"wait, you want hayden to do what?" sage asks through a mouthful of his ham sandwich. mackenzie cringes at the sight of the mushed up bread and meat mixed with her best friends saliva.
she had just explained to the wide eyed boy about how she wants hayden to be her very own social experiment and for some reason sage can't quite understand why.
she sighs, annoyed with him. "i want hayden to let me shadow him for a few weeks so i can get an A on my paper and pass the class, how do you not understand that?".
sage shrugs his shoulders before wiping his mouth with his napkin and taking a quick chug of his bottled water.
"i'm not stupid mackenzie i get why you want him to be your little puppet but what i don't quite fathom is why him?" sage questioned.
mackenzie and hayden have lived next door to each other their whole lives but they only ever talk whenenver their parents invite each other for dinner or the annual 4th of july barbecue so what makes hayden so special?
she shrugs her shoulders, looking out onto the football field where hayden was with his team mates. he's on the football team but isn't the captain. that space has been taken by johnny orlando since freshman year. he was millwoods first ever freshman quarterback. mackenzie doesn't know much about him but she knows enough to always steer clear of him. he's a grade A asshole who only thinks about himself.
"earth to mackenzie" sage says, waving one of his hands in front of her eyes. he follows her stare and scoffs when he sees johnny and hayden pass each other the football back and forth.
"because he's popular sage, haven't you ever wondered what it's like to be popular? to know what sort of stuff the popular people get up to on a daily basis?" she questions him, still annoyed that he doesn't get where she's coming from.
sage is her best friend and he always has been but boy does he annoy her and he can also be extremely oblivious at times. hayden is the perfect subject for mackenzie's research because everyone wants to know what it's like to be popular.
"as long as you don't get sucked into their world of lies, cheating, and excessive amounts of weed and alcohol then fine" he sighs.
mackenzie smiles, leaning into his side with her head resting on his chest as sage wraps his arm around her. he kisses the top of her head while they both watch the football team practice.
watching joey birlem fall on his ass and brandon rowland get yelled at by coach miller for a half hour eventually got boring and mackenzie yawns.
"what time is it?" she asks, lifting her head up to look into sages brown eyes. they sparkle whilst looking down into her own brown ones.
"almost the end of lunch, we should get going to math" he groans, shifting a little. mackenzie nods, lifting herself up off of the bleachers. she extends her hand for sage to take which he does, combining their strength and pulling him up too.
carefully. mackenzie walks down the bleachers steps where as sage jumps down each seat, a step at a time, mackenzie giggles while she watches the concentration on his face as he tries not to slip and fall. a whistle blowing in the distance catches her attention and she whips her head around, seeing that football practice has ended.
hayden and johnny are collecting the equipment and mackenzie can't help but feel like it's the perfect time to go talk to him, try to persuade him to help her and to be, as sage said, her "puppet".
"sage i'm going to talk to him, see you in class?" she asks, grabbing her best friends attention.
sage would rather mackenzie didn't talk to hayden at all. he wanted her to stay away from the popular people as long as she could but he had no control over her so all he could do was be the supportive best friend mackenzie needs him to be. he nods his head before walking off in the direction of the school building.
collecting all the confidence she could gather, mackenzie grips onto her bag straps as she struts towards the field, making her way towards the two sweaty boys in football uniform. she can't deny that they both look....hot. but she'd never let them know that and she can look all she wants, just no touching.
"hayden!" mackenzie calls as she nears them.
mackenzie's call also gets johnny attention and he slows down, turning a little to face hayden and then back at the short girl that was walking quickly.
"isn't that ziegler?" johnny questions, holding the ball in his hands as he watches her get closer.
hayden nods his head, deciding to meet her halfway. johnny being johnny, walks behind hayden, wanting to know why goody goody mackenzie ziegler wants to talk to his best friend.
"hi" she pants when they're only a few inches away from each other. mackenzie looks at johnny who's wearing a confused look but also a smirk. she rolls her eyes before turning her attention towards hayden.
"kenzie, hey, what's up?" questions hayden, hoping she doesn't let slip about their tutoring sessions. johnny would give him shit for it if he found out.
"i need your help" she spills, getting straight to the point.
johnny's eyebrows raise along with hayden's. they hadn't expected her to say that. johnny was thinking she'd be yelling at them for littering or being late to class. not needing hayden's help.
"with?" johnny asks, pissing off the out of breath girl. she shoots him a glare to which he puts his hands up in surrender at.
"with my english paper, i need to be your shadow for a few weeks in order to collect raw research about what it's like to be popular" she rambles.
hayden and johnny's heads snap towards each other, a mixture of surprised and confused looks on their slightly red faces.
"my shadow?"
"his shadow?"
mackenzie wishes she could slap the idiots right here and now. how dumb could they be.
"spend some time with you so i can see how you live, it's a really simple concept to grasp i don't get why everyone finds it so difficult" she sighs in frustration.
johnny chuckles. "maybe because not everyone is a walking talking dictionary like you ziegler" he says bitterly.
hayden shoots johnny a glare, telling him that he crossed the invisible line.
"ignore him, he just got dumped" hayden says, waving off his friends rude behaviour.
johnny's mouth falls open as he looks at hayden, he can't believe he just said that. "dude!" he yells.
mackenzie stifles a laugh, now it was her turn to earn a glare.
"anyway, i'm sorry kenzie but i cant, i'm way too busy with personal stuff happening right now and also school but i am really sorry, if there's another way i can help then i'd be happy to do so" he says, patting the girls shoulder and turning to walk away.
johnny studies the girl in front of him. he's never noticed just how pretty mackenzie was until now but her clothes could be doing with an update and her eyes hide behind thick black glasses. mackenzie catches him staring and scoffs.
"what are you gawking at?" she growls. mackenzie doesn't like when boys look at her for a long amount of time. she feels very self conscious. even around sage.
"meet me at starbucks after school, i have a proposal for you and you won't want to refuse little miss desperate for a lab rat" johnny smiles, turning and catching upto hayden.
mackenzie stands in the middle of the football field alone and very confused. what the hell could johnny orlando want with her?
sighing, mackenzie pouts knowing that there is only one way to find out.
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stream bad by lennon stella
