She Told Me Not to Worry (SEQUEL to He Told Me Not to Tell) COMPLETE

8

Kenzie's POV

"What do you mean?" Clarissa asked.

"I came from an abusive home, too," I said, just loud enough for her to hear. I didn't want everyone knowing. "I was taken away when I was five."

"How did they find you?"

"The police came to get him for unpaid driving tickets. He hid me in the attic. The police heard me up there and thought it was him."

"And you just left with them?"

"It took a lot of convincing from the officer to get me to go with them. I was too scared. My dad said he would..." I trailed off.

My mind went back to that day. Probably the biggest day of my whole life. I closed my eyes trying to push the image back.

"Do you understand?" His voice was harsh and his eyes were filled with anger.

"Kenzie? Kenzie!" Clarissa voice snapped me back into reality.

"Huh? What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, um, I'm fine," I said, taking a bite of my lunch.

"What did he say?"

"What?" I asked in a confused voice.

"You were going to tell me what he said that made you so scared."

"I will find you." His voice echoed in my head.

I shrugged. "I forgot," I mumbled, taking another bite. "What about you? How were found?"

"The neighbors called because they heard a gun shot."

"He shot you?" I asked surprised.

"No. He shot himself. I didn't see it happen. I was hiding. My neighbor found me because they heard me crying."

"Oh."

"I was adopted a few months after that. What about you?"

"Just a couple of days after I was taken away. I was adopted while I was still at the hospital."

"So is your dad still out there?" Clarissa asked. I nodded. "Has he ever tried to get you back?"

"My daughter's welcome home party!" He slurred.

I tried ignoring yet another memory. "Yeah."

"Did he do anything?"

"We just want to play a game."

I shook my head, not wanting to tell her what really happened. It wasn't long until lunch was over. Off to gym class. Clarissa and I walked together. The coaches had us change out and wait in the gym for them. As I sat waiting by Clarissa another girl walked up to us.

"Hey, Clarissa," she said towards my friend, who gave her a weird look. Then the girl turned to me. "Kenzie, right?" I nodded and smiled. "Hi, I'm Mikayla."

"I'm going to go get some water," Clarissa mumbled before going to the water fountain.

"So how do you like the school?"

"It's good," I responded. "People seem nice."

"h yeah, almost everyone is. Anyway, I'm having a birthday party this Saturday. A sleepover. It would be great if you could come."

"Yeah, I'd love to. I just need to ask my mom about it."

"Awesome." She pulled out her phone. "Give me your number, and I'll text you the details." I was just finished giving my phone number to Mikayla when Clarissa came back. "Thanks! See you later!"

"Alright, bye." I turned back to Clarissa, who had an annoyed expression. "What?"

"She's bad news."

"What? She seems nice."

"Yeah, because of Demi Lovato. Trust me, she's just going to use you to get to your mom."

"How are you so sure?"

"Because I know her. She's fake."

I couldn't believe Clarissa. Mikayla seems so nice. I wasn't going to just judge her like that.

The coaches showed up and started lining us up alphabetically to get our height and weight, so Clarissa and I were separated.

I wasn't going to let one person I just met convince me that another person that I just met was mean. Maybe she seriously just wants to be my friend because of me, not my mom.

Credit to GlitterisLife5 for this idea! Much more of your suggestion to come! Thank you!