CHAPTER SIXTEEN.   I like you best when you're just with me

      Ajax met Kennedy at the bottom of the staircase. He stood with his arms behind his back. She came walking down the stairs and he smiled. "Wow, Ken, you look beautiful "

She smiled. "Thanks, Jax. You look cool as always."

He held his arm out for her to take. "Why thank you. It took me many hours."

Kennedy giggled and the two of them walked with everyone else to where the dance was being held. Ms.  Thornhill was greeting everybody at the door. She gasped at Kennedy and Ajax when they moved next in line. "Oh, Miss Eden, you look gorgeous!"

"Thank you, Ms. Thornhill,"  she said with a smile smiled the pair walked through the tunnel. Her jaw dropped at the all white decorations. "Damn, the decorating committee went all out."

"You can say that again." Ajax responded, equally as shocked.

Principal Weems smiled at the pair when they entered the beautifully decorated room. "Miss Eden, you look beautiful." She greeted kindly.

"Thank you, Principal Weems."

The room was decorated in all white and Kennedy felt like she just walked into heaven, literally. The majority of everyone was dressed in all white clothing. It was encouraged by the decorating committee to wear white to go with the theme but she hated white.

"You definitely stand out." Ajax mentioned over the loud music.

She smirked back. "That's how I like it."

"I'll get us some drinks. Grab us a table?"

She nodded and he went to the lunch table. Kennedy walked around everyone to find a table. She saw Xavier sitting at a table with Bianca and she saw her arm wrapped around his. She paused and dropped her clutch on the table by theirs.

Xavier's eyes found hers and his face filled with dread. "Kennedy." He spoke like he was trying to find an excuse.

She let out a noise of disbelief and she looked between them. Bianca's usually smug expression seemed to disappear and Xavier couldn't keep his eyes off of her.  She looked so beautiful dressed in black. "I am getting the biggest sense of deja vu." She laughed incredulously. "God, I'm so fucking stupid."

She stormed away in a fury, passing by Ajax who was holding two cups of punch. "Kennedy." She called out her name.

"Kennedy!" Xavier ran after her, pushing past the people in his way. "Kennedy, hold on!"

Kennedy walked faster when she reached outside. Hot tears formed in her eyes and she was slapping herself in her head. How could she be so stupid? How could she do this to herself again?

"Kennedy, stop!" He continued to shout. When he got close enough to her, he reached out and grabbed her arm. grabbed her arm when he reached her. "Talk to me!"

She spun around and shoved him. "Talk to you?" She yelled. "I'm trying hard not to break your nose right now! Do you have a thing for getting with my friends or something? What the hell happened to Wednesday?"

"She asked me to protect her own ass," he sneered. "Bianca, she. . . she was just there."

She let out another noise of disbelief. "She was just there? Didn't even give a thought to me? Didn't even consider asking? She was just there?"

Xavier scoffed. "You said you were going alone—"

"Exactly, Xavier!" Kennedy shouted again. "How more dumb can you be? You know these mixed signals you're giving me are fucking with my head!"

She stormed off again. "What mixed signals?"

Kennedy turned around sh glared at him. "You broke up with me on the worst night of my life. Then you got with my best friend, and you flirt with me, then you accuse me of having feelings for Tyler, and then you drag me to your dorm room and try to kiss me!" She named off in one quick breath. She touched her forehead, and then threw her arms up. "And I thought. . ."

Xavier took a step closer to her. "You thought what?"

"I thought—" she groaned with frustration. "I thought maybe you wanted to get back together. That things were working out between us!" Tears filled her eyes.

"I thought you knew that, Kennedy!" He yelled, yearning dripping from his voice. "I thought you knew."

"Then why did you come here with her? Out of all people!" She cried again.

"If I'd known you'd wanted to go to the Rave'N with me, I would have asked you. Of course I would have!" Xavier said and the desperation in her voice increased.

Kennedy stood there feeling lost. She cried all the tears she had in her, but she was more than just sad. She was heartbroken because that's what he kept going. He kept breaking her heart over and over. All the love she desperately tried to show him and all he did was make her cry. "Why would you do this to again?" The question shook him to the core. Kennedy turned around again and left.

"I'm sorry, Kennedy!" Xavier shouted back regretfully.

"You're always sorry!" She shouted back with a break in her voice.

He watched her walk away in tears, all he could think was Come on. Don't leave me like this.

Kennedy ran back to the main corridor and leaned against the wall. With her hand pressed to her chest, she tried to steady her breathing. She felt so stupid. All she wanted was to have a good night and not let Xavier get in the way of it, but she let him anyway. And now all she could think about was him with Bianca.

"Kennedy."

She turned around and saw Wednesday. Her eyes widened when she saw her in a dress. "Wow, Wednesday. You look great."

Her face was filled with of disgust as she fidgeted uncomfortably in the long black dress. "I feel ridiculous."

"Beauty's a pain." That's when she saw Tyler standing in the back wearing an all white suit. She smiled. "Hey, Tyler."

"Hi, Ken." He smiled back and came to stand behind Wednesday.

"Why are you crying?" Wednesday asked her.

A tear slid down her cheek again. Kennedy quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand. There was no use in lying. "Xavier came to the dance with Bianca."

Tyler scoffed. "What an asshole."

"Want me to kill him? I have a knife hidden in my dress."

He looked down at her in fear.

"No, that's okay. I wouldn't want you to get blood on your dress." Kennedy denied and sniffled again.

Wednesday glanced at Tyler for a moment. "I'm not good at these kind of things," she started to say and cleared her throat. "But you've been. . . nice to me since I got here. It's unfair that you're crying right now while everyone else is having fun. So as much as I don't want to, let's walk into this dance and you act like you own it." She finished, her voice blunt as ever.

Kennedy looked at Tyler first. He gave her a smile, saying that he agreed. She looked at Wednesday with a shaky smile and she nodded her head.

Kennedy told Wednesday and Tyler to go in and that she'd been right behind him. She took a minute to herself. She'd cleaned her face of the tears and fixed her makeup. "Dad, please let me have a good time tonight." She whispered to herself. Taking another deep breath, she walked through the tunnel.

She avoided the eyes on her that were whispering. They always whispered about her. Everything about Kennedy's life was public to them. She lost her way after her dad died. And then really lost herself after her mom. But her breakup with Xavier was the real scandal. They all heard the fighting and witnessed her anger around the school. To them, Kennedy was the out of control girlfriend and then she became the crazy ex.

But Kennedy was done basing her feelings on others. She wanted to be free of their control. Confidence is key, is what they say. She found her way back to Ajax and he held a cup of punch out in her direction. "Is everything okay, Ken?" He asked.

She smiled at him. "Everything's great, Jax." She downed the cup of lunch in one gulp. She put the empty cup on the table. "Ready to have some fun?"

He grinned widely.

"Kennedy!" Enid's piercing voice squealed. She sprinted toward the girl and grabbed her hands. "OMG, look at you. You look gorgeous!"

"Thanks!" She smiled back. Kennedy looked over the girl's head. She saw the normie boy that tormented her and Wednesday at the Weathervane. "Hey, isn't that—"

Enid quickly went and grabbed the boy's arm. She dragged him with her. "Guys, this is Lucas Walker, Mayor Walker's son. Lucas, this is my best friend, Kennedy, and this is. . ." Looking at Ajax, her bright smile fell. ". . . Ajax."

Ajax awkwardly shuffled his feet. "Hey."

"Hi, Lucas." Kennedy greeted back with a fake smile, which made Lucas uncomfortable. "Pleasure to meet you."

He struggled to say anything back. "Let's go dance!" Enid said and dragged her to the dance floor.

Xavier watched her from across the room. He'd never seen her look so happy, not for a long time that is. Kennedy danced with her friends and she glowed, like what happened between them just minutes ago never happened.

"Does this sudden moodiness have to do with a certain ex of yours?" Asked Bianca, who was growing irritable at the way he was ignoring her. Xavier looked her way, startled at the question. "You came here with me, not her. Pouting over her isn't going to change anything." She couldn't help but be jealous that Xavier was putting all his focus on Kennedy like always.

"I know. I'm sorry." He said with a sigh. But then he looked away from her and back to Kennedy, who was dancing goofily with Ajax. He spun her arm and dipped her, almost dropping both of them on the process, and her loud laugh echoed. His chest started to hurt.

After a while of dancing, Kennedy needed a break. She spotted Wednesday standing at the punch table. She joined her. "I'm already exhausted." She exhaled.

"Feeling better?" Asked Wednesday in a monotone.

Kennedy smiled. "I am. Thank you for the pep talk. It really helped."

She nodded.

Enid came running towards them. Seeing Wednesday, she squealed. "OMG, I love the look! I've never seen two people look so good in black." She saw Tyler talking to Ms. Thornhill at the entrance. "Interesting choice of date though."

"I could say the same."

"It's not what it looks like,"

"Good, because that pilgrim already has two strikes in my book." Said Wednesday with bitterness in her voice.

Kennedy nodded. "And mine."

"Lucas is here to make his ex jealous and I told Kenny to bring Ajax so I could make him jealous.  It's a win-win." Enid clarified.

Her eyes widened. "That's why? Damn, you are smart."

She smirked proudly. "I know."

Lucas joined their conversation. "Wednesday,  Kennedy, I come in peace." He said while holding his hands up.

"That's a shame. I brought my pocket mace."  Wednesday almost threatened.

Kennedy looked down at her. "I thought you said it was a knife?" She mentioned.

"That too."

His face dropped along with his hands. He and Enid walked away. "Do you trust him?"

"Not in the slightest." Kennedy shook her head. "But we can worry about that later. Let's have some fun,  Addams."

Before she could drag her the dance floor, Xavier appeared with a frown written on his face. "I can't believe you brought him here." He said to Wednesday.

"That's none of your business, Xavier." Kennedy snapped at him.

"Why are you bringing this up?" Asked Wednesday.

Xavier tightened his jaw. "Because you don't know what he did to me." He looked at Kennedy. "Neither do you."

The girls glanced at each other. "Enlighten us."

Kennedy would've never believed someone like Tyler could hurt Xavier. She also couldn't believe Xavier never told her that he hurt him. Wednesday was shocked by the story. She went outside to the main hall. Kennedy sat with him at a table. "I'm so sorry,  Xavier. I had no idea." She frowned.

"I never told you because we weren't together at the time. I didn't want to worry you. It wasn't that big of a deal."

"Not that big of deal? Xavier, your art means everything to you." She spoke remorsefully. "Even if we weren't together you still could've told me. I still want us to be friends. You can trust me with anything."

The word friend made his chest hurt again. Xavier looked at her. "I'm sorry, Kennedy. I know you're getting tired of hearing that but I really am."

She half smiled. "I know."

He looked at everyone on the dance floor, smiling and having fun with one another. He remembered their first Rave'N together as a couple. They danced all night. They were with their friends. There was no problems, nothing that could get in their way. It was the best night of his life.

Xavier looked at her again. "Do you want to dance with me?"

Her eyes widened slightly. "What?" He nodded, clarifying that she heard right. "Xavier, you're here with someone else.

He frowned.

"I'm not going to do that to Bianca. She's your date." As much as it pained her to say it, Kennedy wasn't that girl.

"But you and her—"

"We're not friends. I know. But I know how it feels to be abandoned by someone. Don't be that guy, Xavier. You're not that guy." She watched his face fall drastically. Kennedy stood from her chair and put her hand on his shoulder. "If anything changes, I'll save you a dance." She whispered and went back to the dance floor.

"There you are! Where have you been?" Presley shouted over the music.

"Clearing my head." She said back while nodding. "I'm ready to party again.

Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps started to play. Everyone stood around and watched Wednesday dance the most horrendous but intriguing dance. Tyler stood in front of her and watched her while smiling.

"Oh my god. . ." Presley trailed and watched her with wide eyes.

Kennedy was highly intrigued. "I know right?"

"I don't know what to think." Said Yoko.

More people turned their attention to Wednesday, some judging and others fascinated. That's what Kennedy liked about Wednesday. She didn't care what people thought of her. She was unapologetically herself. Kennedy wished she could be like that.

"I don't know what to think." Yoko said while watching her.

"I think it's fucking awesome." Kennedy smiled big. It was one of the things she liked about Wednesday. She didn't care what people thought of her. She was unapologetically herself. She took Ajax by the arm and everyone gathered on the dance floor. For the first time, Kennedy felt like she was able to breathe. She was having fun. She was with her friends. She was able to let go.

Ajax twirled her and she snapped her fingers to the beat of the song. Presley pressed her back against hers and the moved together, laughing at Kent and Divina's horrible dance moves.

Kennedy grabbed Enid's hands and spun her around,  making her laugh. She'd been staring at Ajax the whole night. Kennedy leaned down to her ear. "Go dance with him." She said loud enough for her to hear.

Enid's eyes went wide. "What? No, no, I can't do that. He's your date!"

She squeezed her hands. "But I'm not the one who likes him, am I?" She asked with a smirk. "Dance with him before the night's over."

The werewolf blinked and slowly grew a smile. "Thanks, Kenny!" She beamed and skipped over to Ajax.

Presley and Yoko danced by her. "You should take your own advice." She said and gave her a pointed stare.

Kennedy saw Xavier sitting at his table with Bianca. He sat slumped in his chair, a scowl on his face, while Bianca sat there in boredom. "He has a date. Not my problem."

Presley grabbed her hand and pulled her close. The best friends laughed and spun each other around. Kennedy looked over at Wednesday. "Nice moves, Addams!" She said with a hysterical laugh.

Wednesday rolled her eyes and continued to dance with Tyler.

When the song ended, Kennedy and Presley fell against each other, tired and out of breath. "Holy shit, I can't breathe." Said the vampire.

"I need another drink." Ajax mentioned with his face flushed red. He looked at his date. "Need one?"

She nodded breathlessly. "Absolutely."

The guys walked off the dance floor to get their dates drinks. The girls stood in a circle. Wednesday joined in, not saying a word. "Enjoy your first Rave'N?" Asked Kennedy.

"It's significantly pleasing I suppose." She answered blankly.

She smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

Kennedy sat at her table with Ajax, a slow song starting to play. She knew she didn't want to dance with him. They were friends but it wouldn't feel right. None of it felt right and she knew why. She glanced over and saw him staring at Enid from across the room. She stood with her hands latched behind her back, Lucas nowhere to be found. "Go to her."

Ajax quickly looked at her. "What?"

"You like her and she likes you. Like, a lot. This is the perfect opportunity to tell her." She motioned to Enid. "Go dance with her."

"But what about—"

"I'll be fine." She waved him off. "My feet are hurting anyway."

He smiled widely. "Thanks, Kenny."

She smiled back and watched him leave the table. He asked Enid to dance with him and she watched how her face lit up. She looked at Kennedy and held up a heart symbol with her hands. They walked to the dance floor.

Her heart hurt while watching all of her friends dance with each other. Ajax danced with Enid, Kent danced with Divina, Presley danced with Yoko, and Wednesday danced with Tyler. Awkwardly, may she add. She hated feeling envious. It was selfish to think that way. But what she hated the most was feeling self pity.

Before her dad died, she was the happiest person she knew, and everyone would agree. She had a happy family. She always looked forward to going home after the year ended.

But then he died. Kennedy's world became colorless. Not even Xavier could fix it. She told herself that she loved him but she couldn't manage to love herself. Maybe it was because of how her mom mistreated her. Or perhaps it because she had a hard time expected love for others, especially Xavier, who she loved the most but whom she took her anger out on the most.

She tapped her black nails on the table. Turning her head to the right, she saw Xavier still sitting at his table, only this time he was alone. They stared at one another. She got nervous when he stood from his seat and walked to her table. He slid into the chair where Ajax once sat. "Hi."

"Hey." She said back with a slight smile. "Where's Bianca?"

"Um. . ." He began to say. "I was honest with her. Something I haven't been doing."

Kennedy raised her brows.

"I told her that I'm over her and that I'm sorry I got her hopes up. It's not fair to her when I know that there's somebody else."

Her breathing shook.

Xavier leaned closer to her. "I'm willing to wait, Kennedy, until the time is right. For now, I'll be your friend because you're right. You're one if not the only person I can go to about anything. I'm not ready to lose that again. So I'll wait for you however long it takes."

Suddenly, it was like the light dimmed and they were the only two people in the room. Her vision was clear. Her mind was calm. Kennedy stood from her chair. "Do you want to dance with me?"

Xavier looked as if he heard her wrong. "What?"

She smirked a little. "You heard me." She stated and grabbed his hand. She dragged him to the dance floor and felt a sudden rush of confidence. She turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. Xavier nervously put his hands on her waist, the warmth of his hands making her bare skin burn.

They swayed side to side to the rhythm of the music. Xavier unknowingly pulled her closer into him until their chests were touching. It was like they were the only two people in the room. Nothing else mattered but her.

A warm smile stretched on her lips and her eyes fell to his throat instead of his eyes. A shy blush painted her cheeks. Kennedy could feel him staring at her and his gaze burned into her. She watched everyone around them dance, still finding it somewhat hard to be with him. They weren't together. She had to remember that.

But then he squeezed her waist and she looked at him again. He smiled at her and she smiled back. Like no one was around, Kennedy was spinning in her heels and shining just for him.  The invisible string that connected them together tied into a knot again and there was no way she could pull away this time.

"You look beautiful. Have I told you that yet?" He whispered in her ear.

Kennedy closed her eyes and smiled. "No, but it's nice to hear."

"Like, you're so beautiful. I can't stop looking at you." He looked at her like she was a piece of art. In a room full of art, he would still look at her. 

She opened her eyes and they stared into his, and she felt herself getting lost in the phenomenon. She was aware of the eyes that were on them but she didn't care. She only saw him. She saw him and he saw her.  "Would you believe me if I said this is the best part of my whole night?" She whispered.

Xavier chuckled. "I wouldn't."

"Well believe it."

This is where she wanted to be. It was sweet and heavenly. She liked him best when he was just with her and no one else.

The song ended and Physical by Dua Lipa started to play. The slow dancing ended and everyone started jumping up and down and dancing to the music.  Kennedy dropped her arms from Xavier's neck and cleared her throat.

His face dropped, getting ready for the worst.

"What do you say, Thorpe?" She asked with a smirk and motioned her head to the dancing crowd. 

His expression lifted and he smiled, which lead to her dragging him into the crowd. Xavier twirled her and she laughed, the sound catching Presley's attention. She looked between the two of them with wide eyes.

Kennedy smiled at her and the vampire squealed.

Xavier wrapped his arms around her from behind and she leaned into him, laughing her heart out. They danced with everyone like the normal teenagers they wished they were. They were outcasts, freaks, and weirdos but they were a family. They only needed each other.

Kennedy's smile fell when she saw blood drip on Xavier's suit. She touched it and he looked at her with furrowed brows. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She looked at her red coated fingers. "Blood?"

Xavier looked at his shoulder and saw the red stain. Suddenly, more dropped splashed on him and Kennedy looked up, flinching when she felt it splatter onto her face. She gasped in horror.

Like Carrie, blood came pouring from the fire sprinkles. Everyone's clothes and the white decorations were stained red. The students started screaming and running out of the room like crazy.  Soon, there wasn't a speck of white to be seen. It was all red.

"I've had dreams like this before!" Presley panicked over the commotion. 

"Come on!" Shouted Xavier and grabbed Kennedy's hand. The group quickly ran to the exit and he accidentally bumped into Tyler. "Why are you doing,  man?"

"I was just texting my dad. He's on his way," Tyler stammered. "Have any of you seen Wednesday?"

"She's not here?" Said Kennedy with concern.

"How should we know? She's your date." Xavier scoffed and dragged her away.

Kennedy's heart started to race even more and she found herself reaching for her phone to call Wednesday, then remembered she didn't have one.  Hell of a way to end a night.