[McKenna]
I woke up on Saturday to a pillow hitting me square in the face.
I groaned and rolled over onto my stomach. "Go away."
Emma sighed. "Come on Kenna, Cole's going to be here at twelve and if you don't get up now I just might have to resort to drastic measures."
I groaned and rolled out of bed as Em started cracking up. "Wow, nice hair, sleeping beauty. Shame Cole can't see you now."
I threw a pillow at her before heading toward the bathroom to get a shower. I turned on the water and picked out music to play on my phone while I waited for the water to warm up. I swear there's nothing worse than hopping into a freezing cold shower first thing in the morning.
Thirty minutes and one Shawn Mendes album later, I was almost completely ready, and went back into my room to get dressed. Emma was already dressed and was doing her makeup in the mirror above my dresser.
I went to my closet to pick out an outfit. After ten minutes of digging through all my clothes, I finally decided on just a black t-shirt with varsity-striped sleeves and white shorts. Then I quickly ran a brush through my hair and put on my white Converse as Emma finished getting ready.
"You're so lucky I was sleeping over last night. You would've slept til one," she said with a laugh as she gave herself a once-over in the mirror. She looked adorable as usual, wearing a light blue flowy tank top and jean shorts, with her dark hair in a side braid.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, I'd be totally lost without you, blah blah blah."
We grabbed our phones and wallets and headed downstairs just as the doorbell rang. I said goodbye to my parents and opened the door to Cole.
"Hi. You ready?" he said as he smiled at me.
I nodded and closed the door behind me as we walked down the porch steps and out to his car. His mom was in the driver's seat, and she rolled down her window to greet us. "Hi girls, how are you? I haven't seen you in a while."
I'd only met Cole's mom once before, when Emma and I had run into Cole and Jaden at the pool on the last day of summer and his mom had dropped us off at home.
"Hi Mrs. Wagner, it's nice to see you again," I said as I got in the car. Emma and I were sitting in the middle seat, next to Jaden. Cole was sitting shotgun, and Luke, Braden, and Kaden were all wedged in the backseat. I quickly said hi to them before buckling my seatbelt.
"Alright, let's go!" Mrs. Wagner said as we drove off.
Thirty minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot of Hershey Park, and we all piled out after saying goodbye and thanking her for the ride.
After going through the ticket office, we gathered in front of the carousel to figure out what we wanted to do first.
"So, Skyrush or Great Bear?" Cole asked.
Jaden shrugged. "It's your birthday, man, we'll do whatever you want."
Cole grinned. "Okay, then let's go get some s'mores cobblers."
"What's a s'mores cobbler?" I asked.
Everyone looked at me like I was insane. "You've never had a s'mores cobbler?" Cole asked in shock.
I shook my head.
"Oh my gosh, you haven't lived until you've had one of these. It's literally like eating a piece of heaven."
So they dragged me down to this old western-style restaurant to "save me from my s'mores cobbler virginity," in the words of Cole.
They all stared at me while I took the first bite. As soon as it entered my mouth, I closed my eyes. Cole wasn't kidding - it was the most delicious thing I'd ever eaten.
"So I'm assuming you like it?" he said, laughing at my facial expression.
"Oh my gosh," I said after I swallowed. "I want to marry it."
"Hey," Cole frowned. "I'm sitting right here, you know. You do remember me, right? Your boyfriend?"
I rolled my eyes but couldn't help smiling at the word 'boyfriend.' "Sorry, but I've found my true love. I'm sorry, Cole. It's over. It's not you, it's me. I hope we can still be friends."
I shoved the rest of it in my mouth as Cole sat beside me with his mouth hanging open. "I think a s'mores cobbler just stole my girlfriend."
Jaden patted him on the back. "It happens to the best of us."
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"Hey, let's go ride Laff Trakk," Luke said later that day. We agreed and headed over to the ride, hoping that the line wouldn't be too long. Thankfully, it wasn't, and we only spent about fifteen minutes in line. Of course we took a ton of selfies in the funhouse mirrors before getting on the ride - just like every other teenager there.
Once we got off the ride, we stopped at one of the bathrooms. Obviously Emma and I took longer since we had to check our hair and makeup, and the boys were waiting for us when we came outside. We started walking away when I remembered something. "Wait, I forgot my wallet. I'll be right back."
I hurried back into the bathroom and grabbed my wallet from the stall I had left it in. I went back outside and was about to run to catch up with the others when someone grabbed my wrist.
"Well, well, look who we have here. The one and only McKenna Jacobs."
I froze, a wave of panic washing over me and paralyzing me.
Noah.
The person who had bullied me all throughout elementary and middle school, the reason my family had to move and change school districts because my old school didn't do anything about him.
I tried to yank my arm away but he was too strong. Noah laughed at my struggling and dragged me behind the building, shoving me back against the wall.
"I almost didn't recognize you. Who would've thought that ugly little girl would turn out to be so hot," he said, looking me up and down. I felt like throwing up. His touch felt like spiders crawling on my skin.
I closed my eyes as he ran his fingers along my face. I tried pushing him off of me and was reward with a sharp slap across my face. "Don't even try to get away. You couldn't even if you tried," he hissed.
My breathing grew heavy and my cheek started burning from the force of his blow. Then he started running his hands along my waist, and I felt fear grip me when my shirt rode up and his fingers grazed my bare skin. I tried to scream but he put his hand over my mouth, making it hard to breathe.
Then I heard Cole's voice from the other side of the building. "Where's Kenna?"
"I don't know," Emma said, concern filling her voice. "I thought she was behind us with you."
I heard Cole mumbling something, too low for me to hear. "You guys go ahead, I'll stay here and wait for her."
Just then something snapped inside of me. I don't know whether it was the sound of concern in Cole's voice or some newfound strength, but I knew I had to do something. I couldn't let Noah win. Not again.
When he let go of my wrist to move my shirt up, I raised my right hand and slapped him across the face as hard as I could.
He froze, holding his face in one hand and my left arm in the other. Slowly he turned to glare at me. "You really shouldn't have done that," he said, his voice low and full of hatred.
Before he got another chance to put his hands on me, I kneed him in between his legs and shoved him off of me. As soon as he fell in the dirt, hissing in pain, I ran away towards the front of the building, where Cole was standing. His eyes widened when he saw me. "Kenna? What ha-"
I ran up to him and threw my arms around him, letting the tears flow after holding them in for so long. He wrapped his arms around me, and instantly I felt safe, even though Noah was still only twenty feet away.
"Shh, it's okay. I'm right here," he whispered. I tried to calm down but couldn't, feeling years' worth of emotion finally coming out.
Just then Noah came out from behind the building. "You little bitch," he hissed at me.
Cole looked between the two of us and made the connection. He had seen Noah at a football game, so he knew who he was. And he knew everything that he'd done to me before.
Noah lunged for me and tried to grab my wrist, but Cole caught his arm and gripped it so hard his knuckles turned white. He shifted so he was in front of me, putting his free arm protectively around me. His face was calm, but his hands were shaking, and I could hear the anger in his voice. "If you ever even think about touching her again, I will-"
"Whatever, man. She's not worth my time anyways," Noah said as he ripped his arm out of Cole's grip. He started walking away, Cole's glare following him until he was nearly out of sight.
Then he turned to me, putting his hands on my shoulders and making sure I was okay. Which, clearly, I wasn't. "Oh, God, Kenna, your face...what happened?"
I realized I probably had a mark on my face from when Noah slapped me. "He...he..." I couldn't finish the sentence without bursting into tears again. Cole pulled me into him again, holding me tight against his chest as sobs wracked my body.
Several minutes later, I was finally starting to calm down.
"Do you...want to talk about it?" Cole asked hesitantly.
I nodded. I knew it would be hard, but I couldn't keep it to myself.
He led me over to the side of the building, not where Noah and I were, but far enough away so that the people walking around and going in and out of the bathrooms didn't see us.
We sat down on the ground, and I took a deep breath. "I was coming out of the bathroom when he...grabbed me and dragged me behind the building. H-he started touching me, putting his hands on my face and..." I stopped, squeezing my eyes shut. I hated reliving it, but it kept replaying in my mind. "He had his hand over my mouth, and I couldn't breathe, and I tried to fight him but he slapped me, and...he started to lift up my shirt when I heard you asking where I was. Then he let go of my arm and I hit him as hard as I could and shoved him off of me and ran away."
The expression on Cole's face nearly broke my heart. He had his hand over his mouth, and I could see that it was shaking. "Kenna, I...I'm so sorry," he said, his voice breaking on the last word.
I shook my head. "It's not your fault."
"No, we shouldn't have left you, I shouldn't have left you." He kept shaking his head. "I'm so sorry."
"Cole, look at me," I said softly, putting my hand on his cheek and gently guiding his face towards me. He looked at me for a split second before shutting his eyes and turning his head away. "I-I can't. When I look at your face, I see his hand, the mark he left behind when he..." he took a deep breath and starting shaking his head again. "And I should've been there, I shouldn't have left."
I felt tears forming in my eyes. How could he think that this was his fault? "Cole, please. Just listen to me."
Slowly, he looked up at me, his eyes glancing briefly at the mark on my cheek before meeting my eyes.
I held his face in my hands and looked into his eyes. "Cole, this is not your fault. It's not yours, it's not Emma's, it's not Jaden's, it's not mine. It's Noah's. Don't ever, ever blame yourself for this. Because it breaks my heart to see you like this."
He stared at me a little while longer before slowly nodding. "I'll try. I...I just can't imagine how someone could do something like this."
I shook my head. "Me neither."
Neither one of us knew what to say, so Cole just pulled me into him again, holding me for what seemed like forever.
"We should get going soon. The others are probably wondering where we are," I said after several minutes.
We stood up, and I dusted myself off and wiped the tears from my eyes.
"Are you sure? You don't have to go if you're not ready," Cole asked, concern filling his voice.
I nodded and mustered up a weak smile. "I'm sure. I'll be fine."
He pulled me in for one last hug. "I'm so sorry this happened to you. But I'm so proud of you for how you handled it. You're stronger than you know, McKenna Grace," he said before kissing my forehead.
I smiled up at him. "Thank you. For everything. I don't know what I would've done if you weren't here."
"And I don't want you to ever have to find out. I'll always be here."
I suddenly realized how close we were standing, so close that I could hear his heart beating, just as fast as mine. His gaze dropped down to my lips, and I felt frozen in place.
Of course I wanted him to kiss me. But not right then. I couldn't really explain it, but I didn't want our first kiss, my first kiss, to happen because of Noah. We wouldn't be in that position if it weren't for Noah, and I didn't want the memory to be tainted by anything. Especially not him.
I cleared my throat and stepped back, looking away from him. I immediately felt bad when I saw the look on Cole's face, even though I had a good reason to stop the kiss from happening. I couldn't blame him - this was our fifth almost-kiss, and I had stopped almost all of them.
I wanted to explain it to him, but I didn't know how.
I shook the thoughts out of my head and turned to Cole. "We should, um, get going."
He nodded, still staring at me. "Right. Yeah."
We started walking away from the bathroom, Cole leading the way. "They said they were going towards Skyrush, but that was a while ago. I'll text Luke and see where they are."
A minute later his phone dinged. "He said they're by the Ferris wheel. We can meet them there."
I nodded, and we started walking in that direction. Five minutes later I saw them sitting on a bench right in front of the Ferris wheel.
"Hey guys," Cole said. They got up and walked over to us.
"Hey, what happened? Are you okay? You guys were gone for like half an hour," Emma said.
Cole looked at me, silently asking if I wanted to tell them what happened. I shook my head. "Nothing happened. I'm fine," I said with a smile.
I knew Emma didn't believe me, but thankfully she knew not to push the subject.
I changed the topic. "So do you guys want to go on the Ferris wheel?"
Kaden, Braden, and Luke said they didn't want to, since they still had one more roller coaster to ride. Emma and Jaden decided to go in one car while Cole and I went in the one after them.
Cole let me go in first before sitting down next to me as the car started going up. He let out a not-so-subtle yawn and put his arm around my shoulders, looking ahead nonchalantly.
I laughed. "Wow, smooth. If only your fangirls could see you now."
He laughed but didn't respond. We sat in silence for several minutes, just enjoying the view from the top of the Ferris wheel. The sun was going down, stretching out across the sky in the most beautiful colors I'd ever seen.
"Kenna?" Cole asked after a while.
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you something?"
I looked up at him. "Sure. What is it?"
Cole hesitated. "Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but...is there a reason you don't want to kiss me?" His words were slow and vulnerable, instantly making me feel guilty.
I sighed. "It's not that. Of course I want to, I just...I don't really know how to explain it. I guess I'm just nervous. I've built it up so much in my mind ever since I was little, how my first kiss has to be absolutely perfect. And anything would be perfect as long as it's with you, but I guess I'm just scared I might be bad at it or something. It's stupid, I know."
He shook his head. "No, it's not. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable or nervous, I just...I guess I wasn't thinking about it. I think it's different for guys and girls. I never really thought about it being my first kiss, you know? Every time we almost kissed, I wasn't really thinking at all. I was just acting on my feelings."
I looked into his eyes. "And what are your feelings?"
Cole stared at me for a moment. I could feel how fast his heart was beating, and I was sure mine might jump out of my chest.
His eyes dropped to my lips, and he had just started leaning in when the car came to a stop at the bottom of the ride.
I couldn't help it - I burst out laughing. Soon Cole joined me.
He leaned his head against mine and groaned. "I can't believe I just got shut down by an amusement park ride."
I was laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes. I was still laughing when the doors on the side of the car opened and we got off the ride. Everyone was staring at us, though I didn't blame them. We probably looked insane.
Emma and Jaden were waiting for us when we got off, and gave us weird looks when we walked up to them.
"Don't ask," Cole said after he finally stopped laughing.
Emma raised her eyebrows. "Okay," she said, drawing out the word.
We started walking over to Lightning Racer, where Luke, Kaden, and Braden were. Jaden and Cole sat down on a park bench while Emma dragged me over so we were about ten feet away from the boys. She turned to me and grinned. "You won't believe what just happened," she said excitedly.
"What?" I asked with a laugh.
"Jaden kissed me."
My mouth dropped open. "He kissed you?!" I said - a little too loudly.
There was a pause, then I heard Cole say, "What?" in disbelief. "Dude, are you kidding me? Even Jaden's getting more action than me."
I burst out laughing as Em just looked at me in confusion. "We kind of...almost kissed today. Twice."
She just blinked at me. "You are a horrible best friend, you know that? Why didn't you tell me?"
I shrugged, feeling myself blushing. "It just happened a little while ago. I didn't have time."
She shook her head. "Traitor," she mumbled.
I rolled my eyes and walked back to Cole and Jaden, right as Kaden, Braden, and Luke got off the ride and came towards us.
Cole got a text from his mom saying that she was there to pick us up, so we started walking back to the entrance.
After a little while, Cole reached out and grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers. "Hands down, the best birthday ever," he said, smiling down at me.
I rose up on my toes and kissed him on the cheek. "Happy birthday, Mikey."
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sooo this chapter was pretty intense...i just felt like the last couple chapters have been just cute and funny with not a lot of depth i guess idk
hopefully you guys get the ending lol, if you don't you should go read chapter 15 :)) (shameless self promotion)
anyways i hope this super long chapter makes up for my lack of updating (also cole's cuteness bc that literally makes everything better)
alsooo here are some shawn mendes gifs to brighten up your day :)
(you're welcome.)
~linds