Her Semi-Colon

Chapter 3: Game On

Breathe, Macey, breathe! I just kept repeating that ever since I got out of Lacey's car and now as I walk down the corridors. I didn't understand why I always got this anxious. Every time something big happened to me, my stomach would always drop and it gets harder to focus; as I looked at my sister, she seemed to have the opposite way of dealing with things.

“Oh my god, I just texted Stacie and Taylor!" Lacey chirped happily. “ I texted them what I was wearing to my date with Ash, wanna see?"

I looked over at her and nodded, trying my best to pull myself out of my anxious state and just breathe. However, my hands started to tremor in response. I tried my best to ignore it and focus on my sister. “A pink two-piece matching set? Very cute and very Lacey!"

“Thanks, Mace! No one can ever go wrong with a pink sparkly halter top and a skirt to match," she said with a chuckle before poking me. “Make sure to write that down!"

“Shut up!"

“Also are you okay by the way Mace? You're doing that shaky thing you always do when you get nervous."

“I don't shake," I lied as I hid my hands behind my back and took another useless breath. “Just nervous for Student Council."

“You got this in the bag, although I heard that Brayden is running. Just don't let that overwhelm you, sis! You are smart enough to beat him."

Is she talking about popular guy Brayden? Brayden Connors? The captain of the football team, the player who thinks he's all that because girls chase him like candy? Ew!

My sister glanced at me and immediately started to laugh. “Are you using your Macey powers to summon Braydon's sudden dropout or something?"

“Lace, this is serious! He's a higher status than me and girls all pine over him, how am I supposed to win–

“Mace, it's okay," she interrupted me as we stopped walking and she immediately pulled me in with a short hug. “You're going to need to believe in yourself a little more. Who cares about Brayden? You're the one that's special and has the skills to run!"

I was finally able to calm down and I felt relieved. Who would I be without Lacey? “Thank you, you're right. I'm sorry, I just don't know what came over me."

“You don't need to apologize," she assured me. “Just be you and trust me, that's enough to win! Now I have to head to my locker because S and T want more deets on my date tonight. Will you be okay?"

“Y-yes, I'm sorry– I mean thank you, I'll be fine. I love you sis and have fun with Ash tonight!"

“Thanks, Mace, I will. And just do it as I would. Take it easy, and just go with the flow. Mace, you may be nerdy but you are exceptional and you gotta believe in yourself," Lacey urged me.

I smiled and gave my sister another hug. This is why I love her: she goes around and shines her light on everyone else around her. I want to do the same thing but as I mentioned several times, I'm different from who she is.

Maybe that's not such a bad thing. I have her shining from my corner and once I'm ready, maybe I can learn how to shine on my own. “Okay bye Lace, good luck tonight!"

“You too, you got this because you are Macey freaking Lowe!"

I laughed, maybe just maybe she was right. And with that thought in my mind, I took another deep breath, and this time I could feel my stomach rising a bit.

As I headed to my locker, I opened it and took out my materials for the first period, along with some notecards on why I should run for student council. Just as I neatly organized everything and tried to balance everything in my arms, I was shocked to see my locker suddenly slammed shut. “Ahh!"

Due to the loud noise, I dropped everything and as I glanced around in embarrassment, I could even see a few students glancing at me weirdly before laughing. I felt my face flush and I wanted to cry. Great just great!

“Are you okay? Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," a masculine voice asked me worriedly.

I suddenly looked up to see Brayden Connors staring right at me. His hazel-colored eyes glanced at me worriedly and as I met his glance, he immediately looked away and started picking up my things. I suddenly put two and two together. “Why on earth would you slam my locker?"

Brayden was also so tall and muscular, he seemed to be towering over me but I didn't care, all I cared about how why he was here.

“I was trying to take a glance at my competition," he admitted sheepishly as he gave me back my things and reached out his hand to help me up. I ignored it and got up myself. “I'm sorry, I didn't think it would slam so loud."

“Whatever," I said with an eye roll. “Next time, just keep your curiosity to yourself."

He suddenly looked at me and chuckled. I looked at him with confusion, what was so funny?

“Okay my bad," he said with a smirk, “by the way you had some great points on your notecards."

“Really?" I said taken back and then I immediately wanted to scold myself. I was supposed to be confident. I immediately thought of my sister and continued. “I mean, of course, I do. I've been running for this position since freshman year, so I have a lot of things to say."

And every year, I've been losing to someone more popular.

“I know," he said crossing his arms, as I caught him staring at me up and down before smirking again. “You're very smart."

Um…what the? I didn't know what his facial expressions meant and the way he was looking at me made me nervous. Also, no one other than Lacey ever realized the things I had to say.

Wait…was he flirting with me? Time to abort!

“Yeah… I know," I responded, “bye!"

And with that, I ran away from him as fast I could to my class. I didn't know what game he was playing and why he chose me out of all of the girls to flirt with but I needed to focus.

Just as I made it to Pre-Calc, I decided to sit in the front row, and just as I was placing my things down, I suddenly noticed something.

The last two cards of my speech were missing!