Mitchell was dreading facing Mac at school on Monday. He had no idea what had gone on outside the hotel suite after Mac stormed out, all pissed off and mad at the world, and Zack hobbled out clutching his bloody nose. What if Mac had gone to the Martins' suite to ask Zack out? He hadn't even talked to Mac since the fight. And that was Saturday night! She could've moved all the way to Bejing in that time!
The possibilities were endless, and Mitchell was seriously being mentally tortured.
And once again, he found himself feeling eternally grateful to have Gina and Julian beside him when he walked in. Almost immediately, they found Cody—well, actually, Cody found them, practically dropping down from the ceiling at Gina's feet.
"Hey," Gina said, cheerfully. "How's Zack's nose?"
Cody smirked. "Swollen and red, but it's barely noticeable now. You guys will see it because you know to look for it but, y'know, I don't think anyone else will." He glanced disdainfully at Mitchell before turning back to Gina. "Oh, and thankfully, I've been able to push the Barbara thing from my head. I say her name, but I just don't think about who she really is or what happened between us."
Gina raised her eyebrows and exchanged glances with Julian. "Uh, I guess that's one way to handle it."
Cody shrugged one shoulder and was cut off by Mitchell before he could say anything else.
"Good for you. Um, have you seen Mac anywhere? Like your place on the weekend or here...?"
Cody shook his head. "Nope. But I suspect Zack might have. You think we should go look for him?"
Mac ground her teeth together while she walked to her locker.
The whole time that she
hadn't seen Mitchell, Zack was still trying to win her over.
Mac
literally smelled like roses, since the whole floor of the suite was
covered in rose petals, about a thousand love notes, and her computer
crashed once because of the messages he had sent her.
She was sooooo pissed.
Mac had to redo her combination about five times because her anger was making her mess up. When she finally got the combination right, and slammed upon the door, roses emptied out of her locker and onto her head.
"ZACK!" Mac snarled, picking rose petals out of her hair as she slammed her foot down onto the ones on the floor in anger.
"Stupid... Stupid... Idiot..." Mac muttered, taking the last petals out of her hair before stuff her stuff into her locker and slamming it shut. Mac picked up a pencil that had fallen in the petals and started walking to her class when she found someone in front of her.
Mac gritted her teeth and looked up to meet Zack's happy blue eyes.
"What. Do. You. WANT?" Mac snarled.
Zack grinned at her. "Aww, you're so cute when your mad." He joked.
Mac made a face. "I'm mentally debating if I should kick your ass right now." She warned.
Zack smiled at her and
placed his arm around her. "Still so cute."
Mac leaned
to the right, toward him and slammed her foot down onto his.
"Ow!" Zack
began hopping on one foot, gripping his foot.
Mac smirked coldly.
"Am I cute now?" She growled and stormed away.
She was a
bit distracted as she almost ran straight into Cody.
"Sorry, sorry!" Cody said, narrowly avoiding collision.
Mac shrugged. "It's fine. My fault." Mac said. She made a face at the group. "Hi."
Mitchell narrowed his eyes at Gina, like it was all her fault he'd come to school that day. "I'll see you guys at lunch," he snapped before storming off.
Mac raised her eyebrows. "What was that about?" She muttered, but it was mostly to herself.
Cody raised his eyebrows. "Wow. First he's looking for you, then he storms off when he finds you. You must have a hard time keeping track of him."
She looked at Cody. "Depends if it's one of his... Good days."
Gina and Julian exchanged glances and then offered Mac weak smiles.
"How was the rest of your weekend?" Gina asked, continuing to walk down the hall alongside Julian and Mac. "Did you hang out with Zack at all?"
Cody burst into laughter, thinking of Zack's antics. "Not exactly..." he mumbled.
Mac then looked at Gina and scowled. "Terrible," she groaned, sighing. "And hang out? More like stalking. He totally stalked me this whole time, like, giving me flowers and everything. I am so pissed at him." Mac gritted her teeth together, clenching her fists.
"If he comes ANY closer to me today, I swear to God..." A few visions in her head came to mind that made her laugh quietly.
"He spent a ton of money on flowers and stuff," Cody explained to the confused, yet still happy, couple AKA Gina and Julian.
Mac frowned. "Go check out my house. It'll take weeks to clean up all of those stupid petals."
"Why wouldn't she like that?" Julian asked dumbly.
Gina sighed. "Julian! Duh. Because she's dating your brother. Hello? Where have you been the past year?"
"Ohhh," Julian said, as if it just dawned on him. "Sorry..." He cast Mac an apologetic look. "Just tell him to stop."
Mac then sighed, feeling like hitting Julian. "Lets see... What do you think I've been doing? I just stepped on his foot, and he'll probably still give me some stupid chocolate or something!" Mac growled. She then glanced around. "And it looks like Mitchell isn't going to help me at all... What did I do wrong?" Mac suddenly bit her lip. "I wish we could just talk about it.
Julian thought for a moment. "Or, hey, I could deal with him for you!"
Cody gulped. "Uh, no. Maybe you shouldn't."
Mac's gaze hardened as she looked at Cody. "You're so lucky that he's your brother or I'd handle him myself," she snapped.
Cody raised his eyebrows. "You'd, like, hit him?" he asked.
"She'd hang him by his toes from the janitor's closet and lock him in there and let him starve to death!" Gina exclaimed maliciously.
"No, she'd lock him in a locker and set the school on fire," Julian decided, grinning.
Cody frowned, wondering if they were trying to intimidate him. "Seriously?"
Gina only laughed. "Ask Mac."
Mac paused, listening to their ideas. "I sort of like Julian's... But I'm not sure anymore... Gina's would be more painful, and now that I think about it, Julian's is too quick." She then glanced at Cody and smirked.
"Joke, joke!" She paused. "But I'm considering it if I find anther freakin' flower in my locker."
Cody furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "Oh, jeez... Man, I guess I really know how to pick friends."
Gina chuckled and then got back to more serious matters. "Okay, so maybe this plan would work... at lunch, we'll force both of you guys to sit with us, and we'll tell Mitchell we're not speaking to him until he talks to you about the Zack issue," Gina said. "What do you say? I mean, it won't take long for him to crack. He hates being ignored."
Mac nodded lightly. "Okay... Lets hope it works..." She paused, biting her lip.
"I just hope he won't be mad at me."
Julian patted Mac's shoulder kindly. "He will be, but that's why you need to talk to him."
At lunch, Gina, Julian, and Mitchell were sitting at their usual table when Mac walked in, followed closely by Zack and Cody. Zack because, well, he'd been following Mac all day, and Cody because he wanted to make sure no one actually tried to kill his brother.
"Look who it is!" Julian exclaimed, waving vigorously at Mac and patting the space next to Mitchell. "Come sit down!"
Mitchell scowled at him. "No," he growled under his breath.
Mac smiled at Julian but winced though, as she caught Mitchell's words.
"Yes," Julian hissed. "And if you don't make up with her today, we're all ignoring you."
Mitchell frowned and looked at Gina to see if she was in agreement with that asinine plan. Apparently, she was because she drew a line across her lips and then pretended to throw out the key.
Mitchell sighed. He was on his own, but he really didn't want Zack there if he chose to talk to Mac... Maybe he wouldn't. He doubted Gina and Julian could go very long without him, anyway.
Mac sighed, too, and slowly moved around Julian to sit next to Mitchell. She bent her head over her plate and took a small bite of her sandwich, glancing up at him.
"Hi, Mitchell." She smiled slightly, hoping to get him smile back.
"Hi," Mitchell grumbled, staring at Zack, who plopped down into the space next to Mac and Mac glared at him. He ignored it. As usual.
Mitchell widened his eyes at Gina and Julian. How the hell was he supposed to talk to Mac when Zack was sitting right there? Gina offered him a sympathetic smile while Julian kept right on ignoring Mitchell, as if it was Mitchell's fault that Mac had a stalker. If Gina suddenly was being stalked by some guy and then going out to the skate-park and kissing him, Julian would be even angrier, Mitchell could count on it. He'd probably murder Zack and make Gina's life a living hell for the rest of her life, constantly showing up at her house, crying about how she wrecked his life.
Mac leaned toward Mitchell and moved her seat. She then quickly shot her leg out and slammed a kick straight into Zack's leg.
Zack winced and Mac grinned.
Cody's eyes widened. He knew his brother was getting a bit over the edge, but violence wasn't the answer... Even if it was funny.
Cody veered away from Mac and Mitchell, moving a bit to the side so he was out of kicking reach.
Mac then turned back to Mitchell, wondering what he would say.
Mitchell shrugged once. "So... are you being ignored, too?" he asked. "Apparently,
Gina and Julian have decided not to speak to me until I 'make-up' with you. But it's not like we broke up or anything," he grumbled.
Mac smiled lightly at him. "That's a good thing to know," she said.
Zack chuckled. "Maybe they just don't like you anymore." He didn't slide closer to Mac for fear of being kicked again. That was her one turn-off. The violent thing. If it was flirty little kicks under the table—strange attempts at playing footsies—it wouldn't hurt this bad.
Mac glanced over her shoulder and glared at Zack, mentally telling him to shut up.
Mitchell rolled his eyes. "Wow, you're mature. See, this is what happens when—"
Gina squeezed his arm, cutting him off. This was not the way to make-up with Mac. Insulting Zack would only make matters worse.
"Do you have anything to say to me?" Mitchell asked finally, deciding to just pretend Zack wasn't even there. If he and Mac did find themselves making up, maybe they could kiss in front of Zack, just to prove that they still loved each other... and not him. Maybe it would be one little kick to show he wasn't going to come between Mac and Mitchell.
But Mitchell feared that he already had.
Mac glanced over Mitchell's shoulder at Gina and Julian.
"Ah..." She
gave her other friends a uncertain look. She knew they were doing
this for her, so she didn't know how to answer it. "Not
really..." Mac said with a shrug, but she hadn't tried it out.
She wondered if they were ignoring her too.
Mac then turned back
to Mitchell.
"Okay, I'm sorry
that I didn't come back to see you-"
Zack grumbled something
in the background and Mac considered throwing her shoe at him.
"As I was saying," Mac threw a glare at Zack, "and I'm sorry." Mac said. She blamed Zack though, he had made her stay there basically.
"But anyway..." Mac paused, wondering if she should ask this of him. "Why are you mad at me?" She questioned. She understood that he would be mad at Zack, but she wondered why her.
Mitchell frowned. Wasn't it obvious? "I'm mad at you because you supposedly led him on. You kissed him back, correct? That's what he said. And you stormed out of the suite, too. You're just as mad at me as I am at him... right?" Mitchell raised an eyebrow, a little unsure of why exactly he was so mad at her.
"Wait, you don't even have a rea—" Julian began, but Gina shot him a look that shut him right up.
Mitchell bowed his head and bit his lip. This looked bad. Very bad. He only hoped Mac would forgive him.
Mac frowned back. "Do you seriously believe that shit?" she snapped. She gritted her teeth together and glanced over her shoulder again.
Zack was smiling and waving like everything was great and happy. Yeah right.
Mac let out a breath and turned back to Mitchell.
"Let's get our facts straight. All we did was skateboard in the beginning. I never led him on," Mac shivered slightly, "and I never kissed him back. And no, I'm not mad at you. You never really knew what was going on. So no, I can't blame you for anything." Mac took another deep breathe again, trying not to hit Zack. Stupid lying idiot.
Mac paused. "Even if you did kick me out. I forgive you for it."
Mitchell thought for a moment, considering Mac's words. They made sense. She made sense, and he didn't have any reasons to be mad at her... only Zack. And for almost tearing them apart, Mitchell decided to make Zack's life a living hell from then on... well, at least until he dropped the Mac obsession.
Mitchell smiled at Mac. "Thanks. I forgive you, too." With that, he leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
Mac grinned. She kissed him back, ignoring the people around her. She missed his kisses.
Zack glared at both of them from his seat next to Mac, glaring darkly.
Stupid Mitchell! Zack snarled in his head, keeping a hold on the table so he didn't jump up and hit Mitchell.
Zack tore his eyes away from Mitchell and Mac kissing and found himself face to face with Cody.
Cody had a small sympathetic look on his face and Zack glared at him.
"I'm leaving." Zack grumbled and got up, slamming his chair into the table and storming out of the cafeteria.
Mac and Mitchell were too absorbed in their kiss to notice.
The universe was back in alignment.