Double Trouble

by Tina Wells

  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.

  About the Author

  Photo credit Anna Thiessen

  TINA WELLS founded Buzz Marketing Group when she was only sixteen years old. Today, Tina continues to run her company and lives outside of Philadelphia. Tina says, “Mackenzie’s crew reminds me now of my own group of friends! And like Mackenzie, I had big dreams and worked hard to make them come true.” Visit Mackenzie and her crew online at www.mackenzieblue.com.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors and artists.

  Books by Tina Wells

  Read all the Mackenzie Blue books:

  MACKENZIE BLUE

  MACKENZIE BLUE #2: THE SECRET CRUSH

  MACKENZIE BLUE #3: FRIENDS FOREVER?

  MACKENZIE BLUE #4: MIXED MESSAGES

  MACKENZIE BLUE #5: DOUBLE TROUBLE

  Back Ad

  Credits

  Cover art by Michael Segawa; copyright © 2014 by Mackenzie Blue, LLC

  Cover design by Alison Klapthor

  Copyright

  DOUBLE TROUBLE. Copyright © 2014 by Mackenzie Blue, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  www.harpercollinschildrens.com

  * * *

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Wells, Tina.

  Double trouble / by Tina Wells ; illustrations by Michael Segawa. — First edition.

  pages cm. — (Mackenzie Blue ; book five)

  Summary: “The continuing adventures of seventh-grader Mackenzie Blue as she juggles her time and attention between her auditions for a new TV pilot, preparing for the twins her mother is expecting, and working on a science project with her maybe-crush”— Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-0-06-224412-3 (pbk.)

  EPub Edition April 2014 ISBN 9780062244130

  [1. Television programs—Fiction. 2. Auditions—Fiction. 3. Pregnancy—Fiction. 4. Science projects—Fiction. 5. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 6. Friendship—Fiction. 7. Diaries—Fiction.] I. Segawa, Michael, illustrations. II. Title.

  PZ7.W46846Dou 2014

  2013032813

  [Fic]—dc23

  CIP

  AC

  * * *

  14 15 16 17 18 OPM 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  FIRST EDITION

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