Broken

Chapter 12

"Excuse me?"

His gaze ran the length of her body before he lifted it to meet her gaze again like it was an answer and it was because Makenna understood he was referring to her all-black situation.

"Nothing." She answered his question. "I just really like black."

A picture of her as a kid flashed in Atlas' mind and he couldn't help but think she, just like a lot of girls at that age, liked pink or some other really bright and happy colour. That made him smile unknowingly.

"What's...funny?" Makenna was surprised because that was the first time someone found something about her choice of outfit entertaining.

She usually got looks of disgust or the basic 'what the fuck is she wearing' looks but his was a first.

Atlas shook his head slowly, his smile still on his lips and aware of it.
"I simply can't picture you as a little girl who loved black."

Makenna clenched her jaw when she was about to smile, stopping it before it found its way to her lips. She also couldn't picture little Makenna loving black of all colours and she could almost see the look of disgust as little Makenna scrunched up her little face at the sight of the colour on any piece of clothing she owned.

Atlas' gaze fell to her lips and even though she was trying so hard not to smile, there was a tiny hint of one hovering at the corner of her lips. Atlas lifted his gaze to her eyes as his smile widened just a little bit.
"And neither can you, I presume."

Makenna tried everything she possibly could to stop herself from breaking out in a slightly bigger smile even more obvious than the one he had already managed to catch as they both gazed into each other's eyes but when she couldn't hold his gaze much longer, she looked away with a laugh disguised as a snort.

Red.
She wanted to answer. Strawberry blonde to be exact but red would suffice. She'd loved looking at her mum because of her hair colour which she realized as soon as she was old enough that that was the same colour as her hair. Especially in the sunlight, the hair shone like it was on fire and little Makenna loved it.

Dying her hair was something she never planned to do. It had been one of the many ways she'd tried to get back the control she'd lost ever since that night. Her life hadn't gone the way she'd planned for it to. She figured there would be a few or a lot of hiccups on the way but not something so life-changing and self-shattering that would make her a completely different person. That night, she hadn't just lost Rachel but also a piece of herself. Not a small chunk at that.

"I can't recall a time when it wasn't black."

Atlas studied her face as she turned her face to meet his gaze. He was about to say something when he noticed the girl that was walking up behind her staring right at him.
"I guess I'll be seeing you around," He shifted his gaze to meet hers, "American girl."

"I hope not," She smiled and he knew she didn't mean it because it didn't reach her eyes, "English boy."

Atlas was heading down the stairs as Vanessa stopped next to Makenna whose gaze followed Atlas.

"Who was that gorgeous human?"

Makenna turned to look at Vanessa,
"I don't know. I didn't ask." She said with a straight face before she headed to the library with Vanessa sneaking glances at Atlas as she followed Makenna towards the library.

"You have a boyfriend."

"I know, I was just checking him out for you."

"One, I didn't ask you to." Makenna said with her hand on the door as she pushed into the library, "Two, I'm not interested."

"How are you not interested in that?"

"That meaning?"

"Uh, completely attractive with an accent to-die-for I could listen to him talk all day?"

Makenna looked at her like she was crazy and she really was, Makenna thought.
"Same way I'm not interested in Victor Van Dort."

"Who's that?"

"He's completely attractive with an accent to-die-for I could listen to him talk all day." Makenna did a valley girl impression.

Vanessa looked bewildered,
"Please never do that again."

Makenna smiled and Vanessa chuckled.

Atlas got to the end of the stairs of the library and headed in the direction of his apartment.

"It was definitely her." A girl said, "Jared was telling the guys about it and I overheard him."

Atlas didn't mean to but he glanced in the direction of the conversation and noticed American girl had glared at at the top of the stairs before they'd left. He was going to walk past them and he couldn't help but slow down to get more context.

"She looks too small to be able to take on Jared, I don't believe it." The second one said,

"Well, this isn't the first time she's done something like this." The first one said, "Do you remember that party we went to our first year?"

"Oh my gosh, I totally do." The third one said, "I thought she got suspended or something."

Atlas couldn't go slower than he already was and he was getting out of earshot when he wondered why he'd even slowed down in the first place. He didn't care about what they said any more than he cared about American girl.

He didn't care.
He told himself as he walked away.

"That was just a rumour but she is totally bad news." The first one said, "I mean look how she even dresses."

"I think it's kind of cool that she can fight and stuff." The second one said,

The third girl glanced at the first one before looking back at the second one and then back at the first,
"I think so too, I mean it's pretty badass."

The first one sighed.
"Yea, I guess."