as the class bell rung, students gathered their books and zoomed out of the class as fast as their legs would carry them. unlike her eager classmates, mackenzie stays behind, lingering at her desk a while longer. in her hand she holds her essay plan that she wants feedback on. her ideas for the essay are overflowing but before she begins writing, she wants to double check with mr smith that her topic is up to her standards.
approaching his desk eagerly with her essay plan clutched in her hands, mackenzie clears her throat, grabbing the attention of the 40 something year old man with silver hair and reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. the brown eyed girl sees that her english teacher is in the middle of grading papers for his freshman class. he looks up, surprised to see mackenzie. she smiles largely, shifting her weight from her left side to her right and she hands over the stapled booklet.
"what's this?" he questions, not waiting for her answer before reading the front cover and skimming through the thin booklet of words upon words.
"well, i got bored last night after doing my homework and thought that i'd make an essay plan for you know... the essay" she explains, her heart beat quickening.
mr smith nods his head, impresses by the young girls work. none of his students have gone through so much effort to prepare for an essay before. to say he held the most respect towards her would be true.
"i'm impressed mackenzie, good work" he smiles.
mackenzie frowns slightly. did he really like it? his reaction wasn't what she was hoping for. mackenzie doesn't like not being praised for her hard work. blame her pushy mother.
"oh, well i have some questions for you" she adds, pushing the booklet towards him once again. she's not giving up so easily.
mr smith sighs, leaning back on his chair and putting the lid back on the red pen he holds in his right hand. mackenzie knows that she's distracting him from work and that she should probably go to lunch but this is important to her. she has to know if the work she's putting in is going to mean something.
"mackenzie you're work is always good, why do you suddenly need comments from me now?" the tired man questions his student.
she thinks momentarily. she could say because her school work matters to her but does it really? would she really be this pressed about school if she didn't have strict, pushy parents? probably not.
"please, just tell me if my topic is good enough, i need to pass this class" she begs, showing off her big brown eyes.
mr smith raises and eyebrow but does as he's asked, he picks up the booklet and reads through the first page, closing it over, deciding he doesn't need to know anything else.
"you want the truth?" he questions, fearing she might not like what it is he has to say.
gulping, she nods. she needs to know. she has to know.
"the topic is overdone, nobody pays attention to bullying in schools anymore and it's not what you're capable of. but if you pick something more interesting, more entertaining, i can assure you that you will pass my class" he rambles.
mackenzie's eyes are wide with shock by the time he's finished practically roasting her. she's never been told her work was boring before. she feels humiliated and ashamed. what will her parents think?
"you still have time mackenzie, go pick a new topic and try something new with it, do the research yourself from scratch and not all from books and documentaries on youtube" the silver haired man speaks once again.
confused, mackenzie tilts her head a little.
"from scratch? what topic could i possibly do that would require me to start from scratch?" the clueless girl asks.
"well" he says. pondering for a second. "people seem to think watching and learning about other people's life's are interesting so why don't you do research on someone who you find interesting".
"like who?"
"could be your neighbour or your cousins or even a student from the school" mr smith shrugs.
"a student from the school?" she asks. he's gone insane.
"look mackenzie you asked for my input and i gave you it, do with it what you will just do not go back to boring basics, that's a one way ticket to fail town if you do that".
and with that, he gathers his papers and walks out of the empty classroom, aside from a gaping mackenzie that is. she turns around, slouching on his desk as she thinks.
there's not many interesting people in mackenzie's life that she thinks her classmates would find entertaining. there's her best friend sage but he isn't really the type of guy who would like to be on camera and followed around for a school paper. she knows that he'll help her though. as for her parents, they're workaholics or always on vacation somewhere exotic without mackenzie and her older sister maddie is at college but they aren't very close anyway. her next door neighbour hayden is pretty cool though. he's popular and everyone likes him. she and hayden are friends too so maybe he'd agree to being what is essentially, her very own experimental guinea pig.
all she has to do now, is ask him.
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new book lmao
