Fireproof

Chapter 2

I cleared my head as I walked up the front steps of the Strongholds. I walked through the unlocked door and saw Mrs. Stronghold in the kitchen.
"Morning Harley. Having a good birthday so far" she asked as she attended to the bacon. "Yep" I said popping the p "But you know what would make it even better? If you give me a piece of that bacon" I said smiling widely. She laughed at me and handed me a plate full of bacon. I jumped up and down happily as I walked over to the chair. I plopped down and started to devour my bacon. Then Layla walked in.

"Good morning Mrs. Stronghold" she said happily. "Morning Layla."
"I noticed you had some recyclables in the trash, so I took the liberty of moving them for you" she said smiling. I laughed a little at that, which caused me to choke on my bacon, and I had a coughing fit. "Harley are you okay" Mrs. Stronghold and Layla said at the same time. "I'm fine" I choked out, trying to catch my breath, and returned to my bacon. "Okay then. Layla, are you hungry? I've got plenty of eggs and bacon" Mrs. Stronghold said. "No thanks. You know how my mom can communicate with animals? Apparently they don't like being eaten" she said, which instantly made things awkward. Mrs. Strongholds turned to me, with my bacon hanging out of my mouth, and I shrugged and kept eating. "How 'bout some juice" Mrs. Stronghold said. "That sounds good" me and Layla said at the same time.

Layla turned towards me and smiled as Mrs. Stronghold handed us our juice. "Hey birthday girl" Layla said. I waved and smiled as I took a sip of my juice. "That's it? No thank you for giving you an awesome present?"
"I haven't been given this so-called awesome present" I said smirking. She playfully glared and reached into her bag and pulled out a expertly wrapped box, with my name on the front. "Happy birthday dork" she said. I flashed her a quick smile and grabbed the present from her. I carefully unwrapped it and opened the box. There was a bracelet inside that said forever. I looked over to Layla's wrist and saw she had one that said "Friends" on it. I got out of my chair and gave her a giant hug. "Thank you so much for this. I love it" I said pulling back. "Good because obviously Will has the "Best" one. Get it?"
I looked at her with a blank expression as I turned back to my food.

"He's on his way" Mr. Stronghold said coming down the stairs. "Ah. Good morning Layla. Morning Harley" he said smiling at us. I knew he had probably forgotten my birthday, but I was okay with that. I said my "Morning" with my mouth still full. "Morning Commander" Layla said. Mr. Stronghold looked at her confused "Commander" he questioned. Layla motion to his glasses and he realized what she meant. "Ah. Thank you Layla" he said sitting down next to Layla.

"I can't believe you three are already in high school" Mrs. Stronghold said "I remember just yesterday you three were swimming naked in the kiddie pool" she said as Will interested her with "Mom!"
I giggled and looked at Layla, who looked at Will as if he were a god. That's another reason I broke up with Will. I couldn't stand seeing my best friend hurt whenever she saw us together. I looked at Will and smiled. "Hey Harley. Hey Layla" he said while returning my smile. Then the phone started to ring. Mrs. Stronghold hurried towards it and answered it. Before she could say anything Mr. Stronghold held up the other phone.

"Josie. It's the other one" Mr. Stronghold said as his wife shut the phone. She walked over to him as he opened and answered the phone with a "Go."
I look over to Layla and Will. I gulped down the rest of my juice when Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold walked out of the room and into the secret sanctum. Will, Layla, and I got up to crowd around the tv.

The reporter was saying something while, In a little screen over his shoulder, the Commander and Jetstream took down the robot. "The Commander and Jetstream. What would we do without them" the reporter said. "They are good" Will said before turning off the tv. We grabbed our bags and walked out of the house.

"I know it's just our first day, but I already can't wait to graduate and start saving mankind" Layla said "And womankind."
"And animal kind" I chimed in. "Don't forget about the rainforest" Will said laughing. "Of course not" Layla and I said. We were all laughing as Miss Itzkavich said "Hello kids."
We answered back with a cheerful "Hello" and kept walking. "I feel really good about this year you guys" I said as we stopped at the sidewalk. "Yeah. Should be great" Will muttered as the bus pulled up.

The doors opened and the bus driver opened the door with a "Morning."
"Morning" Will said while going in the bus first. "Rude" I muttered and Layla turned back to look at me and giggled. I had barely gotten inside the bus when Will asked "Is this the bus to Sky High?"
I swear. I don't know how I ever dated this idiot because right after he asked that stupid question, the bus doors closed so quick I had barely pulled my arm in. "Shh. What are you crazy? I guess you want every super villain in the neighborhood to know we're here!"
"No. No" Will muttered trying to move past him. Before he could get by the driver put his arm in front of Will. I rolled my eyes because my feet were tired and I just wanted to sit down. "What's your name freshman" the driver asked. Here we go. "Um. Will Stronghold" Will said awkwardly. I face palmed as the driver gulped. "Will Stronghold. As in son of the Commander and Jetstream?"
Will laughed and nodded quickly. The driver smiled and stood quickly, almost knocking Layla into me. "Everyone, it's Will Stronghold. Son of the Commander and Jetstream" the driver said and everyone turned to look at the front. "I'm Ron Wilson. Sky High bus driver. "If there's anything I can do to make your journey more comfortable, just let me know" Ron said smiling at Will.

"You two. Up" Ron commanded to a kid in all orange and a girl wearing purple "The seat behind Ron Wilson belongs to Will Stronghold."
I rolled my eyes and leaned against the wall because this was going to take forever. "It would be an honor" said the orange kid. "No it's fine you don't have to" Will said walking forward. "No. I want too. You're third generation man! Magenta, get up" he said to the purple girl, now known as Magenta. "Why? He only needs one seat" she said sassily. I like her already. "So he can sit with his girlfriend" orange kid said pointing to Layla. I smiled just seeing the huge smile on her face. Until Will had to open his big mouth. "Oh Layla? She's not my girlfriend. She's just my friend."
"Yeah totally. He's like my brother" she said trying to hide the sadness.

Flashback
Will and I were finally going to tell Layla we were together. We saw her sitting on her front steps and when she looked at us and saw our hands interlocked, her smile quickly dropped. I hadn't really known my best friend was in love with my other best friend, until I saw that look that broke my heart.
End of flashback

The kid sitting next to Layla on the seat stood up "Well in that case, I'm Larry" he said taking off his glasses. I busted out laughing at the face Layla gave him and the bus started moving. Finally we made it to a seat while Will plopped down next to our friend Zach and me and Layla sat together across the aisle.