THE CHRONICLES OF US

1

Mackenzie

Math first period on a Monday morning is literally hell on earth, I've decided. It's not just that the whole class is barely awake, but, well, it's math. The subject I thought I could have given up after last year but it ended up on my timetable for my senior year. Fantastic. I actually begged my parents to let me drop it, but they're under the impression that trigonometry is going to get me somewhere in life. Me, the girl that needs a calculator to add. Geez, if my older siblings hadn't both gotten into graduate science degrees at college, I wouldn't have a problem. Somehow, I'm thinking that my parents expect me to get one of those degrees as well. I'm really not interested.

But right now I have more pressing problems than my family. I slide into a seat next to my best friend, and take his math homework while he's busy reading. Quickly, I jot down the answers from his paper onto mine, and I get most of them done before the sheet is snatched out of my hand.

"Hey! I need that," I object.

"Do your own math for once. It's not that hard," Harley retorts.

"I'll lend you my English essay."

"I don't need it." But he rolls his eyes, gives his sheet back to me anyway, and I fill in the last few lines just as our teacher walks in.

Okay, forget what I said about the whole class being barely awake. The way Ms Harper is practically dancing around the room makes me consider the idea that some kind of energy drink might be coursing through her veins. But I'm predicting that this won't last long. As soon as she's done writing all over the board, going from one side to the other and back again, she turns on us. She goes to each student, demanding their homework. She has quick, pleasant conversations with kids who give her completed sheets, and gives death glares to the people who are willing to risk her wrath by coming up with an excuse for not doing it. You can see why I needed Harley's homework, and if it wasn't Ms Harper, I would have been one of those kids making up a random excuse.

Ms Harper spends the class going through yet another section of the textbook that I'm not going to try to keep up with. Not even two weeks into this year and I've already lost motivation. Good job, Mackenzie.

Finally, the bell rings at ten and I'm out of there, but not before we're assigned more homework. I nudge Harley while we walk to our lockers and hold mine up, and the look on his face tells me that there's no way I can get him to give me the answers again.

Of course not. You see, Harley got chosen for school captain this year. And of course I was happy for him, he really deserved it. He's the smartest kid in our year and he's incredibly nice to everyone. But he's got this idea in his head that the school captaincy will be taken from him if he even does anything slightly out of line, like giving answers to pointless math problems to his best friend. I'm sincerely hoping this mindset wears off soon, otherwise this year will be no fun.

Harley and I join the others in the empty classroom we've claimed as ours since the year started. Sam and Adrian are at a table, with laptops in front of them and headphones on. Lily is at Adrian's side, as she usually is, and playing with her food. Beth is sitting on the floor near them, and smiles when she sees us. She hops up and comes over.

"Hey guys! How was your morning? These guys are boring me, we're not even in here two seconds and they whip out the laptops. For god's sake, I don't think either of them are capable of actual conversation-"

Beth stops talking when she sees Sam glaring in her direction. She makes a face at him, and leaves before he can do anything else.

I should explain. Before we came back to school, Beth and Sam broke up. They were going out for about a year, and neither of them have divulged to us the reason behind the breakup, which is kind of annoying. All I know is that it wasn't exactly amicable, because they can't stay in the same room together for long, and it's been over a month.

Harley pretends that nothing happened and takes Beth's spot on the floor. He opens his book again, leans against the table leg and starts to read. I join Lily, who's staring at Adrian like he made the freaking sun. It's been almost two years since they got together and she still does that. I have to poke her to get her attention.

"Hey, Kenzie. How was math?" She asks me, knowing I hate the subject and my answer will only be negative.

I tell her, "It was boring" and then she turns around, back to looking at Adrian and whatever he's doing in the way that makes me feel kind of sick. She is my other best friend, but I think her whole world revolves around her boyfriend, and maybe there's not enough room for much else.

I'm about to resign myself to a break of no social interaction whatsoever when I hear plates breaking. Sure enough, I turn around and see our friend Bailey looking at two plates of food that are now on the floor. Beth follows her into the room, and together the three of us clean up the mess. Thankfully, there's more food in the common room's kitchen, where we go to spend the rest of our break.

Fourth period is the last thing I have to endure before school ends and I can go home. It's not that this class, Economics, is bad. It's just that I'm completely alone. I kind of miss my friends already. I was with Lily and Harley during English and we spent the lesson talking about anything and everything. Our teacher was hungover, so she wasn't really teaching, unless you count laying your head on your desk and groaning. Stuff like that only really happens at this school. It's the only public school across three suburbs, hence the only affordable option for most of us. And I spent Biology with Sam, who seemed oddly quiet. I asked if he was okay a few times, and he said yes, before going back to silence. I think the breakup is having a bad effect on him, because I've never seen him so bitter, ever. He's usually the most normal one out of all of us.

So anyway, back to Economics. I look at the result for the first test we had, that my teacher has just put onto my desk, and I'm really surprised to see an A scrawled on the paper. Hmm. I'm better at this subject than I thought.

I'm interrupted when the test is snatched from my hands. Jack Barnes, the guy sitting three seats away from me, is staring at my test with a look on his face that suggests he's a whole lot less surprised with my result than I am.

"Congrats, nerd. First test of the year and you've already managed to outshine the rest of us," Jack says to me.

Jack Barnes is the kind of loud, obnoxious guy that all high school boys want to be, and all high school girls want to be with. He's not even that good-looking, but I think playing state level football and replacing school uniform with baggy pants and a backwards cap is something I'm supposed to find attractive. For some reason, the rest of the girls in this school do.

I hold out my hand for the test, and mumble "Thanks" as he gives it back to me. He and his friends start joking around, as usual, about my test mark and the rest of my friends as well. To them, we're all geniuses with no lives. Alright then.

Before I can tear him a new one, our teacher starts talking.

An hour later, the last bell rings and half the class are out of the classroom before I'm even out of my seat. I'm one of the few kids who takes their time packing up, because I've got notes spread across the whole table. Right as I finally get them all together, my teacher comes over.

"Nice job on the test, Mackenzie." Mr Wood touches my shoulder as he walks past me.

"Thanks, sir." He gives me a smile and walks out of the classroom.

I'm the last person to leave, and as I walk home I'm already thinking of the pile of homework I'm faced with tonight. It's hard to believe, but I do actually want to get decent results this year. Get into university, finish a law degree, move to the big city and become a lawyer. That's the plan, I guess. Anything to get away from this town.