Dork — Diaries Used Books

And at the very end, on the last page, next to “The End,” she had written in faint pencil, as if she’d been trying to hide it even from herself:

I showed her the book.

This book belongs to Mackenzie Hollister. If lost, return to locker 119. And yes, I know I’m fabulous. 💅

The smell hit me first—a dusty, sweet, sun-baked vanilla scent that no e-reader or brand-new hardcover could ever replicate. It was the smell of a thousand forgotten stories, and I was hunting for just one. dork diaries used books

“Mackenzie—everyone cries in the bathroom sometimes. If you ever want to not cry alone, you know where the art room is. —Nikki (locker 237)”

I almost dropped it. Mackenzie Hollister? As in, my arch-nemesis, the queen of mean, the CCP (Crusty Cookie Princess) of Westchester Country Day? The same Mackenzie who had once “accidentally” spilled orange soda on my art portfolio?

So I did something else.

But then, deeper into the book, around chapter twelve, the notes changed. Next to the scene where Nikki cries alone in the art room, Mackenzie had written, smaller and shakier: “I cried in the bathroom once. Don’t tell anyone.”

I pulled it out reverently. Price: $1.25.

Inside the front cover, in sparkly purple gel pen, someone had written: And at the very end, on the last

Under the printed chapter one, in that same purple pen, Mackenzie had written notes in the margins. Little critiques. Next to the part where Nikki spills spaghetti on her new jeans, Mackenzie had scribbled: “Clumsy much? Try better posture. - M.H.” Next to the part about Brandon, she’d written: “Boys are a distraction. Focus on your mirror.”

Zoey thought for a moment. “Well, you can’t give it back to her. That would be social suicide. But you also can’t keep it. That’s weird.”

My name is Nikki Maxwell, and I was on a mission. And yes, I know I’m fabulous