𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃'𝐒 𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃

twenty-eight

𝑻𝑾𝑬𝑵𝑻𝒀-𝑬𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻

—

maddie helped kenzie out of the car and walk to their front door. mackenzie took a deep breath in, and slowly exhaled, happy to be home and not in the hospital bed. maddie smiles, trying not to spoil the fact that her friends were inside. "welcome home, baby." she kisses kenzie's cheek before opening the door, and revealing her friends as they yell "surprise!"

they walk in with a banner that read "welcome home!" across her living room, and a bunch of pink, white, and black balloons everywhere. there were food, music, and a pile of gifts on the coffee table. mackenzie smiles, as the group were impressed with themselves for pulling off a small get together in just a couple of hours.

"wow, thank you guys." kenzie says as she hugs everybody in the room. "we thought it might make you feel better as you've been in that depressing hospital for days." jules smiles, while she hugs her. "it really does."

she turns to her mother and sister and her smile grew, "it's really good to be home."

the group— mackenzie, maddie, johnny, lauren, nadia, aiden, annie, asher, brynn, hunter, hayden, jayden, armani, darius, carson, and joey— all sat in a circle in the living room. kenzie opened her gifts as she repeatedly said "guys, you didn't have to buy me a present. i don't deserve it." after opening her last gift, which was a new sketch book from brynn, they cleaned up and joked around like any other group of teens.

"i did not!" the whole group laughs as jules playingly punches lauren in the arm. "yes, you most certainly did! man, the look on your face when you thought asher was gay." "hey, in my defense, i hated that vase, and asher and hayden became way too close with each other in a matter of days." the group bursts out laughing, as asher turns red and hayden looked around completely confused. "hey! i'm not gay!" he defends himself, and shoots an i'm going to kill you look at annie. "seems like you are for asher angel." nadia jokes. in response, hayden smirks and pretends to kiss asher as jules pushes him off. the group laughs again, stomachs hurting from constanly doing so.

as it dies down, mackenzie found herself finally speaking up. "uhm, can you guys tell me about freshman year?" she looks up from her fingers. "you know, like more in depth? seems like you guys are leaving some stuff out." the group stares at each other.

"yeah, we'll try." nadia speaks up. "there's just some things i'm not sure that we can tell you." maddie sighs. melissa walks into the living room, knowing she might regret what she's about to do. "tell her. it might help her remember. but don't leave out the person she became after." mommy mel sits down in between maddie and mackenzie, and both kisses them on the side of their heads. "you ready?" jayden asks. mackenzie took a deep breath with the rest of the group.

"yeah."

[510]