Broken

Chapter 40

"Do you have a hard time trusting people?"

"I wouldn't say I do." Makenna said, "I've just..."

For the first time since the accident, Makenna thought about telling Vanessa that she'd been through a lot and leaving it at that. No one except her family, the police and the doctor who'd been on duty that night knew what she'd been through. In her opinion that was plenty enough. If she had a choice, she would have preferred just the police and the doctor to be aware and spare her family the heartache of knowing. It would have been easier on her as well if her family knew nothing about it. She would've worked twice as hard to make them unaware of it, which meant her self-imposed isolation wouldn't have happened. But what's done was done, she couldn't go back and change anything and even if she had the chance to, she would have chosen to go and for Rachel to live.

"You only opened up to me when you started to trust me," Makenna smiled at Vanessa, "Which took close to a year."

Vanessa laughed as quietly as she could so she didn't disturb anyone around,
"I remember that first time I came up to you after Mrs. Kim told me to," Vanessa said, "I know it's not right to judge anyone by their appearance but everything about you screamed for me to turn around and run."

Makenna chuckled to herself,
"Yet you didn't."

"I'm glad I didn't." She paused, "You're different from who you seem to be."

Makenna felt like she'd been hit on the head with something which made her head spin and ache at the same time. Her left hand, which was covered with the book that was open in front of her, clenched so tight she felt her nails dig into the heel of her palm.

Vanessa, who'd just complained about not knowing anything about her, hit her hard where it hurt. A sore spot she had buried and forgotten about.

Makenna's heart rate sped up as her mind wandered to a place she hadn't let herself walk before. She'd changed everything from her appearance to the person she was. She'd done everything to be the person that she was, to be the person on the inside that she was on the outside. Yet Vanessa had just told her something she wanted to unhear.

"I'm going to head out," Makenna rose and put away her books,

"What?" Vanessa was just as confused as Makenna,

"I've got somewhere better to be."

Makenna didn't look at Vanessa as she packed up and hurried out of the library, not caring to return the books she had left on the table.

Vanessa watched Makenna walk away wondering what had just happened.

"What the?" Vanessa muttered before sighing and refocusing on what she'd been studying, or rather, she tried to focus.

IMPORTANT! PLEASE HELP!!

Hey guys, I need your help with a pretty important detail for this story. I really hope you drop your comments on this because there's a lot of history and future scenes that would revolve around this minor detail.

I haven't picked a signature scent for Makenna, or Atlas (THE HORROR!) I'm currently working on a chapter that requires me to mention this detail. I know how a lot of Wattpadders feel about Vanilla and I thought I would leave the choice up to you guys.

I've narrowed my search down to 5 perfumes and my thought process was going for something that physically represents her but has notes that contradict Makenna's whole aesthetic. I would appreciate it if you guys could comment on which one you like and I'll go for the one with the most likes. So, here are the top contenders:

Christian Dior - Hypnotic Poison

YSL - Black Opium

Versace - Crystal Noir

Chanel No 5 - L'Eau Rouge

Chanel - Coco Noir

Please, do leave a heart, or anything to signify which one you would want as her signature scent. I don't know what these perfumes smell like but I really hope that I can have a winner before I begin the next chapter.

Love you muchly.