The General's Son w***e

XIII

She rolled her eyes, “Enlighten me, then.”

I cleared my throat, eyeing the blonde, I spat, “As I was saying before I got rudely interrupted.”

McKenzie stuck her tongue out at me, so I did it back before proceeding, “I'd throw you the party because anyone that dumb enough to dare set foot into my reality was bold, brave and daring. Which are incredibly great qualities to have through my eyes; If there was someone out there wild enough to join me, to love me even the slightest, I'd be honored because best bet, I probably loved you first,” I quickly added, “Hypothetically.”

After looking from my lips, she smiled with a gleam in her eye, “Wow! That was incredibly detailed.”

“It was incredibly accurate as well.” I glared at her to see her reaction after we fell into yet another awkward silence. “Well let's be thankful we don't have to go through a silly thing like that.” I nervously chuckled.

She sighed, “Yeah. What a relief.”

“Yeah,” I made a barf noise, “So gross.”

She glared at me, “Well, no need to get rude with it.”

“My apologies McKenzie,” She tossed her head back, sighing, “Always sorry.”

I raised a brow, “So are we done playing the What If game? I wish to ask you a question now.”

She lazily replied, “Ask away.”

I placed my hands to the small of her back, “Why did you fall when you first saw the things at the door? They looked like regular people.”

She deeply inhaled, “I knew them … well in the form they were in and I knew it couldn't be possible.”

I stared at my ceiling, “Do you mind me asking how you knew them?”

“They were my parents.”

I looked down at her, “You say it like its past tense.”

She turned her face towards me, “That's right.” She nodded.

My eyes involuntarily trailed down to her lips, “Why?”

I watched her lips part as she spoke, “Because my parents are dead.”

When I woke up, McKenzie wasn't in my bed; it was beginning to feel like this was a typical thing that we have grown accustomed to.

Which got me thinking, did McKenzie feel this way whenever I did it to her?

I was mainly concerned and I fear the worst. If anything happened to her I would feel an eternal guilt most likely resulting in me hating myself if she were to die because I was unhappy with my love life.

So I hurriedly got out of bed and opened my door coming into view was Fayette with a plate of breakfast food.

I approached her, “Have you seen McKenzie?”

She nodded with a piece of bacon in her mouth, “Yeah, she's in the kitchen talking to Constantine and Perry.”

I held my hand to my chest, “Oh, thank the gods!” She mumbled as she ripped part of the bacon off, “I sense a bit of a scare, eh?”

I nodded, “Like you wouldn't believe.”

She smiled, “Trust me.” She patted my shoulder, “I think I have an understanding.”

I smiled back, “Thanks, by the way where are you going?” I pointed at her plate, “And why are you carrying your breakfast with you?”

She gasped, almost choking on her food, “You know I can't have breakfast without my phone.”

“I still don't know why … last time I checked you don't need a phone to eat.”

“Here's the rundown.” She shoved her plate into my hands, “Food makes me happy, and so do my internet videos.”

She sucked her greasy fingers, “So if I'm only half happy, I can never truly be myself … I'd be incomplete.”

I questioned, “Why not leave the plate at the table?”

She rolled her eyes, “Because I'm hungry.”

I deadpanned, “I think I liked it better when you were pessimistic and bitter in Vudos.”

She smiled, taking her plate back proudly, “You and me both.”

I chuckled, “Go and get your phone, moron.”

She bowed, “Yes, your majesty.”

Rolling my eyes, I advanced towards the kitchen. When I rounded the corner, my breath was confiscated from the beautiful blonde at the table; I had to hide back around the corner to catch my breath.

Once I had composed myself well enough to deal with the sight in front of me, I peered around the corner to see McKenzie smiling ever so brightly as her mouth parted to let out the cutest laugh when Constantine shared yet another one of his stories.

Perry interjected causing the table to slightly move, “Oh, tell her about the time Annabelle went to your parents’ farm.”

I laughed knowing that story was my favorite.

I rested my head on the wall as I watched the trio talk and laugh, McKenzie was certainly enjoying herself right now, whether she was just humoring Constantine, it was truly a sight to see.

I just couldn't believe how beautiful she looked this early in the morning. The morning sun hit her curved blonde locks so perfectly; It was difficult to understand why someone who had lost could be so genuinely happy.

I was taking from my trance as I heard a bark at my feet, looking down to see Thor wiggling his tail as he looked up at me.

I picked him up, giving him some pets, “What’s up, bud?” He licked my face, giving me another bark.

Constantine stood, noticing my presence, “Would you like something to eat, Amora?”

I nodded setting Thor back down, “Yes sir.”

I took a seat across from McKenzie, fully invested in her beauty, I was falling in love all over again and it truly warmed my heart.

She glanced at me, giving me a wave with her fingers causing me to smile like an i***t as I covered my blush.

Perry laughed as he mocked a make out scene with his hands so I kicked him under the table, which he gladly returned when McKenzie decided to look our way.

Perry and I shouted, “F*ck!”

She asked, “Are you guys okay?”

Perry groaned and I let out a squeaky yes while nodding.

Fayette came in still spooning eggs and pressing bacon into her mouth as she balanced the plate on her forearm with her same arm extended to watch her videos.

All of us watched her in disbelief as she kicked the chair around to sit on it improperly. Smiling at me visibly showing her chewed food, she spoke, “Sup.”

I responded, “You're gross.”

She adjusted her plate on the table before she pretended to poke at me, “You love me.”

I looked at her with a look of disgust, “You're right,

I could never hate you.”

Constantine spoke, “I don't mean to interrupt this exceptional friendship, but we must address your tasks.” He turned to Fayette, “I need you and Perry to investigate the abandoned church that Amora was attacked in. There might be leftover residue that I can inquire about the day she was attacked.”

Perry and Fayette groaned, “Why do we have to attend to her business?”

Constantine gave them a look, “Because you're living in my house. Everything that I do or say, I advise you to do since either one of you is new to your titles or I am your superior.”

Perry apologized for both Fayette's and his sake, “Our apologies, we'd be honored to take on the task.”

Constantine nodded, “I knew you'd see it my way.” He looked at me, “As for you, take McKenzie back to her place.”

“Yes sir.”

For the remainder of breakfast, we silently listened to Fayette watch her videos before we cleaned up and headed out to our separate ways.

*****

Later at McKenzie's, we were silently watching a movie on her TV monitor. I was sitting at the corner of the couch with McKenzie resting her back to my front as Thor peacefully rested in her lap.

My eyes seemingly kept returning to the glass rose that she had mantled on the shelf next to the TV monitor. Every time I saw it, it warmed my heart even if she accepted it as a friend rose; I interpreted it as she actually cared for me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, along with McKenzie, when there were frantic knocks on the door.

McKenzie turned to me, “That doesn't sound pleasant.”

I looked into her eyes, “I can see who it is if you'd like me to.”

“Sure.”

She moved away from me just enough so I could get off the couch. I wasn't going to lie; I was deathly afraid to answer it already fearing the worst.

It was a good thing I was able to repair the damages I had committed earlier without question, but I most certainly didn't want to have to do it again.

When I opened the door, three women shouted, “Slumber party!”

I raised a brow when they pushed past me and filed into the living room where McKenzie was staring at the group with brows furrowed.

I closed the door quietly and headed over to McKenzie, completely speechless.

McKenzie set Thor aside and stood, “What the f*ck, Jenna?”

The raven-haired girl spoke, “Oh come on little Mac, it's been ages since we've hung out.” She turned to look at me, “I see you even have Amora here, this should make for a wonderful night.” She smiled widely.

“She isn't staying especially not with you around Jenna.” She started to escort them out, “Matter of fact, none of you is staying.”

They whined and Jenna addressed McKenzie, “We have wine though.”

That's when McKenzie stopped for a minute but shook her head and continued to push them back to the door.

“It's a school night, I'm already knee-deep in sh*t, I don't need you guys adding to it.”

The other blonde spoke, “It's just one night, chill.”

McKenzie stopped pushing them out and gave up with the consistent trio, “Fine, you can all stay.” She pointed to Jenna, “But remembers to keep your hands by yourself.”

I side glanced at the raven-haired girl, who was batting her eyes at me while biting her lip.

I smiled awkwardly at her, “Hi.”

She simply winked without saying a word and I think I felt the most uncomfortable with her; there was something off about her that I didn't like.

McKenzie cleared her throat, “Okay, Amora.”

She addressed, “So that is Karen.”

She pointed to the blonde, “She’s a really bad influence.” Then pointed to the raven-haired girl, “This is Jenna, the slut … ”

Jenna flicked her middle finger, McKenzie rolled her eyes, pointing to the brunette, “Next, we have Stacy, and she’s just really loud.” Then McKenzie put her arm around me, “And finally, girls, this is Amora, she doesn't like to be touched, and real germ-phobic of a girl … so never touch her.”

I waved at the group, rather shy of the new company that looked awfully familiar, their faces displaying slight confusion.

Karen questioned, “But you're like literally touching her right now.”

McKenzie coughed, “Sorry.” She quickly retracted her arm, “I wasn't aware I did that.”

I turned a deep crimson red after sensing the sincerity in her statement and I knew everyone noticed, it was too late to take cover now.

My eyes nervously scanned the silent women in questioning as they tried to figure out what was going on between McKenzie and I. My eyes locked with Stacy's and she smiled, most likely the only one to figure it out.

McKenzie spoke, “Okay, so um.” She clapped her hands together, “So how about a movie?”

Stacy randomly squealed as she pulled an item out of her abnormally large bag and shouted, “I brought The Avengers!”

Jenna retorted, “Can you shut up? We are literally all in the same room.”

Stacy stuck her tongue out, hugging the movie close to her chest, “Don't be a hoe.”

Karen lazily agreed, “Someone is cranky.”

McKenzie added, “Yea, what crawled up your ass?”They looked at me, monotony I spoke, “Yea, what they said.”

McKenzie gave me a quizzical look as she smiled, “Dork.”

A little smile spread across my face as I looked down at my feet, I was so embarrassed I couldn't look at anyone.

“Okay, how about you girls take a seat and I'll go pop us some popcorn,” McKenzie suggested.

I made sure to wait until everyone chose a spot so that way I could avoid Jenna at all cost, something gave me the feeling she didn't play by anybody's rules.

Jenna waved her off, “Don't forget the extra butter.”

As soon as McKenzie was out of sight, Jenna got up from the opposite couch and joined me by my side, “So third period is a real bore.”

Oh dear God, why me?

“Sure is.”

She moved closer, “It's good that I'm blessed with a distraction.”

I nervously laughed, “I think McKenzie could use my help in the kitchen.”

I got up quickly to retreat from the awkwardness of this situation, I could sense that 'just talking' wasn't her only intentions.

She sat me back down, “Relax, she can handle it herself.”

I nodded, “If you insist.”

She pulled out her phone, locking her arm with mine, causing me to look at our conjoined arms, “So, there's this thing called group chat.”

I decided to listen to her since I wasn’t sure what group chat was being new to all of this technology, I was willing to learn.

From what she had told me, it sounded pretty easy to understand, so I agreed to be a part of her group chat that involved Karen, Stacy, and McKenzie.

After our discussion about group chats, I gave Jenna my phone number and rested my back against the couch with Thor at my feet. I felt my phone vibrate, so I looked at the lone text I received from a number I hadn't programmed in my phone yet.

I opened it up and it read, “And now that I have your number, we can also text privately.” ?

I side glanced at Jenna, she whispered, “Or send pictures.” She winked as she moved closer.

I started getting nervous as my hands became sweaty, thank goodness McKenzie walked into the living room when she did with two bowls of popcorn, I knew I couldn’t handle Jenna alone.

When McKenzie and I made eye contact, her eyebrows furrowed as she glanced at Jenna. She quickly disposed one bowl of popcorn to Stacy and Karen and stomped over to the couch Jenna and I were sitting on.

McKenzie demanded, “Move over now.” So Jenna decided to slide closer to me, “No the other way.” She rolled her eyes as she did what she was told.

McKenzie wedged herself in between Jenna and me, “Cozy, huh?” She popped a piece of popcorn in her mouth, “This is nice, would you like some popcorn?”

Jenna spoke, “Sure.”

McKenzie slapped her hand away, “Not you, I was asking Amora. You can make your own.”

Jenna whined, “That's not fair, you made popcorn for Stacy and Karen.”

McKenzie barked back, “Karen and Stacy aren't sluts like you.”

Jenna huffed, “Bitch.”

Stacy asked, “Don't you have a girlfriend, Jenna? If you do, you should lay off Amora, she clearly doesn't want you.”

Karen questioned, “Yea. What was her name again?

Megan?”

Jenna rolled her eyes, “I dumped her days ago.”

McKenzie wondered, “Why? She actually was one of the nicer ones you dated.”

Jenna rolled her head against the couch, “She couldn't please me.” Then lifted her head and directed towards me, “You don't have that kind of problem do you, Amora?”

McKenzie spat, “Leave her out of this.”

Jenna shrugged, “What? It's just a question, let the girl speak for herself.”

I spoke, “Do I have what kind of problem?”

Jenna answered, “Pleasing someone?”

I thought about it, “I disappointed my mom once.”

The girls make a sickly noise and McKenzie laughed, “I think you have the wrong idea, Amora.”

“Tsk. She didn't like what I did then s***k me for being naughty; I classify that as not pleasing someone.”

They all burst into a laughing fit, “This is gold.” Karen spoke.

I hadn't had any inkling of why they thought I was being funny. I was being serious.

“She meant it in a s****l way, not the time you got in trouble with your parents when you were young.” McKenzie clarified.

I just pulled my hoodie over my head and pulled the strings tight; I was mortified from what I had said as I brought my knees to my chest.

Later on, we watched all of The Avengers movies’, just kidding it was anything but that, except for Stacy she was actually invested in the choice of movie, maybe because she was the one that brought them in her huge bag.

As for me, I couldn't keep my eyes off McKenzie and I knew she knew I was looking at her because once in a great while she would do this thing where she lightly squeezed my upper thigh. I didn't catch on at what she was getting at until I slipped my hand into hers causing her to smile ear to ear.

I looked around to make sure that the girls were not paying any mind to us. That was until I saw Stacy look over, her eyes trailed down in between

McKenzie and I quickly let go of McKenzie's hand. Stacy smiled as she looked away, getting up from the couch to turn the light on, “How about we pause and take a break. Who is up for a round of shots or a glass of wine?”

That's when she reached through her massive bag, pulling out three bottles of alcohol.

Now I understood the reason behind the size of the bag.

Jenna stood immediately with Karen not too far behind; it was like the sight of alcohol flipped a switch and turned them crazy.

Good Lord, I had never seen such anarchy in my life, they were so loud it started to scare me.

I stared in horror as they somehow got louder and more crazy acting like pure lunatics.

Jenna danced up to me, “You're coming with me.”

She then poked my nose, “You delicious snack.”

Stacy already had a row of shots poured for us as Jenna dragged me into the kitchen.

Karen handed me a small glass which I accepted but I was quickly stripped from it, “Hey … I wanted that.”

McKenzie set it aside, “You're not drinking.”

I whined, “Why?”

She crossed her arms, “You're not of age to drink here, and I’m not letting a minor drink under my roof.”

I raised a brow, “But you'll let your friends drink?”

She nervously laughed, “I … um … we … ”

Stacy spoke, “We are of age to drink.”

My mouth dropped, “What is the drinking age here?”

“21.”

I looked at McKenzie in shock, “How old are you?”

She bit her lip, staring at me for a second before looking away and picked up the shot glass downing the contents.

I decided to leave it at that because I was pretty sure she wasn't going to tell me her real age or at least not now.

We gathered around the kitchen table, and when I mean we, I meant them because I was on the floor keeping Thor a company. I didn't care about the latest gossip or their girl problems, which was until I heard the girls cheer on McKenzie.

Jenna yelled, “You go get them little Mac!”

I slowly rose from the floor and peered over the table to see McKenzie taking her shirt off.

My eyes went wide and I gently placed Thor on the floor while I took care of his mom.

I sped walked up to her, “Oh, no.”

I stopped her from completely taking off her shirt, trying to put it back on but she wouldn't stop fighting me.

She fell into me, whining, “Why don't you like me?”

Jenna excused herself from the table to use the restroom, which I mentally noted where she would be in case she too needed my aid.

I continued to struggle with McKenzie as she started punching and kicking places she shouldn't be. I groaned from the pain, “McKenzie work with me here.” I pulled her shirt back down, “Now leave it.”

Stacy drunkenly spoke, “I think we should all go to bed.” She uttered stuttering.

I agreed, “Yes, everyone listen to Stacy.”

After I put them safely into the living room making sure they at least tried to fall asleep, I went to check up on Jenna just in case she was as dysfunctional as the others.

As soon as my hand reached for the knob, the door swung open and her lips immediately pressed against mine. I quickly pushed her off, “What the hell?”

Jenna side glanced then she slapped my face, “Amora! Why did you kiss me?”

I held my face in confusion, “What are you talking about?”

McKenzie sadly and asking whispered, “Amora?”

I turned to see McKenzie a couple of feet away from us looking extremely heartbroken.

This left me to think of a question,

What the f*ck just happened?

School was absolutely, hands down, the worst today!

For starters, I was glad McKenzie didn't remember anything that had happened last night. Thank the gods. Although, I truly wished I didn't have to remember yesterday. What a train wreck?

As for school, all day long, I kept getting stopped by random people I didn't know congratulating me on dating Jenna.

Apparently, there was a rumor about us being together circulating through this school, one in which I wasn't fond of.

To make matters worse, Jenna found me in the hall talking to McKenzie about this so-called rumor and actually had the audacity to invite McKenzie and David on a double date tonight.

Believe me, I tried many excuses to get out of it, but ultimately gave in to the raven-haired girl. I was such a pushover.

Before my date tonight, Perry and Fayette had mentioned about something I just had to check out, apparently, they found something worth seeing at the abandoned church yesterday.

On the way there, Perry and Fayette couldn't stop giggling which had me so confused.

When I opened the door, I turned around to face the giggling duo, “So … ”

Then a voice suddenly whispered in my ear, “Hi.”

I whipped around quickly and my hand came in contact with the person’s face. She held her hands against the spot my palm came in contact with and started pouting.

I just stared absent mindlessly at the foreign person that looked to be about our age as I waited for an explanation looking as if I was the one that was assaulted.

Fayette and Perry walked over to the poor girl and consulted her while I stood in total confusion.

Fayette spoke, “Why'd you hurt her?”

I defended myself, “She scared me.”

“It's my fault really; I shouldn't have snuck up on her.” She held a hand out, “Let us start over. Hi! I'm Sara, your friendly ghost.”

I looked at my friends then to Sara's waiting hand looking for a reason to trust this ghost. Fayette was the one to give me the acceptance I needed, so I welcomed her presence and returned the handshake, “The name’s Amora, and I apologize for slapping you.”

She smiled, “It's a pleasure to meet you, Amora, well maybe if the situation was different, but I had heard so many things about you from your dearest friends.”

Hopefully, I whispered to myself.

She nodded as if she heard me, “Right!”

I smiled, “Good, so I don't mean to be so blunt or rude about this but is there a reason behind meeting you or … ?”

Fayette interjected, “Not exactly but Perry and I were doing exactly what Constantine asked us to do.”

Perry added, “Yes, not once we had a stray from the task.”

I squinted at the two causing them to get anxious under my gaze. I watched cautiously as Fayette and Perry started to look at each other worriedly.

“Is that so?”

Perry broke, “Okay! We might have accidentally sort of … goofed off?”

“Literally you guys had one job!”

Fayette whined, “It was so tempting.”

I raised a brow, “What was?”

Sara spoke, “I caught these two playing hot potato with my urn, silently praying they would put me down … carefully.” She looked at Fayette, “Then this one failed to catch me and well … here I am.”

My mouth parted, “You had one task, Fayette.”

She fell to her knees, pulling her cheeks down, “I know. I'm so sorry, my Queen.”

She shuffled to my feet, bowing down as she laid her forehead on my foot, “I'm not worthy.”

I shook her off, “Get it together, Fayette. And for

God’s sake, get up.”

She stood, composing herself, “Okay, I'm good.”

The more I thought about Fayette and Perry's idiocy, I looked at Sara and wondered if she was a spirit when Perry and Fayette played around with her urn, maybe she could enlighten me on the day I was attacked here.

I spoke, “Hey Sara?”

“Yeah,”

I questioned, “Do I look familiar to you?”

She checked me out, placing her finger to her chin, “Now that you mention it, I do sense a few similarities of the people that were here the other day.”

“Do you mind me asking who exactly you see?”

She paused for a second, “Hmm, I think she was about five feet, real petite that woman was, she uh had blonde hair, and she reminded me of a friend from high school. Then she morphed into a different girl, brownish-black hair, really ugly though, her face was a sin in itself, unlike the first girl she was. Then you did a thing making the scary lady to disappear and then the tiny blonde reappeared from the door. I thought you were going to die that was until the small blonde did something so heartwarming, she hugged and hugged you until you stopped doing the thing.”

I chuckled, “Yikes, you sound like Fayette and

Perry whenever they try to tell me a story.”

“But did it help?”

I shrugged, “It's something.”

I pulled my phone from my pocket after feeling it vibrate, seeing I received a text from Jenna for the directions to the restaurant.

I sighed, “I wish I could stay longer but I have an unfortunate date to attend to.”

I set off after saying our goodbyes; I didn't even bother changing because I didn't want to be there anyway.

*****

I showed up to the restaurant that Jenna had texted me the address to and I wasn't feeling the best, something in the pit of my stomach told me this was a bad idea. Regardless of the eerie feeling, I decided to enter, finding the table that the three were sitting at.

McKenzie stood as soon as she saw me walking towards the table which allowed my eyes to check her out and she looked absolutely gorgeous.

My smile faltered when I saw the other two reminding me that I was on a double date and that I was on this date with Jenna, not McKenzie.

Jenna frowned, “Were you wearing that outfit at school today?”

I nodded.

“Why didn't you change into something decent like I had told you?”

I shrugged, “I didn't want to.”

Mckenzie interjected, “Jenna, leave her alone.”

Jenna pointed at me, making a sickly sound, “Have you seen her outfit.”

McKenzie disagreed, “I think it looks fine.”

David spoke, “I don't know but I agree with Jenna on this one, she sticks out like a sore thumb.”

I deadpanned, “I'm out.”

McKenzie stopped me, whispering, “If I have to sit through this, you do too.”

“I don't want to be here.”

She pouted, “I don't either, but please don't make me go through with this alone.”

I pressed my lips together, “That won't work on me.”

As if she couldn't get any more adorable, she shifted making her pout even cuter, “Please?” She ran her hand down my arm, “For me?”

My stomach fluttered and I was pretty sure she knew I liked her because she definitely knew how to work me.

“Okay, I'll stay.”

Stupid, stupid, stupid and did I mention that I was stupid and p***y whipped?

This was stupid. I was stupid. David was always stupid. Now I was beginning to think Jenna was stupid too.

“This food sucks.” She placed her fork down in disgust, “Whose bright idea was this in the first place?”

I rolled my eyes, “For the nth time, it was you, Jenna.”

I felt like banging my head on the table several times just to make this double date end earlier due to an accident. Jenna was seriously bothering me and I couldn't stand her, at least I wasn't the only one.

I sensed McKenzie having a difficult time dealing with the idiocy of this all and ultimately understood she too wasn't enjoying the company.

Jenna clicked her tongue, “Whatever.” She stood, “I have to use the restroom.” When I didn't move, she cleared her throat.

I stood to allow her to exit, “Sorry.”

She ignored me, “McKenzie join me?”

That was rather rude, she could have asked me to move, and it would have been highly efficient instead of making sound effects.

I did have to admit, I was most thankful for Jenna's departure, even if it was only for a few minutes, I needed this silence. All night she bitched about everything, including my eating habits. I would breathe and she would yell at me, like sorry Jenna for existing.

Then I remembered where I was, looking up I saw David staring at me, I could feel his aura smothering me.