"I taste honey but I haven't seen the hive
Yeah I didn't look, I didn't even try
But still my heart stops without you
There's something about you
That makes me feel alive."
—Honey and the Bee by Owl City

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

| LANCE |

Alice was whispering to me about our suggested new musicians for the Weyral Symphony Orchestra when the double doors suddenly opened behind us a few feet away. I turned around and saw Mackenzie holding her phone in one hand and a Tupperware container in the other, looking surprised. I wondered what was so shocking. My amazingness, perhaps? How rude of her.

I didn't notice she'd sent me another text message until I glanced at the screen of my Sony Xperia.

"Ah, Mackenzie," I began grandly as I pocketed my phone and went over to her, Alice following behind me. "Alice and I were just about to head out, because the auditions have just ended."

"I'm s-sorry if I di-disturbed something im-important," she stammered, looking back and forth between Alice and me nervously.

I tilted my head to the side, confused. "Huh? You did not disturb anything." I faced my companion. "Isn't that right, Alice?"

Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought I saw Alice frowning for a second at Mackenzie.

If she was, she instantly put a smile on her face, turned to me and said, "Of course not."

But Mackenzie still seemed unconvinced. "O-okay. Oh, um, here." She handed me the container.

"Thank you very much." I accepted it and opened the cover with a grin. "Yes! Spencer's cocktail meatballs. I missed these!"

"Say, Mackenzie," Alice said, "where's Blaire?"

"Oh, she's at the Art Club's booth," answered Mackenzie, regaining her composure. "She was the one who was supposed to give that to Lance, but she remembered she had to do something important at the last minute, so I volunteered to do it for her." Then she quickly added, "But I swear I did that before she told me what the favor was."

Alice waved a dismissing hand. "No worries. I'm even thankful you were the one who delivered it to Lance instead of her," she told Mackenzie. "Maybe this music hall would already be in ruins if it was that barbarian girl who--"

"Oh, come on, Alice," I said with a guffaw. "Cindy can't destroy a building!"

Alice rolled her eyes. "You never know. Anyway, you have your food now. Let's go to The Cafeteria, then."

I nodded, then turned to Mackenzie. "You want to eat with us?"

She shook her head. "I already ate lunch. Well, I better go now. Bye."

My face fell slightly for a second, but I was thankful that neither girl had noticed. "Okay, then," I told her. "Good-bye."

But before Mackenzie could leave, Alice's phone started beeping. She looked at the screen, clearly annoyed.

"The heck! They changed the schedule for the Cyan Wings tryouts! Instead of three in the afternoon, they moved it to right now!" She gave a heavy scowl. "Dang it! I was about to have another moment!"

"You were really being serious about joining the cheerleading squad?" I asked, dumbfounded. "And what 'another moment'?"

"Well, I wanted to do something new for this school year. But I'm not sure if I'm gonna pass anyway," Alice said, ignoring my last question. "You should also do that, Lance, you know."

I gave her a look of disgust. "Join the cheerleading squad? Are you kidding me, Alice?"

Mackenzie clamped a hand over her mouth, suppressing her laughter. I quickly shot her a look.

Alice giggled. "No, silly! I meant that you should try doing new things this year. Have a new hobby or something. You should take a break from playing the violin for a while." She put her hand softly on my arm, gazing up at me. "Other people say that creative people love to expose themselves to new experiences, sensations and states of mind-like openness to your emotions and fantasy," she added.

Was it just me, or had she really emphasized the "emotions" word?

"Never!" I dramatically declared, but was really contemplating what she'd said. Try doing new things, huh? "But wait," I started, frowning slightly, "if you pass the tryouts, then you will be exempted in music."

Weyral High has special subjects, and every student is obliged to choose one: music, creative writing, P.E., or art. They're scheduled once a week for three hours (but it really depends on the teacher if they'll consume the whole three hours) after your classes. If you choose music, you get to pick one of the musical instruments available in the program, including voice.

Of course, I'd chosen music and violin, even though I was already proficient in that area.

Noting my frown, Alice assured me, "I won't stop practicing the violin at my house, if you're concerned on what my outcome for the Elgar Community's Violin Solo Competition will be."

"Ah. That's good to hear, then."

"So being a part of Cyan Wings lets you have the privilege of being exempted in your chosen special subject?" Mackenzie asked her. "Just like being a member of one of Weyral's sports teams, the Weyral Dance Company, or the Weyral Symphony Orchestra?"

"Yep," she replied. "Do you want to tryout for Cyan Wings with me, Mackenzie? If you pass, then you'll also get exempted in your...Um, what did you choose for your special subject?"

"P.E." She gave an awkward laugh while shaking her head. "Sorry, Alice, but I'm no dancer, really."

"Oh, I see. I thought you had the qualities of a cheerleader."

"Because she is a blondie?" I asked her. "Not all blonde girls are automatic cheerleader, right?"

"Yes, though I was fully aware I was stereotyping. Sorry, Mackenzie." Turning to me with a dejected sigh, Alice said, "We'll eat lunch together next time, Lance, all right?"

I bobbed my head in agreement. "You better go now, Alice. The new captain of Cyan Wings has the infamous reputation of hating tardy people, I heard."

Alice sighed again. "I know. Guess it can't be helped." She kissed me on the cheek before heading for the double doors while waving good-bye to us. "Bye, Lance, Mackenzie. Wish me luck!"

Mackenzie waved back, giving her an encouraging smile. "I'm sure you'll pass the tryouts, Alice!"

I gave Alice a thumbs-up, grinning.

After the doors had closed, Mackenzie told me, "You know, some of the cheerleaders asked me last week if I wanted to join Cyan Wings. Just because I have blonde hair doesn't mean I'm already a cheerleader in blood, right?"

I nodded as my response.

She sighed. "I find it somewhat irritating when people generalize. I mean, who wouldn't? At least Alice apologized."

"Morons," I answered, wiping my left cheek with a handkerchief. I then noticed Mackenzie was gaping at me. "Is there something on my face?" I asked her with eyebrows raised. Then realization hit me. "Wait, don't tell me you want to kiss me on the cheek, too. Well, do it now, because no one here is currently looking in our direction." There were five members of the Orchestra who were busy fixing the stage.

Thankfully, Marcus wasn't around, either, because if he'd seen what Alice had done to me, they would've had a serious cat fight about it.

"You wiped it," she said in disbelief.

"Well, I do not want to be Cindy's next punching bag if she ever finds out about this," I replied, chuckling.

"I'm not gonna tell her about it, if you want."

"It's all right. It had Alice's lipstick mark anyway, so it was still best I wiped it."

"But it'd be worth it to see you get punched in the gut by Cynthia," she stated, smiling teasingly as we exited the music hall.

"No to violence, please," I responded, giving her a mock scowl.

"Tell that to Cynthia face-to-face."

"She would still punch me in the gut, unfortunately."

Mackenzie gave a giggle, but stopped, suddenly feeling self-conscious. I found it disturbing. "Well, I'm going back to the Drama Club's booth now," she told me, avoiding eye contact. "See you, Lance."

As if on cue, I grabbed her wrist with my free hand when she turned to leave, just like what you see in those stupid, clichéd, romantic movies.

Mackenzie looked back at me questioningly. "Do you want something?" she asked simply, but I could feel she was somewhat tensed beneath her exterior.

I just stared at her directly in the eye, serious.

"Lance Collins."

"Mackenzie Adams."

"Cocky Violinist Freak."

"Midgetzie."

An irritated sigh escaped her lips. "What do you want?"

"Your love," I joked with suave, grinning.

Mackenzie was about to swat me on the arm, but paused--her hand in mid-air, then jerked it away immediately, like she'd just been electrocuted. My brows furrowed. Whenever I teased her, she'd smack me in my face or arm or whatever in a heartbeat.

This was definitely strange.

"Oo-kay," I said. "Who are you and what have you done to the real Mackenzie Adams?" It couldn't be she was PMSing again, could it? I mean, she was already done going through that phase for this month, so I was sure it was because of another reason.

Mackenzie frowned. "Seriously, Lance, what do you want?" She stared down at where I was holding her, her frown deepening.

"Fine. I get it. You are clearly grumpy at this moment," I replied, releasing her wrist.

"I'm not grumpy at this moment," she informed me grumpily.

Oh, the irony.

"I am sorry, okay? But can you please accompany me for a while? I do not eat if it's just me."

"Really?" she questioned disbelievingly, raising a slender eyebrow.

I nodded. "My friends are currently busy with their club activities, and I cannot disturb them. You are the one who is here with me right now, so accompany me while eating, please? With chocolate sprinkles on top." Just to try to get a reaction out of her, I added, "Make yourself useful."

Mackenzie gawked at me, looking very stupid. "I'm the one who gave you your food!" she incredulously stated.

"Well, make yourself more useful, then," I countered.

"No," she replied, showing me her phone with Grumpy Cat's picture in the screen.

"Yes. Please?" I was desperate. "You know the 'useful' line was just a joke, right?"

After a minute of silence (it was so obvious she was having an internal debate in her mind), Mackenzie finally agreed with a defeated sigh. "You poor, young lad. Can't eat without adult supervision," she told me like she was talking to a five-year-old.

Thank God she seemed relaxed now.

I gave her a grateful smile and sniffed for dramatic effect. "I know, right, mama? Now, let us go to the main building's rooftop."

"Wait, not in The Cafeteria anymore?" Mackenzie was baffled.

I nodded. "I am not in the mood to eat there right now, to be honest."

"Oh. Okay, then." She started tapping on the screen of her phone. "I'll just let Rachel know where I'm going, just in case she's done with whatever she's doing at the indoor sports center and then looks for me." Then she noticed something. "Where's your bag?"

"It's in Spencer's car," I answered conversationally, starting to walk away from the music hall, Mackenzie en suite. "It serves as my baggage counter."

"Ah. So that's why earlier..." She grinned. "Cool!"

🎻 🎻 🎻

Mackenzie and I were sitting on the cement floor to the right of the rooftop entrance, because it was the only current shaded area due to the wall behind us, blocking the sun's rays. It wasn't a windy day, so it wasn't comfortably warm, but I was still thankful the area was at least vacant except for the two of us. We could still hear the chattering of the students and muffled music from the Main Pegasus Park.

I opened the container, grinning once again. Spencer hadn't even forgotten to include a plastic spoon and fork.

"Do you want to eat another meatball?" I held the container in front of my friend who was beside me.

"Thanks." Mackenzie got one and took it. After gulping the meatball, she asked, "But how did you know I already ate one?"

"Simple. What Spencer cooks for Cindy, Eunice and me every Weyral's Club Day," I informed her, "is also his menu for the Cooking Club's taste-test. You went there earlier, yes? I am sure he asked you to try the test. And there is a stain on your right collar; it has the same color of the meatball sauce and looks quite recent."

Mackenzie immediately looked down at her collar, where the stain was, then chuckled. "Oopsie. Didn't notice it. Thanks for the heads up." She wiped it lightly with her handkerchief, and then closed her eyes in content. "Gods, I still can't get over the meatball's heavenly taste!"

"There are still fifteen meatballs in here. Get more. I cannot finish all of them, anyway." I handed her the plastic spoon.

"Don't mind if I do. Chel would definitely be jelly if she finds out about this," she said, chuckling. "But why're you giving me the spoon?"

"You should also eat rice. I swear it tastes grander with it," I explained. "I don't care that you have already eaten lunch. This is brown rice, after all. And besides, it is not hard if I would only use the fork, yes?"

"In other words, you want us to share?" she mused.

"I'm just returning the favor for accompanying me."

Mackenzie accepted the spoon. "Whatevs you say, Lance. And how chivalrous of you to give up the spoon."

I smirked. "Of course."

After a few minutes of eating in comfortable silence, she suddenly blurted, "I just remembered that toilet paper commercial you're a part of."

"Ah, yes. Softie. It was amazing, wasn't it?"

Mackenzie's reaction was baffling: she laughed.

I widened my eyes and turned to her, fork still in my mouth. I was silently asking her to elaborate, and I was glad she understood the non-verbal message.

"I mean, seriously, a toilet paper commercial?" she continued while giggling uncontrollably. "With you playing comforting music in the background while a woman was telling us how comfortable it was to use the toilet paper...okay, I'll admit I'm random and weird, but I find that really funny!" She was fanning herself with her hand. "Aha-ha-ha! I need air!"

I gave her a sassy look, removing the fork from my mouth. "At least Softie is now famous in America...all thanks to me." I showed a teasing smile.

"That company should've made me as their endorser so that it'd be more famous now," Mackenzie jokingly retorted, smirking while lifting her chin up.

"No."

"Yes."

"You cannot even play the violin, Midgetzie. And the violin is the most appropriate instrument for a toilet paper commercial." Calling her "Midgetzie" was so enjoyable. I was proud of myself to have thought of that nickname for her. Her parents must also be geniuses (like me) to have given her short-height genes and the name "Mackenzie." It had been planned all along.

Nya-ha-ha-ha!

"Puh-lease. There are a lot of better things to do for a toilet paper commercial, Cocky Violinist Freak. Don't be so close-minded," she rebutted.

Evil Woman was a betrayer for telling Midgetzie my nickname. But for her to add "cocky" in it kind of ticked me off a little.

Thinking of a way to get back at her, Alice's words rang in my head from out of nowhere:

You should try doing new things.

Well, then. I shall do it, I thought, grinning widely in my mind.

I slowly put the container down on the floor, making Mackenzie raise her eyebrows in confusion. I stared at her, then a devilish smirk slowly crept onto my face.

Now she looked nervous. "W-what're you planning?"

I didn't reply.

"Lance? You're starting to freak me out," Mackenzie said, backing away while I was crouching toward her slowly, my evil smile still plastered on my face. "Okay, you really are a cocky violinist freak."

She already reached the railing when I said, "I am thankful that we're all alone here. There is no one to disturb us. I can do whatever I want to you." I heard her mumble "forest and fruits" before telling her my message, whatever that meant.

Her eyes widened in terror, probably thinking what I was about to do to her. But I was sure that in her mind it was something dirty.

Eww. Yuck. Gross.

I wanted to laugh out loud at how wrong she was.

"L-Lance!" she sputtered. "If you're going to do anything bad, I swear I'll--"

I leaned toward her. "Oh, do not worry, Mackenzie," I whispered slyly in her ear, and her muscles became rigid. "It's not bad, I assure you. It will be painful at first. But once you get used to it, the pain will be replaced by pleasure. Hmm, pleasurably painful, I believe."

"P-please d-don't..." Surprisingly, she was on the verge of crying.

Mackenzie wasn't acting, I could tell. She really thought I was going to...oh, my! I was a great actor indeed! Plus points for my awesomeness!

"You will scream my wonderful name later, Mackenzie," I said softly in front of her face.

Mackenzie scrambled getting up to escape, but I quickly pinned her on the floor, straddling her on the waist. She yelped sharply at the impact.

"Oh, am I heavy?" I asked her, while thinking, Hmm, how about her ribs...?

"Get off of me, you freak!" she shrieked out loudly, and I winced because it was very painful to my perfect-hearing ears.

"So I am heavy that you cannot even budge me to the side?" Looking down at her, I had the nerve to chuckle at her current predicament. "You poor, little lady."

"You're as heavy as an elephant!" she retorted.

"Hey! I am not fat! And now you shall pay for your impertinence!" As quick as lightning, I began tickling her mercilessly on her ribs. Looks like my first hunch had been right that they were her ticklish spots. Or perhaps there were more.

"Lance!" she managed to scream while laughing loudly like crazy. See? I was right she'd scream my wonderful name. Mackenzie tried swatting my hands away from her ribs. Fortunately for me, she was weakened already, so her attempts were unsuccessful. "Lance, go to Tartarus!"

Just because she took Greek class didn't mean she'd start using Greek myth references all the time. Or was it because of another reason?

"No," I said, continuing to tickle her. "No, no, and no." She was wriggling fiercely beneath me, her laughter not fading a bit.

Then Mackenzie snorted like a pig. Of course, I had to cackle at that. You don't get to witness something like that with a very famous person every day.

I wished I could record her laughing (and snorting) like this and upload it on YouTube. Surely, it'd reach a million views just within a week due to her fame. But alas, my fingers were busy.

Now, Mackenzie was covering her mouth with her hands to minimize the volume of her idiotic laughter. Though I was sure that for others, her laughter was like an angel singing a song for a heavenly choir.

Meh. They had a problem with their hearing, no doubt.

"Lance, please stop right now!" Mackenzie shouted those last two words, still with a smile on her face, tears falling down from her eyes.

My pity came back. So, heeding her request, I stopped tickling her.

She gulped in a huge amount of air, exhaled loudly, and that ticklish smile completely disappeared from her face. Mackenzie then glared up at me. It wasn't as horrifying as Cindy's glare, though. No one can beat her when it comes to glaring.

Oh, wait. I forgot my mother.

"Why on earth did you do that to me?" she demanded.

I shrugged innocently. "You called me 'Cocky Violinist Freak.'"

"And you called me 'Midgetzie'!"

I raised an eyebrow while waggling my fingers in the air, like I was plucking the strings of my violin in fast movements, daring her to say more. That instantly shut her up. I liked being in control of Midgetzie's destiny.

Then I thought back to her original reaction. "You thought I was going to do that to you, eh?"

Mackenzie blushed deep red while looking away, her blonde hair sprawled on the floor. For most guys, this scene would look sexy. But for me, it was just shucking hilarious.

"O-of course not! I knew you were only j-joking!" she stammered.

She was obviously lying.

"Good grief, Mackenzie! You are so stupid! I was only playing around with you," I said, a little offended she'd thought of me as a rapist. "I am a gentleman. I would never do that to a girl."

"A gentleman doesn't tickle a girl to death!" she shot back.

"But you are still alive," I pointed out.

"You know full well what I mean." Mackenzie sighed wearily. "Why me, though?" she whispered so softly, I almost didn't catch it. "Why do you like playing around with me?"

I rolled my eyes at her unrhetorical question. "Because we are friends. Duh. I mean, it is normal for friends to play around with each other, yes? Did your senseless brain forget about that?"

Mackenzie turned to me sharply. "But you're not like this to--" She stopped herself before saying anything more, terrified she'd almost slipped something.

I furrowed my brows. "I'm not like this to...?"

"It's nothing," she dismissed.

I lifted myself off of her and rested both of my elbows beside her head, facing her. "Did you know that you look so gorgeous from up here?" I said teasingly, letting go of the sudden, confusing topic that I didn't care about.

"Did you know that you look so ugly from down here?" Mackenzie sweetly responded, playing with my necktie while gazing up at me.

"Er, no. It should be 'handsome,' not 'ugly,'" I corrected her.

It was her turn to do the eye roll. "Oh, gee. The blow of the wind gets stronger around here."

"We are on the rooftop. Sixth floor. Not in a cave."

"Ha-ha. Literal, much?"

"Let me rephrase that, then: the blow of the wind gets stronger around here because it agrees with me." I beamed down at her, proud of my comeback. "There. Happy?"

Mackenzie pursed her lips, preventing something to come out.

"Let it go," I told her. And with that, she let out a crescendo laugh, and I couldn't help joining her.

What she did next, though, caught me totally off guard: without warning, Mackenzie flipped over, knocked me on my back to the floor, and was now on top of me. She had an evil glint in her green eyes. We were face-to-face, her wavy hair falling down on the sides of my face gracefully, which slightly tickled my cheeks.

Look who's the rapist, I thought, mentally rolling my eyes.

"I'm gonna tickle you back, Lance, but ten times worse than you did," she warned darkly.

I smirked. "Good luck finding my ticklish spot, Mackenzie."

"I won't need luck," she said, now wiggling her fingers in the air. "Now you prepare to be tickled to death!"

But she didn't get the chance to commit ticklicide, because the universe was with me. We heard someone exclaim, "Ohmigosh!"

I knew that voice!

Both of us froze with wide eyes, still staring at each other.

"Oh, schist," Mackenzie murmured, also recognizing the voice.

"You should've kept quiet, Cynthia," a voice that surely belonged to Rachel hissed.

Looking to our right at the same time in slow motion, Mackenzie and I saw Eunice, Spencer, Cindy and Rachel standing there like statues. Nis was covering Spencer's eyes; Dee took a deep breath, feeling somewhat ecstatic; and Chel was covering her mouth with her hands, mirth clearly showing in her dark brown eyes.

All was silent before Eunice--still covering Spencer's eyes--started, "What're you two doing?"

"What're you talking about, Nis? We know very well what they're doing," Rachel said, trying hard not to laugh. "You two really are doing it slowly and nicely. Sorry for disturbing your wonderful moment. We didn't mean to. Honest to the max!"

Cindy was grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat. "C'mon, ladies! Let's go back to the Main Pegasus Park so that Lance and Mackenzie can continue their 'hot' activities."

"The heck, Dee! I'm not a lady!" Spencer protested. "And, Nis, why're you covering my eyes anyway?"

"Oh, sorry, Spence." Eunice removed her hands from his eyes, and then he gaped stupidly at us.

"Holy cheese!" he cried, mortified. "Mackenzie, I didn't know you had it in you!"

That snapped Mackenzie from her paralysis. She looked down at me, then back at the group, her eyes widening in fear. "N-no! Th-this isn't w-w-what you think!" she yelled, blushing furiously from embarrassment. I guessed she now regretted informing Rachel of our whereabouts.

Keeping my poker face in check, I said, "Just because no one was looking does not mean nothing happened, Mackenzie," as if I was discussing the weather.

It was so amazing to see her so clearly riled up, holding back her anger in an instant. Mackenzie was now straddling my waist, and I felt her shaking like she was preventing herself from killing me right then and there. She closed her eyes in an attempt to block everything out, but failed miserably. And then she bellowed something in full volume that I knew could be heard all over Weyral, like a volcano that finally exploded after a century of staying dormant, and I was very thankful there wasn't any glass around us, or else it all would've shattered already.

The message, as if you couldn't have guessed, was for me:

"LANCE COLLINS, YOU PIECE OF SCHIST!"

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

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P.S. Don't get me wrong. I love Lana Del Rey, and she's one of my fave singers. I just think you shouldn't listen to her songs if you're depressed or something. XD