Kenny and I texted back and forth throughout the week, but he had been too busy to meet me in person. It wasn't bad, it gave me a lot of time to hang out with my friends. With everything going on I wanted to make sure I didn't neglect them, it would only make them more suspicious, especially Red.
We were on the cusp of the weekend, 5 minutes left of school and then we'd be free. That's when I finally got the text I was waiting for.
I'm coming over after school, whether you like it or not.
I smiled. Texting Ken was always entertaining.
Drive home with me?
The bell rang and I quickly gathered my things, making my way to my locker.
Already at your car. Hurry before bitchbitch sees me.
I rolled my eyes at his stupid and uncreative nickname. He had been calling Bebe that for the last 3 days. I had no idea what happened between to result in that, but I was looking forwards to asking.
I slung my backpack over my shoulder, sending a quick text to my group chat with Red, Annie, Butters, and Nichole.
Hanging out with Kenny, don't wait up.
I was itching to do more with my power but Kenny insisted on waiting for him. He wanted to be there, whatever it was we decided to do.
I ran outside, heading straight to my car. Sure enough, there he was, crouched down behind the front of my car.
"Kenny!" I said enthusiastically, ruffling his hair with both of my hands.
"Hey, you can look but don't touch." Kenny straightened up, batting my hands away and smiling.
"Sorry, sorry." I chuckled quietly, unlocking my car and walking over to the passenger side.
I opened the door, making a large dramatic sweeping motion.
"Your chauffeur has arrived, Princess Kenny."
"I made a mistake telling you about my childhood." Kenny rolled his eyes, hopping into my SUV.
I shut the door behind him, continuing our conversation once I was sitting behind the wheel.
"I loved hearing about your childhood, I still can't believe some of the things you told me." I said, shaking my head.
One night Kenny and I texted for hours. We told each other a lot about our childhoods, likes and dislikes, and general interesting facts we thought the other should know.
"And I loved hearing about how you haven't had a single boyfriend." Kenny raised his eyebrows, looking at me doubtfully.
"I only said that because you told me you've had 20 girlfriends. That's way more crazy than me never dating anyone." I snapped, pulling out of the parking lot.
"How many guys have hit on you?" Kenny sounded very curious.
"Uh, not a lot? If you haven't noticed, I look pretty damn intimidating." I gestured to my eyes.
"You look interesting, it's pretty cool. If anything it should make more guys notice you." Kenny said casually. Where exactly was this going?
"Now that I think about it I guess a lot of guys were interested. But all I had to do was glare at them and they would fuck off." It was true. When I first came to South Park a lot of the guys, not just in the ones in my grade, tried to be friends with me. I had no interest in people who wanted to be friends with me because of the way I looked and I quickly chased them off. It was the friends I made organically that stuck.
After that it was my reputation that kept people away from me. My 'interesting' looks became something to laugh and make fun of. It had been years since my looks were regarded as anything but creepy so I had forgotten how it all started.
"Why don't you date anyone?" I gripped the steering wheel tightly.
"I just don't." I said coolly. There really wasn't any particular reason, I have just never been willing to give that much of myself to someone else.
"Would you date me?" I nearly slammed on my breaks in the middle of the road.
"What kind of questions is that?!" I sputtered, completely losing my cool.
"I dunno, it just popped into my head." I could see Kenny shrugging out of the corner of my eye.
I am not Kenny's type at all. I can't remember him ever dating someone like me. I'm quiet, not popular, not tall like a model, had B-cup boobs, and was too skinny to be considered curvy.
"I don't think we're each other's type, not that I have a type." I muttered, sinking down into my seat. I tried my best to stay composed.
"I have a type?" Kenny asked, raising his eyebrows at me.
"Uh, yes, you do." I said incredulously, he had to be playing dumb.
"You know, super pretty, really hot, popular, big boobs?" I tried to jog his memory.
Kenny stayed silent for a moment, seemingly deep in thought.
"I guess you're right." Kenny said shortly. I felt like he had more to say but he decided against saying anything else.
The feeling in the car was weird. I almost felt like Kenny had gotten mad at me, for what reason I had no idea. I only said the truth.
I pulled into my driveway, glad that drive was over.
"My parents won't be home until around 6, so we have lots of time."
It was barely 3, plenty of time to conspire together.
"Sweet." Kenny smiled, following behind me as I unlocked our house.
As soon as we went inside he immediately headed for the stairs.
"I wanna see your room." He stated as he marched up to the second level.
What the hell is with him today? He's acting so strange.
"Hold on McCormick!" I bounded up the stairs after him, running in front of him and blocking his path to the hallway. I reached out and put my hand in his chest, ensuring he would stop.
He stared down at me, leaning his head slightly to the side. His blonde hair moved gracefully with the move of his head. Big blue eyes went wide with curiosity. He's cute.
I shook my head, shut up Iza. Focus.
"Before you go charging into my room let me make sure it's presentable." I demanded, slowly letting my hand fall off of us chest. I turned, taking the few more steps until I got to my room door.
"Need to hide all your sex toys?" Kenny smirked, leaning against the wooden handrail.
"Shut up Kenny." I said, narrowing my eyes at him before I entered my room.
I quickly threw all of my dirty clothes into the closet and slammed the door. I made my bed, making sure the blankets didn't look super wrinkled.
Desk was okay, all I needed to do was shove all the loose papers into my top drawer, which I did.
I looked around my room, it was presentable.
"Okay you can come in!" I called out, standing in the middle of my room.
Soon after Kenny entered. He looked all around, scrutinizing every aspect.
He walked over to my bed, touching my blue pillows and navy comforter. He reached out and pet the single stuffed animal on my bed. He fiddled with the small lamp on my bedside table and then picked up the book I had been reading, turning it over before setting it back down.
He made his way to my wooden desk, picking up the random knick knacks and flipping through my binders.
"Do you have a search warrant?" I joked. I didn't know why he felt the need to touch and prod and everything.
He smiled lightly, putting down the ceramic rabbit sculpture he had in his hands.
"I didn't know you liked rabbits so much." My desk had 5 ceramic rabbits scattered around on it. On the wall there was a blown up picture of a grey rabbit on a canvas, and nestled between the two pillows on my bed was a stuffed grey rabbit.
"It's cute, and unexpected." He walked over to me, patting my head fondly.
"Just because I like rabbits doesn't mean I am one." I pouted, grabbing his hand with both of mine and pulling down, away from my head.
Kenny's hand was warm. I secretly enjoyed the feeling of it before I let him go.
He plopped down on my bed, laying back on my pillows and grabbing the stuffed rabbit. He threw it up in the air and caught it, repeating this action as he spoke.
"There's a party tonight at Bebe's place. Her parents are out of town. I want you to come with me." Kenny sat up, gauging my reaction.
"Are you insane? Bebe hates my guts." I crossed my arms, glaring at him. Was he trying to get me killed?
"But I have the perfect idea." Kenny's mouth curled into a devious grin. This peaked my interest.
"Do tell." I said excitedly, sitting beside him. I had told him many times how badly I wanted to play around with this power. It seems like he had thought of something good.
"A shit ton of people will be there, many many people for you to pick from. The game will be between you and me. You'll control the person of your choice, whoever you pick make it someone who would normally talk to me. You do your best to trick me into thinking they're really who they are. If the night passes and I don't guess correctly, you win. But if I guess right, I win. If I think it's you, I'll tap my right thigh twice with my index finger, so watch out for that. Winner gets to make one request of the other person, no limitations."
My eyes lit up more and more as his explanation continued.
I grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly in excitement.
"That sound so fun!" I jumped up, grabbing the bunny from his lap as I did so.
I spun around, throwing the bunny up in the air.
"This is perfect, I'm down. Hahaha, I already know who I'm going to pick! They're the perfect victim, and this is based on super secret inside intel. You'll never see it coming!" I laughed happily, looking at Kenny.
The look on his face took my breath away. His smile with the most sincere I had ever seen since I met him.
His eyes were extremely warm and they looked right into mine. They conveyed so many emotions. He looked a little sad, but happy at the same time.
"Ken, are you alright?" I asked hesitantly, hugging my bunny to my chest.
He continued to stare at me. The electric feeling starting coursing through my veins.
"Careful Kenny, we could switch." I said quietly. My heart was pounding hard in my chest. This sudden change in atmosphere is too much.
"I'm alright Eyes. You're too cute and you don't allow me to touch you, that's all." I looked up, staring at Kenny. He didn't seem like he was joking.
"Sorry I'm not easy like all the other girls." I said, a little angrily.
"I love that you're not like other girls, you have no idea how happy I am." Kenny stood up, walking to me and tucking my dark hair behind my ears.
I stayed frozen in place, surrendering to the touch of his warm hand.
We looked into each other's eyes for 5 extremely slow seconds. I counted them each in my head, holding my breath.
Kenny turned away, walking out into the hallway.
"Get ready, Iza. I've seen first hand how long it takes for girls to get ready for parties. I'll be waiting downstairs." Kenny waved. I listened to each step he descended.
"What the hell." I breathed out. I don't like this weird tension between us.
I squeezed the bunny in my hands. This is all your fault Kenny, you started it.
I did as I was told, and it was a lot harder than I thought. I knew exactly who I was targeting for our game, but in order to get him alone I'd have to charm him, meaning I'd have to look good. The last time I cared about looking good for someone was never.
Red loved makeup and had insisted on teaching me the basics. She had to force me and I hated every second of it, but now I was glad I suffered through it.
I had done what she told me, mascara, eyeliner, slight touch-ups using concealer, filling in my eyebrows, and deep red lipstick.
I knew I was forgetting something. I scrutinized my face in the mirror until it came to me, do a two-toned look to bring out my eyes even more.
On my left eyelid I brushed on a dark sparkly brown, on the right a bright icy blue. I blended the colors out to the best of my ability and took a step back.
I looked like a much prettier version of myself. The eye look was crazy, it ensured anyone who looked at me would immediately notice the difference in their colors.
I glared in the mirror, testing out my intimidation level.
"Wow." I said under my breath. I looked absolutely terrifying, but still good-looking somehow.
That entire makeup ordeal probably took me about an hour. I felt bad for Kenny, but I'm sure with Bebe as his girlfriend he was used to it.
"Ken! On a scale of 1 to slut, how do girls at Bebe's parties dress?" I walked out of the bathroom and called out the question.
"Do you even need to ask?" Kenny said in a dry tone.
"Good point." I whispered to myself. I was going to have to bust out 'that'.
'That' is an outfit that Red bought me. I told her I'd never wear it as long as I lived.
Damn her, it's like she knew this would happen one day and she taught me all the skills necessary to get through it.
I dug in my closet, knowing it would be buried somewhere in the depths of all my other clothes.
It took me 10 whole minutes of digging, but I eventually found all of its components. 4-inch golden heels with a 0.5 inch platform. Thick gold straps criss-crossed around the base of my toes and around the top of my ankle, ending with a large bow on the back of the ankle strap.
A black high waisted skirt that flowed out, ending mid-thigh. Red paired it with a lacy white tube top that zipped up in the front.
I put everything on, looking at myself in my full body mirror.
Who in the hell was staring back to me.
I yanked uncomfortably on the top, I hated how much of my midriff it showed. My shoulders, arms, and legs all felt cold and exposed.
"Oh fucking hell." I grumbled annoyingly when I realized I forgot about my hair.
"Kenny what do I do with my hair." I called out, pulling at my long wavy locks. I let them fall back down, the ends of my hair just barely reached my waist.
Maybe I could just leave it as is. Red always complimented me on how good my hair looked naturally.
I don't think I had the energy to do anything else anyways, I felt like all my energy had been sapped away.
I saw a movement in the corner of the mirror.
I whipped around, heart speeding up. It was just Kenny.
"Holy hell Ken, why are you sneaking up on me." I asked nervously, rubbing my knuckles together. I forced my hands down, Butter's nervous habit was very contagious.
Kenny was not subtle at all about the way his eyes raked over my body. His eyes looked hungry, he wanted me. I tensed nervously, I needed to stop whatever was going on in his head before he lost it.
"Kenny, stop it!" I said angrily, running behind my mirror.
I poked my head out, glaring at him.
"I'm not your girlfriend, you don't get to look at me like that." I said sternly. I couldn't deny that his desire for me lit a fire inside my chest, but I just couldn't. Not while he's with Bebe.
"Why can't you be ugly, Iza? This would be so much easier if you were." Kenny groaned, sitting on my bed and putting his head in his hands, rubbing his hair everywhere.
I slowly stepped out and walked towards him.
I grabbed a handful of his hair, using it as leverage to push his torso up.
"I thought the same thing about you." I whispered, staring into his eyes. My hand ran through his hair all the way to the back of his neck.
His eyes were drawing me in, begging me to do more with him.
"Dammit Kenny." I forced myself to let him go, turning away from him. My hands frustratingly knotted themselves into my hair.
Kenny grabbed my arms, bringing them down from my head. He gently ran his hands down my arms, leaving a trail of goosebumps from my upper bicep to my fingertips. I could feel my body beginning to heat up. This was dangerous.
He took his hands off of me. I felt his lips press into the top of my head. I could feel his body He turned his head to the side, resting his cheek on my hair.
"Would you date me, Iza?" His voice was low and alluring, it sent a shiver through me. How was I supposed to respond? I felt like I could barely think straight.
"I-I don't know." I whispered, I sounded completely helpless.
Kenny's breath hitched in response to my tone. He was into stuff like that?!
I felt his warmth get further away from me. I turned around, feeling a twinge of disappointment at Kenny's self control.
"Whoever you're aiming at tonight won't stand a chance against you." Kenny smiled at me, gesturing at me to follow him downstairs.
I found myself wishing it was Kenny I was aiming for.
