𝐒𝐀𝐘 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 ↠ 𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒 ✔️

10 | 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧: 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐭
please be aware this chapter has a trigger warning for the beginning. i love you all, and please read with caution.

KENNEDY SNIFFLED, running a hand through her tangled hair. For the past half hour, she'd been explaining what had happened between Anthony and herself while Chase had been gone. She hated the way it'd turned out. Of course, it would've been only a matter of time before they had some sort of confrontation either way. Staring at her messy reflection in the mirror, she discarded her clothes after starting the shower. While waiting for the water to warm up, her gaze in the mirror wandered to her bare stomach and the scar etched into the surface of her skin. Although she always tried to forget how she got it, she couldn't. It was simply the worst night of her life; the same night she'd broken up with Anthony had it happened. She traced her fingers lightly over the scar, remember what it felt like when the knife had penetrated her skin so roughly.

She remembered how she didn't intend to make it.

Kennedy Walsh planned to die that night, and yet, she didn't. Thalia found her before that could happen; she'd been bleeding out in her bathroom, her blood seeping into her clothes and staining the tiles. She'd remembered the lights, blue and red flashing everywhere while her mother's cries mixed with the sirens late into the night. Kennedy blinked, shoving away the thoughts of that night that she wanted to forget more than anything.

Moving back the shower curtains, she pushed her hand under the gentle flow of water from the shower head and sighed in relief at the warm temperature. Without a second thought, the curly-haired girl stepped into the shower and let the water wash away her sorrowed thoughts, and made her only focus be on the water and how it moved around her.

✧ ✧ ✧

"Here, I got you this." Chase passed a king-size Twix bar to Kennedy with a small smile. "They're still your favourite, right?"

She huffed a small laugh. "Of course they are! Thank you, Chase." She accepted the chocolate bar, soon pulling the boy into a hug. "I love you, you know that?"

"I love you too, Kenny." He whispered, running a hand up and down her back. All he could think of since walking in on her and Anthony, was simply to look out for Kennedy; they'd been friends for a long time, and he couldn't stand to see her hurt. His hand tangled itself in her hair, brushing through them gently. As they pulled away, he gave her a tiny kiss to the side of her forehead. "What do you want to watch? Porn?"

She snorted a laugh, giggling at his joke. "Funny. I-"

"You thought I was joking?" He feigned a dramatized hurt expression, putting a hand over his heart and jumping off her bed with his jaw dropped. "Wow, for shame." Both of the teenagers burst out laughing, soon filling the whole room with just the simple sound of laughter. As it died down, Chase sat down on his bed, picking up the remote. "So, that's a no to the porn?"

"Shut up," she chuckled, snatching the remote from his hand to pick out something for them to watch.

✧ ✧ ✧

"Yeah, so you guys want pizza?" Noen asked, holding his cell phone up with Dominos on speed-dial. Everyone in the room nodded. So far, a majority of the people involved in the tour were currently in Noen, Jaden and Yewsifs shared room, deciding on what to have for dinner. The only ones who were yet to show up was Griffin, Anthony, Josh and Jason. "Okay, cool! I'll call!"

Kennedy sat on the couch in the room, beside Cynthia who'd she had been catching up with for the past ten minutes. It felt good for her to reconnect with so many people. "That's great, C! I really am excited for tomorrow's meet and greet."

"Thank you! And, right? It's going to be amazing. Trust me, when I first did one on this tour, it was such a rush! Meeting people who truly support you for what you're doing is awesome!" Cynthia exclaimed, overly excited that Kennedy was on the tour with her. There was only two other girls besides them, but Cynthia had missed the curly-haired girl so much, it made all the difference to have her here with her.

Just as Kennedy was about to respond, Noen came back into the room, yelling. "Guys! I ordered! And, finally the others are here! Great, bonding time!" His words were random and sporadic, making some tiny laughs circulate through the room at his words. But, Kennedy's small smile dropped as she saw Anthony walk in. His eyes were still red at the rims, and puffed in the slightest. Everyone in the room tried not to take notice of it, already knowing Anthony had switched out of his room with Kennedy. Her eyes met his, making her heart lurch in her chest as he kept the eye contact before looking away to Chase Keith who'd called him over.

    "Hey, Kenny." Griffin spoke, sitting down on her lap, making her huff a breathe at his weight. "How are you doing?"

  "I'm doing okay, besides the fact that you're-" she gave out a strained whine. "You're crushing the shit out of me." He laughed, sliding off her lap with ease and settling into the open spot beside her. "How are you doing tonight, Griff?"

  "I'm okay," he shrugged, putting his arm on the couch behind them, slightly wrapping it around Kennedy. He leaned close to her ear, lowering his voice. "Anthony told me what happened. He said he thinks you started having a panic attack when he left? Are you actually okay?"

   She gazed at where Anthony was lounging on Noens bed, laughing at some video he was being shown by Jaden. "I'm okay," pulling her stare from Anthony, she settled her gaze on Griffin. "There's a lot you guys don't know. Some things... happened. I want to be able to talk about it, and I want to talk to Anthony, but I can't. I cant verbally say it, Griff. I-I can't." Her breath caught on the last words, trying not to think too much about what had happened.

    "Hey, it's okay." He murmured, resting his head on top of hers. "You don't need to tell us anything unless you're comfortable doing so. Okay? Just know I'm always here if you need to talk. Alright?"

"Okay," she whispered, giving the older boy a side hug and wrapping her arms around his waist. "That truly means everything to me."

  "Anytime," his voice was soft as he hugged her back, wanting nothing more than to just make her okay again. Like she used to be.

  Just as they released each other from the hug, Jaden jumped onto one of the beds, waving his arms wide to grab everyone's attention. "Hey, guys! Let's play a game!" A small amount of cheers went through the room at the idea. "Okay, now what the hell are we going to play?"

    Everyone laughed, but soon many were calling out what games to play.

  "Hide and seek!" Chase screamed, all too hyper and having just been jumping on the bed.

    "Okay, hide and seek it is!"

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲: 𝖺 𝖽𝗈𝗎𝖻𝗅𝖾 𝗎𝗉𝖽𝖺𝗍𝖾! 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗀𝗎𝗒𝗌 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌, 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗂𝗇𝖼𝗅𝗎𝖽𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗆 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗒𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗀𝖺𝗆𝖾 𝗅𝗈𝗅