ANIMA

13. Opinions

Kenzie

I have never been gladder about short attention spans. It’s barely been a couple of days and already people seem to have forgot about my existence. I couldn’t be happier. I hate being the center of attention especially when it’s for all the wrong reasons.

This whole incident has forced me to confront the fact that I don’t have friends. I am not a loner exactly. I have people to talk to in class, people to sit with at lunch and my volunteer club members but no real friends.

I thought I had at least one true friend in Ava but seeing how easily she turned her back on me…I guess I miscalculated.I avoid her as much as possible. It has gotten to the point where I don’t feel comfortable in our room anymore. Whenever we are both there, I am always on edge. I find myself wondering what hurtful words she is going to hurl at me again. When she is not there I am anxious of her arrival. So I try to stay out of the room as much as possible, only coming here to sleep and leaving before she wakes up.

“Kenzie…can we talk?” startling me as she leaves her bathroom.

“What about?”

“I wanted to apologize for how I reacted the other day…” she says.

I refuse to make this easy for her so I say nothing.

“After everything that happened with my parents…the thought that you would do the same thing-”

“For that reason alone you should have been on my side. I was there for you through out that whole mess with your parents yet you let some anonymous text convince you I would do something like that. Why couldn’t you be there for me too?” I say my voice cracking.

“I messed up, Kenzie. I should have asked no I should have trusted that you wouldn’t do that. And I shouldn’t have said I didn’t want to see your face either. I am so sorry.”

“I will do better. I promise” she assures as she hugs me.

We are just finishing our breakfast in the cafeteria when notifications go off. The sound is not as intense as it would be during lunch or dinner because some opt to go off campus for breakfast while others choose to sleep in instead.

“After being dumped by the love of her life, Cassie has taken to a life of crime. She was caught red-handed at a local mall when she tried to shoplift some makeup. Maybe she thought that would change Mason’s mind? Poor Cassie :( - ANIMA”

Attached is a video of a security guard going through Cassie’s shopping bags and lifting out some concealer and lipstick.

Opinions on the latest text are divided, on the one side are people that think the break up from Mason caused some type of emotional breakdown that led her to theft. It’s hard to tell if they are being serious or not. On the other side are people that think she did it as an attempt to distract from the news of the break up but the whole thing backfired. I know it makes no sense but my schoolmates rarely do.

Personally I think she’s just a kleptomaniac who for once got caught red-handed.

She is of course not facing any real consequences, why would she? She is a King. I am just happy someone other than me gets to see the real Cassie.

For the rest of the day, Cassie’s kleptomania is all anyone can talk about. Her friends are glued to her side. And as expected no one outright says anything to her face or is mean in any real way except talking about it behind her back. After all no one would want to offend the “real” King.

In class, Tomas and I end up as partners for a short story writing exercise.

“I am trying to pick an extracurricular activity. Any recs?”