Betrayal And Anger

Kenny pressed her tongue against the inside of his lower lip, his breath growing sharp as he slowly paced a few steps around the kitchen. The teen couldn't believe what just happened, how could Nicole just switch off like that? The girl was burning with envy a few hours ago, wanting him all to herself, nearly in tears because he was gone all night and now she was acting completely distant? It was like everything reverted back to the first morning they were together, and even with all the issues they had, that hurt Kenny. It was as if Nicole once and for all decided that he genuinely meant nothing to her...it was a lie...it had to be.

Kenny's upper lip twitched as he thought of Rachel, Kenny thought Rachel was on his side after the way she helped him through things the other day, but now she sabotaged his chance for Nicole and him to move forward! The teen's eyes then flared as he thought of JJ, his best friend, the one guy he should have been able to trust screwed Nicole the second he left the lodge! Kenny's teeth began to grind together, and his fists clench, then he let out a yell, slamming his fist against the doorframe of the kitchen as he stormed out.

"Ken?" Mindy almost instantly called out from the den as she caught sight of him storming by,

"Yo, Kenny?!" Brian yelled out as he and Mindy quickly got from the couch, heading into the hallway as the teen headed up the stairs, "Hey, dude, what's going on?!"

"Kenny, talk to us!" Mindy pleaded with her friend who continued to ignore them, disappearing from sight before they both heard the bathroom door slam shut, "What the fuck?" Mindy asked with wide-eyed concern,

"I don't think I've ever seen Kenny that mad before," Brian remarked as he looked over at the girl, "Do you know what's going on?"

"Not at all, didn't he just get back?" Mindy replied with a near bewildered look in her eye, "God, I should go talk to him," She softly added on while taking a step forward,

Just as Mindy took a stop, she stopped as Kailyn came rounding the corner, finally having left the library only to get an earful from Kenny's outburst, "Hey, what was all that noise?"

Brian looked over at the girl, and sightly shook his head and shrugged, "Don't really know, Kenny and the others just got back and...all hell broke loose? Kenny started yelling, hit some shit, and stormed upstairs into the bathroom,"

"We tried to talk to him, but he brushed us off," Mindy added on while crossing her arms, her eyes never once looking away from the stairs, "I was thinking about going to talk to him but...fuck, what if this is because of me?"

"You?" Kailyn almost scoffed, "I hardly see you and Kenny having a falling out randomly,"

"It's not random, maybe he's...angry about me saying I wanted to stay friends or something," Mindy sullenly replied, "Maybe someone told him that I was spending time with you, Bry," The girl said as her brown eyes started to well up, "I didn't think about this..."

"Hey, calm down, last I heard, Ken was having a lot of fucking issues with Nicole," Brian replied while putting his arm comfortingly around the short girl's waist, "It's probably something with her,"

"Bry's right," Kailyn instantly agreed while placing a hand on Mindy's shoulder, "If you and Kenny talked about staying friends then there's no way he's freaking out about who you choose to spend your time with,"

"Exactly," Brian nodded, "I bet...hey, didn't you say JJ went to talk with Nicole earlier? I haven't seen the guy in hours, and Nicole was out of sight for a long time..."

"What? No way, my brother wouldn't have done anything with Nicole if he knew Kenny was with her," Kailyn instantly dismissed,

"I don't know...Nicole has this way about her," Mindy weakly argued, "She could have lied or seduced him and then rubbed it in Kenny's face. Yesterday she told me that's what she did with Brian," She explained while thumbing over to the teen who awkwardly shifted,

"Yeah...that was...a mistake on my part," Brian mumbled while rubbing the back of his neck, "But she's right, Nicole knows how to get what she wants,"

"Not to mention how angry she was with Ken for helping out Zoey earlier," Mindy continued, "I don't know for sure or anything, but I think Kenny's a little...interested in Zoey, and Nicole knows it. If she did all that with Brian because Kenny and I hooked up while drunk, I can easily see her doing it again because she thinks Kenny likes Zoey more,"

"Okay, but why are you so easily accepting that JJ would do something like that?" Kailyn asked with a toss of her hands, "He's not some weak-willed guy, he's a good moral person, you both know that,"

"We do, but Mindy's right, maybe he got tricked. Nicole could have told him she was done with Ken or something just to get him into bed,"

"Or maybe that's what just happened," Kailyn shot back, "Maybe Nicole just broke up with Kenny or whatever,"

"I don't know...she really seemed to like him," Mindy remarked with a shrug, "Oh god, poor Kenny, he's been dealing with so much drama this trip,"

"Yeah, you can say that again," Brian muttered in agreement before the trio went silent, "Well?" The two girls looked over to the blonde, "Someone needs to talk to the guy, he's blowing a gasket and I think we're the only ones who can help," Brian firmly stated, "Now I can go, but if he's having issues with Nikki, I don't know if I should be the one he sees, might open up old wounds, you know?"

"Yeah...I just can't get the thought that he may be upset with me out of my head," Mindy murmured, "But I want to talk to him too...god, I don't know,"

"I could do it, he'd have no reason to be upset with me," Kailyn interjected, "Plus, Ken and I are close, I don't think it'd be weird for it to come from me," She added on while thinking about her brothers friend and the number of times that had spoken in the past about dozens of different topics ranging from casual to very personal,

"Unless he's pissed off at JJ, in that case, I'm thinking he may want a break from the Jackson family in general," Brian pointed out before the trio went silent, each thinking about who would be the best one to send.