The Truth ✔

Chapter 16 ~

Kaleb's POV

As we all head to bed, everything about today storms around in my head. It was amazing seeing her have fun with us. And her laugh. Wow! I wish I could hear her laugh every day. Tonight, is going to be another sleepless night I can already tell. The conversation that we had before the movie is still bothering me. I still want to know what she means by we will 'lose' her anyways.

Why doesn't she want to leave her dad? I mean I'm sure there is still a small part of her that loves him, but he constantly abuses her. If she doesn't have a sibling there, why is she so adamant on going back home? I really hope that after everything that has happened in the past 24 hours, that Layla trust me and knows that all of us are here for her.

I continue to toss and turn in my bed until someone sits on the edge of my bed. "You can't sleep either?" Connor asks.

"No." I sigh. "I can shake this feeling that there is something else Layla is hiding from us. Something big."

"What could it be?"

"I don't know." I say, running my hand through my already messy hair. "We know her dad abuses her, but there is still something that is bothering her even more. Her mom is dead, and she doesn't have any siblings.  I don't know what else it could be."

Connor stays quiet for a long minute. "Maybe she is afraid she will be put into foster care. I've heard that there are some really bad foster homes. Maybe she is afraid that it can be worse than it already is."

I didn't think about that. She is probably terrified of ending up in foster care. That would also explain what she meant by we would lose her.  "I guess that could be it, but none of our parents would allow that to happen. Surely one of our parents would be more than willing to take her in, even adopt her."

"One of our parents?" Connor ask with a puzzle look on his face. "Knowing our parents, they will all want to take her in. She's a nice girl who has been through hell."

"I want her to stay here." I admit to my best friend. "The more I get to know her, I never want to let her out of my sight."

"Someone is in love." Connor laughs.

"Not love but I might like her."

"Dude, I'm not stupid. There's no might. You like her. You've liked her since freshman year ever since y'all bumped into each other."

"No," I deny. "I've just been intrigued be her. She's so different from everyone else. Had it been any other girl to bump into me they would have flirted with me and had a whole conversation with me."

Connor rolls his eye at me. "Maybe you're stupid, but I'm not. She is and has always been the first person you look for when we walk into a classroom at school." Connor says.

"I don't know. I feel like I'm going crazy right now. The more I find out about her the more I worry about her and yet I know there is still so much I don't know about her and that has me even more worried." I quietly say. "I feel like part of this is my fault."

"How is this your fault?"

"The days we bumped into each other freshman year, I saw the pain and fear in her eyes. I shouldn't have waited until our senior year to finally approach her. Had I tried to be her friend sooner maybe I could have helped her out of her situation sooner. I feel like I let her down."

"Kaleb, you didn't let her down. You didn't know any of this was going on and it's not like she would have just openly told you what was going on in her life. You're here for her now and that's what matters. Because of you, tomorrow all of our parents are going to start the process to make sure her life is better. Because of you, she won't have to live her next two years in fear."