"Sorry!" Laila apologized as she bumped into a stranger. She had left Amanda and Caleb behind in her hurry to see the callback list. She hadn't even stopped at her locker first. "It's here, it's here, it's here," She kept chanting as she waited for a turn in front of the list. Finally, a space cleared up and she stepped forward. Her finger ran down the list as she scanned the page for familiar names. "YES!" She spun and did a quick cheer move in pure joy. She had made the callback list, along with Amanda, Caleb, Ramani, Bonnie, and Jace. Plus many other students, but none of the others were important.
"Are you really cheering right now?" Caleb raised his eyebrows as Laila did a high kick.
"Yes!" She repeated gleefully. "It says anyone who's interested in a lead role or cell block tango role has to be prepared to dance and learn choreography if they pass the singing tomorrow. I guess we're doing singing and dancing in one audition. You know what that means?"
"What does it mean?" Amanda asked eagerly.
"That the list will be up by the end of this week!" Laila squealed. "Yes! Yes yes YES! Roxie Hart, here I come!"
"'Scuse me, Rabbit," Jace pushed her aside and stood at the list. "Huh. I made it," He didn't seem surprised or happy. He was completely indifferent. "You made it too..." He said slowly, looking at Laila. She nodded. "I'm surprised. You did awful."
Her mouth dropped as Caleb laughed and Jace wordlessly walked away.
"He's so cute when he does that," Amanda sighed dreamily.
"No, he's an asshole when he does that. I'm going to my locker," Laila walked away in slight anger. Jace really had a way of getting under her skin. She had done amazing at her audition, and everyone with eyes and ears knew it.
"Why do you look so mad?" Jace was leaning against her locker when she arrived, smirking.
"Why do you think? Ass." She nudged him aside and opened the locker. "My audition was wonderful."
"Do you ever get tired of being so conceited?"
"Of what?" She looked at him, confused. No one had ever called her conceited before.
"Conceited," He repeated loudly, "It means you're cocky."
"I know what it means," She snapped. "No, no one's ever told me that before because I'm not."
"You are."
"No, I'm not."
"You definitely are."
"No I'm not!"
He started laughing at her growing frustration. "Whatever makes you sleep at night, Fairy."
"Stop calling me those names," She huffed. She got distracted as a couple girls from their English class walked past, giggling when they saw Laila and Jace together. "What's their problem?" She wondered aloud.
"Who cares. You're boring me."
Her mouth dropped again as Jace left, walking in the exact opposite direction of his class.
"Such an asshole," She slammed her locker shut and went to her Ballet class, which went by much the same as usual. By the end she was exhilarated, both from dancing and from the fact that everyone she cared about had gotten callbacks. "See you in a few minutes," She waved to Caleb as they parted ways to go to the girls' and boys' locker rooms, respectively. She hummed happily as she changed back to her powder pink sundress. She pulled on her bright red converse and straightened up to fix her hair, taking it down from the bun and putting it back to its usual cheer ponytail.
"Hey Laila?"
"Hm?" She turned to see a couple girls still in the locker room.
"Is it true that you and Jace had sex?"
"What?" Laila dropped her pointe shoes in shock. "Who said that?"
"Well, did you?"
"No!"
"Oh," The second girl seemed disappointed. "That's what everyone's been saying. We heard you even sucked Teddy off last night."
"No! Why the fuck would I do that?!" Laila asked in exasperation.
"I dunno. He said he didn't even have to ask because you're that easy now."
"We just wanted to let you know," The first girl cut in. "I don't believe it, but I thought you should know the rumors."
"Thanks," Laila forced a smile of appreciation. It was nice of the polite one to let her know. The other one seemed like she just wanted gossip.
At least one of them actually has faith in me.
"I don't believe you," The second girl said coldly.
"Sounds like a personal problem," Laila slammed her dance locker shut, letting the hurt take over.
"I'm just saying. If you'd do it for Jace I bet you'd do it for anyone. He doesn't even like you."
"Stop being a bitch," The first one scolded her friend. "I believe you, Laila. Good luck with everything."
"Thanks," Laila repeated.
"No problem!"
The girls left just as the late bell rang. Laila gathered her things and slowly set off toward English class.
"I can't believe this is happening," She grumbled. It seemed things were getting worse and worse for her.
"You're here," Ms. Garcia smiled brightly as Laila entered the room. She was the last person to arrive.
"Yeah," Laila couldn't force a smile this time; she was too upset. She trudged to the seat directly beside Jace--her friends had once again left it for her--and sat down.
"What's wrong?" Amanda immediately asked.
"Nothing," Laila fished her binder and a pencil from her bag and set both on the table. "I'm fine."
"You don't look fine," Caleb observed. "Something's wrong."
"I'm fine," She lied.
"Everyone has a few minutes to finish up your stories before we start presentations," Ms. Garcia called loudly. "I'll be picking you randomly."
"I have to finish this," Laila turned to the page she'd left off at and set to work, much to the surprise of her entire table. Everyone stared.
"Okay you never work in class," Caleb took the papers from her. "And you were fine a few minutes ago in Ballet. What happened?"
"Fine," Laila gave in and set her pencil down. "There's a rumor going around now that I slept with Jace, and everyone's starting to think I'm some slut who will do anything with anyone. Apparently people are even saying I... I.." She trailed off because she didn't wanna say it. "Sucked Teddy off," She whispered the last part, drawing a loud gasp from Amanda. "I haven't even talked to Teddy since last year!"
"Isn't he the one who asked you to junior prom and you said no?"
Laila nodded, on the verge of tears. "Because he was mean to me. I didn't wanna go with him."
"It's okay, Laila," Wes reached across the table to touch her hand, "It'll all pass. I'm sure it will. And until then we got your back."
"Yeah!" Amanda agreed.
"Definitely," Caleb added. "No one spreads rumors about you on my watch."
"Thanks guys," Laila smiled sadly. Everyone had reacted except Jace, who didn't seem to care in the least. Laila wasn't even sure he'd heard a word she said.
That shows how much he cares about me, she thought bitterly.
"Okay, class. Time to start presentations. You don't have to read your story word for word. Bring me your copy of it before you start and give a brief summary, then you can sit back down. Sarah, you're first."
Sarah stood and awkwardly made her way to the front of the class. Her story was short and to the point. The boy who went after her rambled a bit longer, and then it was time for the third person.
"Laila, come on up here," Ms. Garcia called.
Laila sighed and stood up. She took the three sheets of paper back from Caleb and brought them to Ms. Garcia. "Just a summary, right?" She clarified. Ms. Garcia nodded, and so Laila began. "My story is about a girl named Nicole. Nicole lives in a nice house with her mom and right next door to her mom's best friend. Her life is nice and happy. She does cheer and dance and wants to become a famous actress or singer or dancer one day, and she dedicates almost every waking second to her goals. One day a really rude, mean, selfish, asshole--"
"We get it," Ms. Garcia cut it. "No profanity, please."
"Just mean, then. We'll just say mean," Laila ranted. "A really rude, mean, selfish boy moves in next door with her best friend's mom. For some reason Nicole has to spend a lot of time with this boy, but he doesn't seem to like her. At all. Not at all. Not in the least fucking bit--"
"Language," Ms. Garcia reminded her.
"Sorry. Not in the least bit," Laila corrected. "Now Nicole doesn't have romantic feelings for this boy even though her friends always insist she does. She doesn't. Not at all. Not in the least fu-sorry. Not in the least bit. But something is bothering her. People are starting to judge her for things related to this boy that never even happened and he doesn't care. He doesn't do anything. He doesn't even listen when she complains about it, or offer to help, and he just laughs when she asks for it. He's nice to her sometimes, and then he'll be mean and an asshole again and everything is just such a mess and she's confused!" She was breathing heavily with her fists balled up; the exact opposite of her usual light, happy demeanor. "The end."
By the time Laila finished half the class was staring at her with wide eyes. The other half was staring at Jace. Sarah timidly raised her hand.
"Yes?" Laila raised her eyebrows at the girl.
"Uh, was that a true story?"
"No. This is fiction." Laila walked back to her seat and angrily sat beside Jace. He was staring at her, too. "What?" She hissed.
"Nothing," He quickly looked away.
The remainder of the class went by quickly. Nearly everyone was able to present before the bell rang, save for Jace and a few other students. Laila walked out of the classroom before anyone else and continued down the hall. Amanda and Caleb quickly caught up to her.
"You're really not okay, are you?" Amanda asked. Laila didn't respond, only blinked back tears. She stopped walking to look at her best friends.
"I can't handle this," She said quietly. "There have never been rumors about me. I don't know what to do." Her eyes fell on Jace, who was staring at her from beside the classroom door. She wasn't sure if he was within earshot or not.
"It'll be okay," Caleb slung and arm over her shoulder, and Amanda wrapped an arm around her waist from the other side. "Let's go to lunch and all the girls will cheer you up. You know none of them will believe it."
They started walking, and just as Caleb predicted, not a single one of the cheerleaders believed the rumors. As a matter of fact, half of them refused to even entertain the thought. Lunch passed quickly, as did jazz dance, and before she knew it, it was time for cheer.
"I'm excited to get all this aggression out," Laila bounded down the school steps, her skirt and ponytail bouncing with the movement. She spun around to walk backwards and look at Caleb. "I'm still super sad and feel like shit, but I know cheer will cheer me up," She giggled at the accidental play on words.
"Laila!" Katie and Ramani ran up to her the second they arrived. "We've been telling everyone not to believe the whole Jace and Teddy thing."
"Teddy's just mad 'cause he's ugly and can't get any," Ramani said haughtily. "He knows you'd never give him the light of day."
"Thanks guys," Laila smiled genuinely. Her eyes scanned the soccer practice going on across the field. She frowned. Jace wasn't there. "Where's Jace?" She asked out loud before she could stop herself.
Dammit, I didn't mean to ask that!
Ramani and Katie gasped collectively. "You didn't hear?" The former asked with wide eyes.
"Hear what?"
"Oh my god, she doesn't know!" Ramani hit Katie's arm in excitement. "Can I tell her? Can I tell her?"
"Tell her!" Ashley shouted from the nearby bleachers. Cheer practice didn't start for a few more minutes, so most of the girls were hanging out or stretching on their own.
"You didn't hear about the fight," Katie half asked Laila, just to clarify. Laila shook her head. "Okay, Ram. Tell her."
"Okay! So I guess Teddy and Jace have the same sixth period honors calculus class, and Teddy was saying shit about you. He was saying you're easy and he didn't even have to ask for it. So I started going off on him but he kept going, and then Jace heard and backed me up. He said you're not like that, and Teddy was all 'trust me, she is. I have firsthand experience.' So Jace got pissed and was like 'let me guess, you're Teddy?' And the second he said yeah Jace punched him in the face!"
"Are you serious?" Laila nearly dropped her pom poms in shock as Caleb started laughing.
"Yeah!" Ramani exclaimed. "Jace started beating his ass and the teacher had to call for backup. It took three teachers to get Jace off him!"
"Are they okay?"
Ramani laughed at Laila's question. "Jace is fine, but Teddy isn't. He got fuuccked up! And after they broke it up Jace threatened to kick his ass every single day until he tells everyone he's lying about you. Teddy did it right then. He practically shouted it so Jace would leave him alone. It was the funniest thing of my fucking life! He looked so scared. I couldn't stop laughing. He was like," She stopped talking to imitate a terrified expression, then broke into a fit of laughter.
"That's the story," Katie finished for her laughing best friend. "I didn't see it, but everyone's talking about it. It happened like twenty minutes ago."
"Wow," Laila felt bad, but was elated at the same time. Maybe Jace did actually care after all.
"Laila, he seriously stood up for you and you weren't even there. You're lucky, 'cause I don't think he'd do that for anyone else," Ramani told her. "He has to like you at least a little."
"Told you," Caleb smirked at Laila, who was at a loss for words.
"Okay we should really start practice now," Katie declared. She rallied the girls up and they began their practice.
Laila's mind was all over the place throughout practice. She did flying stunts, cartwheels, flips and tricks all without thinking about any of it. Her mind was stuck on Jace, and Jace only. Did he really care about her?
He can't, she told herself, he never ever acts like he does.
She was counting down the minutes until cheer would end and she could go talk to Jace. She was even silent the entire car ride home with Caleb and Amanda. Caleb was talking their ears off with gossip about the fight, of course. But Laila was too distracted to even join in.
"See you guys tomorrow," She waved as she exited the car with her bag. It was finally time. She smoothed down her cheer uniform and adjusted her ponytail before walking up to Rose's door. For some reason she didn't knock; she was too eager to see Jace and burst into the surprisingly unlocked door. "Jace!"
Five people turned to look at her.
"I knew I should've locked the door," Jace said loudly. He was holding a fake guitar and playing Rock Band with the rest of Distression.
"I heard about what happened," She ignored the insult and practically ran into him. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Are you suspended? Oh no, what if you got expelled because of me--"
"I'm fine. I got sent home but I can come back tomorrow. I'm not suspended."
"Thank you for standing up for me. I had no idea you even care."
"Well the guy was being a dick," Jace said.
"He got in fights all the time at home," Skip put in. "He was suspended about every other week. That's why he got expelled."
"Oh.." Laila looked down in minor disappointment. So much for being special.
"But it's never been about a girl!" Anthony chimed in. "He normally fights about random shit."
"Yeah, it's never been a girl," Cam agreed. "Has it?"
"Never."
"Nah, he doesn't care about girls. Not 'til now, at least. Right Jace?"
Jace looked at his bandmates and smiled. Not a friendly one, but not a mean one either. It was just... Jace.
"Thank you," Laila repeated. "So how'd you manage to not get suspended?"
Jace shrugged. "I dunno. They didn't say, but they suspended Teddy. He can't come back until Monday. I'm assuming it's because I'm on the soccer team and he's not."
"Yeah, probably. They're playing favorites," Laila agreed. A short silence ensued. "Well I'm gonna go home now.. but," She dropped her bag and gave Jace a huge hug. Much to her chagrin, his bandmates started 'aww'ing the second she let go. She could feel herself blushing. "Okay, I'm going home!" She picked her bag up and scurried from the room before she could see Jace's reaction, eager to get home before they could make her any more embarrassed.
"She's so cute," One of them said, right before the door shut behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder at the shut door and smiled. Maybe something had gone right in her day, after all.
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i know this one was short, but hopefully you guys liked it! please vote and comment :)