Okay, short chapter I know. And I'm leaving early Tuesday morning. So, this will be my last chapter. But I will update as soon as I get back.
Thanks again, Ratdogtwo, your reviews mean alot.
I understand, Saiyu, thanks a million!! Yay, I love cookies :D.
I'm going to California for a month. And I'm going to continue as soon as I get back, Takerslady.
PetiteDiable. Thanks so much for your review!
Yup, I thought it was pretty funny myself. I could totally see myself doing that. In fact, I have a few time ;) Inspired.Butterfly. And thanks!!

Chapter 9 - When Youre Gone

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Layla was tempted to jump up and throw the clock off the wall. She was already mad at herself for not letting her sleep, she didn't need the clock to remind her of the time she was wasting staring at the ceiling. If she was correct and actually could read the clock in the dark, it was around one o'clock.

Letting out a sigh, she rolled over to her side and pushed back her falling bangs. It had been a couple days since the whole car-jacking thing. She thought that this would bring John and her closer together, but instead she hardly talked to him since. Almost like he was avoiding her.

Maybe that was his game? Make her warm up to him, until he was almost constantly on her mind, and then...nothing. Talk to her later, yeah right. It was so confusing, though. He was so confusing. But, then she wondered if she was over reacting. Maybe they were both just busy. Maybe it was nothing and she was just being stupid and paranoid.

She was even tempted to get out of bed, creep to his room, and demand what was going on. But, the first thing was that she had no idea where his room was. And second was she was sure that would just distant them even more.

"That's it. I'm just being paranoid, over reacting over nothing. It's nothing.

Nothing." She whispered to herself before rolling over onto her back. That

seemed to settle her mind and she fell asleep.

But it hadn't changed for another week.

She sat, sitting on her bed, flipping through one of Iris's magazines, while she shuffled through her CD's and tried to organize them alphabetically on the floor below Layla. They sat in silence before Iris spoke.

"So, did you and Pyro, like, have a fight?"

Layla glanced at her before flipping the page. "I don't know." She answered, shrugging.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Iris asked her.

Layla sighed. "Well after that one night we ditched school, he sorta stopped talking to me." She said, shrugging.

"Did you do something wrong?" Iris asked her.

"No!" Layla said. "Atleast not that I know of. And even if I did, he would have said something...I think." Layla said. "I mean, he hates all those stupid mind games people play to create drama. He's straightforward. But, then again, he isn't one to bring up problems or talk about what he's feeling. I really don't know. I didn't do anything purposely."

"He hates drama, huh?" Iris asked. "Well, it sounds like he likes to create it."

"Yeah, he's weird." Layla pointed out. "But, I'm not going to worry about it."

"Whatever helps you sleep better at night." Iris mumbled.

"It does."

The next day, she sat next to Iris in class. Drawing doodles in her notebook, she glanced up at Bobby and Rogue's back, since they sat in front of her. She watched as Bobby's hand reached over and laced with Rogue's gloved hand. Narrowing her eyebrows she looked up at the teacher, Storm, writing something on the board. After a moment, she sighed and flipped the page in her notebook and started to take notes, for the first time since she came to the school.

The next few days she devoted her bored mind to getting back on track with schoolwork. Taking notes, turning in assignments.

"That was an excellent essay on Romeo and Juliet." Storm complimented her as she handed papers. Layla took the paper and nodded, pushing it under her notebook.

"Excellent." Iris repeated the word beside her. "I didn't know you were such a fan of the play."

"Please. Juliet is a slut, and Romeo is...well, a guy. And they are both out of their minds." Layla mumbled.

"Ouch." Iris chuckled. "Some one is in a bad mood."

"Sorry." Layla sighed, but still not looking at her.

And then later that day, she sat on her bed, studying hard on her notebook, trying to memorize the notes, and writing a few things here and there. Iris was reading a magazine, but walked over to turn up the volume of the stereo.

"Can you turn that back down? I'm trying to study!" Layla snapped.

Iris gave her a look as she turned the music down. "You've gone all hardcore school nerd on us."

"Sorry for wanting to be smart." She snapped.

"Serious, Lay. What's up?" She asked. "You've been acting weird for a couple weeks now."

Layla sighed and looked up. "I don't even exist now!" Iris gave her a look. "When he passes me in the hall, he won't even look at me! I don't know what to do!"

"Pyro drama." Iris sighed and walked over sitting down on Layla' bed. "Still ignoring you, huh?"

"Yup." Layla said, biting her lip and nodding, annoyed.

"I got to say, he sure does got a hold of you." Iris stating.

"What's that mean?" Layla asked.

"Well, I mean, he managed to turn broody, confident Layla, into a nervous worried pile of emotions." She said, simply, shrugging.

"Nice." Layla said, chuckling.

"I'm serious. When you two were tight, you acted really confident and hard as nails. Like nothing could stop you. And then, once he drops you, you get all nervous and worried. You get serious about school, you are irritable all the time." She said.

"That's not because of John." She protested.

"Sure." She answered. "Just like you didn't have a thing for him."

"I don't have a thing for him." She protested, dropping her pencil and slapping her notebook closed. "I wish you would just shut up about that."

"Irritable." She echoed, smiling.

"Shut up." Layla snapped, pushing off the bed and walking over to her dresser, placing her notebook on top. Sudden new found rage traveled through her. This was all John's fault. He was the jerk that was acting like this. Well, fine! If he wanted to be this way, she wouldn't let him get to her. It was a good thing he was ignoring her, or else she might be forced to talk to him.

"Okay, that's it." Iris said, standing up. "I've got to fix this."

Layla whipped around. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Just focus on denying your Pyro-crush." Iris told her, walking back over to her CD's.

Layla rolled her eyes and walked over to her bed, picking up the book on the lamp stand and sitting down, unaware of what Iris meant as 'fix this'.