Bruised

Chapter 12

Makenna headed to her dorm after her chat with Thea. It was getting dark out and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and listen to some music. As soon as she opened the door to her room, she knew that was not going to be the case for Hee and Lexi.

"Mac, hey." Lexi smiled as Makenna shut the door behind her,

"Hey, Lexi." Makenna noticed Hee in front of her closet as she headed towards her side of the room.

"Are you joining us tonight?"

"I don't think so, Lexi, Mac doesn't seem to have time for us anymore." Hee answered for her,

Lexi looked from Hee to Makenna,
"What happened? You just stopped hanging with us overnight."

"I just have a lot on my plate."

"Don't we all?" Hee said from where she stood facing away from them,

"You don't need to be snappy about it," Makenna said, "You figure out your stuff your way and this is mine."

"Yea, walking away from people is what you do." Hee turned around to look at her, "And can I say, you do it exceedingly well."

"I do put in a lot of effort, thank you." Makenna didn't care for what Hee was saying but she wasn't going to let it show by getting mad at her,

"Well, you might as well get yourself a new roommate. I'll be staying with Kent." Hee turned to Lexi, "Let's go."

"I'm sorry," Makenna called as they reached the door,

Hee stopped and turned her head to look at her,
"You should be."

"I'm sorry that you're making an asinine decision for whatever reason you have to hang out with that jerk that treats you like you don't matter to him,"

Hee looked pissed,
"Maybe he does. But at least he knows it, and in my book, that alone makes him a much better person than you ever will be."

Makenna stared at her,
"You probably need to get a new edition."

"What?" Hee looked confused,

"Your book, the one where he's a better person. You need to update it."

Lexi smiled but hid it before Hee caught her.

"You are absolutely ignorant of your actions."

"Hi, I'm kettle, you must be pot."

Hee scoffed,
"This is useless,"

Makenna was glad Hee realized that as she watched her walk out of the room and slammed the door behind her. In that moment Makenna made the decision to never tell her 'I told you so' when she did return back to the room. She didn't want to see Hee get hurt again by Kent a lot worse than the last time, but it seemed like a path Hee wanted to take. She knew she couldn't force her to see what was right in front of her.

Sometimes, people need to go down a certain path to experience tragic things.

As soon as that thought ended in her mind, Makenna immediately pushed it out of her head. She didn't want to go down that path of why it needed to happen in the first place and why God hadn't prevented it from happening. She wasn't going down that spiral again.

Hee was wrong about her being ignorant of her actions. She was aware of the things she did and she did them for a reason. But she didn't think it was polite to tell someone that you no longer hang out with them because you realized they weren't the best company for you at a period in your life. She didn't have the heart to say that.

If only Kent left the group, the group would feel like a better space, a place she could be in. But with Kent in it, she would just be throwing herself into situations she knew wouldn't be beneficial for her.

Letting out a sigh, Makenna sorted out the contents of her bag. After that was out of the way, she felt herself mentally tick one thing off her list. She got ready to have a shower before she got cozy up in her bed and couldn't get up again.

You need to let this go.
Makenna felt a tight vice around her heart as Rachel's voice pierced her thoughts. She forgot how to breathe and shut her eyes tightly to ward off the images that were threatening to break through her thoughts.

But there she was, transported back to the bleachers in high school with Rachel sitting next to her.

"You need to let this go." Rachel turned to look at her, "It's not your dream and you need to let your parents know that."

"We've been planning this for years. I can't just tell them I no longer want to go to UW Tacoma."

"Your parents will understand. Just like I did."

"I don't know why you didn't kill me."

Rachel bumped her shoulder with Makenna's,
"Because if the roles were reversed, you'll be as glad as I am about you wanting to go off to pursue something you love."

Makenna smiled at her.

"And pretty soon, I'll be getting the first and signed copy of your books."

"Hey, you're getting ahead of yourself."

"I'm not." Rachel shook her head, "That's your God-ordained purpose."

"Why do you sound so sure?"

"Because I've seen how happy writing makes you, it's like you've stepped into something that was meant for you," Rachel said, "I'm just praying and hoping you're able to step out of your fear and into your purpose with courage."

Makenna's heart warmed. This wasn't the first time either of them had prayed for something for the other. But it was so overwhelming hearing it from someone she loved how much they love you that they included you in their prayer.

"And after graduation, this writer will be roommates with a family lawyer."

"Or a criminal defense lawyer,"

"As long as you don't let the money get to you and you start defending the guilty,"

"With you there, I don't think that will ever happen."

"Dang right."

"But for all that to happen, you need to tell your parents."

"Ugh," Makenna scoffed, "Back to square one."

Makenna's eyes were blurry with tears as she was pulled back to reality. What did she need to let go of and how the heck was she going to do it?