29) What Is This Thing You Call Privacy?

"Well, this is fun," Zoe stabs at her salad once again, she has been doing that a lot the last 15 minutes "Just you and me. By ourselves. Sitting alone. On an empty bench. So much fun."

I can feel her intense glare drilling into me. I think she might be hinting at something,
which may or may not involve the lack of people sitting at the table with us.

I nod; ignoring the sarcasm laced through her voice "I know right. It's just so peaceful here with just the two us. I love having this one-on-one girl time with you; we don't get to do this enough."

Joel takes this as his cue to make an entrance "Greeting my fellow-"

I pick up my heavy bag and put it next to me to prevent him from sitting down on the seat "Go away, Joel."

He sighs dramatically and leans on my shoulder. In no way is this comfortable for me "That's no way to talk to your friend who brought tacos."

I look at Joel suspiciously "You have no ulterior motive?"

He shakes his head "Nope, just want to spread the love."

"And you're not about to confess your undying hate or love towards me either?" I double-check because you can never be too careful.

"Um not that I know of..." Joel glances towards Zoe to see if she understands what I'm talking about.

"What did you say?" Zoe backtracks, looking between me and Joel.

"Nothing," I say quickly "you may sit" I motion to the other side of the bench.

Joel smiles and slides next to Zoe tearing open the paper bag with heavenly smelling Mexican wafting out. There better be extra guacamole somewhere in that bag.

Wait where did he get these from? There are no Mexican places around here, I suspiciously inspect the taco. Did he make this himself? Wait, is he trying to poison me because he is still friends with Aaron and they want me dead?

Okay maybe my imagination is a little overactive and I should stop asking questions I know I'll never get the answer to.

"The three amigos at it again. Jeolapeno, Mac and cheese and umm Zocchini. I'm sorry Zoe, I can't seem to find a food to go with your name," Zoe's too busy stuffing her mouth to notice him talking.

"So," he drawls out "I heard something interesting that was rumoured to of happened a couple of days ago?" I almost drop my taco on the floor when my head snaps to Joel.
Zoe stops chewing and lets her eyes drift towards me.

I'm in trouble.

Be cool Mackenzie, just play it cool and pretend nothing happened. They won't suspect a thing.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, nothing interesting ever happens in my life. I practically live under a rock," my voice has gone up an octave.

"You know," he urges on trying to jog my memory "the big confrontation between you and a certain someone?"

I shrug, maybe if I show disinterest they will leave it alone and forget about it completely.

He leans over the table to invade my personal bubble "Come on. Give me the gory details. The entire school pretty much knows anyway, you could at least give your good old pal Joel the inside scoop, you know the behind the scenes," he raises an eyebrow in interest.

Let's just stop for a moment and ask the real question. How does everybody know how to lift a single eyebrow? I can barely wink without someone thinking I have something in my eye or am having a seizure.

Anyway, let's get back to wondering how in the world the entire school knows about my non-existent personal life? The only thing I use social media for is Buzzfeed quizzes.

I put my hand on his chest and push him back to his seat "The entire school?" I ask looking around the courtyard "How does news even travel that fast? Wait I want to know how they found out about something that happened in private, well sort of? Does anybody know what the words privacy or personal means anymore?"

"Personal?" He laughs at the word which tells you enough about our generation "Half of the school watched you and Troy go at it. You guys looked like you were about to rip each other's throats out. It wasn't very subtle, just saying" he holds up his hands in defence.

I exhale a sigh of relief "Ohhhh you were talking about that, okay that makes much more sense."

"What else would I be talking about?"

"Nothing."

Something seems to click in Zoe's brain "Would it perhaps involve a certain person that is missing from the table at this very moment?"

I tilt my head and cringe, waiting for my friends reaction "One of them."

"One of them? As in there is more than one? Like plural? Mace, what have you been up to that's made everyone want to avoid you like the plague?" She holds a finger up and points to me "You don't have a deadly virus do you?" She scoots backwards.

Avoiding any eye contact with my friends who are sitting opposite me is becoming harder than I think "I just have such a shining personality that seems to reflect people away. Some people just can't handle my shininess."

Joe and Zoe look like they're having a silent conversation with each other.

Do you know what she's saying?

I usually don't so I just smile and nod.

They both smile and nod in sync. Yep, I've got such great friends.

"Yeah I, realised Sam wasn't hanging around like he usually does. Did you actually kill him this time?" I'm taken aback by Joel's comment, though it may be slightly true, I didn't technically kill him in particular, just severed any ties, relations or somewhat non-hatred feelings towards him.

"Sam? How exactly did he get involved in this?"

I shrink back into my seat. Why does everyone keep asking questions?

"What are you not telling me?" Zoe squints her eye and rakes over my face

She quickly gets her phone out and starts typing. A few moments later my phone buzzes.

Tell me what happened or I swear I will swap the salt and sugar labels so you make salty cupcakes. Then when you're sleeping I'll spray the canned icing in your face.
So will you tell me or will I have to torture it out of you?

My eyes flicked up toward my friend who has just become the most intimidating person that I know. I sigh, knowing what I have to write back.

All I'm going to say there was a hot cookie tray, a kiss then some rain and weird feelings with a dramatic exit.
For more information on the subject, ask me after I've worked out what really happened (that may be in 25-50 years)

I can tell when Zoe has read my texts as she spits her salad all over me "What!?"

I wipe the chunk of lettuce that has found its way onto my face "I've never really understood the full experience of a salad until now."

My friend's mouth hangs open in what looks like shock and confusion.
Wanting to be a part of what was going on; Joel takes the phone from Zoe's hand and reads through the messages.

"You're kidding me" He exclaims "there's a 40% clearance sale at the shoe shop near the ice cream parlour!"

Zoe scrolls through the phone "Look at the last two texts."

His eyes scan them he looks up and down between the phone and me.

"Nooooooo," he says in disbelief "he didn't. Did he?"

Snatching my phone back I put it in my pocket out of reach, "We're not discussing this anymore okay. Let's talk about something else like baby pandas. Baby pandas are so cute. Don't you agree?"

The pair give each other a knowing look "We'd rather discuss you're now rather curiously interesting love life." They both rest their chins on their hands together.

I can't handle these two. Standing up, I pack away the rest of my lunch and smile at my friends. "If you need me I will be in the library where I cannot get myself into any trouble". I say slinging my bag over my shoulder.

Sadly I know I've spoken too soon as I barely get 5 steps away before an arm snakes its way around my waist from behind.

"Hey babe, long time no see" a voice breathes against my shoulder.

I cringe at the sound of Aaron's voice in my ear.

"Yeah and for a good reason" I untangle his hands from my waist and shove him away "just so you know I don't appreciate when you call me a name of a sheep herding pig."

"What?" He looks at me with his usual expression of confusion. I wish I didn't have to explain these things to him.

"It's a movie you uncultured swine. Pun intended," I laugh at my own joke. I sober up when I realise that Aaron is still standing in front of me and a little too close for comfort for my comfort.

It's now when I realise this is the first time I've seen Aaron since tipping the milkshake over his head. Let's see how long it takes for him to say something stupid and completely fake with idiotic intentions.

"Why are you here Aaron? Last time we talked I remember you calling me pathetic and dull. Which is funny because I am neither and I sort of just assumed that I'd never have to interact with you again."

He places his hands on my shoulders which I instantly shrug off "It okay Mackenzie I forgive you."

"You forgive me? Forgive me for what exactly?" A crowd has started to form around us. There goes the last part of my privacy.

"For being you know," he twitches his head slightly like he's got a crick in his neck.

"No. I really don't know nor do I care."

Apparently, he is going deaf as he completely ignores what I've just said "but I'm willing to give you a second chance because I'm such a kind and caring person" a chorus of 'awws' come from the girls in the crowd.

"I'm sorry; do you know what the words mean? Because if you did you wouldn't have- Hold up. Why am I still wasting my time on you? I've got better things to do than bicker with someone like you," I pivot and start to make my way through the crowd.

"Hun, you're just running away from pure perfection" he calls out after me.

Pausing, I turn around and walk back to him. It takes all, my willpower not to laugh in his face "As a smart idiot once reminded me; if a guy can't see how awesome I am he is not worth it. That I don't need somebody else to define who I am.

Feeling a sudden boost of confidence I take a step forward finding myself toe to toe with Aaron with a broad smile. "I am a weird, cupcake obsessed; crazy cat lady and I love that about myself. It's not my loss if you guys don't realise how cool I really am. Hashtag it's cool to be uncool," I look into the crowd to see Charlie, Zoe and Joel standing next to each other at the front of the crowd giving me a big thumbs up.

Aaron goes to make an observation but I cut him off before he can start to talk.

"Alrighty, I'm sick of all this confrontation stuff, if you would like to continue this meaningless discussion you may send me a meme or a gif that expresses your feelings like a normal person. You see I deserve to spend time with people that care about me and you deserve, a tap on the face but I've promised my friend to be less violent. And by tap I mean slap, and by slap I mean punch, and by punch I mean hit by a chair then ran over by a Lego truck," I give him a sweet smile before walking over to my friends.

They all give me a Hi-five and a mini round of applause before I state "I need to go."

They all stare at me in confusion "To class? To the toilet?"

"No, I mean away from everybody here. They're giving me a headache with all the chatter."

"Mace you can't leave the school premises. It's against the rules."

"Oh, I wasn't planning on leaving. I was just going to go find a nice dark and quiet corner to contemplate life in. Might even have an existential crisis. Who knows?" I merely shrug. My eyes connect with Charlie and I can't help but look away.

I'm not ready to discuss what happened with him just yet or ever. We'll see how I go.

Zoe takes my hands and tugs them gently "Are you okay? You tell me anything, you know that right?"

"I just need to work a couple of things out that's all," I take a deep breath "Don't worry about me okay, I'm just going to go wash my face and I'll be right back," I give her a reassuring smile before walking away.

There's only one thing that can fix this situation and I'm not going to find it here.

I think it's time to get frozen yoghurt.

Cupcake Theory #29
Privacy and secrets don't always exist when you have persistently nosey friends

:):):)

What a wonderfully hot day it is today
Not really
I hate the heat
But what I do love is frozen cokes and Mcflurrys

I know this is a short chapter

Do you prefer short or long chapters?

Also I promise there should be less (not really) serious dialogue. Maybe . I'm not sure. We'll see how we go

3 cool things that happened this week
- my City of bones 10th-anniversary edition book came 1.5 weeks early
-I bought frozen yoghurt which is always good
- I also went for a Kmart run and now have the coolest cat shorts

I just wanted to say thank you. This book is almost up to 2k which is unbelievable
I wouldn't have been able to do it without you guys. I hope your week is full of blessings

Till next week

Love you like a taco (with extra guacamole )

Theforgottonone