09/22/2015

chapter eleven ;

♡

weekend?" I suggested. "Benny's family and mine have plans this weekend, but I'm pretty sure I'll be free afterward."

Leah adjusted her glasses, her emerald eyes brightening along with the smile on her lips. "Sounds great. I really look forward to it. It's been a long time since I've been able to get out of the house."

"Well, I'll show you what you've been missing out on," I smiled. And I refrained from touching her – every time she flinched, it broke my heart. Of course, the reasoning was clear, but I could never ask her. . . .

"Thank you, again – "

"Again, don't thank me. This isn't some kind of favor. I want you there. Because you're my friend."

Something in her face softened. The look she gave me radiated with warmth. Then the bell rang, and the habitual urgency hit me. Already throwing my backpack over my shoulder, I practically jumped to my feet. Leah took a bit more time, but I stood in place until she was on her feet as well, and we made our way out of the classroom together.

"Bye, Mr. Jackson." I waved at the man standing beside the door, hands in his kaki pockets.

A smile decorated his perfectly sculpted face. "Have a good day, Makayla. You too, Leah."

Leah managed a wave, and after exiting the classroom, I glanced to the side to find that her cheeks had gone pink. A smirk curled on my mouth.

"What?" Leah hid her face and her smile with one hand. "He's gorgeous."

"A blind person could see that," I laughed. "I know. Although if you tried to hold this against me in front of Benny, I might deny it. Might."

"You guys are really good together," Leah remarked. "And I mean that honestly, not just to say it. You make a good-looking couple. And I can see that he loves you."

Hearing the words brought butterflies to my stomach, a certain lightness to my feet. And the smile that grew on my face involuntarily spread like a wildfire.

"And I can see that you love him," Leah added, with a trace of a laugh. "Look at you. But nobody can blame you, I guess. Everyone sees the way he treats you, like you're some kind of goddess. A lot of the girls hate it."

"I bet they do," I smirked. "If I were anyone else, I would be too. Hey . . . What do you think of Bertram?"

"Bertram." Leah smiled. "He's super funny."

All of a sudden, just as we reached the front doors, my name was called. Initially I believed that the summoning was meant for another Makayla. But then the voice rang out again, closer this time, and I turned to find Ivy skidding to a stop before me.

"Hey," Ivy breathed.

"Hi."

"Oh, there's my brother," Leah said, peeking through the glass of the doors. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you then. Oh, and tell your brother not to run anyone over." Memories of the previous day slightly angered me, in which her brother had nearly hit me as I crossed to the parking lot.

"I am so sorry about that," Leah gasped. "He wasn't . . . paying attention. I'll tell him. Sorry."

With that, Leah darted outside, toward the black car that belonged to her brother, and I turned to face Ivy. As per usual, her hair bounced in perfect, tiny curls, and her lips were coated in gloss. She wore less makeup today, revealing a splay of light freckles. Lacking the usual amount of makeup, she was even prettier.

"What's up?" I asked.

"My mom won't be home until tonight, and I forgot my key at the house, and I was wondering if you would care if I stayed with you until then." Ivy spoke quickly, her words nearly incomprehensible.

The question stunned me for only a short moment, but then I shook my head. "No, I don't mind. But my brother and I are fighting right now, so . . . we'd have to walk to my house."

"That's all right," Ivy beamed. "I could do with a little exercise."

Ivy had a slim figure, so I highly doubted that. But then, anyone of any size could lack exercise. Suppressing the urge to shake my head, I made my way outside; Ivy followed at my side.

Benny, DeNunez and Bertram awaited me in the parking lot. As per usual, we all set for the cul-de-sac Benny and I resided in: Bertram and DeNunez had made plans in advance to hang out at my house.

The boys accepted Ivy as part of the group rather quickly – or, at least, it seemed that way. They had a particular talent for making people feel welcome, comfortable – whenever they felt the need, of course. Needless to say, after the summer when I had proven myself to be above their typical image of the female race, their eyes had opened a little more, along with their minds. For the most part, their sexism vanished.

Of course, Benny had been the one to believe in me from the beginning. He would always be different.

"Your brother is Luke, right?" Ivy inquired, once we reached the halfway mark to my house. "He's hot."

I cringed. "Not if you knew him like I do. He is the most annoying person on this planet."

"Still hot, though," Ivy shrugged. "But he's taken, isn't he? I see him with Skylar all the time."

"Yes," I rolled my eyes, "the second most annoying person on this planet, if not equal to Luke."

"That's a bit harsh," DeNunez said. "To Luke, I mean."

"Yeah, Skylar's pretty low," Bertram agreed.

"What happened?" Ivy asked, visibly confused about the conversation. "I thought Skylar was, like, a good girl."

Once again, I rolled my eyes. "She used to seem that way to me, too. But she cheated on Luke throughout their entire relationship, and he still took her back."

"Damn." Ivy tugged at one of her curls, her eyes flickering from me to the boys. Benny walked at my side, silent. "He should just get with me instead. I'd treat him right, you know – "

"All right," I broke in, a hint of a laugh in my voice, "I don't want to hear your fantasies about my brother. That's just weird."

Benny laughed, then found my hand with his own. He did not involve himself in the conversation very much, but he laced his fingers with mine and left them that way until we reached my house.

Once inside, the heat of the sun that had soaked into my skin was immediately suppressed by the chilly air. My breath floated in the air in an icy mist.

"Jesus, Kayla, you trying to make icicles?" DeNunez chafed his bare arms, glancing around the house as if it were a new place altogether.

"I didn't do this. Luke probably messed with the thermostat – he always tries to make it cold in the house. My dad's gonna be so pissed. Part of me wants to leave it so he can see."

Benny laughed. "You're funny. It's, like, ten degrees in here. I'll go fix it. In the meantime, make me a sammich."

Pointing a finger at Benny accusingly and failing to stifle my grin, I said, "Just because you said that, you are no longer allowed to eat any of the food at my house."

My boyfriend laughed, then disappeared in the tiny hallway between the living room and the staircase. I turned to my friends.

"We can go wrap ourselves up in blankets, or we can go outside until it gets warmer."

"Blankets," Ivy decided immediately. "If that means I can lay in your bed."

I laughed loudly. "Okay."

♡

Eventually, the house warmed up to its normal temperature. Even still, the boys and Ivy and I fit into my bed, cocooned in blankets. Benny and I shared my own, of course; DeNunez and Ivy shared another large blanket; and Bertram, who had stolen the blanket from Luke's bed, rode solo, a smug smirk on his lips.

"I've never really been a fan of baseball," Ivy admitted, earning choked gasps from Bertram and DeNunez. "My old man did, but he left me and my mom for some whore. So I kind of push away the idea of anything he used to like. All I would be able to think of is him, and I'd like to not think about him as much as possible."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I know it, though. I've gone through the same thing. My step-dad, Terry, is like the only dad I've ever known. He is my dad – just not by blood."

"My dad's an old drunk crackhead," Bertram said. "Couldn't give a shit about me. I haven't even talked to him in months. It's just like not having a dad at all."

Benny said, "My dad's dead."

An awkward silence fell over the group, but I was the one to break it. Resting my head against his shoulder, I spoke, "But your dad was there to be a father to you. At least you can say your father was a good man."

Benny nodded, pressing a brief kiss to my temple. "Definitely."

After a moment, everyone's eyes flickered to DeNunez. He shrugged, looking slightly left out. "My dad's a mechanic."

"What about your mom?" Ivy wondered.

"College professor."

"Good for you, DeNunez," I nodded. "Your blood family is intact. Is there any flaw in that?"

DeNunez shrugged. "I don't see them until, like, six o'clock."

"You're lucky," Ivy laughed. "I'm just lucky to have my mom."

"Me too," Benny agreed. "And my sister. And my friends. And Kayla."

"Oh, God." Bertram leaned backward, nearly falling off of the bed. "They're about to get all sappy. Excuse me while I just – " Thump. He landed on the ground with a groan, tangled up in the blanket.

Everyone laughed, including Bertram.

♡

The night consisted of eating the pizza my mother brought home, bonding, and constantly joking around. Ivy was easy to get used to – in no time, the boys and I felt utterly comfortable around her, as if we had known her for months. Even when Luke arrived home, my mood did not dim.

Night fell, and Ivy returned to her home; she lived closer than she had expected, so she walked. Minutes later, Bertram's aunt picked Bertram up. DeNunez was the last to leave; by then, the clock neared ten o'clock.

Benny and I were left alone in my bedroom; my mother, worn out from the day, had long since fallen asleep, so her head no longer poked into the room every two minutes. Luke held onto his grudge just as I did, so he did not bother to check in on the two of us either.

Beside me on the bed, Benny twirled the strands of my curly hair around his finger. "You know what Mom told me this morning?"

"What?" I mumbled, eyes closed. By playing with my hair, Benny triggered the sleepy side of me.

"She said that when we get married, we should honeymoon is Paris, and take her with us," Benny chuckled. "And she would leave us alone, she just wants to go to Paris."

One eye popped open, finding Benny, and a smirk curled on my lips. "Do you think we'll get married?"

Benny avoided my gaze, shifting in slight discomfort, and his cheeks began to glow a deep pink. "I hope so."

As per usual, warmth erupted throughout my body on account of his words. The feeling was as normal as the beating of my heart now. And, not for the first time, despite my age, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life feeling this way – because only Benny could ever give me that, and my love for him was true.

I pressed my lips to Benny's, soft and plump and all too familiar. We had only been together for two months – How could I recognize his hands as my own? His lips as my own? How could it have been two months, when it felt as though I had loved him all my life?

"Me too," I whispered. "Really."

Before another word could leave Benny's mouth, my bedroom door burst open. To my surprise, Luke stood before me, face as white as a sheet, breathing heavily as if he had ran a mile without break.

"Kayla," Luke breathed, the reluctance clear in his voice. Initially I planned to order him out of my room, but Luke's panic stifled the anger. "It's . . . Kenny."

"DeNunez?" Benny asked. Fear had stricken my heart, freezing me in place. "What – "

"I snuck out, and his house is on fire," Luke spilled, nearly incomprehensible. "There are firefighters and – "

But I had already jumped to my feet and sprinted past Luke. He barely dodged my body. My stomach had dropped to the soles of my feet, and dread weighted my heart. DeNunez did not live far. And my bare feet dug into the loose rocks on the asphalt as I ran, and the voices of Luke and Benny calling my name were whistles, along with the wind that slapped at my face. Never had I run so fast in my entire life – not even during baseball.

However, an eternity seemed to pass before the raging fire rose before my eyes. DeNunez's house, which I had passed what seemed like hundreds of times, was completely engulfed in flames. There was nothing I could do, nothing to save at this point.

Police guarded the yard, but a small crowd gathered in the street. Firefighters sprayed at the brilliant flame of a house. An ambulance skidded to a stop a few feet away. The many different sirens mixed together in a deafening cry, but I heard nothing. Nothing but a name.

Kenny. Kenny. Kenny.

And as the time passed, in which I stood like a statue, numbed with fear and agony and disbelief, the name morphed into another. Leon. Today would have been my old best friend's fifteenth birthday, had he not died in a house fire two years prior.

No tears found me. All I could focus on was the ever-burning fire. Not the water struggling to quench the flames, or my brother and all but one of the Sandlot Boys surrounding me, or the tingling sensation that spread over my body. I could hardly breathe. My mind could not form a single word any longer. All I felt was despair.

Everyone's words bounced off of me; they sounded fuzzy and far-away. But then one repeated statement became clearer and clearer:

"He's not dead."

Suddenly my senses returned. I whirled around to face Luke, who stared at me with deep, sad eyes. It was then that the tears rose and fell in an instant, hot and constant. Without a trace of hesitation, Luke pulled me into his arms, burying my face into his chest.

"He's okay," Luke assured me in a trembling voice. "It's okay, he's okay, he's alive. Kenny is alive."

The commotion eased in my mind, similar to the outside world. Still, I could hardly focus on anything other than the fact that my best friend was alive. That history did not repeat itself, and if it had, I had no idea how I ever could have lived with it. But he was alive. Kenny DeNunez survived; even knowing this, however, the fear refused to release my heart. So easily could the situation have taken the alternate route, and so the tears continued to roll down my face. Also, the pain of Leon and the fact that he had been in the same situation and he had not been so lucky made the situation all the more worse.

"Makayla." The voice belonged to Ivy. Upon glancing to the side, cheek still pressed to my brother's chest, I found the girl standing a few feet away, face twisted in horror. "Who . . . ?"

Bertram touched Ivy's arm, and pulled her away to explain. Fortunately, too; I had no desire to speak.

The DeNunez family was transported to the hospital immediately. The night passed by like a blur. Despite the fact that there was school the next day, I insisted upon going to the hospital, awaiting new information. Mrs. DeNunez was perfectly fine, without a single burn; Mr. DeNunez had gone back into the house to save her, and he took the brunt of the damage. And Kenny DeNunez's injuries were minor – but they were injuries that needed tending to nonetheless.

In the nearly silent waiting room, a thought occurred to me. Not only was the situation similar to that of Leon, but also to the treehouse incident, in which Squints escaped with his life but with injuries as well. And then –

"Oh, my God," I breathed, chest contracting. Benny, sitting next to me in an extremely alert state, frowned.

"What?"

Nausea rose to my chest, traveling upward. "Benny – this wasn't an accident. This was planned." The confusion was clear on Benny's face, but I gave him no chance to speak. The words spilled from my mouth at an impossible speed. "I got another letter from whoever's been threatening me, and they said there would be an 'accident.' That was yesterday, and now – We have to go to the police. I have all of the letters saved, we could give it to them, and it'll probably look bad that I didn't tell them before, but can I get in trouble for that? Is that, like, withholding information? No, that can't be it, right, because they never even knew about it, so I couldn't have withheld it – "

"Kayla." Benny's voice was stern, but not for the first time that night, his olive skin blanched. "Okay. That's a good idea. We could go do it now. Save them the trouble of trying to determine the cause – "

"But I don't want to leave Kenny," I broke in, the desperation clear in my voice. Despite the fact that he was well and alive, and he would remain so, tears burned and clenched my throat.

Benny's eyes softened considerably. "Okay. I'll go get them. Where – "

"In the nightstand drawer. Underneath everything. They're all in the envelopes."

He nodded, pressing a soft kiss to my cheek. "I'll be back. Don't worry. Everything's going to be okay. Whoever the son of a bitch is, they won't get away with this. Any of it. I love you."

♡

School was most definitely out of the question. By the time I finished speaking to the police, and agreeing to pay the station a visit the next day, the clock neared two in the morning. And my parents never even offered to take me home; knowing my past, they gathered correctly that I would not move until I could see Kenny. At the end of the night, only my family and Benny's remained in the waiting room.

"I really hope Kenneth is all right," Lynn sighed, staring at her lap. "He and I used to be good friends in high school."

A bitter taste was left in my mouth. Turning to Benny, I said, "How fucked up would it be if, after our conversation about fathers, Kenny lost his?"

"Just pray," Benny replied, securing me in his arm on the waiting room couch. "He'll be fine. All of them will be fine."

I swallowed a painful lump in my throat. "It's – well, it was – Leon's birthday. Whoever did this had perfect fucking timing."

A new hand rested upon my arm; without even having to turn, I knew that it was Luke. Given the situation, our shared grudge was the furthest thing from our minds. Just like that, we were okay. That was how family worked. At the end of the day, whether he made the stupidest choices in the history of choices, Luke was still my brother, and I liked getting along with him better than I did fighting with him.

"The motherfucker will wish he'd never even seen a birthday," Luke grumbled. "I hope I'm the one to catch him. Or her. Whatever the fuck it is."

Under normal circumstances, I probably would have laughed. Now, it seemed that I had never laughed in my life. Had never even heard one. I felt a hundred years older, aged with fear and grief. Although there were no fatalities and I had not witnessed any of it, I felt traumatized.

"Whoever it is better hope that I'm not the one who catches them," Benny spoke, sparking surprise in anyone who heard him. Normally, he was not aggressive. "I'll bury them. That's a promise."

♡

Second fire in the story, third fire affecting Kayla's life and her best friends. Give her a break. 😂