Mackenzie is in the kitchen starting to prep for dinner, when she hears a car pull up outside and the front door swing open. Bella's home, she guesses. She can hear her father and sister talking in the living room, about Edward Cullen no doubt. Her sister had gotten grounded when she came home. Their father wants Bella to get some space from Edward, but she ends up spending all her free time with him anyway. Charlie is more than a little annoyed by it.
"Dad, there's nothing you can say. Edward is in my life." From the kitchen Mackenzie rolls her eyes. Normally her older sister takes after Charlie, but from time to time Renee's over-dramatic nature and hair-brained ideas slip through. And, when it comes to Edward, Bella tends to over-react. Charlie is clearly off-set by his eldest daugther's seeming obsession with her troublesome boyfriend. "Yeah, I'm gathering that."
The younger sister zones out for the most part, focusing briefly on the food she's preparing, as her father attempts to reason with her sister. "-if you use your new-found freedom to see some of your other friends too. Like, Jacob." Mackenzie pauses while chopping vegetables, at the sound of his name. She wishes silently that Charlie would stop trying to push them together, they'd gotten in a fight. As much as she loved her sister, everyone knows that Jake was merely a replacement for Edward. And, though no one said anything outloud, everyone saw that she'd been using him. Mackenzie hated to admit that, but she knew it to be true.
Her father drops the topic afterwards. Bella goes upstairs to do her homework and Mackenzie spends the next hour making meatballs and sauce, chopping mushrooms, and cooking pasta noodles. At six o'clock she, Bella, and Charlie sit down for spaghetti. No one talks very much. Charlie is busy eating, Bella is off in her own world as she chews, and Mackenzie thinks about Jacob, as she twirls pasta noodles around her fork.
The strange relationship between him and her older sister conflicts Mackenzie. She doesn't like the thought of Bella using Jake. Even worse, she doesn't like the thought of Bella being with Jake, preposterous as it may sound. The idea of Bella and Jacob as a couple makes her chest ache, and Mackenzie finds that ricidulous. She's only become closer to him over the last month, yet still the thought of Jacob going back to spending all his free time with Bella and ignoring her, makes her upset. She barely eats her pasta.
When dinner is over, she packs the left overs into containers and does the dishes with her sister. The two of them head upstairs together, splitting off at the top of the staircase and into their seperate rooms. Bella's thoughtful silence worries her. Mackenzie settles down on her bed with her laptop and starts her five page topic paper for honors english, tries to get her mind off of Jacob Black. But, nothing seems to work.
An hour later Mackenzie looks up at the sound of three knocks on her door. The fourteen year old sits up from laying on her stomach with her laptop in front of her. The door opens and her older sister's head peaks in through the gap. "Kenz, did you see Jacob today?" she questions, it's the first time Bella's bothered to ask about him since she'd gotten back together with Edward.
She resists the urge to roll her eyes at Bella. This was likely brought on by their father earlier.
Mackenzie has spent almost everyday with Jacob since their day at the beach. Bella is preoccupied with Edward and Jake doesn't ask about her either. She can sense that something happend between them, an arguement, probably. But, selfishly she's glad that she can have Jacob to herself. As bad as it sounds, she doesn't want to go back to being second to Bella. It's always been that way with Jake, Bella, and her. But, lately he's paid alot of attention to her and she likes that. She doesn't want to go back to the way things were.
"Yeah, this morning. Why?" She answers reluctantly, noticing the way Bella sighs. "He isn't picking up his phone." At the same time, Mackenzie feels her cell phone vibrate soundlessly in her pocket. That's probably him now. "He's probably in the other room, he barely carries his phone on him. Usually leaves it in his room." She answers.
It's not completely a lie, Jake never seems to have his cell on him.
"Well, next time you see him, will you tell him we need to talk?" A chill runs up Mackenzie's spine. Talk about what, exactly? But, regardless of the annoyance, she nods at her sister and watches Bella close the door. She hears footsteps trudging down the staircase and the front door opening. Not long after it opens again and someone stomps back up the stairs.
Night, Kenz. Her text from Jacob reads, Still up for surfing tomorrow? She doesn't hesitate to reply, sending off her answer and bidding him goodnight. She falls asleep before it's even ten PM, with her face in her keyboard. She doesn't get to see the wolf pacing back and fourth on the edge of the tree-line.
She's at the beach. And Edward, her sister, and her mother are there. For some reason she keeps hearing yelling and howling, and someone screaming, "She'll get away!" then something knocks her into the water and she flies up straight in her bed. The sun is shining in through her window and she realizes she'd been dreaming.
Bella is standing in the door way with a worried look on her face. "You okay?" She asks and Mackenzie nods even though she's not exactly sure.