Of Love And Hate, You Were My Greatest Mistake

Of Love And Hate, You Were My Greatest Mistake ~9~

“Is anyone gonna work besides me?” Caleb asked as soon as Ms. Garcia was out of earshot. Wes smiled sheepishly.

“I can help, but I didn’t read anything.” He offered. Caleb sighed.

“Nevermind,” Caleb bent over his paper and kept working. 

“Oh, I forgot to tell you guys. I have a dentist appointment after school today so my mom’s picking me up.” Amanda announced.

“That was random,” Laila mused. “Are you going after drama club?” 

“No, right after school. My mom wants me to go early cause she doesn’t want me out after dark.”

Both girls turned to Jace as he began to laugh, not even bothering to pretend it wasn’t at Amanda.

“Your mum won’t let you out after dark?” He finally managed between laughs. Wes was looking at Amanda with a horrified expression.

“Yeah,” Amanda scrunched her face, “She’s kinda overprotective.”

“You mean crazy?” Laila offered.

“Insane.” Caleb corrected, grinning. Amanda shot them both harmless glares.

“It’s not my fault.” She huffed, pouting at the table. Caleb went back to working while Jace continued to laugh. Laila ignored him and started drawing on her piece of paper. 

“Do you have a cavity or are you just going for a checkup?” She asked, not looking up from her paper.

“Just a check up.” Amanda answered. They continued talking while Laila drew, and when the bell finally rang Caleb stood and took the paper to Ms. Garcia. Laila placed her paper back in her binder, but not before Jace could see it.

“Broadway?” He asked, his eyebrows raised. He pulled the binder from her and slid the paper back out, staring at it. His eyes shifted back to Laila as a teasing smirk tugged at his lips. She snatched the amateur drawing from him. It was a Tony Award with her name on it and the word Broadway above it in lights, though it was a horrible drawing. She couldn’t draw to save her life.

“Yeah,” She nodded. “I’m gonna be on broadway one day.”

He didn’t respond, only pushed past them to leave the classroom for lunch. She sighed angrily and slid the paper back into her binder before shutting it.

“Bye guys.” Wes smiled as he followed Jace out the door.

“He is so annoying.” Laila grumbled, waiting for Amanda as she packed her bag.

“Wes?” Caleb asked. He had just returned from Ms. Garcia’s desk and was packing up his things too.

“No, Jace!” She exclaimed. It obviously wasn’t Wes, since he was actually nice and all.

“You should stop letting him get under your skin so much,” Caleb chided. They set out for the lunch room together as Amanda pranced ahead of them. “He only does it because you react so much. I think you entertain him.”

“Obviously.” Laila muttered, rolling her eyes. Lunch and musical theatre passed without incident, no doubt because Jace stayed far away from Laila, and before she knew it the time had come for cheer. She headed to her locker and let out a reflexive sigh of annoyance as she saw Jace standing there. She spun her combination and pulled it open, grabbing her cheer uniform and placing her binder of sheet music inside. She slammed her locker shut and jumped; Jace was leaning against his own locker, his eyes on her. 

“So guess who made the soccer team.” His voice was void of any emotion, though his smile was undoubtedly smug.

“Congrats.” Laila smiled, hoping maybe he would be nice for once.