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"Service was amazing, yea?"

"Yea, it was really good. It was a lot longer than last Sunday though."

"Because today was first Sunday."

"I know."

My mom pulled out of the church parking lot. "Are you hungry?"

"Now that you mention it..."

"Okay, what do you want?"

My mind was yelling Chick-Fil-A, but today was Sunday.

"Let's go home and cook."

"I don't really feel like cooking today." My mom admitted.

I chuckled. "I'll do the cooking then."

"Sounds great."

My mom's phone began to ring so she was on a business call the rest of the 15 minute drive home.

Going inside the house, I quickly changed into sweats and a crop top so I could be more comfortable while I cooked.

"Mind if I stare over your shoulder why you cook?"

"No." I laughed. "What's up?"

My mom hopped onto the kitchen counter. "Nothing I just feel like we don't talk much these days. I know it's because I'm always working so how about we catch up a little?"

"Sounds like a plan." I smiled genuinely.

She was right. We hadn't really been around each other much because she's always working, and when she isn't working, I'm usually out with Dayna.

"Okay. So how's school been going? Have you been liking the change? How's Dayna? How's Angel? I would say how's Kenz, but I just talked to her this morning."

"Um, school's good. I think I only like it because people don't bother me. Like, I can literally go in, do my work and leave. Dayna's good, I love her. As for Angel, we don't really talk anymore." I informed.

Her mouth dropped open. "Really? Since when? He was such a sweetheart."

"Since like two months ago."

"I guess I owe your uncle fifty dollars."

"What do you mean?"

"We made a bet on whether you and Angel would be a 'thing' by now. I thought you guys would be, your uncle was dead set on Angel not being your type."

"Woooow." I laughed. "Nice to know you guys are making bets on my life."

My mom laughed as well. "It's not that. I just really thought you guys would hit it off. Every time I turned around, you guys were on the phone or you were leaving to go meet up with him. What happened? If you don't mind me asking."

"I don't. Uh, basically he wanted to be more than friends and I didn't. He stopped talking to me after that. Like completely cut me off."

"What a meany. Don't you guys have classes together? Isn't that kind of weird?"

"Right, and we do. It was weird, probably just for me though. But I've learned to treat him exactly how he treats me and now we just ignore each other, act like the other person doesn't even exist."

"Well if he can drop you like that with no warning and no hesitation then he's definitely not worth anymore of your time."

"I know. That's why I'm not stressing it."

I partially lied.

Well, not really.

The night we were at the beach, after I told Angel that I didn't want to be more than friends with him, he kept his distance which was understandable.

But I didn't expect him to continue to have that attitude the next day at school, and for the past two months.

He hasn't talked to me at all, and he doesn't reply to my messages.

That next day in school, I walked up to him and he completely ignored me. In front of Mrs. DiCaprio's class, in front of our entire 4th period.

It was embarrassing.

And honestly, it hurt me. I thought I had a genuine friend, but I guess not. I honestly didn't expect him to treat me that way. He said he wasn't upset, but obviously he lied.

I get when feelings are involved, it's hard to get past them especially after rejection. But you would think after having the conversation we had, we could be adults about it and push past it.

Obviously, he couldn't.

All Angel had to do was tell me that us being friends wasn't going to work. That would've hurt a lot less than him completely cutting me off as if I wasn't shit to him.

"I told you he was a piece of shit," was Dayna's number one line when I explained the situation to her and what happened.

Which didn't help me at all.

Dayna seemed really relieved that Angel and I are no longer friends. She and I have started hanging out a lot more since Angel and I stopped being friends, which is fine, but it just seemed as if she was waiting for something to happen between he and I so she could be like "see, now cry on my shoulder and let's be besties".

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate her so much for being there for me the few times I let my feelings take over and was sensitive about the situation, but it was just weird.

I still believe she's hiding something about why she really doesn't like Angel.

They both say they've never dated nor had relations, but she really despises him for some reason. I would ask her multiple times if Angel and I being close bothered her, but she would always say no.

Her actions now show differently though.

It's as if Miami people had communication problems. I won't let them stress me out about it though.

"No other problems though? Inside or outside of school." Ma asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I stirred the macaroni. "As in?"

"Is there anybody outside of school bothering you? Is there anybody else in school bothering you?"

"Nope. Not that I'm aware of." I said truthfully.

I didn't go anywhere except the library, school, and Dayna's house so there was nowhere else anybody could really bother me, but I assume she's just making sure.

"I do miss Kenz though."

My mom nodded her head. "I know, sweetie. I miss her too."

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep on the couch until my ringing phone woke me up. I quickly answered when I seen that it was a FaceTime call from Kenz.

"Hey, girl. What's- oh my gosh, McKenzie. What the fuck happened?"

"She beat me."

"What?!"

"Please come help me."

I heard banging on a door on Kenz's side of the phone.

Honestly, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to help other than to get my mom so I made my way upstairs as fast as I could, barging into my mom's room and handing her the phone.

"McKenzie, what is going on?"

"She won't stop." She quietly sobbed. "She keeps going. Ma, please come help me."

My mom quickly and frantically stood up from the bed. "McKenzie, hang up with me and call the police. Now. We'll be on the first flight there, okay?"

"Okay. Hurry. Please." Kenz sobbed on the other end, fear was evident through her face to her voice.

"Now, McKenzie. Call them now!"

Without another word, Kenz nodded her head as she ended the FaceTime call.

"We have to go. We have to go now!"

I was in a state of panic so I was very unsure what to do at this point. Usually when I panic, I get stuck, but luckily my mom was the total opposite.

"Pack us a few things, I'm going to book our flights. Hurry. Go!"

I made my way into my room, quickly grabbing some panties, bras, tights, and tanks as well as some socks. Going back into my mom's room, I did the same for her. Except I grabbed a few sundresses for her instead of tights and tanks.

After about another 10 minutes of me grabbing our hygiene products, my mom was done booking the flights. Shutting off lights and televisions, we were rushing as we scrambled out of the house and into my mom's SUV.

"Did I lock the door? I think I locked the door. Mom, did I?"

"Yes, Dri. You did."

I huffed, sitting back in my seat trying my best to calm down.

I tried to call Kenz a bunch of times, but she hadn't answered and I wasn't too sure on how to feel about it. Either she could be busy with police, or-

"Audriana, my love, I need you to relax for me, okay? Stop letting your mind wander. We're going to get to her as soon as possible, she's going to be okay."

With a blink of an eye, tears started racing down my cheeks as I started to cry uncontrollably.

"That's my best friend, mom. I love her so much. I don't want anything to ever happen to her, she means so much to me. I hate that lady she has to call mom."

My mom didn't say anything. Instead, she wiped the few tears that escaped her eyes and rubbed my back reassuringly.

I constantly replayed the image of Kenz that I had just seen over the phone. She had a bruised eye, blood was dripping from her mouth so either she had busted gums, messed up teeth or a busted lip.

And her mascara was running down her face.

That's what killed me the most. Seeing my best friend- who rarely ever cries- cry. Kenz is very closed off when it comes to her emotions so when she's around people, she doesn't cry at all.

Even in front of me.

Last time she cried was when her grandmother, her literal rock, died in 2016.

Two years ago.

I hadn't seen my best friend shed a tear in two whole years. My heart broke for her.

"You think this is it?"

My mom glanced at me. "What do you mean?"

"If she's okay, if the police have come on time. Do you think you can finally adopt her?"

"I hope so, sweetie. I really hope so."

❦

We managed to deplane, get our luggage and a rental car in less than 45 minutes. As soon as we landed in Vegas, McKenzie called us from Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

I tried to keep my nerves under control the ride there, but I couldn't. It was useless even trying to do so.

The ride was silent, but it was a necessary silence. I needed to try and control my emotions and my mom needed to figure out how we could get this all figured out and fast.

As soon as we pulled into a parking space, my mom could barely shift the gear stick to 'P' before we were hopping out of it.

Running to the front desk, we asked for "McKenzie June" before being introduced to two people.

"You must be Mrs. Ibanez." A lady in a white long-sleeve button and black slacks offered her hand for my mom to shake. "I'm Detective Wisden. I'll be investigating this case along with Mrs. Loreaux." She signaled to the lady next to her.

"Can we take a seat over here?"

My mom shook her head. "Can we see McKenzie first?"

"She's still being examined. In the meantime, there's a few things we want to discuss which won't take long at all, and then we can take you to McKenzie."

A feeling of relief came over me knowing that my best friend was sleeping peacefully.

"Okay."

We followed the two ladies to seats that were placed down one of the hallways.

"As far as we know, you guys are aware of the events that have taken place this evening. Lola, McKenzie's mother, has been taken into custody. When we arrived at the scene, she was clearly intoxicated. We found cocaine, used syringes, and lots of other illegal substances so, the good news is, she has to deal with those cases before she can even deal with child neglect and abuse cases."

"Good." My mom mumbled.

Mrs. Loreaux took the floor. "And those aren't her first charges for it so it'll take some time. The bad news is that she could possibly get off on bail on those charges and it would take 30-45 days to complete this investigation for her to get charged for what she did to McKenzie."

I scoffed. "So you guys don't believe that she abused McKenzie?"

"No, we believe she did it a thousand percent. We walked in on McKenzie curled up in the bathroom closet and Ms. June sitting outside of the closet with a crack pipe and hammer in her hand." Detective Wisden assured. "But it's not up to us, unfortunately. The process is obviously a lot more than just locking her up and throwing away the key no matter how much we want to do that. During the process of this investigation, McKenzie will be in your care, she has made it very clear that that is what she wants. We've reached out to her father, but we have gotten no reply. I want you to know, though, that if any of her immediate family reaches out to have her, we have to take proper measures and she could possibly end up in their custody for some time."

"What? For what? McKenzie doesn't want to be with them, she told you that herself." My mom asked, worry clearly dripping from her voice.

"Since McKenzie is only sixteen and not eighteen yet, sadly it's not up to her."

My mom shook her head, but didn't say anything so Mrs. Loreaux took that as a sign to continue. "It would be a lot easier for McKenzie to stay in Las Vegas, but we have been notified that you guys recently moved to Miami, Florida correct?"

"Correct."

"Okay. In that case, when we need you guys, you have to be here as soon as possible."

My mom let out a heavy sigh. "Okay, of course. So what would you recommend?"

"I would recommend staying here for the next thirty to forty-five days, or until the investigation and adoption is complete, but I understand you have to work and she has to go to school. So in this case, it's completely up to you."

"Can I think about it?"

Detective Wisden nodded. "Of course. We'll be here until McKenzie is released. And we will give you our contact information."

"Okay."

"I assume you guys are ready to see her now."

We got up after the ladies, following them through double doors and to a room. I tried to brace myself for what I was about to see, but I couldn't control my emotions once we opened the door.

I was overwhelmed. I wasn't sure if it was because even though I heard she was okay, it felt a lot better actually seeing her, or if it was because the bruises and cuts all over her body.

I took a seat on one side of the bed while my mom took a seat on the other side. Unsure of what to feel or how to react, I grabbed McKenzie's hand causing her to jump.

Her eyes grew big once she seen us and she tried to jump up, but winced in pain.

"Oh my gosh." She cried out. "I love you guys so much."

"We love you too, honey."

I paid attention to Kenz as she held her ribs. "Are they broken?"

"No." Kenz shook her head. "They're bruised though. I don't even know what happened. Like, one second, I was upstairs doing homework and then the next second, my lamp was going across my head."

I tried to fight my emotions, but I couldn't. I knew I should be the one consoling instead of crying, but this was my best friend.

How could a mother be so fucking cruel?

She doesn't deserve a daughter like McKenzie at all.

"She came in my room drunk trying to pick a fight as usual. Once she seen that I wasn't really entertaining her like she wanted me to, she started putting her finger in my face and calling me all types of names. I tried to leave the room, but then that's when she cracked my lamp on my head. I stumbled and she just got on top of me and started swinging." By now Kenz was crying and my mom and I tried our best to console her through our own tears.

"I was screaming 'mom, please. Please get off of me. It's me. It's your daughter. Why are you doing this to me?' but she just kept swinging and swinging. Eventually, I felt myself blacking out and I guess she took that as a easy opening to stomp my ribs. Good thing she doesn't weigh that much." She chuckled sarcastically.

"Once she left the room, I was able to lock the door and push my little dresser in front of it and that's when I called you. I called the police as soon as I hung up with you. She finally busted through my room with a hammer so I ran into the bathroom and I heard commotion down stairs and the police came."

"A hammer?"

Kenz looked down at her fingers as she nodded. "A hammer. I'm convinced she was trying to k-kill me."

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