The Remaining Days

Chapter 8

We arrived in the mall not long after and Benny went bounding off to the entrance with the big bad Ray chasing after him, having trouble catching up. A small smile finally decorated my face as I watched them run about with Benny laughing aloud. Zac crept up behind him as he looked behind, keeping his eyes trained on Ray.

He finally bumped into Zac and was about to say something when Zac picked him up and twirled him around. "Gotcha!" He announced in triumph and Benny giggled at him. I finally made my way pass them and towards the entrance. "Are you boys going to stand there looking like idiots or are we going to get some food?" I asked them before turning away and mocked sashayed into the mall.

We headed for the foodcourt straight away and picked what we wanted to eat before sitting in a table. Ju-ju was sitting in front of Ray and Ray sat between Vince and I. Benny sat on my lap and in front of me is Zac and on Ju-ju's right is Matt. We laughed and enjoyed our meal and everyone is trying to ignore the burning tension underlying the happiness.

"Uh-oh, bitch alert. 5 o'clock." Julian muttered silently. I tried to discreetly angle my head to look that way and it seemed like the only one who heard Julian said it aside from me was Ray and Benny. Ray didn't even try to be discreet on his movement. He just turned his head so fast, he must've got a whiplash. I saw a girl, around our age. Her heels hit the tiled floors with a rhythmic clicks and clacks. Her clothing was what you can say up-to-date. She was your definition of perfection except for her expression that looked cold and unrelenting.

I heard Benny whimper from my lap and I looked at him. "What's wrong, little guy?" I asked him. "I don't like her, Kyie." He said with a frown and fear in his eyes. The way he pronounced my name melted my heart and I have the urge to protect the kid. I wrapped my hands around him and shielded him from others. "It's okay, little guy. I got you. No one's going to hurt you." I whispered soothingly to him.

The clicks and clacks got louder and I tried to coax Benny to continue eating his food. "C'mon little one, just a little bit more. Do it for me." I told him softly. The kid has me wrapped around his small weeny fingers. He opened his mouth tentatively and I slowly put the spoon in his mouth. "There you go," I smiled and he returned it, making my heart melt further. The kid is just too cute. If only Irene could see this.

Suddenly, the moment was ruined when someone plopped on Zac's lap abruptly. We all jolted and Benny buried his face deeper to my chest. "Pwease don't let hew huwt me, Kyie," he whispered, his face pressed on my shirt. "Never, little guy." I whispered back before taking a glimpse on the girl who was sending charming looks to Zac before regarding to the rest of the guys with expressionless nods and for the final touch, glared at sweet little Benny.

Oh hell no, bitch. Ain't no one's gonna glare at this innocent kid. I glared back at her without a second's hesitation. To hell with what she could do to me. I don't give 3 flying schnitzels. In fact, I'd like to see her try. I saw her shift her glare, "And who is this?" She spat. "I believe it's a 'who are you'." I sassed back.

"No, I'm pretty sure I meant what I said." She kept the glare and I didn't back down. "Mira, be nice. This is Kylie. We met her on the beach." Zac scolded/explained. I watched them warily as she glared daggers to me but faced Zac with a sweet smile. "Hey, Zach-y. It's been a while, don't you think?" She trailed off, smiling innocently and trailed her manicured and polished nails down his chest as she -err- caressed his shoulder.

I looked around at the other guys and caught Vince and Matt looking at each other and fake gagged, laughing silently and Ray just sent her disgusted glances while Ju-ju tried his best to look at anything but the two of them.

Looking at them like that, somehow made my heart feel like a knife was being plunged through it and it was twisted repeatedly. Somehow, she caught me unconsciously staring and I think she sent me a smug look and smirked at me before turning back towards Zac and kissed him smack on the mouth. All the while, the guy who she's been seducing was silent and did nothing to stop her.

"Dating?" I mouthed to Ju-ju but to my surprise, he shook his head and mouthed back "childhood friendslut". I quirked my eyebrow at that, unconsciously rubbing Benny's back. He looked up at me like a kicked puppy and my hands move to his head, caressing it and stroking his hair, humming a lullaby under my breath to try to soothe him as best as I can.

Unintentionally, the girl heard me humming and she broke the kiss. "What are you trying to do? Bore us to sleep with that humming?" She snapped, looking irritated and not expecting it, I stuttered and turned into the shy little me. "I-I'm so-sorry. I didn't mean to-" I didn't get to finish my sentence before she cut me off rudely, "What? You can't tall properly now? I didn't know cancer was an infectious disease." She sneered. At first, I was sure I looked dumbstruck but I soon caught up and turned my attention to the boys. "Did you-" I scanned the guys but they all shrugged and shook their head before I finally stopped at Zac who was staring at the girl, "Stop it, Mira!" He told her but she just blinked her eyes at him and his voice died in his throat. "Zac, you-? How could you-? You told her?" I stammered with what I'm sure is betrayal in my eyes.

He looked down to his food and played with it with his fork. He didn't have to answer because his dear friend did it for him, rather rudely. "Yes, he told me, you dumb bitch. Why are you here anyway? You better not be after my man. You know what, why don't you just cry to your sick best friend and tell her everything instead of whoring around. Oh yeah, that's right. You can't because she's too weak to stay awake." She mocked gasp and put on a fake pity.

Vince stood up and defended Irene, "Shut up, you bitch. You don't know anything about her so why don't you just mind your own fucking business instead of sticking your nose into ours." She scoffed and sent him a fake smile, "Vince sweetie, you're not actually falling for the weak bitch, are you? I mean, she can't even stay awake. What kind of best friend is she to leave her best friend behind like that. She's nothing but a-" I cut her off with a bitch slap that rang through the food court.

He head snapped to the left and her hand flew to he cheek to nurse the throbbing pain. While she was degrading Irene, I managed to put Benny on Ray's lap and stood up. "Don't you dare talk about Irene that way ever again or I swear, I am going to roundhouse kick your ass to fucking Canada. You got me bitch? You don't get to talk shit about my sister and get away with it. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?" Zac stood up and shielded her from me.

"Ky, what the fuck are you doing? You didn't need to hit her!" Zac seemed angered but I was way beyond that and if he isn't going to back me up, he should go fuck himself. I don't need to explain myself to him. "What do you mean she doesn't need to do that? The bitch just insulted Irene while the poor girl is in a coma. Even you know that's fucking low man!" Ju-ju told Zac and rose from his seat. "You know what, just because she acts like some angel around you, doesn't mean she's one. She's a devil in disguise. I'm telling you."

It was Zac's turn to scoff at that and opened his mouth but a small voice beat him to it. "They aw wight, big bwothew. She's mean to me. She would tew me you hate me and she would hit me if you aw not thewe to pwotect me." Benny spoke up while jumping up and running towards me, hiding behind my right leg.

The Mira girl opened her mouth to defend herself but it looked like she didn't need to. "Shut up Benny. Lying is not good! This is an adult problem so stay out of it you brat!" Zac yelled at him, earning a gasp from me. "Zac!" I turned to see Benny in tears. "Shh, little guy, don't cry now," I turned to Zac, "He's just a kid and I couldn't believe you'd turn against your brother. Why would he lie about something like that?" I snapped at him before crouching down and wiping his eyes dry and hugging him tightly to me. I heard the girl snort before scoffing out a "figures".

I glared daggers at her and she glared back and that's when I snapped.

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I'm sorry for the late updates. I've still got my finals and I'm your definition of a nerd so, yeah. I'll try to update more but I'm making no promises. Thanks for reading.