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“That's not how it works!” Colleen complained. “I can't just let it be because I can't be a little girl anymore, I'm twenty-one now, I'm going to graduate soon and I can't ignore these problems like I used to.”

The words were harsh and I understood where she was coming from, but mistreating me for no reason was not something I would tolerate.

“And why exactly are you being a jerk to me?”

Colleen finally parked her car in the parking lot of her favorite downtown restaurant.

“I'm not being a jerk, I'm just trying to be an adult. You can't run away from problems, Kendra. I can't do this anymore.” Her shoulders slumped forward. My cousin seemed on the verge ofa breakdown and there was only one person who could fix all of this. And that was the last person I wanted to talk to. “I feel like I'm such a burden to them that it's cruel...” she whispered, seriously, looking lost in space while her eyes shone with contained tears.

“Hey, fuck them!” I grabbed her hand. “I'm here, and I love you. And I will never, ever stop being by your side.”

Colleen laughed weakly and threw her arms around my neck, pulling me into a hug. I responded immediately, taking in all the air I could, thinking about the call I would have to make later that day.

On the way back to campus, I drove. I ended up leaving my cousin in the dorm with the car and walked to my class. There would be two of them and, even though I didn't really feel like paying attention to anything that was presented to me, I made an effort to be there. After all, I didn't want to fail.

At the end of the day, I exchanged a few texts with Colleen and Veronica. However, before heading to training, I made the call I needed to do. I called Mackenzie Winfrey, my mother.

It only took two rings for her to answer.

“Hi, dear. How are you?”

Her voice was soft, and for a moment it sounded like she had just woken up.

“Hi, Mom... I need to talk to you about Uncle Conrad and Aunt Ivy.”

A heavy sigh left my mother.

“What did my idiot of a brother do this time?”

I told her everything Colleen had told me. I felt all my cousin's sadness passing through me. I even felt my voice want to break when a restrained cry dared to come out, but I controlled myself. My mother listened to everything in complete silence and, when I finished, she said she would solve the situation.

After I hung up, I felt even worse.

Even while divorcing my father, she still found the time and energy to handle both my problems and Colleen's. A bitter taste came over me, I couldn't explain why, but I felt nervous and sad.

“Ken?” Veronica's voice brought me back to reality. I looked for her and found her in front of the gym entrance. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just…Family.”

Roni nodded calmly.

“Well, I'll go in. Don't take too long.”

I agreed and took a few seconds to take a deep breath and reevaluate some points about my relationship with my mother.

The night's practice had taken its toll on my body. I felt every bit of my body in pain and I urgently needed to apply ointmentto my knees and elbows. During the entire training session, I had pushed myself harder than I had in the morning and needed a well-deserved rest, so I could barely speak to Veronica or Colleen. I just went back to my room and threw myself on the bed, kicked off my sneakers and put an ice pack on my knee while I worked up the courage to take a shower.

In the meantime, I decided to distract myself with social media. With the craziness of recent times, I've barely had time to update things.

I went on Instagram and the first thing I came across was a photo of Delilah looking happy posing with her huge engagement ring. I wanted to vomit, how could people be so tacky about these things… It was a photo shoot for a goddamn ring!

Or maybe I was too angry for other reasons, but I didn't want to admit it.

I took off the ice pack and threw it on the floor, clutching my bottle of Tylenol. It was not ideal to take a muscle relaxant; in fact, that was a little harmful in the current situation, but I didn't give a fuck. My whole body hurt and my head started to explode too. I went back to bed and took off all my clothes, lying under the blanket in just my panties and top.

Soon the medicine took effect, and the tears that had threatened to escape all day dried up and faded into nothingness as I slipped into a deep sleep. My eyes opened briefly when I heard a loud knock on my bedroom door. I thought I recognized Sidney's voice and mumbled something in response, but quickly fell back asleep. When I woke again, a long time had passed. There was a damp spot on my pillow, and the corner of my mouth was wet—I had drooled in my sleep.

My entire body felt cold and I pulled the blanket to wrap myself in it before reaching for my phone. I wanted to know the time, but all I got was seeing the black screen light up with a red battery sign. I plugged it into an outlet, put on my robe and decided I needed a shower.