stunned at her friend’s self-control, she knew that Lauren was dying to squeeze every last detail out of her and she was extremely grateful that she had been considerate enough to give her some time before doing it.
She was at odds with herself for not being more apprehensive about Damien’s confession and she still didn’t know what she would say to her friend about what she’d just seen.
What possible, credible explanation could she give?
Lauren wasn’t easy to fool and she hated having to lie to her, but she was certain that she couldn’t tell her the truth. She wouldn't be responsible for putting her in danger. It would be devastating to lose her only friend when it was within her power to save her.
Kennedy finally understood that to protect Lauren she might have to lose her friendship.
Her heart sank as she walked upstairs herself, though she wanted to run down the opposite direction. Her face set in a grim mask, Kennedy made her way into the room where Lauren sat stiffly on top of the flower printed sheets of the twin bed.
She gathered all of her resolution and looked up at the waiting girl, determined to make their high school drama teacher proud. It was already decided, she would keep her best friend out of harm’s way and even if it meant that she had to push Lauren out of her life, she would do just that.
“I know that you’re about to lie to me.” Lauren said with strange calmness.
“What?” Kennedy feigned ignorance and tried to buy some time to come up with something believable enough. Just as she’d expected, her friend raised a well groomed eyebrow and looked at her skeptically.
“We’ve known each other since we were seven. I can tell what your every facial expression means by now.”
“Then you know that I’m torn between feeling comforted and creeped out by what you’ve just said.”
“I’m not joking!”
“Neither am I!”
“If I weren’t sure that you’re trying to create a distraction I would be very mad at you for that comment.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You were going to lie to me to cover for that guy.”
“I–” Could she deny the truth?
“Give it up. You’re not good at hiding your feelings, Kennedy. Your eyes give you away.” She had always loved Lauren’s insight, she knew the right thing to say and when not to say anything at all.
“He–” Right then, she wished that her friend didn’t know her all that well.
“You like him a lot. He said that he left telling me at your discretion – she emphasized on the last three words, mocking his accent – and I can see the resolve on your face.”
“You don’t know anything because you weren’t here, you selfish bitch!” She finally got a complete sentence out and just as the last word had left her mouth, she wanted to take it all back.
Lauren’s head reeled as if she’d been slapped and Kennedy wanted to go to her and hug her and say how sorry she was, that she didn’t mean it. The truth was, that she did mean some of it and her friend knew it too.
“Well, if that’s how you truly feel, then I don’t know why you let me into your house in the first place.” She put up a strong front, but Kennedy could see the small glimmer of unshed tears in her doe eyes.
“Lauren, what are you doing?” She asked as she saw her pick up her bag and head for the door.
“I’m going home.” Lauren called over her shoulder as she walked out of the room. Her wild curls bounced with each step that she took.
“You can’t leave now, it’s almost four in the morning!” Kennedy said in a screamed whisper – as to not wake up her mother, who had miraculously slept through Lauren’s screams – and ran downstairs after her.
“Watch me.” The angry girl rebuked as she paused at the front door and turned. She took a small gift box out of her bag and threw it at Kennedy, it bounced off her arm to land at her feet.
“Happy birthday, friend.” Lauren walked out, slamming the door shut as she did so. Kennedy stared blankly at the closed door for a second.
She had completely forgotten about her birthday. Today she turned eighteen and what an awesome way to celebrate it, friendless and alone.
That day was coming along nicely and to her delight – note the sarcasm there – it was only just beginning.
Her birthdays were always memorable, but not for the reason that one would believe. Just the mention of any intent of celebrating the day of her entrance into this world had become a bad omen for her. Asides from the fact that her classmates only attended the parties to make fun of the Freak Girl, something horrible, embarrassing or horribly embarrassing always happened at the event.
Her last attempt at a party had been when she'd turned fifteen. She threw it at her mother’s insistence, turning fifteen for her mom was like sweet sixteen in the States, a big deal in latin culture.
It had been extremely sunny all week so they had decided to have the party in the backyard. Only an hour before the party was about to start, the clouds blew in and a small drizzle began. The drizzle grew into a shower and the shower turned into a full blown downpour. Suffice to say that all the decorations got blown away and she somehow ended up sitting on her cake. That very day she decided, no more birthday parties for Kennedy, ever.
In fact, she had pushed the whole concept of remembrance out of her mind.
She wanted to go find a hole to crawl into and stay there until that day was done. Tears burned behind her eyes and she realized that she was getting tired of that feeling.
Kennedy crouched to pick up the box, then arose and turned from the door. She towed her feet all the way to the living room, where she flopped down heavily on the couch.
She lifted the top lid on the small box that Lauren had thrown at her and looked inside. Her heart constricted. There, resting on top of a soft piece of white gauze, was a silver bracelet with a charm in the shape of the left half of a heart with the word, “Best”, engraved on it.
It was a friendship bracelet and Lauren must have had the other half of the charm hidden, ready to show it to her when they opened her gift together. She felt wretched, but wasn’t that what she’d been aiming for?
She'd hurt Lauren’s feelings. But, Kennedy could bear having an angry Lauren rather than a dead best friend.
She put on her present and spent the following hour admiring the shiny bracelet as it dangled on her wrist, trying to convince herself that she had done the right thing.
It was already five in the morning when Kennedy traded the empty gift box for the remote control that lay on the side table and turned on the TV.
Late night programming sucked, they were re-running a paid program that sold a cream that claimed that it could erase all of your wrinkles in just ninety seconds.
“Interesting, that is if I had any wrinkles.” She traced the corner of her eye with a fingertip and kept flicking through the different channels until she was too exhausted and finally drifted off into a fitful slumber.
8. Vertigo
“Good bye, Mr. Doodle!” A high, squeaky voice sang by her ear. She was having a nightmare.
Had the demons come and dragged her to hell while she slept?
She wondered if she had imagined it when she heard the overly cheery music and was horrified.
“La, la, la, la...” No, she wasn't in hell, it was even worse, Redso's World!
Kennedy sat up and looked frantically for the remote. When she couldn't find it, she bolted from the couch and ran, jumping over the coffee table and knocking down one of her mother's ceramic bowls in the process, to turn off the TV before her brain fried.
Teresa came in at that exact moment to find her daughter on her knees in front of the television set, heaving a relieved sigh. Kennedy sent her a sheepish grin and her mother, who was about to say something, shut her mouth and rolled her eyes before walking back out of the room shaking her head while muttering to herself about crazy teenagers.
Kennedy sat on the
cold tiled floor of the living room while she gathered her bearings. She lifted a hand to run it through her untidy morning hair, the muscles of her neck and back screamed in pain at the movement. That's what sleeping on the couch got her. She should have known better by then.
She ignored the stiffness in her body as she stood and made a beeline for the stairs. She yearned for the firm, yet soft comfort of her own bed.
It was late afternoon when Kennedy finally emerged from her bedroom where she had been holed in all day. That was by far one of the less eventful birthdays of her life and thank God for that.
She had spent over eight hours lying in bed, staring at the ceiling as a form of entertainment. She discovered that there were approximately three hundred and fifty six small dents and a stain in the shape of a garden gnome in the stucco. Fascinating stuff.
She had gone to the bathroom once or twice, but only to return to her lethargic position again. It wasn't until the delicious smell of pasta being cooked reached her nostrils that she realized how hungry she truly was. Her stomach came alive and growled at her to go find where the enticing smell was coming from.
She went downstairs after splashing cold water on her face, her mind still foggy with the remnants of her previous comatose state. She could already hear her mother's humming as she neared the kitchen. Her brain finally crashed back into her head. She halted as she remembered Damien's words about speaking thoroughly to Teresa about the demons that want to kill her father.
Kennedy sighed deeply and called