*A/N: Since I got 100 reads (Wow! Thanks :D) and it's still the first day of this new year here, I thought, why not? And AnnaSophia Robb as Maya in the media :)
I slowly came to reality, able to feel everything around me. I didn't open my eyes, but rolled over, clutching the duvet as if I was hugging it. It felt warm, as if someone had been sitting on it for a while, or maybe even lying.
I opened my eyes slowly, not sure what to expect when I had opened them. I wasn't surprised to see my own room though. Or well, my room in the boys' house.
I was looking at the window, which was covered with the dark purple curtains that kept the sunlight out very well. On the right side of the window was a desk and on the left side was my closet. Just some side info, for if you are interested.
Anyways. I stretched and looked for something that would indicate the time, as I didn't want to get up from the comfortable bed. I found my phone on the nightstand, but I couldn't remember putting it there. I can't even remember putting it anywhere... It was in my bag last night and my bag was on my bed.
I groaned as I sat up, feeling tired, like I usually did in the morning. I grabbed the phone on my nightstand, seeing it was Michael's. I frowned, but used it to look at the time and only that. I knew his password, but I wasn't in the mood for anything but lying in bed. I was half happy half disappointed to see it was about ten in the morning. It was early and late at the same time.
I put the phone back on my nightstand and laid down again, wondering why the hell Michael's phone was on my nightstand. I do remember falling asleep next to him whilst hugging, but that's it.
As if he knew I was thinking about him, Michael came creeping into my room like a ninja, probably because he assumed I was still asleep and he didn't want to wake me.
"Good morning." I sleepily croaked, startling him with my awakeness.
"Oh. Hi! Did I wake you?"
"Nah, I was awake since... A minute? Whatever. You left your phone here somehow." I sort of rambled, since I have the tendency to ramble when I'm either nervous or not fully awake. In this situation it's the latter.
Michael chuckled softly, moving over to my empty bedside and sitting down on it. "Are you feeling better?"
I was touched by his concern and smiled, giving him his phone. "A little. Sleep is the best thing ever."
"Hey! What about me?" He faked being offended, placing a hand on his heart.
"You're awesome too Mikey, but sleep wins from everything. And everyone."
"Still, my heart hurts." He pouted, dropping his hand and putting his phone in his pocket.
"Then tell me, dear Mikey, how I can take away your hurt." I stated with this deep voice, trying to look serious.
"A hug?"
"Fair enough." I smiled at him as I scooted a little closer, wrapping my arms around him. I hugged him tight and he hugged back, even tighter. We sat like that for a minute or so, before we both let go and sat back on the bed.
"So, Michael, can I... Can we, talk?" His smile faded and his happy face turned serious in a second. "Sure. If you want to."
"Would I ask if I didn't?" I replied, raising an eyebrow at him. He chuckled softly.
"But, what I wanted to talk about... You know, those girls at school and stuff." I started, as he stayed serious, just looking at me.
"Let's just ask this. Where did you guys think I was when Ashton couldn't find me?"
The black and red haired boy in front of me frowned, before answering in an unsure way, "With teachers... But I guess you weren't." He said the latter as if he realized it only then and was disappointed in himself for not knowing earlier.
"No, I kind of hid from Ashton. I felt so horrible. I still can't see why you guys are even friends with me!" I sounded half guilty and half sort of desperate. A weird combination I think. "And I just... It got too much. I needed a place for myself. Alone. No one to see me."
I looked up again and saw the sadness in Michael's eyes. "Don't... Don't tell me you've cried Lays."
All I did was look down again, neither confirming nor denying it, though my way of looking away was confirming it.
"Lays... Please look at me." He pleaded, grabbing one of my hands and squeezing it.
It took a minute, but eventually I obeyed and looked at him. I couldn't force myself to look at anything else but his light green-like eyes. "Those girls aren't worth any tear you have in you. They're just stupid girls who have nothing better to do with their lives. And Ashton only tries to find you because all of us want to make sure you're okay and he seems to be the only one who knows where to find you."
I was somewhere surprised Ashton hadn't told any of the other boys about my 'safe haven', but I was happy he didn't. And next to that, I felt a little better after Michael had told me that, though I couldn't quite get it all through. Stupid me.
"I was wrong you know." I said, hiding my small smile that was trying to form.
"What do you mean?" Michael asked, genuinely surprised. "You are better than sleep."
I smiled slightly and his face went from surprised to a big smile, as he chuckled softly. "Don't change the subject eh?"
"I wasn't! I really listened to what you said and I somewhere know that, but... I don't know. You're awesome for being here for me though." I told him fondly, hugging him once again.
"No problem Lays. You can trust me and talk to me if you need me." He said softly, still hugging me.
"Thanks Mikey, I really appreciate that." I mumbled, as my face was half pressed to his shoulder. He let go of me and I let go of him, both returning, yet again, to our previous positions on the bed. Suddenly, I thought of something again.
"But tell me, how did your phone end up on my nightstand?" I gave him this 'don't give me bullshit because I won't take it' sort of look and he smiled sheepishly.
"I carried you upstairs yesterday and when I came back downstairs I saw a phone on the floor and I thought it was yours, so I put it on your nightstand. But only this morning I realized it was mine." I laughed at his stupidity, while he faked a hurt expression.
"How can you not recognize your own phone?" I wondered, once my laughter had calmed down a little.
"It was dark okay! Now stop laughing." He pouted, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Okay. Okay. Sorry." I said, in between laughter, trying to stop with laughing. It worked after a little and a comfortable silence fell over us.
"So eh, do you want breakfast?" Michael asked after a few minutes and I nodded as an answer, getting up to go and change in some other clothes before going downstairs.
"I'll see you downstairs yeah?" He asked as he walked towards my door, ready to leave my room.
"In a few." I confirmed, grabbing my bag that had somehow ended up near the closet, as he left my room. I took out my underwear and then opened the closet, rummaging through it for some random jeans and a shirt. That was a positive thing to having my own room here, I had a closet with clothes. Well, no underwear and pyjamas, because I didn't trust these boys with those things. They would most likely make fun of some things. But next to that, I could find about anything in this closet.
After grabbing what I needed, I made my way towards the bathroom, finding it unoccupied. I locked the door behind me, so I could take a quick shower and no one would walk in on me. That would be really awkward... I mean, we were close, but definitely not that close...
So, after my short shower and dressing myself, I dumped my clothes from the day before and my other underwear in my bag, so I could take it home later, and made my way downstairs, really wanting breakfast by then.
"Just in time!" Michael said happily, as he put a fried egg on a plate, with some bacon and a piece of toast. I smiled at the delicious looking, and smelling, breakfast on the plate and took it from him, placing it on the cooking isle and hopping on one of the bar stools to start on my breakfast.
"Thank you very much Mikey."
"No problem, Lays." He smiled, grabbing the other plate that was on the counter and sitting down next to me with it.
"You're up!" I suddenly heard from the doorway that lead to the living room. I looked up and to my right, where Ashton came walking towards me with a big grin, his dimples showing.
"Good morning to you too." I said with a nod, taking another bite from my toast with egg.
"Sorry. Good morning Laylay." He said, hugging me tight after I had put my toast down on the plate.
"Whoa!" I almost fell of my stool, holding onto Ashton to steady myself. He let go of me with a soft chuckle, still grinning at me.
"Why the fudge cakes are you so happy?" His smile dropped and he faked being offended.
"How could you not know?" I frowned, waiting for him to answer my question.
"He got a-"
"Clifford! You are not telling her!" Ashton interrupted in a quite parental-sounding voice. Michael just shook his head with a sigh and then continued with his breakfast, leaving me to wonder what Ashton was so happy about.
"Okay okay. You know my birthday is in about a month, right?" I rolled my eyes at that. Of course I knew. So I simply replied, "Duh."
"Guess what my mom and dad got me?"
"You already got a present from them?" He nodded rapidly, obviously happy with what he got.
"Okay and you're happy with it." Again, he nodded rapidly, but this time he flickered his eyes towards my plate as if he really wanted to show me but didn't want to interrupt my breakfast. As if he hadn't already. I let out a sigh.
"Show me." I had barely time to get up from my stool, as he grabbed my wrist and started to drag me towards one of the few almost empty rooms in their house. I didn't question it though, knowing I wouldn't get an answer anyway.
Once in front of the room, we stopped and he let go of me, looking at me with a huge smile, before opening the door. "Tada!"
My eyes widened as I stepped into the doorway, getting a view of what was in the room. "Holy... Did your parents give you this?!" I asked him in surprise, not able to keep my eyes off the brand new drumset that now seemed to fill the whole room.
"Yes! Isn't it awesome?" I managed to come back to my senses and turned around to look at Ashton with wide eyes and a smile. "This is... I don't even have words for it! It's crazy!"
"If you think it's crazy, you do have words for it." The grinning boy in front of me pointed out and I rolled my eyes at him once again.
"Play something!" I saw the twinkling in his eyes as I suggested it and he practically jumped to his drumset, obviously eager to play.
"Wait, what should I play?" He looked at me with his head tilted a little to the side. I shrugged as an answer and motioned for him to play. He bit his lip as he was thinking and then suddenly took the drumsticks, twirling them in his hands, before starting to count down and drumming eventually.
I recognized the tune faintly, since it wasn't my thing to recognize a song by just the drumbeat. I could eventually get to it, but my chances were bigger if there was another instrument involved, in this case most likely a guitar. This tune though, sounded extremely familiar.
"Kensington!" I suddenly exclaimed with a big smile. He was playing Streets, by Kensington. One of my favourite songs of this moment. Of course he would play one of my favourite songs. If not, it would have been one of his, but I knew all of those as well, since we had the radio on as loud as possible every once in a while. It was nice when we did that, just jumping around on our music, doing random dance moves and singing along with the parts we knew. Sometimes the other boys joined us, or when one of the boys had someone over they would ask us to stop, though we didn't.
"Hey, don't stop." I whined, as he suddenly stopped drumming.
"Sounds like a nice name for a song, don't you think?" I raised my eyebrows and he just sat there, thinking again.
"Ash, why did you stop playing?" I asked, kind of disappointed.
"Oh, sorry. But eh, you were kind of staring into the distance. It was creeping me out, since you were smiling."
"I was thinking of our random dance parties." I admitted, smiling slightly. He smiled as well, as he got up and walked towards me, putting his arm around my shoulder.
"They are awesome." Ashton said, nodding and leading me back towards the kitchen, which was completely empty. My jaw dropped as I saw that even my breakfast was gone.
"Who stole my breakfast?!" I yelled, looking around the kitchen to see if it was still somewhere there, but there was simply an empty plate in the sink, which was Michael's.
I heard voices coming from the living room, so that's where I went, leaving Ashton to walk after me. In the living room two of the other three boys that inhabited this house were seated on the couch, as they were eating my bacon.
"Calum Thomas Hood and Lucas Robert Hemmings!" I exclaimed in astonishment, causing them to jump and turn around in surprise. Luke had still a piece of bacon in his hand, while Calum had a piece between his lips, half of it in his mouth. Their eyes were wide, but they didn't seem to know as to why I had just raised my voice.
"Can we help you?" Calum mumbled, trying to keep the bacon where it was, eating it afterwards.
"You are eating my bacon!" I yelled, my eyes wide as I looked how he devoured the bacon that should have been in my stomach by now, its taste still lingering in my mouth. Calum simply raised his eyebrows as he continued to chew on the bacon.
"Hmm... You mean... This?" He said while chewing, pointing to his closed mouth as he finished his sentence, then swallowed. My jaw dropped and with that, I jumped at him. But of course, the guy just had to have super speed as his power, which caused me to end up on the couch with my legs sticking up against the back rest and my face near the ground.
Calum and Luke burst out laughing, so I pouted, trying to hit the blonde boy next to me with my feet, but failing and ending up on the floor face first. I groaned as I sat up, rubbing my face. The two boys continued to laugh, as Ashton looked over the couch at me.
"I'll make you some new bacon, it's my fault they took it." I crossed my arms and huffed. "It's Michael's fault. He left my bacon alone so these two assholes could take it."
"I will buy you some chocolate later, is that okay Ally?" Calum offered, coming to stand next to me and offering his hand, to help me get up from the ground.
"It's not the same, but fine." I mumbled, taking his hand and letting him pull me up from the ground.
"Now, go follow Ashton and get your bacon, I'm going to check on Mikey." Calum said, pushing me slightly towards the kitchen, before disappearing, most likely to Michael's room. I sighed and glared at Luke for a moment, before running off to the kitchen, where Ashton was already looking for a pan for the bacon.
"You don't really have to make me bacon Ash. It's really nice of you though." He turned around and smiled slightly, then turning back to the cupboard he was looking in and closing it. I walked over and gave him a hug, which he happily returned.
"Now, why don't you go play another song on your drums? It's too bad no one plays guitar though."
"Are you kidding me? The boys play guitar! Or well, Calum plays bass, but yeah." I rose my eyebrows at this new information. I never knew any of them played instruments. I knew Ashton played drums and piano a bit as a kid, but that's all I knew.
"But wait, then you guys could totally team up and be a band or something!"
"I'll stay with playing for fun." Ashton told me, as we were walking towards the room with his drumset.
~*~
After staying the rest of the day with the boys, receiving a large chocolate bar from Calum, guessing songs Ashton was playing on his drumset and catching Luke to stare at me a few times, I returned home and went to bed, not wanting the day to be over yet and wondering if I had looked weird or something, to think of what would have made Luke looking at me. Or maybe he just liked me too? Nah...
The next day went by quickly, though I didn't really do anything interesting, and soon enough it was Monday again.
As I walked into the school, I tried to blend in and not get caught by any of the girls from my class. It worked, since I got to my locker without hearing anything offensive. Then I made it to my class without being attacked in the hall, with words and not real violence, and somehow I even managed to make it till lunch without any words being spoken to me. Well, next to the words Maya spoke to me during class.
"So, how about we go to a movie somewhere next week? Maybe we can go with a group? The more the merrier right?" She offered, looking at me with her wide blue-green eyes.
"Yeah sure." I answered, smiling at her and taking my seat at the table we usually sat at with the boys and Victoria. As always, Calum and Michael came walking towards us first, taking a seat on the table with their lunch as well.
"How are you guys?" Michael asked, mostly me, but trying to make it sound like he was asking Maya as well.
"Great." I beamed honestly, grabbing my sandwich. He smiled as a reply and started on his lunch, as Calum and Maya chatted about nothing in particular. Next was Luke, who came walking into the cafeteria while talking to Harry.
Harry... He was extremely cute and if Luke wasn't the one for me, wow that sounds weird, I would totally go for him. He had just the cutest smile and made the goofiest faces sometimes. He was a guy of humour, but could be serious as well. His super power was Atmokinesis if I remember correctly.
"...don't you think?" I didn't catch whatever the people at my table were talking about, but it didn't seem like the question was directed to me.
"Alaya?" Oh, maybe it was.
"Sorry, what?" Michael grinned at me, looking towards the guys, who had now split up as Luke was approaching our table.
"Were you checking out Harry again?" I blushed, though I was happy they didn't guess I was mostly looking at Luke. Now I was thinking of that, I still had to tell Ashton. It felt like I just had to. I was so close to him and somewhere I was surprised he hadn't figured it out yet. Still, it felt wrong keeping things from him. Next chance I get, I'm telling him.
"Hey guys." Luke said, as he joined our little group at the table. Everyone greeted back with a simple "Hi" or "Hey" and soon enough, Ashton came walking towards us with his girlfriend. They greeted us as well, which caused the table to greet again. Victoria took a seat next to me and Ashton next to her, so the other three boys were with just them on the other side of the table.
"How are you, Alaya?" Victoria asked me, like she did a lot. I smiled at her, happy she was nice to me and not that typical girlfriend brothers always come home with in stories. Not that Ashton was my brother, but still.
"I'm great! Thank you. How about you? Is it working out with your power?" She had this vague hypnoses-like power, but she wasn't quite sure of what it was exactly or how to use it. I felt with her, since I kind of knew how she must feel about it.
"It's still the same. I have no idea what I'm doing." She sighed, grabbing an apple she had previously put on the table.
"And how about yours? Any sign?" I shook my head. "Nothing."
"Too bad." She said, giving me a sympathetic smile that seemed to reach her brown eyes.
"Sissy, can I talk to you for a second?" We all looked towards Jojo, a small dark blonde haired boy with brown eyes and a small smile. He was Victoria's younger brother and was quite the devil, since he got into trouble every now and then. Though most of his tricks went by unnoticed.
Victoria nodded and gave Ashton a quick peck on the lips, before following her smaller brother towards one of the hallways. They had some similarities, though Victoria was very dark brown haired and was not quite fond of the trick things her brother seemed to love.
I followed them with my eyes, until they were no longer in sight. I was about to look at my lunch again, when a girl in the crowd caught my eyes. She had caramel coloured curls that rested on her shoulders and light blue eyes that were looking at me intently. A few strokes in her hair seemed a light red colour and some very light blue, like she dyed them a while ago and the dye was fading. It looked nice, but what really made me wonder, was who she was. She seemed a little older than me, maybe a few months, but I had never seen her before.
I turned around and poked Maya's arm. Her short white-blonde hair that always seemed wild flew around as she look at me. She raised her eyebrows at me as she was chewing on her sandwich.
"Have you ever seen that girl before?" I asked, pointing to where the girl was standing, but as I turned around to make sure I was pointing in the right direction, I saw she was gone.
"What girl?" Maya asked me, as she looked the way I was pointing.
"I... Never mind?" I shook my head, wondering if I was starting to imagine things. People I have never seen before are staring at me... I must be going crazy or something.
The day was over quickly and I somehow managed to survive the day without being yelled at. And I hadn't seen the mysterious girl again.
Once it would be Friday, I would be extremely happy. Why, you ask? Because then we will have a break! And I just love those. Mostly because I wouldn't get yelled at and could lie in bed all day. And hang out with the boys of course, not that I never did that, but oh well.
Luckily for me, the week seemed to go by quite fast. I had been yelled at a few times, but not horrible enough to go to my safe haven. Next to that, we had had a lot of tests and my mentor had grown a little suspicious due to my power still not showing in the slightest. But he still wouldn't believe me if I said I just didn't have any.
Though, that Friday I was happy I was finally done with everything that was even close to school. No more classes, no more stupid girls that would yell stupid things to me, no more tests, no more whatever! Or well, for at least two weeks. But I can't begin to tell you how happy I am. Even though it meant being on school till late on Friday.
Anyways. I was on my way home, where Ashton and I said we would meet, after not seeing him the whole day. He said he had something important to tell me and he insisted on telling me with no one near and in person. It must be really important, right? But I had said that I had something to tell him too, not that important, and you can guess what of course.
As I arrived at my front door, I noticed the flower pot standing a little out of his place, which meant Ashton had used the spare key I kept under there. I pushed it back in its original place and then rummaged through my bag to look for my key. I found it quickly, as usual, and opened my door, revealing a quite silent house. I closed my door behind me, putting my jacket on the coat rack, before I walked into my living room, where I tossed my bag towards the stairs.
"Laylay!" I heard an all too familiar voice exclaim, before I was engulfed in a huge and tight hug.
"Whoa Ashton! Don't crush me!" He let go of me immediately, though I am sure the hug wasn't tight because of his power.
"I'm so sorry!" He apologized quickly and I smiled at him, only then noticing the serious expression that was on his face.
"No worries big bro. I'm fine. Now, do you want something to drink before you tell me whatever you want to tell me?"
"Yeah... Please." I frowned at his sad sounding answer, but I guessed I was going to find out soon enough why, so I just went to the kitchen to grab us both some soda. I returned to the living room quickly, not wanting to let Ashton wait. As I re-entered the living room, I felt my heart ache when I saw Ashton sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. He looked so sad like that and I couldn't stand it to see Ashton sad.
I put his soda in front of him on the coffee table, mine next to it, before taking a seat next to him on the couch. I wasn't sure of what to do, so I just said, "Do you want to tell me what made you so sad?"
He looked up and smiled sadly. "I'm not that sad. It's just... Shocking? And I'm sort of angry as well. I don't know." The last part was mostly mumbled, as he seemed to stray off with his thoughts.
Now I was even more lost. Mostly it was me that was so confused and it was he who had this crazy speeches ready to get me back to Earth and all happy again, not worrying about things that shouldn't be worried about. But when it came to me doing that, it was just silence.
He let out a sigh and looked me in the eyes as he told me what had been bothering him, "I eh... I found out I am adopted."