In The Mix

Chapter 9

I'm back!! This is unedited as usual. There's really not much going on in this chapter but I hope y'all enjoy it nonetheless.

Jesy's POV:

The rest of April and May passed relatively quickly and without further incident. There's been no progress in finding Max or Mike and it's weighing heavily on all our minds, especially Kenzie's. She doesn't leave the house without at least one bodyguard and she stays close to whoever she's with or remains in their line of sight. We usually do group outings then split into pairs once we get to the mall.

To help her cope with her anxiety and and the uncertainty of the police investigation, we talk whenever she wants and we've all been buying her things. I know what you're thinking, constantly buying her things is not a very healthy way to help her cope but it helps keep her mind occupied and it's not like we're buying her anything absurd. I mean, the sweets Mum, Norma, Deb, and Debbie bought her may be a little excessive but she doesn't eat a lot of them so it's okay. I helped Dominic pick out a necklace with a panda pendant and I got her an Apple Watch. Leigh bought her shoes and Jade and Pez bought her hoodies and a stuffed panda. I wasn't a fan of the panda to start with but it calms her like the one I gave her when I adopted her. She was devastated when she lost that one at a park.

I watch Kenzie step inside to answer her phone. We had a long talk the other day about why she didn't want to wear a bikini, crop top, or anything low cut anymore. She explained that it was because of the scars and how she doesn't feel comfortable with her body anymore. She feels that if she wears anything like that, all anybody will see are the scars because that's all she sees when she looks in the mirror. She doesn't see the funny, sarcastic, sometimes shy girl that we all see. Some people may not see past the scars, and that's their loss, but the ones that can know those scars aren't who she is, they're simply a part of her story. I think that helped her to some degree because this morning she came out of her room in a bikini ready for a pool day.

"Ma!"

Kenzie motions me inside before disappearing from my view. I get up from my seat at the patio table and head inside where I find Kenzie sitting on a bar stool at the kitchen island, phone in hand.

"What's up, kiddo?" I ask, standing in front of her.

"I'm not sure but I'm suspicious."

"Why?"

"Because Alex called, he wants my help."

"With what?"

"At first he wouldn't tell me. I told him I wouldn't even think about helping him unless he told me what it was about." She sighs and shakes her head. "Whatever he wants help with has to do with Perrie."

"Is he going to try to get Perrie back?"

"I don't know. That's all he would say over the phone. He wants to meet up once we get home and he'll tell me the rest."

"Are you going to help him?"

"I'll hear what he has to say then decide but if his plan is to try to get Perrie back I'm not helping him."

"Good. Why did he call you instead of me or Leigh?"

"Cause I was there when they broke up. Apparently I'm very easy to talk to. Pez confided in me about a lot of things that night but mostly about her feelings for Jade and how she was terrified that Jade didn't feel the same way and you guys would look at her differently. We stayed up most of the night talking about why she felt that way. I knew how Jade felt and that y'all wouldn't look at or treat her differently but there was only so much I could say to convince her without giving away how Jade felt. After breakfast I finally convinced her to call Jade, knowing she needed her best friend. I left when she got there so they could talk without me hovering. That was two months before they got together. And I wouldn't be telling you this if it wasn't okay with Perrie and Jade."