March 1993

“Please don’t look at me like that,” Justin begged as he struggled to close the lid of his suitcase. He stopped bouncing and pushed his curls out of his face, looking up at the angry look on the face of the girl standing across from him. “I don’t get why you’re so upset.”

Mack had come over to help him pack but she was still sulking over the fact that he had gotten a job as a Mousketeer on the popular Disney show The Mickey Mouse Club. The problem was that he and his mother, Lynn, had to move to Orlando just to be on the show. They would leave in the next two days and he wanted to spend as much time with his friend as possible, even if that meant recruiting her to help him pack.

She rolled her eyes and huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. She slowly shook her head, her jet black hair lightly brushing against her shoulders. “You’re leaving Trace and me behind, that’s why,” she replied. “You’re going to go off and become a star and forget about us.” She looked down and lightly kicked at the ground with her shoe, refusing to look him in the eye.

“You know that would never happen,” the curly haired boy denied as he focused his attention on his suitcase once more. He gave her a pleading look when it didn’t close. She sat down on the suitcase with him and reached over, snapping the latches shut. “Thank you.” He slid off the suitcase and took a last sweep of his room. His eyes rested on the girl who was still pouting. “Mackenzie, come on, don’t look at me like that. Please?”

“I hate this, Justin,” she finally spoke up. “I hate you leaving us, our home.”

“But I’m leaving to follow my dream,” he replied, taking her hands in his and looking her in the eye. “You know I’d take you with me if I could.”

“So take me with you,” she replied. “J, we made a pact, remember? We’d do everything together or not at all.”

“Try convincing our parents, then,” Justin replied in a somewhat joking tone. “Mack?” He questioned, noticing the look in her eye. “Don’t!” He warned.

“They’ll do it,” she replied, nodding. Her crystal blue eyes were wide and shining with excitement. “I can convince them, I know I can. We can move anywhere with Mom’s and Dad’s jobs. They’ll probably need a photographer down there; at least they might need another one. And Mom can help with people planning their vacations away from Disney. It’s perfect!”

“Mackie, I don’t think your parents will just randomly leave Shelby Forest just because you want to come with me,” Justin said slowly, reading her face just in case she was going to blow up at him.

“Do you…not want me to go?” She asked quietly, lowering her head.

“No! That’s not it, at all!” Justin replied. How could she think that?  They were friends, best friends. She’s the first one he runs to when he gets a good grade on a test. She, and Trace, were the first ones he went to when he found out he got the job. “It’s just…what about school? Your education?” She shrugged. “You’re willing to leave everything just for me?” She nodded. He pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. “You’re the best friend ever, you know that?”

“I try,” she joked. When he pulled away she frowned. “My parents have let me do a lot of things so I could be with you. Like the time they worked extra days to get enough money to send me to camp with you and Trace. They might do this, it’s a slight chance, but it could happen.” She let out a breath. “I want to try anyway. If I can’t convince them…then we can still write and I’ll visit as much as possible…” She broke down and started crying.

Justin wrapped his arms around her and gently rocked her, stroking her hair. He hated seeing her like this, so fragile and vulnerable. It only wanted him to do everything he could to make things better, but what could he do in this situation? Yes, it was true that she had convinced her parents to let her go to camp one year when they didn’t have the money, but this was different on a large scale. This meant that her family would have to pack up and move to a new city, just to make their daughter happy. Although he wished that they could do it, he doubts they would.

“Don’t cry, Baby Girl,” he said as he held her face in his hands. “We’ll think of something. I promise.” She nodded and he smiled, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. “C’mon, lets’ see if dinner’s ready.” He took her hand, leading her out of his bedroom, following the smell that was wafting from the kitchen. “Hey Momma, how much longer until dinner is ready? Mack can stay, right?”

“Of course she can, the more the merrier. Trace is coming over too,” Lynn replied, wiping her hands on the apron that was tied around her waist. “Dinner will be ready shortly. Justin, if you’d set the table with plates and cups that would be greatly appreciated. Mackenzie, you can set the table with napkins and silverware.”

“Yes ma’am,” the two chorused before doing as they were told. Lynn watched as the two children moved down the table as if in an assembly line: Justin would put the cups and plates down and Mack would quickly follow with the folded napkin and silverware. They were together, heads close as they whispered back and forth. Their whispers would be broken with a few seconds of giggling before whispering again.

Lynn couldn’t help but smile at the spectacle before her. She didn’t want to break the two up, but they were leaving for Orlando in two days. She could still feel the tears drying on her face when she overheard their conversation. She wanted to do something about it so she wouldn’t have to suffer seeing her only son hurting from the distance but what could she do? She couldn’t just convince her friends to pack up and move with them, could she? She paused and looked out the window and down the street. Making up her mind she grabbed the phone and pressed 2 on speed dial.

“Hello, Charlotte?”

~*~*~*~

“Tag, you’re it!” Trace shouted as he ran past Mack and slapped her arm hard. He and Justin, laughing, took off running towards the creek that was in the wooded area of the Harless backyard.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Mack’s whine was muted by the wind rushing past Justin’s and Trace’s ears. The two boys continued laughing as they ran away from the smaller girl, running as fast as they could to reach the creek before they could tag her.

She was a faster runner than them but they, being a little taller, had longer legs and could cover more ground so they easily left her behind. They finally reached the creek, cheeks flushed, doubled over and panting. They moved over to the few large rocks that were by the creek and sat down, waiting for their friend to arrive.

“Orlando will be cool,” Trace finally spoke up, picking up a rock and throwing it into the creek. Justin merely nodded and threw a rock in himself. “Disney World is the best. You can probably get in for free, now.”

“Yeah,” Justin muttered. ‘That would be fun but not without you and Mack there.’ He picked up another rock and threw it, aiming to skip it. It bounced twice before disappearing under the surface. Justin cleared his throat. “I…I don’t really…” he lost his voice as he tried to get the words out.

“I know, man,” Trace replied, his southern drawl suddenly thicker. “I know. I’m going to miss you too. I’ll visit as much as possible as long as you do the same.” He held out his hand.

“Deal, man,” Justin said as he shook his friend’s hand. “It’s just…please take care of Mack while I’m gone.” He stared at the rushing water in the creek instead of looking at Trace, but he could fee Trace’s eyes on his cheek. “I know she hates when we look out for her, so be subtle about it. And give me updates as much as possible.”

“Will do.” Trace nodded.

Justin looked up and grinned. “And don’t make fun of her height, T. She’s been super sensitive about it lately.”

“It’s probably because of PMS,” Trace replied. Justin gave him a confused look. “What? You don’t know what that is?” Justin shook his head as Trace chuckled. “Ok, come here.” Justin leaned over and Trace cupped his hands over his friend’s ears, whispering. Justin’s eyes slowly widened as Trace’s grin got bigger. “It’s no big deal, though. My momma says it happens to every girl. I know from my sister not to make a big deal about it, yet I learned the hard way. So don’t mention it.”

“I won’t!” Justin said as he made a face. He turned his head when he heard a twig snap and smiled when Mack walked over to them. Her eyes were flashing annoyance and she was breathing heavily.

“You…” she panted, pointing at both of them. “Suck,” she finally got out, letting out a big breath of air. She climbed onto the rock and squeezed in between Justin and Trace. “This sucks.” The boys didn’t have to ask to know what she was referring to.

“We’ll get through this, like always,” Trace said as he put an arm around her shoulders. He gave it a squeeze and joke, “We’re the Three Musketeers, remember? Distance isn’t going to change that.”

“Did J tell you about our plan?” Mack asked, looking him in the eye. He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. Justin tugged at a loose thread on the end of his shirt as Mack explained it to him. Trace’s eyebrows slowly lowered the more Mack kept talking until his face was void of any expression at all. “T? You ok?” She asked.

He dropped his arm from her shoulders and stood abruptly. “Yeah, M. I’m fine.” He turned as if he had heard something. “I better get going. I’ll see you two tomorrow.”

“Wait. Aren’t you going to stay for dinner?” Justin asked.

“I’m not in the mood. I’m just going to go home.” Before Justin or Mack could utter a word Trace turned and ran off, dodging trees and disappearing into the woods.

“What…? I don’t get it. What’s wrong with him?” Mack asked, looking at Justin with wide eyes.

Justin bit his lip. It was obvious that Trace was jealous of his relationship with Mack. All three of them were best friends but Mack and Justin just seemed to be closer and Trace has always been jealous of it. He would laugh it off whenever Justin tried to talk to him about it or he would flat out deny it. As the years passed Justin slowly started to suspect Trace was only acting that way because he had a crush on Mack. Trace laughed that off, of course, and said that everything was fine. But Justin knew, deep down in his gut, that everything wasn’t fine and that he moving to Orlando was only making it worse.

“I don’t know…” Justin finally replied.

“I’ll talk to him later.” Mack slid off the rock. “Your momma’s calling. Let’s go.” She waited for Justin to get off the rock before shouting “Race ya!” and took off running.

“Cheater!” Justin shouted before chasing after her.

~*~*~*~

Knots started to get tied in Justin’s stomach. All throughout dinner Lynn and her husband, Paul, constantly gave looks to each other across the table. Justin and Mack questioned them about it but they kept denying it. As soon as dinner was over they got the two kids to join them in the living room. Lynn and Paul were sitting on the coffee table, which was the biggest sign to Justin that they had something important to say because neither Lynn nor Paul allowed him to even put his feet up on the coffee table.

“Mom, can you please say what’s on your mind? You’re starting to scare me,” Justin spoke up.

“Justin, you have nothing to worry about,” Paul re-assured him.

“So why won’t you two say anything?” Mack demanded, somewhat rudely. Justin elbowed her hard in the side and widened his eyes, silently telling her to respect his parents. She nodded and, once he turned away, rolled her eyes.

“Did someone die?” Justin asked quickly.

“No, no one died honey,” Lynn replied, chuckling.

“Then please tell me, whatever it is, tell me. You’re scaring the living daylights out of me,” Justin begged.

“Ok, ok.” Lynn paused for dramatic effect. “I overheard your conversation earlier today.” Justin and Mack gave her blank looks. “About you two not wanting to be apart. About how you, Mackenzie, wished you could come to Orlando with us.”

“Ohhhhh,” the two muttered in unison.

“Okay, so what does that have to do with anything?” Justin asked, still confused.

“Well, I called Mackenzie’s mom and talked to her about what I heard,” Lynn replied, studying their faces. Mack had sat up straighter while Justin kept his attention on her. It took all she had to keep a smile off of her face as she delivered the news. “I had a long talk with them. They understood how you two don’t want to be apart yet they didn’t want to uproot Mackenzie when the school year was almost over.” She paused.

“Momma?”  Justin asked, his hopeful voice barely above a whisper.

“It took a lot, but both Charlotte and Philippe agreed that moving to Orlando would be a change of pace for them. They’re willing–” Lynn was cut-off by Justin and Mack jumping off of the couch, cheering. They grabbed each other and hugged as they continued to jump up and down, cheering their heads off the entire time. Paul and Lynn chuckled at their celebration.

“I can’t believe it!” Justin shouted in Mack’s face.

“Me neither!” Mack shouted back. She let go of Justin and threw her arms around Lynn’s neck. “Thanks so much for convincing them, Momma Lynn!” She cried out. Mack stepped back and her smile fell from her face. “Wait, there has to be a catch.”

“There is,” Paul Harless finally spoke up. “You have to be tutored the rest of your school year and then you will be enrolled in a Jr. High School in Orlando. Justin, you’re going to get a tutor through the people at the show so you don’t have to worry about falling behind on your work either.”

“I can’t believe I’m really going with you,” Mack mumbled before jumping and grabbing her arm. “Ow! What the heck was that for?” She demanded, rubbing her arm where Justin pinched her.

“Just helping you know that it isn’t a dream,” he replied. His smile fell from his face. “We have to tell Trace and I don’t know how he’ll handle both of his friends leaving.”

“He’s going to have to deal with it eventually, but let’s call him up,” Mack replied.

“Not yet. We have to celebrate,” Paul replied, smiling at the two. Just then the doorbell rang. He went to get it as Lynn waved the two into the kitchen. A few seconds later Mack’s mother and father came into the kitchen carrying a large cake. Mack immediately rushed over to them and hugged them, thanking them over and over again as they chuckled.

“What made you consider leaving, Mrs. Desrosiers?” Justin asked as he stared intently at the chocolate cake that they were cutting.

“Philippe was saying that he wanted a new backdrop and was thinking of quitting his job here to find another one,” Charlotte replied. “He’s actually been thinking about it for a while and was waiting until he got a great opportunity before he told Mackenzie about it. This just came at the right time.”

Justin and Mack took their plates of cake into the living room to watch TV as the adults talked and laughed in the kitchen. Justin was eating his cake with a big smile on his face. It faded instantly when he saw the distant look in Mack’s eyes. “What is it?” Justin asked.

“Trace. He won’t be happy,” she replied. Justin shoved another forkful of cake into his mouth. He got why she was upset but did she have to talk about him so much? This was technically their moment.

Justin swallowed and said, “I know, girl, but what can we do? I know for a fact we can’t get him to come with us. We’ll just have to keep in touch with him as much as possible.”

“I guess.” She shrugged and shoved her cake into her mouth. Justin knew she was still upset because she was eating the cake as if it was the last thing on the planet and she hated chocolate cake.

“Bright side: we were able to get our parents to let us stick together like we wanted,” Justin said as he grinned.

“Right.” Mack nodded and finally smiled.