Chapter 7

Warren looked around the crowded hallway searching for familiar red hair and a green shirt. He was only guessing that she was wearing green today, but she wore it a lot, so he thought that it was a good guess. Now, Layla could be wearing a different outfit, maybe a different color shirt…or maybe the hideous poncho she liked to wear. He shook his head as he thought about the ugly thing. Warren wanted to burn it, but he knew that for some reason Layla liked the hunk of junk.

He glared as students looked at him and watched in satisfaction as they ran away. Warren was not in the mood; he had barely slept last night, thinking about their almost kiss and how they shouldn't have done it. But most of all, Warren thought about how he was going to have to see her again. This weekend was like a breather for him, a chance to get back to reality, where there was no Layla and his complicated feelings for her. He was barely her friend. He was not about to be her boyfriend.

He liked Layla, sure. But they were from different worlds. His father was evil and her father was…a hard ass. Just like his when his dad was out of prison. Warren had to work for a living, she didn't. He didn't like people, Layla did. He didn't abide by the rules, she…well she did once upon a time. Then she started this 'let's be best friends' thing with him and now she was getting into trouble more often. Getting HIM into trouble more often than usual; one of these days she was going to get his expelled, he thought accusingly.

Maybe they could be friends, Warren conceded. But he was not about to be her boyfriend. If Layla was his girlfriend then his reputation would never be the same. And her friends, oh God, they would never leave him alone. They would sit at his lunch table every day and want to hang out after school with him. That couldn't happen, Warren thought bitterly.

And what about the ass holes…rubber dude and the fat fast kid? What would they have to say about this? Warren knew that he shouldn't care about what people thought. It's not like he cared about what people thought before. But he couldn't help himself this time. Warren rolled his eyes as he thought about what Layla would think. Layla wouldn't care what people thought; she never did. The fact that she wears the ugly poncho was proof.

"Ugh," he said as he slammed a hand into the locker, leaving a light dent in it. Warren wasn't sure whose locker it was, but he knew that it wasn't Layla's and that was a good thing. Because she would have given him hell if it was her locker he dented.

"Um, I didn't know that you liked vandalizing school property so much." Warren spun around at the sound of Layla's voice. "But the lunchroom fight should have been a tip off for me." She told him cheekily.

He wanted to smile at her, but he forced himself to remain expressionless, "You're late to school."

Layla looked at him curiously. "One of the younger students' mother was banging on the window of the bus so she could give her 'hunny-kins' his lunch." Layla mocked and Warren could no longer hold his smile. "If you do that more, people wouldn't be so afraid of you." Layla said as she opened her locker.

Warren became serious again and watched her, "I like people to be afraid of me." He all but growled at her. She stiffened and looked at him with wide eyes. They weren't afraid of him, they were just cautious. He hated that she was being cautious around him; Layla had never been that way around him before and he didn't want her to start now.

Layla nodded her head in confusion, "So, how was your weekend?" She asked like they hadn't shared a moment. Like they didn't almost kiss! How was she being so casual about it?

"Fine," Warren said crossly. This was not how he had planned this moment in his head. She was supposed to come up to him and ask if what they shared at her house the other night made them a couple and he could say that they were not a couple, that they were just friends and were better off that way. But this was not the conversation he thought they would have. Instead, she was acting like they did nothing, like they were really only just friends.

The worst part about the situation was that this was what he wanted. He didn't want any awkwardness between them, and Warren was the one who was making it awkward. Layla was just…being, Layla. And it was pissing him off.

Her confusion grew and so did his temper. "Did something happen?" She asked in an innocent voice.

Warren ran a hand through his hair, "Nothing happened, Layla. The world is prefect." She looked at him for a moment, staring into his eyes like she was looking for something.

"Are you okay?" Layla asked as she turned to face him fully.

"I'm fine," he snapped harshly. Ugh, this was not going the way he had wanted it. Warren wanted to just forget that they had almost kissed. But they did and once he saw her this morning, all he wanted to do was grab her and kiss her and not be interrupted like the last time. Warren thought about the students surrounding them, they wouldn't dare interrupt them.

"Yeah, sure." Layla said as she turned back to locker and pulled her books out before she slammed the door shut, drawing people's attention, and stalked off in the direction of her first class. Warren watched her go for a moment, before he regained his bearings and began to follow her.

"Layla," he caught up to her and took hold of her arm and she spun around and yanked her arm away from him with a force that nearly knocked her over, but she only stumbled before she was standing upright again. If she wanted him to let go of her, all she needed to do was tell him.

"Look, I don't need this. If you want to be mean, go be mean to someone else." She hissed at him, before she tuned and marched away, brushing by her friends in the process. They all looked at Layla and then at Warren in confusion. Magenta shook her head at him and turned to follow her best friend. The other stood there for a second, before they also turned to follow Layla to class.

Warren stood staring at her in shock. She had never talked to him like that before. And she had never walked away from him like that before.

He ran and hand through his hair and looked around. Everyone was watching him and Layla as she continued to walk down the hallway. Warren watched her for a moment half hoping that she would look back at him. Layla never did.

"What," he growled at everyone and shoved his way through the gathering students and stalked to his class. Today did not go the way he planned it…at all.

…..

….

….

"I need to talk to you," Warren said as he cornered Magenta later that day. It was almost the end of the day and he hadn't seen Layla since she had walked away from him this morning.

Okay, that was a lie. He had seen her in their gym class, but she refused to look at him. Somehow she had gotten Will to convince his sidekick in the class to switch with her so she wouldn't have to be Warren's partner today. And at lunch, Layla and her stupid friends didn't sit with him like they had been for the past month. They sat at the table as far away from him as possible. At first, he thought that it was the only table they could find that wasn't his, until he saw three other empty tables and then he realized that she had chosen that table on purpose. That thought was enough to get him smoking. Literally.

"Get out of my face, meat head." Magenta said as she began to walk around him.

Warren stepped in front of her, blocking her way. They did that dance for a minute until Magenta realized that he was not about to let her go. "What's up with Layla?" Warren practically accused her.

"What's up with Layla," she repeated slowly, giving him an impressive death glare. "You mean why she's not talking to you?" Magenta said with a fake smile. Warren gave her a curt nod. "Well, you see, Layla doesn't like it when people are being an ass to her for no reason."

"I wasn't being and ass to her," Warren said lowly. If it was anyone else-other than Layla-they would have coward away from him. Magenta just crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Really, so snapping at her when she JUST walked into school is not being an ass?"

Warren ran a hand through his hair at the same time the final bell of school rang, letting the students out of class. "I want to talk to her."

"Yeah," Magenta nodded. Warren almost got his hopes up, "Not happening." He glared at her; she just glared at him back.

"I'm not going to start anything," Warren hissed at her.

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe you."

The halls began to fill and people were watching Warren and Magenta. But neither looked at them, they were too focused on glaring at the other.

With a huff, Warren turned and walked towards Layla's locker. Warren could hear Magenta calling after him, but he ignored her. He was hoping that he would be able to convince her to talk to him. If there was one thing he knew about Layla, it was that she was horrible at holding grudges.

Warren stopped his approach to Layla's locker when he saw her talking to this kid he doesn't know very well. She was smiling and laughing at something he said, and the guy was just slouched against the locker Warren left a dent in this morning. Warren watched with growing fury as the guy brought his hand up and moved a strand of hair away from Layla's face.

That was enough, Warren snarled to himself. He marched up to the guy and grabbed the hand that was pulling away from Layla's hair and twisted it behind his back as Warren shoved him into the lockers with his other arm.

"Warren!" Layla said in shock. But Warren couldn't careless at the moment.

"Never," he growled at the guy he had pinned to the lockers. "Touch my girlfriend." Warren finished, tightening his hold on the guy and twisting his arm more.

"Okay, I'm sorry," He cried as Warrens touch burned his hands.

"Warren," Layla said loudly. "Let him go, you're hurting him." Layla reached out to grasp his shoulder, but she pulled away in pain. Warren looked at her in shock and then realized that he had burned her. He shoved the guy to the ground and turned to Layla.

"I'm sorry," he said as he moved closer to her. Layla moved back from him, cradling her hand to her chest. That motion nearly broke his heart. "I didn't mean to." Warren said getting more furious with himself. Couldn't he do anything right?

Layla looked like she was going to say something, but Principal Powers stepped forward, "Warren, you are on fire." For the first time, Warren noticed he really was on fire. No wonder Layla stepped away from him. Slowly he calmed his breathing and let the flames burn out as he continued to stare at Layla. "Layla, take Garth with you to the nurses and get your burns checked out. Warren, my office. Now."

I LOVE jealous Warren.

And this is a fast update for me. And I hope I didn't disappoint you.

I promise the next update will come sooner.

Review please.