Divide To Conquer

Rachel glared back at her younger brother for a long minute, the two siblings seemingly locked in a mental battle of dominance which was only broken once Brian let out a wide smile, "And the first ones arrive, guys, we're gonna have to seriously get a fucking move on if we're gonna get this place ready in time,"

"Here's a thought, next time you decide to throw a fucking party, don't have it start twelve hours later," Nicole chimed back as she set down the speaker she carried and looked over at the four college students, particularly Bella and Scott, "And who have we here?"

"Bella Greene," The redhead immediately,

"Nicole Moore, but you may call me Nikki," Nicole smoothly returned, "And what about you big guy?"

"Scott West," The brown-haired man said,

Nicole waited for a moment, expecting more but Scott said nothing, "Not a big talker is he?" She smirked at Bella,

"He opens up once you get to know him," Bella assured Nicole as she approached the younger girl, "Running speakers I see, you must know a little bit about this band coming?"

"I'm only fucking the lead guitarist and singer," Nicole laughed back,

"Oh, I like you, we're going to get along great," Bella giggled, helping Nicole lift the speaker and bring it into the next room,

"Kai!" JJ exclaimed from the den, just glimpsing his sister through the doorway, "In here, come on, could use a hand,"

"Oh, coming!" Kailyn called back to her brother and swiftly made her way towards the room, "Excuse me, thanks for having us," The ebony girl said in a friendly tone to Brian as she slipped right on by,

"That's perfect, didn't even need to ask you guys to help," Brian chuckled as he gave Rachel a quick wink, "If you'll excuse me," Brian strode over to Kenny and gave his fingers a few quick snaps, "Ken, amigo, you good? I didn't want --" Brian started to say only to lower his voice, "I didn't want our chat from earlier to get you so thrown off,"

Kenny gave his head a short shake, "No, it's fine, it just got me thinking a little more than I thought it would," Kenny murmured back, giving a glance past Brian to see Anna who was in the midst of sliding a table with JJ and Kailyn out from the center of the den, "Don't worry, I'm good, I still got this,"

"Awesome pal, need you to probably head out in a few minutes if you're gonna make it back with everything on time," Brian smiled as he gave Kenny a reassuring pat on the shoulder and walked over to the stairs, "Mind if I give you a hand?"

Mindy looked up from her squatted position of twirling string lights, taking only half a second to remind herself to play her part before eagerly smiling back, "Or two," The Asian girl replied with a playful laugh,

Rachel's lips parted and her eyes slightly flared as she saw Brian take up a close position next to Mindy, his arms wrapping around her waist as he "helped" with the lights, "That motherfucker..." Rachel said under her breath before feeling a light pat on her arm,

Rachel looked over and saw Scott looking back at her with a raised brow, "You alright?" Scott lowly asked,

"I don't know," Rachel retorted while immediately walking forward approaching Kenny with a genuine smile, "Ken, hey, it's great to see you!" Kenny's eyes snapped up from looking over his shopping list and he gave a few bewildered blinks as he stared back at him, "Cat got your tongue?" Rachel teased,

"N-No," Kenny replied with a slight cough, once again glancing to Anna, "Good to see you too Rachel, sorry I can't chat, I...I got a lot to do, excuse me," The teen stepped past Rachel and Scott and headed right into the den, approaching Anna.

The blonde girl was taking a short breather and wiped the few droplets of sweat that were forming on her brow. She looked over and immediately smiled as she saw Kenny's approach, "Still trying to figure out how you got shopping duty and I ended up furniture,"

"Definitely confusing," Kenny agreed, though his tone was off, sounding more hollow, "Speaking of which I got to get going so everything is here by the time the party starts,"

"Oh okay, yeah, that makes sense," Anna nodded while easily pushing up on her toes and planting a short, light kiss on his lips, "See you in a little while," Kenny dryly swallowed and nodded, "Kenny, are you okay?"

Kenny let out a small sighing exhale, "Yeah...Yeah, I'm fine, I just got some stuff on my mind. When I get back, think we could talk in private for a minute? Nothing too serious, I promise,"

Anna's face dropped in concern, "Do you want to do that now before you leave?" The blonde girl offered as she nervously took one of Kenny's hands in hers,

A comforting smile spread on Kenny's lips and his thumb lightly pet the top of Anna's hand, "I appreciate it but I think I could use the time to get my thoughts straight if that's alright," Anna chewed on her lower lip for a moment before giving a **** head nod of agreement, "Thanks, I'm sorry that I made this sound all big and bad, I promise it's not, it's just...weird to talk about. It'll make sense once I get back, I promise,"

"Alright, I'll be waiting," Anna sincerely replied as Kenny placed a quick gentle kiss on her forehead, "Be safe,"

"You too, don't pull out your back," The teen weakly joked as he turned back around ready to head to the front door.

Meanwhile, Rachel and Scott had been watching the interaction and while both teens could feel the awkwardness in the exchange, something was itching in the back of Rachel's head that told her that whatever Brian had talked to Kenny about earlier was the cause of it. Rachel knew that Kenny never had a girlfriend before, hell it was only a few months ago that she took him to the prom herself, but now he was suddenly with Anna. It had to be a recent change, and if it was recent then things should be like a dream for them right now, not a tense nervous exchange. What did Brian talk to Kenny about earlier? Why did he suddenly have Mindy wrapped around his finger? Something was going on and she needed to know.

As Kenny returned to the hallway and headed towards the front door Rachel looked to Scott, "Do me a favor and go with him, something is not right, and I think he could use someone to talk to,"

Scott thought for a moment, he knew Kenny through his friendship with his younger brother Avery, but they weren't exactly close. Still, he had some inkling like Rachel that Kenny might benefit from someone letting him vent and maybe giving him a few words of advice, "Yeah, okay," Scott agreed as he cleared his throat and lightly jogged over to Kenny, "Hey, Kenny, long time, man,"

Kenny looked back, staring back at the bearded brown-haired teen inquisitively, "Yeah...sorry, I'm having trouble placing..."

"Scott, you know, Avery's big brother? I used to drive you guys to the mall before you had cars?" The teen joked causing Kenny's eyes to widen,

"Oh shit, Scott! Yeah, wow, it has been a while! Sorry, I wasn't really listening when everyone got in," The teen apologized,

"No problem, looks like they got you heading down to buy half the town," Scott chuckled, "Need a hand?"

"You know...I'd love one actually," Kenny accepted with a smile,

"Cool, come on, you can drive me this time," The man joked while reaching for the front door, pulling it open, and heading back onto the mountain with the teen in tow.

Rachel let out a small thankful smile and then turned back to Brian and Mindy on the stairs, "Now I just need to get you away from him so I can figure out what's going on here," She murmured to herself in a nearly worried tone as she watched Mindy and Brian flirtatiously playing along with each other, sharing light kisses on the cheeks and neck.

Hey guys, me again to drop a little information on the upcoming events for the thread. So after spending most of the day plotting everything out and creating starting drafts, I found that this thread will reach its conclusion directly on chapter 100, so small spoiler there, we're already halfway done! Anyway, with that in mind, I'm actually going to try and run with the idea I'd be trying to release up to two chapters a day until the end of the thread. Hopefully one would be in the morning and the second at night to give them some space to breathe. That's all I have for my mini note, and I hope that you guys will remain just as excited to see how this story wraps up in the next 46 chapters! We're all in for a wild time and I sincerely hope you'll all like it!