? A person who hates Nerds? I like your comparison. Well, I'm pretty sure she's not infuriated with you. Who knows? Maybe Chel's planning something to help you out with your predicament."

Why was I doubting Eunice's words? Or was I just thinking too much?

"Anyhow, Dee told Chel and me about your confession yesterday," Nis continued, pulling me out of my reverie. "Forgiveness is the best pain killer. Let's hope that Mackenzie will forgive you sooner or later, too. We'll do our best to help you two fix your broken friendship."

I smiled at her earnestly as we were at the top of the stairs. There were no other people in sight. Hugging Eunice, I said, "Thank you so much, Nis. I really appreciate what you guys are doing."

Nis embraced me back. "You're always welcome, Lance. No matter what happens, you should never let go of things that are important to you. 'Kay?"

Like Mackenzie and her music. "I will, Nis."

She giggled all of a sudden. "Gosh, it's been a long time since we last did this."

"Did what?"

"Hugging each other."

"Oh." I chuckled. "I missed giving you hugs, Nis."

"Same here." She looked up at me. "Um, Lance, did you know that I..."

I became curious. "You what?"

Wait, was my friend blushing? "I had a...c-cru--"

But Eunice was interrupted by a booming voice that came out of nowhere, causing us to quickly separate from each other.

"Princess Eunice! We have a meeting with the rest of the Drama Club officers, pronto!" a guy with a French accent exclaimed.

"The heck, Xavier! No yelling in the hallway!" Nis reprimanded hypocritically.

"No matter. The student council and teachers didn't hear me anyway," Xavier said as he neared us, his golden cape swooshing behind him, then his eyes narrowed at me. "You're handsome, Lance Collins. Too bad, though, 'cause I'm more handsome than you."

Eunice facepalmed. "Seriously, Xavier, what on earth are you getting at?"

"Um, thanks, I guess...?" I told him sheepishly. Far as I could remember, I haven't done anything to the president of the Drama Club, except when I'd rejected his offer to join them in my freshman year (of course, he still wasn't the president that time). He'd forced me to join because I was the son of the "Sensational Actress."

Bah! I wouldn't join the Drama Club in a million years. They'd always be the Host Club for me. But I beg of you not to tell Eunice and Mackenzie that.

Heh.

"Why're you giving Lance that kind of look?" Eunice asked him with a frown. "Stop it, Xavier!"

"Let's go to the theater now, princess Eunice." Xavier held her hand and pulled her forward with him. Away from me.

"I know the way to the theater, Xavier. Thank you very much." Nis removed her hand from his, looked back at me and mouthed, Sorry.

It's okay, I mouthed back. Xavier was still giving me a murderous look over his shoulder, but I paid him no mind.

And then I was left all alone in the hallway.

What on earth just happened?

🎻 🎻 🎻

The sun was setting when I reached the rooftop of the main building. Thankfully, I was the only one here.

Setting my violin case on the floor, I opened it and took Holmes and my bow out. When I was done placing the shoulder rest on Holmes' back, I positioned the violin between my chin and shoulder.

There was only one song I could think of playing at this moment.

I took a deep breath before playing it. My blissful memories together with Mackenzie flashed in my mind like an animated PowerPoint presentation.

I just noticed tears were falling down my cheeks after I was finished with the song. The sun was now hiding behind the mountains, causing the stars to start shining their light in the dark blue sky.

"Please don't take my sunshine away," I softly whispered to the wind.

🎻 🎻 🎻

Listening to Debussy's "Beau Soir" while staring at the wall of the living room is one of my favorites hobbies whenever I'm bored.

Kidding! But, yes, that's what I was currently doing at my house on this Saturday afternoon. Mom and Percy went shopping after lunch, so I was all alone in the house right now. (Let's not hope for a specter to suddenly appear by my side, shall we?)

After many minutes of boredom, I heard an engine of a car stop in front of the house. My forehead creased. It wasn't my mother's car, that was for sure, and I wasn't expecting to have a visitor for this day. Maybe it was Mackenzie who came to visit and hear my apology out.

I couldn't help but let out a dry, humorless chuckle. Wishful thinking, Lance.

I got up from the couch and went to the front door before the visitor could ring the doorbell.

My mistake was not looking out the window to see whose car it was. So when I opened the door, I wasn't expecting to see Rachel's beaming face. She was wearing a pink blouse, white skinny jeans, and light pink Keds.

"Hiya, Lance!" she cheerily greeted.

Perhaps it's just my imagination...

I slowly closed the door, then opened it again, but Chel was, indeed, standing there. I poked her cheek to be more sure, causing her to smile widely like that Smiling Titan from Shingeki no Kyojin.

Coincidentally, Mozart's "Lacrimosa" started playing from the speakers of the music player. I was now imagining what death would be like. Or what would be the feeling if a Titan ate you alive.

"Oh, no," I said at last, mortified, withdrawing my hand. "Mackenzie's best friend is here in front of my doorstep with an awfully cheerful aura around her. What I did to her was really serious, was it not?"

"Yeah," she simply replied with a shrug, and this made me more terrified. I checked her back inconspicuously if she brought her tennis racket with her.

Rachel noticed this, though. "Don't worry, Lance. I don't have a racket with me. Or any dangerous weapons, for that matter. And Kenzie doesn't have a clue that I'm here," she assured me with a laugh.

Stepping aside with a nervous grin, I gestured for her to come in. Chel gazed around the living room appreciatively as she entered. "Sweet!" But then her eyebrows furrowed. "Seems like there's currently a funeral here, though."

A funeral for Mackenzie and Lancelot's broken friendship, I thought.

I quickly changed the music to a joyful one, which earned me a thumbs-up from Chel.

"Ah, just by listening to it...I can already smell our victory, Lance," she said, grinning.

Huh?

"It is the finale of '1812 Overture' by Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky," I informed her while thinking of what to tell her, but Chel beat me to it.

"Dunno who he is, but I'm sure he was Russian. Anyway, you know why I'm here, so I'll not beat around the bush," she began as we sat on the sofa side by side. "I have a plan to help you make amends with Kenzie."

Blinking in astonishment, I asked her, "Wait, you are not here to scold me for hurting your best friend?"

She laughed out loud. "Nuh-uh. In fact, I'm on your side, Lance." Then her expression grew serious. "It's been ten months since Kenzie and Brandon broke up, and she hasn't moved on yet." She sighed sadly. "Sometimes, the reason why we can't move on is because we keep on looking and holding on to the past."

Can't move on, huh? I remembered what Spencer had told me last Monday, and he was right. Even I haven't moved on yet...from my grandfather's death. I still blamed myself on why he'd died. If I'd won in that competition--the one before we'd had that argument--then perhaps he wouldn't have had a heart attack and was still alive. Rachel's words seemed like they'd slapped me in the face.

"But I believe it's her time to let go of the past. I know it's hard, since Brandon was her first love," she continued, snapping me back to the here and now. "But, gosh, even though she doesn't admit it to me, I could feel she still has feelings for him." Then she joked, "Guess moving on is included in the 'World's Top Problems,' next to global warming, huh?" She suddenly perked up when she heard continuous BOOM BOOM BOOM. "Ooh, cannons!"

I chuckled. "Well, that's Tchaikovsky for you."

"If people ask me what musical instrument I play, I'll say 'cannons' because of this piece!"

I realized she was testing the waters, then questioned her, "How did they meet and become a couple, if I may ask?" I was curious.

Rachel thought for a moment. "Hmm, I remember I invited Kenzie to watch my tennis match at E.P. I was so glad that she could come even with her busy schedule. She wore a disguise when she came to E.P. But Kenzie got lost and asked for help to the person who was near her, and it was none other than Brandon Colfer.

"But even with Kenzie's disguise, Brandon recognized her and they talked while they were heading to the tennis field, and then they watched the match together. That's when they became friends," Chel continued. "After the match--I won, by the way--Kenzie kept gushing that Brandon was now his crush and all that jazz. Since Brandon and I shared some classes together, I said he was a nice and cool guy. Then after a week Brandon courted her, and Kenzie was, of course, totally happy with it." Chel shook her head. "But I was shocked and disappointed that that bastard only courted Kenzie so that he could become popular at school. That was so low."

"Mackenzie did not deserve that," I told her.

"Yeah. But I've already forgiven him for what he did to Kenzie. It's just that I haven't told him yet."

"And she did not deserve how I treated her these past few days," I added, guilty. "What I did was wrong. I apologize for what I did to Mackenzie, Chel."

"There's always gonna be moments in which we do some kind of mistake and stumble as we live our lives," said Chel, smiling warmly at me. "We're only human, after all."

"Yes, I passed judgment on Mackenzie without getting the complete picture first," I admitted. "I did not know the other side of the coin. If I knew what her real reason why she wanted to quit, then I wouldn't have said those negative words to her."

"Well, the important thing here is recognizing those mistakes, like what you did, Lance. But trust me, this is all Kenzie's fault and she needed to hear those words from you. From her new friends. I was hoping for another person to be frank with her about her not moving on yet, and, thankfully, it happened."

"Wait, really?" I said in disbelief.

Chel nodded. "I mean, yeah, I gave her pieces of advice on how to move on from her past relationship with that bastard and told her words that stung, too, just to open her eyes. Granted, there's Cindy who spouts words like acid, but Kenzie has this pride as large as Russia sometimes, which makes her very hardheaded," she said with a sigh.

"Oh."

Then she added, "And it's great to take the time to express yourself and share your feelings. It helps you begin to work at building the relationship back."

I nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, you're the only person who can do this, Lance. I trust you." Rachel held both of my shoulders with her hands, giving them a reassuring squeeze, while her brown eyes were directly gazing at me. "Of course, I'll still be doing my part--even Dee, Spence and Nis--but there are things that only you can do to her. Please, please help Kenzie with what she's going through right now and that you won't give up on her. Promise?"

I swallowed a lump in my throat. That word...promise...

I held her gaze and told her with a nod, determined, "I promise, Chel." Still, I couldn't help wondering what I could do that Mackenzie's best friend couldn't.

Rachel released my shoulders, grinning. "That's the spirit! So here's my pla--"

"Wait! What if Mackenzie will still not acknowledge me after I executed your plan?" I asked her, doubtful.

"You don't know what my plan is yet." Chel grinned. "And you love Kenzie, right?"

I was startled by her question. "Yes, but only as a frie--"

"Love is the way forward; it's the way to keep yourself moving and not give up on your goal," she interrupted me, smiling earnestly. "If your problem can't be fixed today, then you'll be given another chance to work on it tomorrow. If it fails again, then there's always another day to work on it."

She was encouraging me. "Yes."

Chel grinned widely. "All righty! So, here's my plan..."

Even though there were times Rachel acted like a child because of her cheerful personality, it dawned on me that she was mature.

But her plan? I'm not certain if I could call it mature. But I must admit it was brilliant at the same time. There was no way Mackenzie could get out of this. Rachel and I were sure of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I still have some readers left, right? XD Dam, I missed writing so much. T.T Still adjusting to my new work life. Spirit of creativeness, where are you? XD

I hope you guys are doing well! Mwahugsss~!