EIGHTEEN. do you ever stop and think about me? 

      Xavier had a strong feeling his father wouldn't show up to Parents Weekend. That didn't mean it didn't hurt him to watch his classmates with their families. It was known to everyone that Vincent Thorpe was the most famous psychic from Nevermore Academy. What they didn't know was that his often chose his career over his own son.

Xavier watched Kennedy talk with her mother and grandmother below him. Seeing Dara made his blood boil. Seeing her smiling and laughing like she didn't put her daughter through hell. It made him sick.

"I didn't expect her to show up."

Xavier turned his head and Bianca stood there, looking down at the family as well. "I just don't want her to get hurt again."

"Kennedy's strong. She knows how to handle herself."

He shook his head, disagreeing. "No, she's doesn't. I've  seen how she gets when it comes to her mom. She's a completely different person." He looked below him again. "What do you care anyways? You two aren't friends."

Bianca's face fell at the sentence. "Yeah. But I know her too. Maybe this time will be different. Maybe her mom's trying to change."

Xavier's eyes hardened. "People like that don't change." He muttered, understanding more than anyone.

From below in the quad, Kennedy was filling her mom and grandma on everything that was happening so far at Nevermore. "Wait, so you and Xavier are back together?" Asked Nia, a sliver of excitement in her tone.

"Xavier? The boy with long hair that broke up with you?" Asked her Mom.

"Way to be blunt, mom." Kennedy muttered. "We're not back together, exactly. We're just. . . we're getting there." She answered and the corner of her mouth turned up.

Nia clapped. "Oh, how I miss that boy! He was always so sweet. Where is he?"

Kennedy looked around the crowded quad, not seeing him anywhere. At first she thought maybe he went back to his dorm room because his father didn't show up. But then she looked up and saw him standing on the second floor, leaned over against the railing. Meeting his eye, she smiled and waved for him to come down.

Xavier raised his brows and pointed to himself. Are you sure? She nodded. Please. He pushed off the railing and went to come down. Kennedy smiled. "He's coming."

Dara leaned forward against the table. "So tell me, Kenny, is Morticia's daughter as strange as she is?"

She leaned forward as well. "Stranger. But she's grown on me." She answered with a little smile.

Xavier appeared at their table with his hands stuffed into the pocket of his pants. "Hi." He spoke and cringed.

Nia Yeun's face lit up. "Xavier Thorpe!"

"Hi, Ms. Ye—" Xavier groaned deeply when she pulled him into a tight hug. "Yeun."

She pulled away and cupped his face in her hands. "Oh, it's so good to see you. You're just as handsome as ever."

His perplexed expression made Kennedy laugh to herself. "It's nice to see you again, Ms. Yeun."

"Come sit down, honey." She practically dragged him to sit. 

Xavier stared at Kennedy as he sat down, causing her to laugh again.

Dara formed a smile. "Hello, Xavier."

He felt his muscles tighten. "Hi, Mrs. Eden." He said back with a fake smile.

"I'm so happy to see the two of you made up."

The teenagers looked at each other again.

"Xavier! Is your family here?" Nia asked.

Xavier's face had fallen. "No, m'am. My dad, uh. . . he's busy."

Kennedy looked at him. "He's not here?" When he shook his head, she frowned. "I'm sorry."

He leaned against her and bumped her shoulder with his. "Don't worry about it. Guess we can't be lonely together after all." He said with a half grin.

Nia drove them to the Weathervane. "I haven't been in this cafe in God knows how long." She said aloud when they walked inside. They sat at one of the tables by the windows.

"I remember when Martin and I used to come here. We always got a hot chocolate and shared." Said Dara with a dazed smile.

Kennedy smiled. "I get mine with cinnamon on top."

Her mom's eyes gleamed. "So did he."

Tyler came to their table holding a note pad and a pen. He smiled at his friend. "Hey, Ken."

"Hi, Tyler." She said back with a timid smile. After what Xavier told her at the Rave'N, Kennedy wasn't sure how to feel about Tyler. They'd been friends for years. He was always kind to her. But she never through of him as someone that would assault somebody. "This is mom, Dara, and my grandmother, Nia. This is Tyler Galpin, sheriff Galpin's son." She introduced them.

"Well, aren't you just adorable." Her grandma said with a wide smile.

Tyler went red. Kennedy groaned in embarrassment. "Thanks. It's nice to meet you. Uh, what will it be? Ken, the usual?"

"Extra cinnamon." She reminded.

Dara smiled. "I'll take a hot chocolate with cinnamon on top." The mother and daughter smiled at each other.

Nia leaned her chin on the palm of her hand. "What do you recommend?" She asked the worker.

"Oh, well, we have a a white chocolate mocha that a lot of people like. We also have something called honey almond milk. It's a cappuccino. My personal favorite is the caramel macchiato." Tyler explained the menu.

"Ahh, they all sound so good. Tell you what, give me that caramel macchiato."

He nodded curtly. "Yes, m'am. I'll get those ready."

"Thanks, Tyler." Kennedy muttered and he walked away to get to work. She narrowed her eyes at the woman. "Are you going to flirt with all my guy friends?"

She gasped. "Kennedy, I'm a 62 year old woman! That's just wrong! But I'll admit you got some cute friends."

She rolled her eyes. "Um, Kenny, honey. . . We have something we want to discuss with you." Her mom started to say.

She furrowed her brows. "What is it?"

Tyler came back with their drinks in his hands. "One cinnamon dolce latte for you," he said and sat the drink in front of Kennedy, making her smile. He turned to her mother. "One hot chocolate with with cinnamon." He smiled at her grandmother. "And one caramel macchiato."

"Thank you, honey." Nia smiled and paid the boy $40. "Keep the change."

Joy lit up in Tyler's eyes and he walked away with the money. Kennedy smiled. "So, what did you need to tell me?" She asked them.

Her mom looked nervous and she glanced at her mother, receiving a small nod. "Your grandmother and I have been talking. And uh. . ." Dara trailed. "I want you to come back home, Kennedy, after the year is up."

Kennedy froze. Her mom stared at her with worry as she waited for a response. At first, she thought she was kidding. "You're not serious." She chuckled. But when neither of them laughed, Kennedy's face fell. "Wait, what?"

"It's time, honey. I'm doing a lot better and I miss you so much." Her mother continued.

"You abandoned me. You haven't bothered to call or text me this whole year and now you want me to move back in with you?" Kennedy raised her voice in disbelief.

"Kenny, your mother's been getting help," Nia calmly stepped in. "She's making an effort to better herself."

Better herself. The words echoed in her head. She'd been hearing those words all semester, both from her friends and herself. "Better herself? What about me?" Kennedy loudly said. "I'm the one who's been getting hurt. I'm the one who's had to deal with the neglect. Don't talk to me about bettering yourself when it's you that's caused everything!" She fled the cafe, aware of everyone who was staring, and ran outside.

Everything in her body tingled. Her hands, her feet, her legs shook uncontrollably to where she had to sit down. Her fingers gripped the roots of her hair and she tugged on them, hoping that she was just dreaming, but she wasn't. Her chest hurt terribly. She pressed her hand to it and tried to relieve the pain but she could hardly breathe. How dare she. How dare both of them.

"Kennedy?"

She raised her head and saw Bianca standing at the end of the sidewalk. "Go away, Bianca." She seethed and looked down at her lap, wincing again at the pain in her chest.

Bianca stepped forward. "Are you having an attack again?" She almost sounded concerned.

"So what if I am? Why do you care? You'd probably be happy about it." Her irritation continued but it was because she was hurting, physically and mentally.

Ignoring the jabs, Bianca sat beside her on the sidewalk. "I'm guessing parents' weekend is sucking for you, too?"

Kennedy scoffed. "Understatement of the year." She glanced at her again and examined her expression. "Why do you look so miserable?"

The siren sighed. "Let's just say my mom's visit isn't exactly how I expected it to go."

Instead of coming up with an insult, she just nodded. "How come?"

"She. . . She got remarried and didn't tell me." Bianca stammered.

Her dark eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. And now she's threatening to take me away from here."

"Screw that.

Bianca nodded. "Yeah, screw that. I've spent so long trying to uphold my reputation and now it's going to be tarnished. How can a mother do that to her kid?"

Kennedy frowned and her eyes trailed down to her shoes. "That's a good question. . ."

She looked at her again and frowned, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry, Kennedy."

"Why?"

"I know I've been a horrible person. To you, especially. The only excuse I have is that I was trying to prove my mom wrong and I lost sight of who I really was."

"Bianca, I don't care about that. You knew how I much loved Xavier. You knew how hard it was for me to lose him and you dated him anyway." Talking about it made her eyes water. "Do you know how much that hurt me? And for you act like we were never friends and call me crazy like everybody else? That really fucking hurt, Bianca."

"I know. I'm so sorry." Said Bianca. "I-I don't have an excuse for it. But I'm really fucking sorry for how I treated you. Like really sorry." Her own eyes began to water. "I don't expect you to forgive me. I just want you to know."

"I'm not crazy, Bianca. I'm hurting. Do you get that?That doesn't make me crazy or destructive. I've been through a lot and I'm not saying you haven't either but my life has been so fucked up and what you did made it worse." Her voice cracked. "And I love Xavier, okay? I love him so much. I would never try to drag him down. I'm trying to better myself.

Bianca quickly nodded. "I know that. Xavier loves you, Kennedy. I'm sorry for trying to ruin that. I don't care about him anymore. I care about you."

Kennedy always wondered if Bianca stopped and thought about her. If she thought of the times they spent when they were younger. Because she always did. They were best friends before Bianca went and found better, shinier friends. She completely changed and left her like she was nothing.

For a long time, Kennedy thought it was her fault. Was she the problem? Did Bianca just grow tired of her? Was she not interesting enough? But things were different now and Kennedy knew it wasn't her fault. People grow apart. It's apart of life. She was done being angry at things she couldn't control.

As much as she didn't want to forgive Bianca, forgiveness doesn't have to be for other people. It can be for yourself. And all Kennedy wanted for herself was peace.