27) That Wasn't A Panic Attack

Some people say that I can be a tad overdramatic at times.

I have no idea what they're talking about.

"You've got to be kidding! How could you do this to me? I thought we were friends!"

Charlie runs a hand over his exhausted face "We are Mace. We're actually best friends if you can remember correctly. You're totally overreacting to the situation. It's not that bad."

"Not that bad? When the Titanic hit an iceberg did the captain say 'that scratch isn't too bad. We can just duct tape it up'. I don't think so. Or when you ran into a pole and split your head open. Your last words before you passed out because of blood loss were 'It's not bad'. So I think we can come to the conclusion that we both have very different definitions of the word bad."

"Fine, I get it. I bought you the wrong ones. In my defence have you seen the number of different brands and types? After a while they all seem to just blend together," I roll my eyes at my naive friend "Also, I'd like to point out that you never specified what kind you wanted. I sadly cannot read minds."

I pick up the packet of chocolate chip cookies and look at them in disappointment. "All I wanted was the Caramel Crown cookies. You know the ones with the caramel on top of a biscuit and it's coated in dark chocolate? They're pretty much like a Twix bar. The best thing about them is you don't feel guilty after eating the entire packet but you'll probably end up feeling sick afterwards" I remember back to the time when I ate 2 packets and couldn't move for the rest of the day because my stomach was hurting so much. But they did taste really good.

I sigh knowing that this is as good as it will get "I guess these will have to do," looking to Charlie I watch him take out his tasteless crackers to eat "because I'm such a terrible and mean person I'll have to make you suffer the consequences" I dramatically sigh "You have to eat these horrible chocolate chip cookies with me" I open the packet and offer one to him. He happily takes it while giving me a knowing smile.

Great, I'm turning all soft. This is what happens when you have friends. Besides I could never be angry at Charlie I love him too much and it's too much effort to try and ignore him.

Someone clearing their throat breaks me out of my thoughts. I stare up at the teacher who looks displeased with my existence. Don't worry the feeling's mutual; I'm not a giant fan of myself at the moment either.

"Would you like to share with the class what seems to be much more interesting than World War II?" Are all teachers born with outdated classes and a permanent scowl, or is it just the really old ones that only teach here?

I shrug "Not really," his eyes widen as his stare deepens, if he stares more intensely I think his eyes might pop out "Oh that was a rhetorical question wasn't it? Sorry, I didn't really catch your drift there, maybe next time wink and I'll understand what you're actually trying to say. They don't teach us to read minds sir, this isn't Hogwarts." I try to pull a puppy face with the big eyes and small pout, sadly the only reaction I get is the teacher giving me an expression that's between shock and worry. From that look alone I can conclude that I resemble someone with something very wrong with their face.

Note to self: don't try to look cute to attempt to get out of doing something, it doesn't work.

His eyes find their way to the packet of cookies in the middle of Charlie and I. "You know the rule, Mackenzie if you're eating food in class than you have to share your food with everyone."

Gasping I cling the cookies to my chest "No! It's my food, not the classes. If they want their own cookies they can skip class and buy them, themselves. I'm kidding, don't skip school guys, we don't want you to work at McDonald's for the rest of your life," the entire class gives me the death stare.

Great decision Mackenzie let's give everyone another reason to dislike and make fun of you. "Also sharing is not caring. See sharing information about your holiday to Venice is not at all helping us get ready for the HSC. I doubt one of the questions on the test will be 'What meal did your teacher eat on his third night in Venice that gave him gastro for the rest of the trip?'"

That's all it takes for Sir to make me change seats, putting me in front of his desk which is a bad decision on his behalf. As for the next 20 minutes, a nice collection of paper balls are thrown in my direction. (Sir may have been hit a couple times)

And I know what you were thinking. People are such jerks throwing mean notes at me. Well, that's not exactly what happened.

Half are from Charlie who is trying to get my attention which makes no sense because I believe we both have an electronic device called a mobile phones, he can simply message me with, therefore not wasting half a tree. The other half is a collection of papers people are trying to throw into the bin (which I am conveniently seated in front of) and the very few threatening notes which include:

U stoopid

Wanna b

Y do u evan thinc he liked u?

Stay away from my man

Pandas rool

It's kind of sad they don't know how to spell like human beings plus I'd like to point out this isn't a text. You don't have limited characters to work with; you're allowed to use full sentences. You can even draw an emoji if you want. I know, revolutionary!

When the end bell rings the class runs out of the classroom not wanting to be in the uncomfortable plastic chairs for another minute. Who would want to stay in a room that is filled with posters of old people who you don't know (but they all seem to like to use the same Sepia filter on all their photos)

When I turn the corner in the hallway I knock shoulders with somebody but brush it off and keep walking away.

"Nerd" I hear them say under their breath.

Turning around I see Troy walking in the opposite direction "Really, a nerd, that's all you could come up with? It's not much of an insult, haven't you heard Nerdy is the new cool?" I adjust my invisible bow-tie.

Him and Camron laughter resonates throughout the hallway as they stop and turn back in my direction.

Now that I'm face to face with Cameron I can start to see some differences between him and his twin.

Besides the different shaped face and the combed-over hairdo, his entire demeanour is the complete opposite to Joel.

"Well if it isn't Marsha the Martian," Cameron laughs to himself "Get it? Because she's been alienated by the entire school and she's weird" he nudges Troy who is shaking his head.

Why am I wasting my time with these idiots? "If you want to make fun of my name at least get it right and if you need to explain a joke it really defeats the purpose," I study the two guys in front of me "I kind of feel sorry for you Troy, after the whole ordeal with Aaron I got to keep the better twin."

We both simultaneously observe Cameron who is watching himself wink using the front camera of his phone "What? No high school musical references today? The breakup must have taken a major toll on you if you not comparing me to a Disney prince, I can also tell you've gained some weight recently, you might want to take your feelings out on something other than ice-cream"

I restrain myself from punching him in the face, as I had a thorough discussion with Joel and Charlie about how I can be a bit too violent.

"I don't know what I want to do more; hit you with the extended edition of High School Musical to get your head in the game. Because Troy Bolton is not a Disney prince even though he broke into song at any given time. Or if I should pour melted ice cream over you because I am a perfect weight" I toss my hair to add some much-needed sass. Surprisingly my hair doesn't fall into my mouth like it usually does.

"Also he never dumped me because technically we were never together in the first place which is a relief because I don't want to waste time on people that don't care about me."

He stifles a laugh "Don't worry, you won't need to waste your time on him or anyone else for a long time. Everyone knows what really happened that day; he kissed you, won the bet and then dumped you in the middle of the cafe. And you, being the unstable girl that is obsessively in love with him refused to let him leave, causing a big scene."

I process the information backtracking through the week. That would explain why I've gotten so many glares and fingers pointed my way throughout the week.

It's sad that the school has resorted to gossip for their daily entertainment. Gossip is blowing a situation out of proportion while chopping and changing what happened. And the funniest part is that nobody has asked for my side of the story.

I give up on teenage kind (is that even a thing? It is now.)

Taking a deep breath I nod my head in the guys' direction "I'm going to be the bigger person and leave before I say something I regret. I've got better places to be" I tighten my bag straps and walk in the opposite direction.

"You're just too scared to face reality that you're a nobody" Troy calls out over the crowd.

"It's called being mature something that you're definitely not. No, take backs" I yell back across the hall.

I am as smooth as crunchy peanut butter.

***

"Don't you know who we are" blonde number one sneers at me while tapping her manicured nails on the table.

I groan under my breath, I feel like we have this conversation every time they come here "Yes, I am aware you're from my school, I know all your names the problem is that I just don't know who's who. When you all have the same hair colour and wear the exact same makeup it's a bit hard to put a name to a face when you're all wearing the same face" I gesture towards their caked facial features hoping they won't throw their sparkling water at me out of fury.

Blonde one and two start to text each other so furiously I'm sure they're going to crack their screens "OMG. You are like so rude, no wonder Aaron dumped you. You're so not worth the effort. Hashtag high maintenance" all five blondes laugh at the same time. It kind of creeps me out, they all look like clones.

"Can I take your orders or are you going to heckle me about a boy I don't care about and who I'd like to point out thought taking me to McDonalds was an acceptable date? Ladies if you want to take something back with you from this outing besides empty calories, take my advice: if kissing me was just a bet what makes you think he'll treat another girl any different to me?" I try to be as sincere as possible.

They look between each other "Duh because we're popular and pretty unlike you."

"Yes, yes you are," I say as I leave the table to go back in the kitchen.

Tiffany pats me sympathetically on the back "How about you go out the back while I handle these girls. I can sneeze on their cupcakes if you want. I think I've got a cold coming on that I can pass onto them" she kindly offers her services but I sadly refuse.

Charlie is in the kitchen putting an apron on when I enter "Hey" he says "You okay?"

I simply nod and keep walking past him to the bench to start a new batch of cupcakes. Do you think they'll mind if I eat the entire bowl of cupcake batter instead?

Out of the corner of my eye, I see smoke coming from the oven so I instinctively open the door to retrieve the cookies that are probably burning inside.

With everything that's running through my head at the moment, I reach out to for the tray of cookies not realising that I'm not wearing oven mitts.

As soon as my hand touches the searing hot tray I feel the sting of the heat race through my hand.
The cookies scatter around the floor as the tray hits the tiled floor with a clang.
The sound rings in my ears as I clutch my hand to my chest.

I'm in so much shock that I can barely move.

Luckily Charlie is standing next to me and sees what happened so he immediately pulls me over to the sink and puts my hand under the cold water.

The water stings at first but after a couple of minutes, the pain subdues.

I sigh in relief as Charlie carefully pats my hand dry with some paper towel.

A thin red line runs across my hand and fingers imprinting where I picked up the tray.

Charlie carefully clasps his hands around mine and look at me wearily "What were you thinking, picking up the baking tray without anything on your hands. You're lucky the burns are only minor." He inspects my hands closely, slowly turning them over and looking at the blister that will form soon. "Oh, Mackenzie. What am I going to do with you?"

What am I going to do with myself? A fit of giggles start to form inside my stomach and as soon as I see the worry on his face I lose it.

I can't stop myself from laughing.
I've heard that laughter is the best medicine.

Especially in a situation where you think you're about to have a mental breakdown because you have no complete idea what in the world you are doing.

I slide down the metal wall into a crouch position and throw my head back in laughter again.

Charlie stares down at me like I've completely lost my mind. I don't blame him. I probably have a couple screws loose in my head by this time in my life.

17 and already certified as crazy. This should be recorded in a world record book. I wonder when they're going to give me my congratulatory cat.

"What am I doing Charlie? Everything I touch turns into a complete disaster. I can't seem to do anything right at the moment. Every decision I make always seems to be the wrong one" I close my eyes and lay my head against the wall.

I can feel Charlie sitting down next to me. He takes my hand and starts drawing small circles on the top in a soothing motion.

All of the sudden I start to see white blotches in my vision. That's never a good sign.
My breathing starts to get shallower and I start to sound like an 80-year-old smoker who just ran a marathon.

Charlie puts his hands on my cheeks and lifts my head while searching my face
"Are you okay?" he whispers

I swallow hard trying to get my breath and word in order "Can't breathe. Just need some fresh air. Nothing major, " I choke out.

For a second my best friend looks deeply into my eyes with desperation like he's about to make a life-changing decision.

His eyes flicker around my eyes than his lips are on mine. Like CPR...or a kiss.

What's happening?
I've got so many questions

I've read books! His eyes didn't even flicker down to my lips first?

Is this what a kiss is supposed to be?

A kiss is defined as to touch or press with the lips slightly pursed, and then often to part them and to emit a smacking sound, in an expression of affection, love, greeting-

STOP

We don't have time for this!

I'm so confused!!

I roll away quickly from Charlie who looks almost as shell-shocked as me.
I'm guessing for a different reason.
I blink a couple times trying to draw some well-needed composure.

Don't freak out otherwise he'll freak out which will result in- I don't know what but it won't be good.

"What was that?" I squeak.

"I ahh kissed you, " he scratches his now messy hair.

"Yes yes, I um gathered that, " pursing my lips I'm stuck with words. What are you supposed to say in this type of situation?

"Well, I heard that if you hold your breath while having a panic-" I cover my hand over his mouth which I instantly regret.

"Oh nonononono I know what you're about to say. I've seen Teen Wolf. I've watched that scene a hundred times. I know what you were trying to do. I. Was. NOT. Having. A. Panick. Attack"
I hit him with a plastic spatula a couple times.

"You said you couldn't breathe," he says quickly.

"Because of the smoke, you buffoon. Your reaction was supposed to be getting me Ventolin or taking me outside where there is fresh air. You don't kiss someone when they say they can't breathe, idiot. What if I was choking? Let's just kiss the life out of Mackenzie for the heck of it right?" I exclaim throwing my hands up.

Great! Now he doesn't know where to look. This isn't awkward at all.

Then it clicks.
"Oh, my llama. You kissed me. You put your lips on top of my lips. How long do lips have to touch for to make it count as a kiss, like 5 seconds?"

He grabs me by the shoulders and looks at me again "Mace. Breathe. It's okay. We can forget all about it if it will make you feel better."

"Forget? I will definitely never forget what just happened."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" he questions carefully.

"I-I don't know yet. I need to work a couple things out. I can't be um ah here right now. It sort of feels like everything's caving in. Ooo now it's hard to breathe like an elephant is sitting on my chest. Yep that's my heart going 100 miles an hour and I'm getting super dizzy."

I struggle to stand up but I use the wall as support "Ha, I think I'm having a real panic attack. This feels weird. Don't you dare think about kissing me again! I'm just going to go and um go for a walk. Don't know where. Might go for a stroll across the beach."

"It's a 30-minute drive to get there. You don't have a car."

"Okay, I'll find a nice park and make friends with some squirrels. Yes that sounds like a good idea" I nod pleased with my decision.

"There aren't any squirrels here in Australia" he replies.

"Well thanks for bursting my bubble" I exclaim "now if you don't mind I'm going to do something wild and reckless like climb a tree and adopt a baby sloth."

Before Charlie can reply I'm out of the door.

I have no idea where I'm going.

Thoughts are racing through my head to fast and all I want to do is escape them.

So I do something I've never done before.

I run.

Cupcake Theory #27
Kissing doesn't help when you can't breathe (especially if it's your best friend)

:):):)

I've been waiting to post this for so long.
I may have watched the Stydia kiss a couple time for inspiration and then ended up watching the rest of the season. Then series...

Things that happened this week
-I had some really good lemon delicious slice (had to restrain myself from eating the entire tin)
-Sydney went through every season within one week which was super fun (not)
-I read the new Magnus Chase book. I'm in love with them all

Until next week ;)

Love you like as much as I ship Stydia and Mam

Theforgottonone  (>'•'<)