𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐃𝐀𝐘, Layla was finally able to get to her locker. She had wanted to search for it during lunch, but she was too lazy to do that. She only found a Math and Chemistry textbook in her locker. She will most likely get the others on Friday. She is happy that she has the textbooks of her favorite subjects.
Layla closes her locked when she sees Thea walking down the hallway towards her. She was supposed to have one more class. Is she done already?
A redhead was walking beside her, and they seemed to be enjoying each other's company.
"Layla, hey."
"Didn't you have one more class?" Layla questions. "Yeah, but luckily the teacher let us go early."
Thea looks over at the redhead beside her. "Layla, this is Lydia. Our cousin."
"Oh, hi."
Lydia gives her a tight-lipped smile while subtly looking the girl from head to toe. "Hi."
Layla looks over at her sister with a raised brow. It looks like she is a bit judgmental.
"Cute outfit," Lydia says with a now genuine smile. "You're also a sophomore, right?"
"Yes."
"Good. We don't have the same homeroom teacher, but we do have a couple of classes together," Lydia informs Layla. The latter didn't even know of this information.
"Anyway, Lydia invited us to go watch the lacrosse tryouts," Thea informs her. Layla raises her brow at her sister. She thought they'd be able to go home right after school. She preferred not to hang around here longer than necessary.
"But didn't you say you wanted to get home early?"
"Not anymore. Let's go."
Lydia smiles at the two before she says, "Yeah, let's go."
Thea grabs Layla's hand, and she drags her to the lacrosse field. Layla was trying hard to avoid the students in her homeroom. They seem fun to be around, but they were too loud and too nosy for her liking.
Layla grabs on to Thea's arm, pulling her to stop. Lydia was walking ahead of them to the lacrosse field. "What's up?"
"Why don't we just go home? I don't want to stay here any longer."
Thea rolls her eyes. "Don't be like that, Layla. This is your chance to actually make some friends," Thea tells her. Layla didn't want to make any friends. She'd rather be a loner for her remaining high school years here.
The girl decides to just follow them, maybe the time will fly by quickly, and they'll be able to go home.
Layla follows Thea onto the bleachers, where Layla and another girl was already seated.
"Hi."
"Thea, Layla, this is Allison Argent. She's also new here," Lydia introduces. The brunette looks at the sisters and she smiles. "Nice to meet you."
"You too."
Layla smiles at the girl before focusing her gaze on the group of cheerleaders walking on to the field. From what she heard in class, they aren't officially the school's cheerleaders. They are basically doing this out of their own free will.
"I didn't know this school had a cheerleading squad."
Lydia sighs, rolling her eyes, "We don't. Paisley and her friends decided to form their cheerleading squad to support the lacrosse team."
Thea looks at Lydia with a raised brow. "You don't seem pleased about it."
"Me? Of course, I'm not. They are only doing this to get attention," Lydia says.
"Well, it seems to be working in their favour," Allison comments, pointing over to the lacrosse players who are checking out the cheerleaders.
Layla looks over to the goalie just when someone takes a seat beside her. She turns her head to see Ross and Gia with another male friend. She wanted to avoid them, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.
"I didn't expect to see you here," Gia says.
"I was basically forced."
"By who? Lydia Martin?" Ross asks, which made Lydia look over to them. The strawberry-blonde rolls her eyes.
"You know her?" Layla asks and Gia scoffs, not caring that Lydia was sitting right beside them. Layla glances over at Lydia, who didn't look like she cared.
"Everyone does. She is known as the Queen Bee. She and her clique basically rules this school, isn't that right, Lydia?" Gia asks, looking over at the girl. She rolls her eyes, not paying them any mind.
"Wait, isn't that McCall as the goalie?" Ross' male friend asks, which made them look over to the goalie.
Gia suddenly laughs. "I thought he had given up on lacrosse after you almost broke his leg last semester," Gia says, looking at Ross. "I thought so too but let's see what he's got. I do hope he practiced; otherwise he'll be a water boy for me again."
Layla didn't know what relationship they had with the McCall kid, but it seemed, by the way, they're talking about him, they've been bullying him. The last thing she wants is to be associated with them.
"Who are they?" Thea questions. "Classmates."
Thea nods before she focuses back on the field. Layla looks back over to the field just when the goalie gets knocked down. The three beside her bursts out laughing.
"Looks like he'll be back on the bench."
The person stands up before he gets ready to stop the next ball. The Player throws the ball and the goalie catches it in his net. "He got lucky."
It didn't seem like just luck. He had caught every ball flying his way. The guy actually seemed like a pro as he caught all the balls. Even the ball from the guy, Jackson, who was the captain.
He surely impressed everyone, especially Layla.
▷▷▷
"How was your first day?"
"Okay, I guess," Thea answers. They were currently sitting around the table for dinner. Nina was working late, so it was currently just the three of them. Thomas looks over at his youngest daughter who was busy eating her pasta. "And yours, Layla?"
"It was okay. We didn't do much." They mostly went over their syllabus for the semester. The real work starts tomorrow, so she has to be ready for anything.
"Have you gotten your books, yet?"
"Not yet. I'll probably get it Friday, but my homeroom teacher gave me a biology book and I got a Math and Chemistry book. It probably won't be too difficult," Layla informs her dad.
"Okay." Layla continues to eat her pasta when Thea jumps up with her phone in hand that's now ringing. She runs upstairs, most likely to her room.
Layla guessed it was Mark, and it seeks by the sigh her dad gave, he knew it was him too. "So, they haven't broken up, yet?" Thomas asks.
"Dad, you know, they break up and get back together constantly. It shouldn't be new to you," Layla informs her father. Thomas nods as the girl finishes her pasta.
After they have finished eating, she cleans the table, placing Thea's food in the microwave.
"It's going to rain start raining soon, I will go pick up your mother."
"Now? Didn't mom take her car this morning?" Layla questions as her father goes into the hallway.
"No, I dropped her off." Thomas grabs his jacket and keys from the coffee table. "I'll be going now. Be sure to clean and lock the door."
"Okay! Be safe!" Layla yells out as she starts washing the dishes. "Okay, sweetheart."
Something crashes upstairs and Layla immediately grabs the kitchen towel before the rushes upstairs. She makes it to the top of the stairs to a lamp now broken on the ground.
Layla sighs, walking over to Thea's room to see the girl pacing in her room. "What the hell, Thea?"
The girl ignores Layla, and she continues to pace, the phone to her ear. "Thea!"
"What?" Thea yells back. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
The redhead bites her lip, looking anxious. She runs her hand through her hair. "You should be glad dad just left, what is going on?"
"Mark, he. . . Carter just phoned me and told me that Mark is seeing someone else. It isn't true, right? He wouldn't do that to me, right?" Thea says, grabbing on to Layla's forearms. She digs her nails into her arms.
"Thea, you're hurting me!"
"Tell me."
Layla pulls her arms away from the girl. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're acting like a crazy person, Thea."
"He wouldn't do that to me. He loves me."
It all felt like déjà vu again. This has happened before when Mark was seen with another girl. Thea had a breakdown but she still went back to him. Even if Layla said something, it wouldn't matter, Thea would just believe Mark like she always does.
"Thea, you need to clean up your mess before mom and dad comes back."
Thea sits down on her bed, ignoring Layla. "Do you hear me! Clean up the mess." Layla turns to leave the room.
"I know you think I'm crazy for acting like this over a guy," Thea says which made Layla stop in her tracks.
Layla turns to the girl who's now seated on the ground, her knees to her chest. Tears were in her eyes. Layla didn't want to make things worse by saying something she didn't want to hear, so she just settled on saying, "I don't think you're crazy, Thea."
Layla leaves the room. Thea will destroy herself if she keeps herself in that relationship. If that happens, she'll make sure to stay by her side.