"You've got these little things
That you've been running from
You either love it or guess you don't
You're such a pretty thing
To be running from anyone
A vision with nowhere to go."
—Ready to Go by Panic! At the Disco

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| LANCE |

"Mackenzie Adams is strange," I stated while eating my slice of dark chocolate cake inside The Cafeteria.

"The Cafeteria" was an understatement. The foods here were cooked by professional chefs, and with its five-star look and style, even the tables and chairs, it should be named "The Restaurant" instead. Someone should propose this to Principal Reynolds.

Cindy raised an eyebrow. She was jealous that I'd been the one who had given Mackenzie and Rachel the tour and not her.

Well, not my fault.

"What do you mean by strange?" she asked.

"She kept looking at me like I had an incurable disease or something."

Suddenly, she gave a melodious laugh. "Maybe she just likes you, Lance."

I wrinkled my nose, disgusted. "She was scowling. I am sure that was not the reason." I turned to Spencer who was sitting across from me and eating his carbonara non-stop. Now you know why Cindy calls him "Ferocious Eater." "What do you think, Spence?"

He looked up with carbonara sauce around his mouth.

"Gross," Cindy said, frowning.

Spencer glared at her, then got a napkin from the napkin holder to wipe the sauce. "I have no idea, Lance. All I can say is, girls are so weird," he replied after he was done with the wiping.

Cindy threw her chemistry book at him, which Spencer dodged easily. Such fast reflexes. "We are not weird!" she retorted. "Boys are the weird ones!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

I sighed in exasperation as they continued arguing with each other with uh-huhs and nuh-uhs.

Mackenzie and Rachel were sitting at the table near the double doors, probably talking about the school. Many students were gawking at them, while I was just staring impassively at them. I couldn't explain it, but there was something in Mackenzie Adams that made me feel at ease whenever I was around her, like she was a breath of fresh air to me.

Um, did that even make any sense?

Truthfully, I wasn't comfortable around girls. Well, except for Cindy, but we were best friends, so that had a reason. Eunice was also an exception because we were friends, and Alice, if she wouldn't talk about the girlfriend-boyfriend topic. But I just met Mackenzie, so why was I feeling this way?

Maybe because she's not one of my, er, fangirls, I thought while eating my chocolate cake again. Yes, that has to be it.

Since Cindy was a fangirl of Mackenzie Adams, and I was sure Spencer was really curious why Rachel Simpson had transferred to Weyral, I suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, I asked Rachel why she transferred here," I blurted.

That stopped their mini war. (See? I was such a professional peacemaker.) They turned to me and asked at the same time, "Why?"

"Because Mackenzie wanted her here," I shared. "And then I told Rachel she could have encouraged her to study at Eldreez Point..."

Cindy leaned to the table while looking at me with inquisitive eyes. "And...?"

"'My grandparents wanted me to study here at Weyral, even if it's just for one year, and I wanted it, too. And besides, E.P.'s curriculum and uniform color suck,'" I recalled, imitating Mackenzie's voice. It was a fail attempt, though, which made me cringe inwardly. It wasn't my fault I could memorize stuff like that easily. "Well, that's what she told me."

Spencer snickered. "Mackenzie was telling the truth. I mean, seriously, brown for a uniform? How dull, so no thanks." He paused, and I knew what he was about to say next. "Anyway, did you ask Rachel if she was going to join Ricochet?"

Figures. "Yes, I did. Said she was going to think about it. She couldn't wait to see Winona, though."

"Is Mackenzie planning to join Weyral's Drama Club?" Cindy asked. "With her superb acting skills, she could help by giving tips to the members if she wanted to. Eunice was hoping for it."

"I asked her that, too. But she said she was not sure yet."

Her shoulders slumped. "Oh, I see."

"Well, they better join Ricochet and the Drama Club. More points for Weyral if they do that." Spencer grinned while cracking his knuckles one at a time, which was a hobby of his that Cindy found to be really annoying. "And when the Eldreezians find out about Rachel joining the all-girl tennis team of Weyral, they'll be surely pissed off! That'll be a priceless moment for us Weyralians!"

I grinned back wickedly. "Totally!"

Spencer and I did a fist bump, then noticed Cindy was silent on her chair while gazing at her now-empty plate, not joining in our happy thoughts. She hadn't even complained when Spencer had cracked his knuckles.

"Are you still hungry, Evil Woman?" Spencer teased. "You could always get back in the cafeteria line, you know. Don't hold yourself; forget your diet!"

Cindy frowned, still gazing at the plate. "That's not it, stupid," she mumbled. "I'm just thinking..."

"About what, Dee?" I asked, curious.

"Why Mackenzie wanted Rachel here with her at Weyral," Cindy replied. "At first, I'm still surprised why she chose Weyral. When I watched an interview of her on Good Morning America three months ago, they asked her if she was going back to studying at a school, and she answered yes but couldn't reveal what school yet."

She shrugged and continued, "I always thought she was going to study somewhere in California or New York because of her career. Guess she really missed being with Rachel."

"I sense there is more to your thinking," I prodded.

"Well, yeah. It's true Rachel could've encouraged her to study at E.P. instead. But no, she didn't. It seemed Rachel was willing to leave E.P. And as to why Mackenzie and her grandparents chose Weyral...I have a hunch why."

Spencer rolled his eyes. "Who cares 'bout your hunch, Dee? Just be glad your number one favorite actress is studying here at our school."

Cindy glared at him, and he couldn't help flinching at the sight. "Why am I best friends with two guys again?" she exhaled eventually.

"Spencer and I could act as girls for a day, if you like," I suggested.

"What the heck, Lance!" he exclaimed, horrified. "Don't give her any ideas!"

She grimaced at the thought. "That's scarier than your average horror movie."

And then the three of us laughed together. Well, I wasn't interested to know Cindy's hunch, either. I wasn't a fan of Mackenzie, so I didn't ask her about it.

🎻 🎻 🎻

"Ohmigosh! We're classmates again!" Cindy exclaimed.

True enough, Cindy, Spencer and I were classmates again with Mackenzie and Rachel in trigonometry.

Mackenzie smiled as Cindy asked for an autograph and a picture sheepishly, since she hadn't gotten to ask for one in homeroom. Her favorite actress accepted her requests with open arms.

Feeling happy for my best friend, I took their picture using Cindy's BlackBerry.

After that, Mackenzie asked for Cindy's name, writing it on the yellow stationery paper Cindy had brought (she always had stationery papers with her) with a heartwarming message and her signature below. Cindy's eyes were sparkling as Mackenzie gave her back the paper.

"Thank you so much, Mackenzie! Words can't define how happy I am right now!" Cindy exclaimed jovially, like she just won the lottery grand prize. "I shall also upload the picture with your autograph on my Twitter! I'm following you, you know. And I'm even gonna have this special paper framed!"

Cindy was such a true fan of Mackenzie Adams.

"I thank you more, Cynthia," Mackenzie said with a beaming smile, but then she paused, like she just remembered something.

"Um, are you all right, Mackenzie?" Cindy asked, clearly baffled.

Then her eyes widened in realization as she stared again at Cindy. "You're one of the models of Prime Parker!"

She blinked, surprised by her outburst. "Ohmigosh! How did you know?"

Mackenzie grinned. "I also buy clothes there, and remembered seeing your pictures on the walls. And in some fashion magazines, too. You're great!"

"A c-compliment from m-my f-f-favorite actress..." Cindy almost fainted because of too much happiness, and Spencer backed away from her with a terrified look on his face. Maybe I'd do the same if Midori Goto, David Garrett or Itzhak Perlman praised me like that.

"You should've said the opposite," Spencer told Mackenzie, and this caused Cindy to snap from her trance and throw her chemistry book at him again. Unfortunately, the book hit Spencer's face this time, his fast reflexes betraying him. "What the heck, Evil Woman!" He clutched his nose with his hand.

She stuck his tongue out. "You started it, Ferocious Eater!"

The two then started chasing each other around the room like first graders, and I sighed in exasperation once again while the rest of our classmates were giving them odd or knowing looks.

"Are they always like that?" Rachel asked while laughing.

I chuckled. "Yes. I am sorry you have to witness it."

Mackenzie smiled as she gazed at my best friends, though her eyes seemed distant. "I think it's cute. They even look perfect together, too."

I raised an eyebrow at her, but agreed they were indeed perfect for each other.

Rachel, with a worried look, snapped her fingers in front of Mackenzie's face, making her blink in surprise. "You're reminiscing. Stop. Not good for you."

She turned to Rachel. "Y-you're right. Thanks, Chel."

I noticed Mackenzie's hands were shaking slightly. I couldn't help that I was observant. Now, I was really curious why she was acting that way, but knew I didn't have the right to know, since we were just acquaintances and not friends.

At least, I believed we weren't friends yet. I was sure of it.

But I really wanted to be friends with her.

Not because she was a famous celebrity or anything; it's just that she was like a breath of fresh air to me.

Wait, I believe I already said that.

The teacher came in, snapping me from my reverie, and the five of us took our seats with the same position just like in our homeroom. Sadly, the teacher said she'd be the one to decide the seating arrangement.

All of us groaned, but we couldn't do anything about it.

After a moment, I was placed in the very back row next to the windows, and then Mackenzie was put next to me.

We were seatmates.

Again.

In three subjects.

I didn't know if I was fortunate or unfortunate. Looking around, I saw most of the guys were giving me the evil eye.

Okay, maybe the latter. It wasn't my fault I was seated next to the gorgeous (according to them) Mackenzie Adams!

Some of the girls were gazing at Mackenzie in awe and envy, but she didn't notice a thing, or just didn't care. Were they gazing at her that way because we were seatmates?

Cindy was put in the front row next to Rachel, and Spencer was put in the third row.

Ms. Tricia Herron was our trigonometry teacher. I'd become a student of hers in algebra in my freshman year.

I smirked to myself. Ms. Herron knew I was intelligent, and maybe I was one of her favorites. I believe every teacher couldn't help having their favorite students.

Feeling tired, I put my head on the desk with my arms as a pillow, closing my eyes in content.

I almost went to dreamland until a certain someone disturbed my nap. She must be a dunderhead to disturb my precious rest time. I mean, who would want to disturb someone taking a nap? Unless if that person was asking for World War III.

"Lance," Mackenzie hissed while poking me in the shoulder.

I turned to her sleepily. She looked horrified, and I didn't know why. "Yes, Mackenzie?" I asked, frowning. "You look like you just saw a ghost or something. And thank you very much for disturbing my nap."

The last one had to be mentioned.

But she ignored it. "Worse than that, actually," she said. "You're dozing off in class while the teacher is at the front lecturing. Isn't that disrespectful? What if Ms. Herron sees you in that situation?"

Right. Mackenzie was a new student. She didn't know Ms. Herron's teaching style.

I propped an elbow and rested my head on my hand with a smirk playing on my lips while looking at Mackenzie. I wanted to joke around with her for some reason. Because I was bored, perhaps? "How nice. You are worried about me if I get caught. I thank you for that. I'll wager you have a crush on me."

She looked furious all of a sudden. "What? No. That's not what I meant. Don't be so full of yourself."

I wanted to laugh out loud. I made "Oscar Winner Mackenzie Adams" annoyed! If I said that to one of my fangirls, she'd already be squealing with delight. Though I had to admit she looked cute even when she was annoyed--

I caught myself and mentally shook my head. Cute? That coming from me isn't right.

I quickly grinned while looking at Mackenzie, who seemed to be debating to herself whether to rip me to shreds or not. "Just joking," I assured her. "Anyway, Ms. Herron knows me, and she lets me take a nap or do any other stuff as long as I am just here sitting in her class."

Mackenzie raised her eyebrows disbelievingly, annoyance vanished from her face. Well, that was quick. "Um, really?"

"Yes. It applies to everyone, actually. She does not care, as long as you are confident to get high marks on her quizzes, exams and homework. Ms. Herron does not view it as disrespectful, I assure you," I replied. "She was my teacher in algebra two years ago, and, even now, she still has the same teaching tactics."

But Mackenzie still looked unconvinced. Did she think I'd made that up?

I rolled my eyes and pointed to the third row where a guy wearing thick glasses was busy solving a Sudoku puzzle. "See that guy over there?" I asked her. "He is a member of Weyral's Math Team and won an international mathematics competition five months ago. Ms. Herron knows him. Even if he won't attend this class anymore, I am pretty sure she will still give him an A-plus as his final grade. I am wondering, though, why he is still attending this class. Because of boredom, perhaps?"

"Isn't that unfair?" Mackenzie questioned incredulously.

I shrugged. "Not for me, Ms. Herron and the other math wizards under her classes."

"So, even when we're talking right now, Ms. Herron still won't mind?" she clarified.

"As long as our voices do not disturb the whole class, yes." I chuckled.

Mackenzie smiled slightly. "I think I'm beginning to like her style now."

"Hoooh," I mused. "Are you also a math wizard?"

She shook her head. "I'm good at math, but not to the level of being a math wizard, I think."

I noticed she wasn't looking at me weird anymore. I didn't know why I felt relieved, though. Then, I had an idea. "Want to compare scores for the first trigo exam, Mackenzie Adams?"

Heh. It was the first day of classes, but we were already talking about our first examination for trigo.

Mackenzie's green eyes were now filled with determination. "You're on, Lance Collins." She paused. "We should have a bet, you know, to make it more interesting."

A bet? Well, this seemed fun. "Sure," I told her airily, lifting my chin up.

"If I get a higher grade than you," Mackenzie said, "you'll tutor me in chemistry if I find some of the topics unbearable. Yeah, I'll admit I'm not that good at chemicals and such. I'm sure you're great at that subject, because you didn't listen to Mrs. Steward's lecture earlier. What do you say?"

Little did she know I was actually great at all of the subjects. Heh.

"Deal." I thought for a moment for my bet, and I couldn't believe myself what was in my mind. "If I get a higher grade than you," I said while smirking, "you will go out with me."

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