𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Suspiciously, the pizza I'd cook with the Hayes knocked me out that night. And when I woke up that morning I decided to get out of bed and get ready for the day. When I walked out into the hall I smelt pancakes and purposely rushed in the shower to get downstairs. I throw on a hot pink tank top and jean shorts and leave in the messy bun from the night before to get the first pick of the biggest pancakes.

I won't lie, last night gave me hope for the summer. Talking with Jackson really helped me ease that anxiety that ate at me.

When I make it down the last step I rush to the kitchen to expect my mom to be cooking but it's Morgan, passing on pancakes to her son's plate that look disgustingly black.

When I see this, I try to turn around but Morgan catches me,

"Good Morning Char! Come get some pancakes baby." She even bothers to gesture at me with a smile. And I am reluctant, but I walk over. Joining in with a seat beside Jackson who's in perfect view of the morning beams that beautifully glows on his skin.

We make eye contact, but he is the first to smile.

"Good morning," I say as Morgan places a plate in front of me.

"Good morning." He responds calmly just as his mother places charcoal on my plate.

And when her pancakes are on both of our plates she stands in front of us both with the biggest smile on her face. And it's a bit uncanny, her smile lines and wrinkles are so defined I wonder if it's hurting her.

"Go on...try it." She says.

I stare down at my plate already in agony. I feel like the only way I'll be able to digest this is for syrup...lots of syrup.

I grab the bottle in between me and Jackson and I drown my pancakes completely. Jackson is already eating his and I'm surprised when I eat mine that he isn't retching. It tastes like how it looks, burnt batter. And it's odd how she can cook pizza but not pancakes...the easiest food to cook.

I try to hide my discomfort because she's staring me down for approval. So with my mouth still filled with pancake, I nodded and smiled at her, gesturing to her that it was good.

"It seems you two are enjoying it." She says happily, rubbing her hands together in confidence. This causes me to look to Jackson again, my disbelief doesn't waver.

Morgan continues to look between the both of us, "So...what do you two have planned today? You can't sit in the house like yesterday, that was depressing."

I already had my response marinated in my mind. I thought I'd walk along the shore today or get an ice cream from the nearest parlor to clear my mind. But Jackson, however, had better plans. For me and him.

"We're going out into town." He says still chewing the pieces of charcoal in his mouth.

I look over to him, still unable to swallow but asking, "We are?" with the pancake still in my mouth.

"Charlotte, don't talk with your mouth full." My mom calls from behind me. I turn to her fully dressed in another sundress and her curls in a high pony. She joins us all in the kitchen, running her hand along the kitchen island as she approaches the stove where the black pancakes lie. And I expect her to recoil in disgust, call out Morgan on her BS, and make us all beautiful and fluffy pancakes ... but she does the opposite.

She picks up a pancake with a fork and puts it on a plate. She even gets another one and now I'm genuinely wondering if Morgan has put a spell on my mom or something.

Morgan hums, "Oh that sounds nice...what time?" She asks.

Jackson swallows his pancake before saying, "Now."

Then he looks at me, still struggling with the breakfast that still sits in my mouth. I hope he doesn't expect me to respond because if I do, it's for sure gonna fall out of my mouth.

I am thankful when he turns back to his mom and gets up toward the door. I look at the moms, Morgan smiles and my own mom doesn't look back. She's busy stuffing her face at the kitchen counter. So I follow Jackson as he grabs his shoes from the front door and then his mother's keys from the key rack up top. I put on my pink Crocs and walk outside, shutting the door behind us before getting in Morgan's dirty Honda Civic.

When we're both inside I don't see at first but he pulls out a napkin and hands it to me while I'm buckling my seatbelt. When I look up and see this I take it instantly and spit the food out. Quickly I am relieved. And as I ball up the slimy food I ask,

"Are we really going around town?" I ask. My mind takes me to last night at Jackson's suggestion to get my confirmation face-to-face. And I'm not gonna lie, I thought about it later in the night. But typical me, my mind went back and forth with it putting me in an uncomfortable train of thought.

"No." He responded, "We're going to your friend's house. Mackenzie?"

Even though I figured that's what he was gonna to say, I'm still surprised he remembered.

"I'm not sure about this," I say, but he's pulling out of the driveway already.

"Give me directions and get it over with." He shrugs, "It's as simple as that."

"Look, It's not bothering me that much." I try to console, but it's like he's looking right through me.

"But it's still bothering you." He states, "And it's better to let go instead of letting it hurt you."

I don't know why, but it pains me that he's continually right. He's reading me inside and out. I wonder if my feelings are on my face. If you can see it through my expressions. Or maybe, like me, Jackson's just really good at reading people.

"Are you gonna give me directions?"

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

After his encouraging yet pestering words, Jackson won me over. I gave him directions to Mackenzie's house and it immediately felt like a bad decision. Especially when we were pulling up beside her house — just against her picket fence. I could feel my heart pulse in my chest quicken and quicken as we sat idly by the sidewalk.

I don't even bother to give any attention to Jackson. He doesn't deserve it. The shapeshifter is too tempting.

"Hey." He calls but I don't answer. My head is low to my Crocs. When he called again, I decided to look up but my eyes lowered, "What."

"You're going be okay." He assures, nodding his head, "Go up there."

I scoff, crossing my around and looking away, "You act like it's the easiest thing."

"Because it is." He replies quickly. This makes me turn back to him, locking us in yet another eye contact that surprisingly doesn't make me uncomfortable. I guess it is because by now I am used to it. But I am the first to break the contact, getting out of the car and giving him what he wants.

I open the fence and walk down the pebble path. I've done this many times and it's not until I'm at her door that the reality of this probably being my last time doing this hits me. What also hits me is that there is a low possibility that she will answer, but there are cars in the driveway so I think this will be okay.

Before I knock I turn around to Jackson but he's staring down at his phone. I don't know why I expected him to turn back as if he was that invested in girl drama. So I turn back around and think before I knock. I plot what I want to say before I do eventually. Then, I awkwardly sit in anticipation, listening softly through the door for a familiar sound.

It only took a minute, and then the cherry red door of the Ford's home was opened. But by Mackenzie's dad.

"Oh, what's up Charlotte? Welcome back." He greets me with a smile.

"Hi, Mr. Ford. Can I um...can I speak to Mackenzie please? Is she here?" I ask, and my voice is shaking. I hadn't noticed how nervous I was.

"Oh for sure..." He says before yelling out his daughter's name, "KENZIE!"

"WHAT?" She calls back.

"THERE'S SOMEONE HERE FOR YOU!"

I am worried that she'll ask who but she doesn't. I hear her footsteps from upstairs until they are close and on the stairs. And when I lock eyes with Mackenize, my mind goes blank and my heart is not in my chest anymore. She looks so different. Her honey-blonde hair is much curly and shorter. It's in a bob and she's very skinny. This is not how she looked the last time I saw her.

When we make eye contact I immediately tense up. I expect the unexpected. For her to yell or even pick a fight because of what she said over the phone I technically now have completely ignored her.

I examined her expression and it was surprising. I didn't want to say anything until her dad left. It takes him a long time as well, he switches his eyes between us both before sighing and making the final turn to me,

"It was nice seeing you Charlotte." He says and I smile in response. Then when he leaves, Mackenize walks up and grabs the door, shutting us both outside.

"What are you doing here?" She asks, violently whispering as if someone were to hear we'd be in trouble.

I furrow my brows, "I'm here for answers?" I say in my normal tone, "You can't just say things like what you said last night and hang up."

Mackenzie scoffs, "As if you'd even reciprocated what I said?" she questions before she laughs, "Everything that is said to you that's other than what you want to hear is irrelevant."

I shake my head, my heart dropping now to my feet, "What is that supposed to mean?" I question, watching as she crosses her arms judgtngly.

"You're entitled."

Now I'm scoffing, "When did I become entitled? The entitled one is you to just think that you can dump someone and think they're gonna be okay with it." I responded, with as much base in my voice as I could.

Mackenzie points a finger at me, "There you go! Have you ever stopped thinking the world revolves around you and have a conversation that isn't about mermaids and summer and puppies?" She mocks, and it's like shot after shot in my heart.

I don't understand. I went through our messages and our posts together and all of it is about them and us. I've never acted entitled...not to my knowledge. And if I had, why tell me now and in that way?

"Hey. Everything good?" Calls Jackson from behind the fence. We both move our attention to him and I shoo him away quickly,

"Yeah, it's fine." I rush to turn back to Mackenzie but she isn't in any rush for me. She still stares ahead and when I turn back she stares at Jackson who stares back. And it's obvious in Mackenize's eyes that she's interested in him. And I don't know why, but I feel jealous. And I blame it on Jackson who stands as if just for attention.

I roll my eyes and walk away which makes Mackenzie scoff,

"Just ask Cleo!" she yells, I turn to question her but she continues, "Ask her and I guarantee she'll tell you everything I told you."

I don't respond, I just stare. Mackenzie, who was once a happy girl and my best friend turned cold. I don't even know who is standing in front of me anymore.

I walk away, and when I hit the fence Jackson tries to stop me but I shake him off and continue to the car. But he doesn't let me, he tries to go for my wrist and grab it but I yank it from him because I blame him. I'd rather be oblivious because the truth hurts.

"Charlotte —" He tries but I cut him off,

"Stop Jackson! This is all your fault!" I blame.

He scoffs, "My fault? I was trying to help you."

"Well never do that again." I backtrack, "And stop trying to be my friend."

Confusion turns to laughter quickly for Jackson. And I'm waiting to see what's funny.

He sighs, "Look I don't know what she said back there but don't put all your issues on me okay?"

I scoff in disbelief, "My issues?" I ask, "Like that I'm entitled?"

"Maybe." He says, " You're kinda acting like that now so you are doing a really bad job proving her wrong."

I was wrong. He isn't morphing that's how he is.

I laugh, "So you heard that!" I scoff, "Did you feel her practically flirting with you as well? Because it sounds like you were listening pretty hard."

"Charlotte...you don't know what you're talking about—"

"No, but I do." I say, pointing at him, "I know I was right about you when I first met you." I pause, "That you're rude and really the entitled one because you walk around like you're such a hotshot ... news flash! you're not."

I almost lost my breath in my rant because I was so mad. I stand in front of him, expecting a response but I don't get one. Then embarrassment seeps in. We're in a suburban community arguing. It looked bad.

I decided to wait a couple of seconds for him to say something before I turned and walked away. Quickly, he calls after me but I don't answer. He doesn't chase me to my relief because when I walked away I didn't plan on going back home.

Authors Note🌺.
Expect alot more fighting from these two. Miscommunication is nothing foreign for them.