A New Day
True to my word, I was at breakfast at 10. I was showered, dressed, and ready to go. I was only wearing a dark blue romper, brown belt to match, but it was an effort. I even curled my hair. If they think I'm a mess, so be it, but I won't do anything to encourage the thoughts.
I made my down to the kitchen, happy to see everyone seated at the table with an empty spot for me. "Good morning, everybody." It took a second, but everybody slowly stopped talking and turned towards me. The girls looked shocked, Brendan looked suspicious, Brooks was smirking, Rhys looked pissed off, and I didn't dare look at Mitchell. "Mind if I join you guys?"
"Take a seat," Brooks pointed at a spot next to Jenna at the end. I took it with a smile on my face. "Dig in."
"Good morning, Kennedy," Jenna greeted. Her smile wasn't as big as it was yesterday, but that was my fault.
I smiled back at her and poured myself a glass of orange juice. "Good morning, Jenna. How did you sleep?"
"I had a weird dream," she told me.
"You might still be in it," Winnie whispered quietly. I smiled and pretended I didn't hear her, but I did. And it hurt.
I grabbed myself a piece of bacon and egg cake and barely took a bite before the questions began. "So how have you been?" It was from Winnie.
I shrugged, taking another bite. "I've been good." Lie.
I heard a scoff come from Rhys, but I ignored it. "How's school?" This one was Brendan.
"Salutatorian." This one was true. Despite getting drunk every weekend, I still managed to keep a 4.2 GPA.
"What's your life like nowadays?" This one was Brooks, and I didn't plan on pleasing him.
"Sex, drugs, and Rock & Roll."
Brendan coughed, Rhys looked disgusted, but the girls laughed. Brooks though, he wasn't happy. "Is that really appropriate, Kennedy?"
"It's honest."
The breakfast table was quiet for a little bit until I finished up my slice. "Thank you for breakfast," I addressed whoever baked. "I'll be in my room if you need me."
As I reached to top of the staircase, I heard everybody cleaning up their breakfast. I was in my room a whopping 2 seconds before Brooks came barging in. "What the hell was that?" The end of his question was emphasized by my door slamming.
I shrugged, sitting down on the edge of my bed. "I'm not going to lie. You asked the question."
"So?"
"You provoked me. I blame you," I told him.
He scoffed before looking me in the eyes. "You need to be careful about what you say to them."
"They're adults, you imbecile," I reminded. God he's dumb. "They can take care of themselves."
"I agree, but you're a bad influence."
I was pissed. I stood up, but still wasn't tall enough to make direct eye contact. "I'm not going to affect them as bad as you think I will."
"You don't know that!"
"But I do!" I yelled back. I was positive that they could hear us. "They're old enough to make their own decisions. I can't make them do anything they don't want to!"
He scoffed and stepped closer to me. "They shouldn't have the choice!"
"You can't protect them forever, Brooks."
