Mackenzie | √

Chapter 3

"Mom!" I called as I closed the door silently and walked into the house.

"Mom?" I shouted as I ran to her. She was on the couch and she looked like she had... passed out. "Mom." I called, shaking her.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, "Oh MZ, you're back from school." She said as she struggled to get up from her lying position.

"Mom... are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah... yeah, I am. I just had to rest, I was so tired."

What made her so tired? She usually did some little work from home. If I ignored this before, I wasn't ignoring it again. I had the strong feeling something was wrong with her... and the thought alone scared me.

"You were tired?" I asked her.

"Yeah, honey... I did a lot of work today," She said, smiling.

"Mom—"

"It's okay, MZ.. I'm fine, really," she looked at me. "So, how was your first day in two years?" She asked me.

I sighed as I rolled my eyes,"Crazy."

"Tell me about it."

I loved the fact that mom was so interested in my life... Although, it could be really annoying sometimes, she would always have some words of wisdom that would help me later. I went ahead to tell her about Tanner and every other thing that happened with him. Of course, I didn't tell her about the attack, because I didn't want her worrying too much.

"Hm. He sounds like a guy from a movie." Mom said.

"Yes, he does..." I rolled my eyes.

"Just be nice to him."

"He doesn't deserve it."

"I'm serious. If you're nice to him, he'd feel terrible."

"No, that was in the 80s when there were nothing like comebacks."

Mom chuckled. "Go change into something more comfortable and let's work on dinner," she said.

"Okay," I said and walked to my room.

As soon as I got into my room, the first thing I did was search for my inhaler. Tomorrow might not be any different.

*

I sat down later after dinner to study. Yeah, I know it was just my first day today. I've got a load of texts to read. To be honest, I had my eyes on three universities for a scholarship. There were partial scholarships and full scholarships. All you had to do was passed their scholarship exams in flying colors.

Harvard. Columbia. Emory.

If I got a scholarship, then, Mom didn't really have to pay much, of course dad had the money, but I honestly also wanted to be proud of myself.

Speaking of dad, I knew he missed mom. He never said it, but his actions showed it. He probably still took me for a 3-year old child. I caught on everything he said. I knew he still loved her. He wasn't seeing any woman, just like mom wasn't seeing any man, he just sat at home, barking orders to his employees. If only he'd just stop being proud, maybe... just maybe, he and mom would come back together and things wouldn't be so hard for us.

*

I heard a car horn.

"Shit!" I flew out of my bed, throwing my textbook off me just as my eyes caught a glimpse of my alarm clock. I ran into the bathroom as I brushed my teeth and hurried in having my bath. I got dressed as I flew outside and saw Bambi's tired face. I got in the car.