Chapter Six: Layla

"Okay, ready...let's go!"

Layla was alone in her basement, trying to work out some new cheers for next season in football. As captain of the cheerleading squad, it was her duty to come up with some interesting, fun cheers. She was agile, she was athletic; but, after all the years of dance training she had under her, it was expected of her to be what she was.

She was still upset; it had been two weeks since she had caught Ken cheating on her, but it still hurt. She hated him for it. She was working more feverishly on cheers, she found, since he had stabbed her in the back like that. A year of dating didn't mean anything obviously. That's why she got back at him, and why she was now the talk of Stamford High.

Torrie Wilson's party was tonight, and Ken was going to be there, so Layla opted not to go. Torrie wasn't happy that Layla wasn't coming along, but there wasn't much that she could do about it, so she just bit her lip and stayed quiet about it. Layla appreciated that and told her fellow cheerleader she would she her when the season started.

She went to her boom box and turned on "Love Thing" by the Spice Girls. Say what you will about the five ladies from London, but they had beats that could be danced to, and Layla was going to prove just that.

Several hours later, Layla emerged upstairs, drenched with sweat. It had taken hours, but she finally had a great cheer routine for the ladies when they got back from the holidays. She went to her refrigerator and took out a can of Pepsi. Popping the top open, she went upstairs to the bathroom and started the shower.

Her parents wished she didn't push herself so damn hard. But Layla knew that greatness wasn't just handed to you; it was something that you had to earn. So she worked harder than any other girl at school, and that's how she managed to get the head cheerleading spot. It was a real clique world that she was entangled in, but Layla was a girl who would sell her soul for greatness.

Finishing her soda, she got into the shower and cleaned up from her extensive routine, singing "Love Thing" in the shower. She couldn't help it; the song was just about as catchy as "Milkshake" was when it came out.

Grabbing a towel off of the towel rack, she wrapped her small frame with the towel and got out of the shower. After getting into a white spaghetti strapped top and plaid pajama bottoms with a drawstring, she dried her hair and left it on top of the washer in the closet before leaving the room.

She was kind of thankful that her parents had joined Lita's parents to go see "Cats" tonight. They had been concerned about the way that she had been pushing herself ever since she and Ken broke up. And they had made no qualms about bringing it up at the dinner table, prompting Layla's eating habits to dwindle, as she no longer looked forward to eating dinner.

She went downstairs and started popping popcorn. She had the original A Nightmare on Elm Street in her bedroom on top of her DVD player, and if it killed her, she was going to enjoy it. It was going to be her, herself and Freddy Krueger. She wasn't complaining.

When the popcorn was done, she grabbed another can of Pepsi out of the fridge and made her way up the stairs to enjoy the movie.

Layla was curled up in the fetal position in bed, watching Tina's infamous death scene when she heard pebbles getting knocked at her bedroom window. Her paranoia heightened, knowing that Freddy Krueger had thrown pebbles at Tina's window, she jolted up and panicked. Then she laughed at herself.

"Get a hold of yourself, Layla," she advised herself. "You're just being a wuss." She went to the window and took a look outside. There was nobody there. Turning around, she went back to bed.

"Layla..."

The voice sounded like it was coming from downstairs. Was it a female? "Mom?" she called out, pausing the movie and going outside of her bedroom towards the stairs.

She felt an arm around her neck and everything went black.