hiii! vote and comment? :) sorry for the wait, but its finally here! yay ^^
“Wait,” Amanda’s head popped up between the two front seats, “So why is Jace not riding with us again?”
“I just told you, Mandy!” Caleb sighed dramatically as he veered onto the freeway. “He texted me and said he got his keys back.”
“Finally.” Laila smiled happily from the passenger side. She hadn’t seen Jace at all since the front yard incident two days before, and the longer she could put it off the better. “Having him in half my classes is bad enough, I don’t need to see him first thing every morning. Especially on a Monday. They’re bad enough as it is, I don’t want his face to add to it.”
“Well I do! I didn’t see him all weekend.” Amanda pouted and leaned back in her seat. “I miss him.”
“Seriously? You’ve never even spoken to him.” Caleb said bluntly.
“And squeaking doesn’t count.” Laila added, smiling as Caleb laughed beside her.
“It does too count.” Amanda said defiantly.
The rest of the ride went by quickly, much the same as they always had before Jace had joined. Before Laila knew it they had pulled up at school and were heading up the front steps.
“So I’m thinking for the first game of the season I’ll come in a jersey with Jace’s number on it, that way he’ll have to notice me and admit we’re friends.” Amanda was saying. “Wait.. when is it again?”
“Friday.” Laila replied excitedly. “I can’t wait. And not because of Jace.” She shot Amanda teasing look, who grinned shamelessly.
“See you in a few minutes!” Amanda chirped. She grabbed Caleb’s arm and skipped off in the direction of their lockers. Laila continued to her own and stuffed everything inside, though she didn’t bother to get out her P.E. clothes.
“I know you’re there, just so you know.” She slammed her locker shut and looked directly at Jace, who was smirking.
“So you’re looking forward to the game because of me.” He stated.
“What? What are you talking about?” She furrowed her brows as she tried to figure out exactly that.
“Your conversation with the short asian. You said you’re gonna wear a jersey with my number so that--”
“I did not say that, Amanda did.” She corrected. “And why were you listening to us, anyways?”
“Because she talks obnoxiously loud.” He shut his locker and leaned against it, crossing his arms so the perfection of them was even more noticeable. “Apparently you both like talking about me, not that I blame you.” He smiled cockily before continuing, “I would talk about me too if I wasn’t myself. You know, you’re not only fun. You’re kind of interesting.”
“I actually hate talking about you, and how am I interesting?” Laila crossed her arms to mirror his and placed all of her weight on her right hip.
His smile faded as he pushed away from his locker, and just like that he walked away. Laila’s mouth dropped as she turned to watch him stroll down the hall as if they hadn’t just been in the middle of a conversation. She ran to catch up and fell into step beside him. He shot her an annoyed look.
“Why the fuck are you following me? Have you gone mental like Samantha?” He asked rudely.
“Her name’s Amanda and you didn’t answer me.” She replied, ignoring his rude questions completely.
He seemed to search for an answer as he looked her over, taking in her cropped pink ballerina t shirt, white shorts, red leg warmers, and pink converse. “You look like a dancer.” He observed, disgust evident in his voice.
“Because I am one.” She snapped. She was growing more and more impatient with every word he said.
“Yes, unfortunately.” He agreed. “Fairy.” He added.
“You’re so fucking annoying, just answer the question!” She practically shouted. A few heads turned to stare but she couldn’t care less.
“No, I don’t think I will. Have fun fluttering to class.” He grinned at her reflexive glare and strolled into the boys’ locker room.
“He’s so fucking annoying.” Laila repeated to herself. She shoved the door to the girls’ lockers open and walked inside. “I hate Jace.” She announced loudly, causing Amanda to look up and not even almost caring who else heard.
“You love him?” Amanda asked innocently, pretending she hadn’t heard correctly.
“Ha ha, you’re so funny.” Laila playfully pushed her best friend before making her way past all the other changing girls and into the gym.
“Wait!”
She turned to see Amanda prancing into the gym behind her. “What?” She asked curiously.
“You forgot to change.” Amanda pulled on Laila’s pink shirt as she said this.
“No, I didn’t forget. I’m not doing anything today. I’ll tell him I’m sick or something.” Laila explained.
“He’s gonna kill you.” Amanda warned. Laila shrugged and kept walking. “Like slit your throat bury you behind the gym and write ‘weak’ on your grave kill you.” She went on.
A shrill whistle sounded throughout the gym and they both jumped in surprise.
“Where are your clothes?” The general shouted, zeroing in on Laila the second he walked through the door.
“I don’t feel well.” She lied.
“What’s wrong with you?” He came to a stop right before her and she winced at the sheer volume of his voice. He was still yelling loud enough for the entire class to hear even though he was no less than three feet away.
“I think I’m getting a fever and I have a horrible headache.” She placed a palm to head for emphasis.
“You were fine a few minutes ago.” Jace spoke up. Laila turned to see him and a few of her classmates watching intently, though the rest of them were off in their own separate conversations.
“No,” She glared at him. “I’m sick.”
“I don’t condone sickness.” The general said. He turned and walked away from her before blowing his whistle a second time. “Laps, NOW!”
“Nice try, fairy.” Jace laughed as he walked up to her.
“It wasn’t a try, I’m not doing anything today.” She said confidently. “I don’t feel like dealing with him today. Or you. Actually...” Laila paused thoughtfully as she looked around.
“What?” Jace asked monotonously. His eyes fell on Amanda just long enough to disregard her before looking back to Laila.
“I think I’m just gonna go.” She said slowly. Most of the class was already starting their first lap. It was a wonder the general hadn’t noticed the three of them standing still yet, but she figured she may as well take advantage of it and leave while she still could.
“Go home?” Amanda asked with wide eyes. “You can’t ditch! You never ditch, you’ve never ditched in your life.”
“Do it.” Jace said. It was more an unofficial dare than anything.
“Maybe I shouldn’t.” Laila bit her lip for a second in silent contemplation, then sighed lightly and set off at a brisk jog.
“So you’re staying?” Amanda asked hopefully, hurrying to catch up.
“I don’t know,” Laila started. “I don’t wanna get another detention.”
“I knew you wouldn’t do it.” Jace came up on her other side and she glanced over to see him smiling smugly.
“How would you know? You don’t even know me.”
“I know you well enough to know you’re a goody two shoes and you’d never ditch a class.” He replied easily.
“Oh yeah?” She raised her eyebrows before turning to Amanda. “See you later, Mandy. If the general asks tell him I felt like I was gonna pass out so I went outside for air or something.”
“Wait, you’re leaving me?”
“You’re actually breaking a rule?”
Both Amanda and Jace spoke at the same time, and both sounded equally shocked.
“Yep,” Laila glanced over her shoulder as she veered away from them. “Byee!” She sang. She couldn’t help but grin at Jace’s dumbfounded expression as she ducked through the door, being extra careful to shut it quietly behind her. That was probably the first emotion she had ever seen from him that didn’t fit into rude, annoyed, or cocky. She looked around as she set off down the hall, completely at a loss for what to do. She had never skipped a class before. A part of her felt guilty and another was excited.
Let’s just hope we don’t get caught, she told herself, absentmindedly toying with her exposed bellybutton ring as she walked. She had just turned a corner when she heard footsteps behind her. Her heart picked up and she closed her eyes for a moment, mentally preparing herself to put on a convincing scene should she need to.
“Hey, it’s the girl who tackled the British guy.”
She relaxed as she turned to see the twins she had met the week before walking up. “Hey guys. Trevon and Brandon, right?” She asked, pointing to each accordingly. They grinned and nodded.
“And you’re..” Brandon started. He glanced at his brother for assistance.
“Laila?” Trevon tried. She smiled and nodded. “Why aren’t you in class?”
“Why aren’t you in class?” She countered playfully. They were all in the same class, after all.
“Ditching.” Brandon grinned and slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Walk with us.”
“Talk with us.” Trevon chimed in, slipping his arm around her from the other side much the same as he had the day they met.
“About what?” She asked. She let them steer her toward a staircase.
“Why you aren’t in class?” Brandon suggested.
“I left.” She dropped from between their arms and took a seat on the third step, stretching her legs out in front of her and placing her hands in her lap. Trevon sat on her other side while Brandon leaned against the railing. “The general was getting on my nerves, and then Jace wouldn’t leave me alone and he kept bugging me and he called me a freaking goody two shoes, so--”
“You don’t seem like a goody two shoes to me.” Brandon cut in.
“Thank you!” Laila smiled gratefully before continuing. “Well apparently I seem like one to him, so I left cause he said I wouldn’t. I’m not a goody two shoes.”
“We see that.” Trevon smiled in amusement, then exchanged a meaningful look with his brother as the latter took a seat beside them. “So what’s going on with you and him?”
“... Huh?” Laila looked at him in confusion. “With Jace? Nothing.”
“Really?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” She took in their identical faces of disbelief and couldn’t help but smile at how incredibly off they were.
“Then why are you so smiley?” Trevon grinned and nudged her playfully as she quickly dropped the smile.
“I wasn’t smiling,” She lied, “I was smiling at something else.”
“Because you weren’t smiling at all.” Brandon agreed sarcastically, causing his brother to chuckle.
“Of course I wasn’t.” Laila continued to smile as she stood and brushed off the seat of her shorts. “I’m gonna go practice my song for musical theatre.” She announced, maneuvering her way between the twins to reach the bottom step. “I’ll see you guys later.”
“See ya.”
“Bye.”
She waved briefly before heading off to her locker to grab her binder of sheet music. She glanced at the gym as she passed, and once again a pang of rebellious excitement shot through her. Maybe Jace had actually been onto something when he said she should skip class. But then again, it was Jace. Listening to him was probably the worst thing she could do.