poison, k.kenny (✔️)

Ten.

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''Who is Cleo?'' Kenny asked.

Anisa looked at him, willing to form a sentence, but she couldn't. She actually thought she might've been imagining it until Cleo was in front of her, and pulling her in for a hug.

''Nisa? Wow, it actually is you!''

''Cleo? I don't understand...what are you doing here?''

''I live here! I saw how great you were doing, and I wanted to be like you. I wanted to sort myself out.''

''Did you?'' Anisa asked hopefully.

Cleo laughed miserably. ''No. The only thing that's changed is that, instead of being a druggie in our shit hometown, I'm a druggie in London.''

Anisa looked to Kenny, who was looking at Cleo in confusion. He didn't look at the girl holding his hand, and she felt her heart drop. Cleo wasn't saying anything explicitly, but she was hinting, and that was bad enough.

''Oh.'' is all she could mumble.

Cleo noticed the pair holding hands, and smiled at Anisa. ''Whose this?''

''This is my...'' she trailed off. ''This is Kenny.''

''Hi.'' Kenny said.

She smiled at him. ''I'm Cleo. I don't know if Anisa's mentioned me, but we were friends.''

''Right.''

''We've actually gotta go-'' Anisa began.

''Of course! I'll see you around, Nisa. If you need anything, you know I've always got your back.''

''I've got yours too.'' she said lightly.

Cleo smiled at the pair, and then continued to walk away. Anisa waited until she knew she couldn't hear, and turned to Kenny.

''Are you okay?''

He looked at her in surprise. ''Yeah. Are you?''

''I'm not friends with Cleo anymore.'' 

''She seemed nice.'' 

''She is.'' Anisa said simply. 

It was true - Cleo was nice. She was just a girl who fell in with the wrong crowd, and didn't have anybody to help her. She wasn't as bad as Anisa had been, she never stole from people, and she always looked after her friends. Cleo was perfect in a very broken way.

So why was Anisa furious that she had moved here?

''Do you want to keep walking?'' Kenny asked.

Anisa was confused - why wasn't he asking more questions? - but she didn't want to get into everything, and just nodded. 

They were still holding hands as they walked, but it felt different. Anisa couldn't stop overthinking, she couldn't stop picturing what Kenny was thinking. He was talking to her, but it felt different. The pair walked to the grass, where they sat down and continued to talk lightly. 

''What's going on?'' Kenny suddenly asked.

''What?''

''You're being really weird, Nis. Is this to do with Cleo? She's gone now.''

''I...'' she trailed off, holding her water bottle in both hands for comfort. ''Didn't you hear what Cleo said? Isn't it bothering you?''

Kenny sighed. ''I'm getting fed up of you underestimating me, Anisa.''

''Underestimating you?'' she echoed, a surprise look on her face. ''What are you talking about?''

''You keep acting like I'm going to run away.''