Walk and Talk (Mackenzie)

Continued from the Charity Christmas Ball, 2016

As he got closer, he realised that the girl was fairly well known around the school. If he were not in his position, there was no way he would have been likely to approach her. But he was head boy for a reason, and some rumours about a girl weren’t going to stop him from making sure she was okay. He walked slowly as he drew closer to her, and he stopped about a metre away from her. “Hi, I’m Cameron,” he asked softly, “would you like to walk?”

Mackenzie looked up when she heard a voice. SHe had makeup running down her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. When he asked if she wanted to walk she thought for a moment before nodding "Yeah. That sounds nice." She said standing up and pushing her now loose blonde hair behind her shoulders "Im Mackenzie." She said introducing herself, but she was pretty sure he already knew that

Cameron was worried that perhaps he had overstepped his bounds by talking to a crying girl, but he also knew that he wouldn't be happy with himself if he simply left her there a mess and alone. When she stood and introduced herself, he offered her a gentle smile and said, "it's nice to meet you." He gestured for her to start walking with him down the street, before asking, "do you want to talk about what's upset you?"

Mackenzie followed with her arms crossed over her chest for two reasons. One, being that she was still upset and it was a defensive move on her part. And two, because she was cold. When he asked what had her so upset she let out a very loud unladylike sigh "My brother. Hes been completely neglecting and ignoring me lately for this girl. I can only assume theyre fucking because of the way he i s constantly around her. I just cant believe he would throw me aside for a piece of ass." She said not caring if it was rude of her to talk in such a way, she was upset.

Cameron looked over at the girl as she got up and started to follow him. He adjusted his pace so that she wouldn’t fall behind and they could walk side by side. The Ravenclaw noticed her stance and his eyebrow furrowed. She looked like she was still hostile, but not necessarily with him. It was the raised hourly on her arms that alerted him to how cold she must be. “You’re freezing,” he said, his tone making it obvious that he wasn’t happy with his own obliviousness, and he took his jacket off and placed it around her shoulders. “Can’t have you freezing to death on my watch,” he said, before he listened to her words. She was angry and her language demonstrated that. “Have you spoken to him about it?” Cameron asked her softly, “maybe he doesn’t realise he’s doing it?”

Mackenzie stiffened a bit when he placed the jacket around her but quickly revelled in its warmth "Thank you." She said softly as they continued to walk. She shook her head when he asked if she had spoken to Ryder "Its impossible to speak to him about anything anymore. We used to be so incredibly close. We told each other everything. Now I can never get him alone and when he is alone, he wont talk to me. He just ignores me. But the minute shes around his attention goes to her, like she was his sister and I was nobody." She felt the tears welling up in her eyes and she quickly began blinking to try and stop them

Cameron nodded her welcome, because he would never leave someone freezing and all of the girls in their gorgeous dresses would become icy if they stepped outside. The head boy wasn’t too sure what to say, but he knew he couldn’t say nothing. He didn’t really know her brother, but he wasn’t in Ravenclaw house as well. “Maybe there’s something else going on?” he said, “something he can’t tell you, or doesn’t feel like he can. I can’t imagine anyone would purposely treat you like that.” He didn’t specifically mean Mackenzie. He meant anyone. But perhaps her brother really was just being an asshole to her. “I’m sorry I don’t have to best advice,” he added, “but I’m happy to listen for as long as you need.”

"I dont know. He has never been like this. He has never been a secretive person. NOt with me." SHe said pushing her hair back before grabbing her wand and using a bit of magic to put it up into its orignal style before she had ripped it apart "I dont care about good advice at this moment. Right now I just need someone to listen, and tell me itll be ok. You're doing a fine job. So thank you." 

Hair:

It seemed that Mackenzie and her brother were at some point extremely close, and perhaps that was the problem. He didn’t know much about the two of them, but he did know a lot about having siblings. “It will be okay,” he said, “everything feels worse at the time, but one day you’ll look back and wish you could tell yourself now that it won’t be this way forever. Besides.. I have five older siblings, so I know that even if it hurts now to not have his attention, you’ll either get it back.. or you’ll just stop caring, too.”

She nodded when he finished speaking. She knew he was right, Mackenzie was just an impatient person. She sighed and continued to walk by his side "so 5 brothers and sisters huh? Must be a pretty full house" she said trying to change the subject

Cameron laughed gently at the abrupt change of subject. He didn’t mind too much, aware that sometimes talking about other people rather than oneself can really help, particularly when one is upset. So, he shrugged and said, “you could say that. I’m used to it. Since I’m the youngest, it’s been that way my entire life. Three brothers, two sisters, and my parents. They did start moving out, but it’s been happening slowly over the last decade.” He kicked at a stone on the foot path and asked, “what about you? Is it just the one brother?”

Mackenzie smiled at the thought of having such a big family "yep just me and Ryder. We were raised separately though. I didn't know he existed until I got to hogwarts and found him in my 3rd year. I was raised by my godmother" she said smiling at the thought of the blonde woman who raised her. She loved idie as if she were her blood mother

There were so many different kinds of families, and although it was unusual to him he was sure it wasn’t uncommon for people to be adopted. “That must have been a shock,” he said, “maybe that’s why you’re so upset by all of this? Because you feel like you only just found him and now you’re worried you’re losing him already.” It made a bit more sense why her brother actions bothered her as much as they did. In Cameron’s experience, brothers were often assholes in general, so the fact that Ryder was upsetting his sister wasn’t really that odd either. “In any case, let’s try and not worry about Ryder for a while,” he said, taking in a strip of lit up restaurants and cafés, “would you like something to eat?”

"Perhaps. Maybe that is why. It makes sense. When we found each other we were each others whole world. It was just us" she sighed and tightened the jacket around him. When he mentioned food her stomach growled food sounds great right now. But I left my money at home. So you can get food if you are hungry"

Cameron hoped that she would be able to move on from her hang ups in time, because a brother’s affection isn’t the only thing that should be her priority. “It’s better to focus on yourself, and your future than on what anyone else thinks of you,” he said to the blonde girl, before looking over in her direction. With a laugh, he shook his head and said, “I already figured that there was nowhere for you to hide money in that dress, and everything at the ball was free. I was offering to buy you something, so what do you fancy?”

She listened to his advice and actually took it to heart, thinking deeply about it when his offer to buy her food interrupted her thoughts "Oh, well thank you. IM happy with anything. Whatever you are in the mood for." She said not being a picky eater in any way. Just then her eyes landed on a cart that sold sweets and her eyes lit up "Is that fairy floss?" SHe said looking at the airy pink sweet before looking up at Cameron, as if asking permission to get some. 

(Fairy floss is cotton candy)

Cameron considered what he was in the mood for, but to be completely honestly he was a growing boy and could have eaten anything. When she became excited over the fairy floss, he grinned, though he had definitely been thinking of something more substantial. “How about a compromise?” he asked, “we get some fairy floss to eat on the way to that pizza place down the road?” He pointed at neon sign of a pizza slice, realising that they had walked further away from the fancy party of town that the ballrooms had been in. He didn’t mind though, as he knew his way back just fine.

Mackenzie smiled and nodded at his compromise and ordered a big blue bag of diary floss. "The blue flavor tastes better. I know many people say there is no difference besides the color. I say bullocks, the blue tastes better" she said taking a big bite before holding it out to him if he wanted any. They made their way to the pizza place and Mackenzie welcomed he smell of cooking dough and cheese "I love pizza"

Cameron smiled as she bought some fairy floss, and he handed over the correct change from the wallet he pulled from his pocked. “I don’t mind any flavour, but I’m mostly a savoury over sweet kind of guy,” he said, picking some of the blue floss from the bag and popping it into his mouth, enjoying the feeling of it melting on his tongue. “I love pizza, too,” he replied, holding the door to the shop open for her, “please tell be you want extra cheese?”

She smiled as he ate some of the fairy floss, one of the first genuine smiles to spread across her face. She walked inside when he held the door and laughed when he asked if she wanted extra cheese "of course. I'm a Riddle, but I'm not a monster" she sat at a table and put the bag of fairy floss on the table

Cameron chuckled at her words, glad that she was feeling better enough to make jokes. Maybe the more they spoke, the less likely it was she would return to her previous mood when their time together was over. “I’ll be just a minute,” he said, heading over to the counter to order their pizza with extra cheese. After getting the number and paying, he returned to Mackenzie and sat down in the seat across from her. “I hope you don’t mind me keeping you from the ball?” he asked, “you’re beautiful dress if going to waste.”

Mackenzie smiled as she watched him order the pizza. There was something about this boy that she liked, and Mackenzie didn't like many people especially people from other houses. So that was something major for her. "I do not mind being away from the ball. As for the dress I have about 20 more at home, so it's not a big deal to me" she said looking down at her dress and noticing it had been dragged through the mud as she ran out of the ball. "Crap..." She said muttering to herself

Cameron figured that what she said made sense, though his sisters would have felt the same way. Mostly, it was because of the time that they put in to getting ready for events, rather than the dress itself. Of course, they had to apply everything, as they didn’t have magic to help them. He didn’t say as much, though, and instead said, “I’m glad that you’re not worried. I can help you with that later, before you go back into the ball, if you like?” He offered, because he knew that she wasn’t a seventh year, and therefore couldn’t possibly be seventeen and able to use magic herself.

Mackenzie nodded and moved her blonde hair out of her face. She liked how sweet Cameron was being to her, "thank you. I appreciate it. But I might not go back. I don't want to go in there and me get upset because of my brother and have it ruin the perfect evening" her evening with Cameron had been perfect. She liked being near him, he made her smile. Not her fake smiles that were so real they confused herself even, but real genuine smiles.

Cameron was surprised to hear her words, because he had only been intending on distracting her until she felt better. Then, he’d been sure, she would want to return to the ball. But her words made him happy, and the fact that she claimed that it was ‘perfect’ after how upset she’d been made him glad he had stopped to talk to her. “Well, then, at least you needed worry when you head home,” he amended, smiling, before looking over her should at a waiter bringing their pizza, “here it comes!”