Mackenzie Blue (2 page)

Zee looked at the clock on her computer.

Zee grabbed her diary and dropped it in the black book bag that she'd decorated with pink and yellow felt flower
cutouts.
I'll finish writing in my diary on my way to school,
she decided. As she walked downstairs, she texted Jasper on her Sidekick, which she'd covered with a bright blue skin that had a big pink Z in the middle.

she typed on the keypad. Zee was new to the upper school, but Jasper was new to Brookdale Academy. He didn't know his way around at all.

 

His response came back right away.

As Zee's dad drove her to school, Zee began a list of what was good and bad about Ally's living in France.

 

 

 

Zee closed her diary, slid the clasp into the latch, and put it back in her book bag. Then she looked out the SUV window.

“Dad, you can just stop the car now!” she said a little louder and more panicked than she'd meant to.

“But we're still a block from school, Zee,” her father said. “I can't just leave you here on your first day.”

“But I
want
you to.” J.P. Carmichael's right eyebrow rose up on his forehead, the way it always did when he was suspicious. “Why?” he asked.

“I don't want you to go out of your way.”

“It's no problem,” Zee's father said. “In fact, it's easier for me to just turn around in the school's drop-off circle.”

Zee let out a deep sigh. “Dad,
please
stop the car.”

Mr. Carmichael slowed down and steered to the curb. “Come on, Zee. What's going on?” he asked.

“It's your car, Dad,” Zee explained. “It's kind of embarrassing.” Zee had hoped to get a ride in her older brother's sporty red subcompact, but as usual Adam had overslept and was still shoveling corn flakes into his mouth when she was ready to go.

“You're embarrassed to be seen in a brand-new SUV?” he asked. “Would you prefer an ancient clunker with duct tape holding on the bumper?”

“What kind of gas mileage does the clunker get?” Zee asked.

Mr. Carmichael put his hand on his daughter's arm. “This isn't about the car, sweetie. You're just nervous about school. Don't worry—it will practically be the same as last year.”

“Well, last year it was still a green school. You know, save the planet and end global warming so that your children will actually be able to breathe without a gas mask when they get older?” She opened the door, slid out of her seat, and planted her orange Converse high-tops on the sidewalk.

Mr. Carmichael sighed and ran his hand over the passenger seat. “But it's soooo comfortable.”

“Sorry, Dad. I have to protect the family's reputation,” Zee told him.

“But I am family.”

“Yeah. And you're
kind of
making the rest of us look bad.” She shut the door and gave her father a smile.

Mr. Carmichael hit the button to lower the automatic window. “Have a great first day, honey,” he said.

“Thanks, Dad,” Zee said, turning toward the school.

She had taken only a couple of steps when she heard her father shout. “Hey, Mackenzie!” Zee's dad called her by her full name only when he was working hard to stay calm.

“Yes, Dad?” Zee said super-sweetly, spinning around and
preparing for whatever was coming. Her father's eyebrow was up again.

“I think maybe the school gave you the wrong size uniform,” he said. “Your skirt seems a little short.”

Zee didn't bother to look down. She knew the exact length of her skirt. In the lower school, they had worn white blouses under blue plaid jumpers that hung nearly to their knees, but now that Zee was in seventh grade, she got to mix and match school-issued skirts, shirts, and sweaters. Although the pieces would never be trendy, they were way better than what she had had to wear to school before. And Zee planned to make the uniform—and herself—stand out. That meant wearing her sneakers, cool patterned socks, colorful beaded necklaces, bracelets, and earrings that she'd made herself—and shortening her hem.

“My skirt's fine,” Zee said. “It just can't be any higher than my fingertips.” She held her arms by her sides to demonstrate.

Mr. Carmichael squinted. “I think you might be bending your elbows a little,” he said doubtfully.

Sighing, Zee stood at attention and stretched her arms down as far as they would reach. “See, Dad? Nothing to worry about. Totally regulation length. Mom hemmed it herself.”

“At ease, soldier.” Zee's father blew her a kiss. “Company dismissed.”

“See ya!” Zee shouted with a big wave. She stuck her earbuds in, turned up her iPod, and made her getaway down the block before he could think of something else.

As Zee walked across the upper-school campus, she felt like an alien who had just landed on an unfamiliar planet (in her gas-guzzling spaceship). Sure, the upper-school kids were different, but it never mattered before. After all, they were the Others. Only, now she was one of them.

As Zee looked around, though, she didn't feel like one of them at all. For starters, she wore her red hair in a short bob. Most of the other girls had long blond or brown hair. Every single strand was perfectly in place and exactly the same length as the one right next to it.
Sigh.
How was she going to fit in here?

Just as Zee was about to run screaming to the wig store to cover her head, she stopped herself.
Hell-o,
she said silently.
What am I thinking? My red hair is what makes me
Zee.
If she wanted to stand out in the crowd, her hair was a great way to do it.

Zee scanned the school grounds, looking for Jasper. He was nowhere to be seen, but Zee did spot another person she knew—Kathi Barney. Even though she was a seventh grader, Kathi was standing with a group of eighth-grade boys—which made sense since she was about four inches taller than most of the boys her age anyway. Zee had always suspected whoever invented the word
popular
was thinking of someone
exactly
like Kathi. Also, the word
pretty
. And
perfect
. Perfect skin. Perfect brown hair. Perfect clothes. Perfect student.

Still, Zee decided not to go over to say hello—because Kathi had one imperfection. A big one. Her personality. Actually she had two personalities when it came to Zee—a nice one and a mean one. And the nice one came out only when she needed something.

Kathi's best friend, Jen Calverez, was right next to her. Jen was smaller than Kathi, with thick, wavy black hair. Jen was usually nice, and Zee wanted to say hi, but Jen was too close to Kathi at that moment. She might as well have been surrounded by yellow tape with
DANGER
:
KEEP OUT
printed all over. Zee stayed away.

What do I do now?
she wondered. Suddenly her
phone rang. Jasper's number lit up on the screen. Thank goodness!

“Where
are
you?” Jasper asked in his British accent. “I've been looking everywhere.”

Zee spotted a couple of juniors kissing as if their lips had been Krazy Glued together. From where she was standing, it looked like surgery might be the only way to get them apart. “I'm definitely
not
in Kansas anymore.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind,” Zee told Jasper. “I'm by the main entrance—near the giant palm tree.”

“Don't move,” Jasper said. “I'll be there straightaway.”

Great,
Zee thought. There was only one thing worse than wandering around alone with no one to talk to—
standing
alone with no one to talk to. But she wasn't going to abandon Jasper.