I forgot to put this on the first one...I own no one in the story but Aiyla!
A few days go by with still no word from Aiyla.
It was starting to drive Loki nuts. He had never had this happen before. Aiyla had always told him if she couldn't come, even if it was the next day. By the time Monday came, he was about ready to go to her house and look for her himself. It really bothered him that she was not contacting him. He would have gone to her house-if it were not for the fact that he had to go to school.
"Have a nice day dears," his mother calls out to him and his brothers, as they head out the door. Yeah. A nice day. Loki thinks as he rolls his eyes. I won't have a good day. I never do.
As the bus arrives, Loki goes to his usual seat and finds the girl he's been trying to contact all weekend. "Aiyla?" Loki asks as he sits down besides her. At first Aiyla doesn't respond, she keeps staring out the window, almost like she is ignoring him. Confused by this, Loki put shis hand on her shoulder, looking at her. "Are you alright?"
Aiyla slowly looks at him, a strange look in her eyes. She tries to hide it, but there is a big dark blue bruise on her cheek-and Loki sees it. "What?" Aiyla asks quietly, tightly holding the straps to her bag.
"Aiyla.." Loki asks quietly at first, a sort of suspicion in his voice. "What happened to you?" He already had an idea of why she had a bruise on her face, but he was hoping that he was wrong. Aiyla acts like she doesn't want to tell him, and almost like she is afraid. This makes him only confirm it in his mind that the bruise had come from her father.
"It's nothing...really Loki...I promise..." Aiyla insists and pulls her hood up, turning to look out the window again. I promise. The last time that she said that, she never showed up. And that bothered him. Loki drops his hand to his lap and looks down for awhile, silently wondering why he cared so much.
It wasn't hard to figure out though. It was a long time ago, sure. But he remebered it like it was yesterday.
"Leave him alone!"
The girl had come out of nowhere. Her long black hair was held back in a falling down ponytail. She was wearing a black skirt with a light blue shirt over it that was too big, black leggings and black shoes. Her hands were on her little hips and she had a look of determination on her face that could deter anyone from messing with her-even if she was only what, seven at the time?
He was sitting on the ground, trying to keep the two older boys away from him. Not very strong looking at the time, he was sure. Probably even cowardly. But it didn't matter to him. She had stood up for him, when even his brothers wouldn't. Despite her size and age, she had chewed them out for awhile and even ended up with a black eye. She was still more worried about him, and she didn't even cry.
"Are you okay?"
She had asked with a smile, holding her hand out to him. He was still a bit afraid of if he could trust her or not, but took her hand anyway. The girl had helped him get back to his brothers, but that was not all she did. Not only did she chew out the boys picking on him-she practically yelled at his brothers for not helping him.
She had been yelled at by a tall man a few minutes later. A scary one. Someone he would soon come to hate. As the girl ran off towards the man, he had stopped her long enough to get her name.
"Aiyla..."
The memory fades as the bus stops at the school, also reminding him of the promise he made to himself a long time ago. They'd been friends ever since then and a few other encounters, and he still felt like he needed to pay her back. He guessed it was a problem he had. With oweing people.
Loki gets off the bus as he thinks, also waiting for Aiyla. He had only a faint idea what was wrong with her, but he was determined to figure it out.
"Loki.."
Loki squints in the sunlight as he looks over at the doors, where Aiyla was coming down the steps and was smiling faintly at him now. And he knew she was going to do it again. Pretend to be okay so she didn't have to face her pain.
And he understood.