I stayed quiet as I pulled away. Truth be told, I was speechless.
"I ... I'm sorry," Jay apologized as he stood up.
"It's fine," I quietly replied quietly as I myself stood up.
"I'd better get you home," Jay said as he placed his I-Pod back in his pocket.
"Oh yeah." I silently followed Jay to his car and sat in the passenger seat. We arrived at my house a minute too early.
"Uh...Thanks," I said as the car stopped. I gave Jay a hug and got out of the car. I walked up the steps and into the house."
Max stood there in front of the window, with his arms folded over his chest.
"What?" I asked in annoyance.
"Nothing..Oh noting," he said in sarcasm. I rolled my eyes and started towards the stairs.
"Freak," I murmured under my breath. I walked passed my mother's room. She was sprawled out on her bed, snoring. Her brown hair looked like it had been in a tornado. I closed the door back, and walked to my room. Closing the door behind me, I stood on top of my bed and brought my diary down from the shelf. I hadn't written in that thing for months! The very few times that I had, it had been to write down things that I didn't want to tell Ken about.
Dear Diary,
I'm so confused! So at first, Jay, Kenton's cousin comes along and I think he's so....repulsive, annoying and a total goofball. Now I'm thinking it's all those things that make me like him. Lately Ken's been acting weird... I honestly don't know what it is but he IS bipolar...maybe that's it.
Dad came to visit! (finally) but he brought someone along - His fiance', and she's pregnant. :( The worst part is it feels like she's more important than I am these days. It's like I don't even exist to him!
Anyway, back to the Jay thing. I'm thinking of asking him out but I'm not sure... I mean he's leaving in a couple of weeks, so what's the point?
Sincerely,
Nicole <3
I closed my diary and placed it under my pillow. Sitting there thinking about the night, I smiled to myself. Suddenly, I heard a knock on my window. I looked back - nothing. Another tap later and I got up to check.
"Ken?" I said when I saw him standing there holding pebbles.
"Nikki can I come up?" he whisper yelled.
"Sure." It's not like Ken wasn't allowed in m house or anything, but sometimes when we didn't feel like talking to each other's parents, we'd either go to our windows, or the shed. It took Ken only a full minute to climb the tree. I helped him into my room, landing on my back.
"Ah!" I shrieked as I pulled Kenton in. I couldn't hold his body wight causing me to fall down on my back, Ken on top of me.
We laughed hysterically as we lay there.
"Get off of me you hippo!" I joked.
"Never!" Ken yelled as he pinned me down.
I groaned as I tried to wriggle free from his grasp. A small smirk appeared on my face and I swear you could see a light bulb over my head. I pulled my arms out and started tickling him.
"Ah!" Ken laughed as he rolled over off of me, and onto his back.
"That worked!" I joked as I sat there next to Ken as he lay on his back.
"Whatever! So...how did it go? With Jay?" he asked.
"Good."
"Just good?"
"Well.. great ... I'm just a little confused."
"Confused about?" Ken asked as he stood up.
"Jay and I .... kissed," I confessed.
"What?" Ken sounded so upset, so defensive - just as Jay had been when I was sitting with Ethan at the dance.
"Ken calm down. It was nothing special! We went to a nice little stream and....yeah."
"Wow," Ken shook his head.
"What?" I asked, confused at his reaction.
"Nothing," Ken replied.
"Ken...Tell me."
"I said nothing!" Ken yelled.
"Ken! Don't yell at me! I was just asking, OK?"
I didn't expect this, but Ken lurched at me, his eyes flaming. He dragged me up like a rag doll and held my throat at the window. My head was out of the window and it felt like Ken was ready to push me out at any moment.
"K - K - Ken!" I choked out. Ken didn't respond. His eyes were cold, his breathing was heavy, but his grip was tight. I felt his grip loosen up after a while, followed by him collapsing on the floor. "M - Mom! Dad!" I squealed, stepping over Ken and running for either of my parents.
"What's wrong pumpkin?" dad asked. He was watching T.V. in the guest room while Denise was sleeping.
"Daddy something's wrong with Ken!"
"Shh Denise is sleeping," dad said as he tossed the covers off and got up.
"Do I look like I care? Somethings wrong with Ken! Come now!"
"Sweetie what are you yelling about?" mom asked, rubbing her eyes as she stood behind me. Knowing that dad knew what was wrong, I ran past mom and back into my room. I tried picking Ken up but I failed.
"What happened?" dad asked as he ran in.
"I - I don't know - Ken just launched at me, choked me and then he collapsed!"
"Are you okay?" mom asked, soothing my neck.
"Yes! Just help Ken!" I yelled as dad picked him up and flung him over his shoulder.
"Honey...Honey calm down. He collapsed, we'll get him to the hospital OK?" mom said as we followed dad out the door.
"Max," dad said as he opened Max's door. Surprise surprise, he was playing video games on his bed.
"Huh?"
"We're going to the hospital, make sure Denise is okay."
"Uh - huh."
Ugh, Denise. I couldn't stand hearing her name. She had taken my spot in my dad's heart and I hated her for it. Dad quickly walked to the door as mom and I followed. I sat in the backseat and placed Ken's head on top of my lap. Ken was really scaring me these times. I was convinced he wanted to hurt me, but why would he? He's my best friend, he loves me. We finally arrived at the hospital ten minutes later.
"Tell me again what happened," the doctor said. Ken was laying in the bed, but he was now conscious.
"He..He just collapsed," I said.
"Nicole, is that all that happened?" the doctor asked, looking straight into my brown eyes.
"No..." I confessed. "He..He came at me...He grabbed my neck and held me at the window...Then after a while, he seemed to get weaker and fell down. The doctor narrowed his eye brows yet widening his eyes, and took off his glasses.
"Is something wrong Dr. Roberts?" Mom asked as she stood by dad. Doctor Roberts strolled over to Ken.
"Young man, any idea what possessed you to do this?" he asked.
"Do what?" he asked. "I don't know why Nikki's saying that. I would never lay a hand on my Nicole. She's my best friend. And I don't know why I passed out. Maybe the heat."
The doctor put his glasses back on and sighed. "How many times has this happened?" he asked me.
"Uh two, maybe three times, why?"
"I think ... I think Kenton may have a split personality disorder."
"A split personality disorder? You mean...all those times when he..."
"All those times when he attacked you, it might've been because of the disorder."
Thanks 4 reading! :)