Of Love And Hate, You Were My Greatest Mistake

Of Love And Hate, You Were My Greatest Mistake ~51~

Laila hummed happily as she walked to cheer practice. It was the next day and all of her classes had gone wonderfully. The wait for the casting list was officially halfway over, since Thursday was half over already. The only thing out of the ordinary was Jace; he hadn't shown up for school at all. It wasn't unusual for him to be late or leave a class early, but this was his first time missing school altogether.

"I wonder where he is..."

"What?"

"Nothing," Laila said quickly. She'd forgotten Caleb was walking beside her. "I can't wait for cheer! I missed it yesterday when we had to do callbacks instead."

"Yeah, me too. I also hate that I missed Jace kicking Teddy's ass yesterday."

"For the last time--"

"Will you please stop talking about that," Caleb mocked his best friend's voice. "Why, because you blush every time?"

Laila stopped walking. "I do not."

"You do."

"Not!"
 "You're blushing right now--"

"I definitely am not, and I'm leaving you." She sped up as Caleb laughed loudly. They were among the first to arrive at cheer practice. Caleb wandered over to Ramani, Katie, and Shanti and started gossiping with them instead. "Such a gossiper," Laila mumbled to herself. Gossip had never been her forte.

Maybe that's why I never notice the gossip about myself?

She shrugged lightly and placed her bag beside the bleachers.

"Hi, Laila."

She turned around, "Hey, Alex. What's up?"

"Nothing much," He shifted his weight.

"Are you okay..?" She asked. His demeanor was kind of weird.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He was still acting strange. "Okay. I'm just gonna say it."

"Say what?" She tilted her head, curious. She had never seen him this flustered before.

"No, I can't."

"Can't what?" She asked, getting a little frustrated. "What's the matter?"

"I'm just gonna do it," He mumbled. And then he kissed her, full on the lips. She opened her eyes in shock, just in time to see Jace and Wes staring as they walked by.

"Mmph," She pushed Alex away--nicely, of course--and stepped back. When had Jace arrived? "Alex, I can't. I don't like you like that."

"Is it because--"

"I'm so sorry," She interrupted, "I have to go."

She took off across the field with little regard for Alex's reaction. She ran and hopped to a stop directly in front of Wes and Jace. Wes grinned at her.

"What the hell was that?" Jace asked, referring to her awkward hop.

"I don't know," She said. "I wanted to say hi?" She stood there as Wes started laughing and Jace stared, somewhat confused. "Where were you all day?" She asked him.

"Around."

"I'm gonna go start warming up," Wes told them. He jogged off toward their teammates, who were still missing Alex.

"Really, where were you?" Laila tried again now that Wes was gone.

"Recording with my band," Jace replied. "They won't leave me alone about you. For some reason they wanna hang out with you again."