Finally a chapter that's more than three pages long!
Anyway, I would like to say a quick thank you to the reviewer Jaimie who recommended I use the song Emotionless by Good Charlotte. It's a beautiful song and it fits Kayla perfectly (after I change a few of the lyrics around) Thank you and I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
"Would anyone care to give us one last performance before class ends? It is the last day before spring break." Mr. Jensen stood at the front of the class. Kayla and Alana had decided to take Music II second semester since last year it had been an easy credit, with both of them passing with high B's, even though this year Kayla was barely passing with a 72%, even though a D was still technically passing.
The class stayed silent for a while so Mr. Jensen turned to look up at Kayla. "Kayla? Would you care to perform something quick?" he asked.
Kayla sighed and refrained from rolling her eyes. Ever since that one performance sophomore year he always seemed to ask if she could sing something for the class. But she nodded nonetheless and got out of her seat. She picked up the guitar and sat in the seat in front of the class as she debated what to sing. Finally deciding on one, even though she decided to change a couple words, she took a deep breath.
(Emotionless By: Good Charlotte)
"Hey, Bro
I'm writing to you
Not to tell you that I still hate you
Just to ask you how you feel
And how we fell apart
How this fell apart
Are you happy out there in this great wide world
Do you think about your bros?
Do you miss your little sis?
When you lay your head down
How do you sleep at night?
Do you even wonder if we're alright?
But we're alright, we're alright
It's been a long hard road without you by my side
Why weren't you there on the nights that we cried?
You broke my father's heart, you broke your siblings for life
It's not okay, but we're alright
I remember the days you were a hero in my eyes
But those are just a long lost memory of mine
I spent so many months learning how to survive
And now I'm writing just to let you know I'm still alive
The days I spent so cold so hungry
Were full of hate, I was so angry
The scars run deep inside this tattooed body
There's things I'll take to my grave
But I'm okay, I'm okay
It's been a long hard road without you by my side
Why weren't you there on the nights that we cried?
You broke my father's heart, you broke your siblings for life
It's not okay, but we're alright
I remember the days you were a hero in my eyes
But those are just a long lost memory of mine
Now I'm writing just to let you know I'm still alive
Yeah I'm still alive
And sometimes I'll forgive
Yeah and this time I'll admit
That I miss you, said I miss you
It's been a long hard road without you by my side
Why weren't you there on the nights that we cried?
You broke my father's heart, you broke your siblings for life
It's not okay, but we're alright
I remember the days you were a hero in my eyes
But those are just a long lost memory of mine
Now I'm writing just to let you know I'm still alive
And sometimes
I'll forgive
And this time
I'll admit
That I miss you, I miss you
Hey, Bro"
The class applauded as usual as Kayla put the guitar back on its stand and went back to her seat, which was once again next to Alana like last year.
"Well, we only have a few minutes left of class, so you might as well visit." Mr. Jensen announced before going to sit at his desk.
One of the senior boys who sat in front of Alana turned around to look back at Kayla.
"Um, isn't that song supposed to be about a dad, not a brother?" he asked.
Kayla shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm allowed to change the lyrics up a bit if I want to."
"So did your brother leave or something?" he pressed. Kayla nodded slowly, unsure how much she should admit to. "Is he in the army or something?"
Kayla looked down. "Something like that."
She picked at one of her notebooks absentmindedly for a bit before she realized someone was staring at her. She looked to her right and saw Alana staring at her with a weird look on her face.
"What?" she asked, slightly freaked out.
Alana's lips curled up ever so slightly. "You always said you don't miss Leo." she pointed out knowingly.
Kayla narrowed her eyes. "I don't." she stated forcefully, her voice a silent threat to drop the subject. Alana ignored it.
"The lyrics of that song say several times 'I'll admit that I miss you'."
"I didn't write the song. It's not like I can change all the lyrics." Kayla was starting to get nervous, she didn't know what to say to defend herself.
"Sure." Alana drawled knowingly. Kayla rolled her eyes and when the bell rang she hurriedly left the room, leaving Alana behind.
Her next class was Algebra II, which was also her home room. When class started their teacher, Mrs. Lewis, spoke from her desk at the back of classroom.
"Alright everyone, I'm not too thrilled with starting a new unit a day before spring break, so today is pretty much a study hall. I'll be calling you all back by alphabetical order to talk with you about all your other classes."
Kayla pretty much dozed off until about ten minutes into class when she was called back to Mrs. Lewis' desk. She sat down in a chair across from her while Mrs. Lewis opened her grades on the computer. She was silent as she looked over everything and turned back to Kayla.
"What's going on Kayla?" she asked with a sigh in her voice.
Kayla shrugged. "I don't know what you mean."
"This." she turned the monitor so Kayla could see it. She clicked open another tab on the screen. "These were your grades your freshman year." looking over the grades Kayla saw 4 A's and 3 B's for her classes. "And these are your grades right now." Mrs. Lewis clicked back to the other tab. Her grades now consisted of 3 F's, 3D's, and a C.
Kayla shrugged again. "I'm only failing 3 classes. So what?"
Mrs. Lewis looked shocked. "'So what?'! You went from nearly a straight A student to failing multiple classes and being dropped from a Varsity team. And all you can say is 'So what?'?"
Kayla looked down, not sure what she was supposed to say. Mrs. Lewis sighed.
"Look Kayla, me and your other teachers have been talking lately. And we've all agreed on a way of helping you, even though we probably shouldn't. It'll mean a lot of hard work. We've decided on giving you a list of all the assignments you've missed this semester and give you spring break to finish them. That may not get you back up to A's and B's, but it should at least bring you up to passing. Then you'll have to work harder the rest of the year to pass."
Kayla forced herself to keep from rolling her eyes. "What makes you think I care if I pass or not? If I really cared I wouldn't be failing right now."
Mrs. Lewis narrowed her eyes, more out of confusion. "Exactly how can a student go from being all A's and B's to not caring?"
Kayla shrugged, showing she didn't care.
Mrs. Lewis sighed again and shook her head as she grabbed a paper off the desk. She handed it to Kayla. "Here. This is the list of assignments you haven't done. You can go back to your seat now."
Kayla nodded and went back to her seat.
Later that afternoon Kayla opened her locker and pulled her bag out. Glancing down the hallway she saw Mrs. Lewis 'discreetly' watching her from her classroom door; most likely watching to make sure she took all her homework home. Kayla couldn't help but roll her eyes, nonetheless she grabbed all her textbooks and notebooks she would need just to make it look like she was going to do her homework at home. She didn't really plan on doing any of it.
When she lifted the bag off the ground she stumbled slightly, all those textbooks added a lot more weight than she thought they would.
'Good thing I brought my board today, I don't think I could ride my K-Cycle like this.'
As she made her way down the hallway she nearly bumped into someone. She looked up slightly, finding herself face-to-face with Marcus.
They hadn't spoken a word to each other since that day rope climbing in gym class, and they hadn't even really seen each other for a couple months since the new semester started and they didn't have gym anymore.
Marcus opened his mouth to speak, but Kayla didn't give him the chance and brushed past him. She didn't know what to say to him, she was terrified he recognized her as the Shadow Archer. And she had no idea if he planned on telling anyone or not. She probably should talk to him and find out, but she was just too worried.
"Kayla!" he called after her, but she kept walking.
Alana came up beside her. "Hey. So, excited for break?"
"Obviously." Kayla answered.
"Hey, you wanna hang out after school? I've got some extra money. We could go get some ice cream. I'll just have to stop at home and drop off my stuff."
"Sure. I'll have to do the same, I don't think I can carry all this to an ice cream shop. They might think I'm packing." Kayla joked as she lifted her bag up slightly.
Alana eyed her shoulder bag with amusement. "Probably." she agreed. "So, should we meet there at about…5:00?"
"Sounds good. I'll see you then." Kayla answered as they split up in the parking lot, Alana heading to her new Chevy Volt while Kayla dropped her skateboard and skated away.
Kayla arrived back in the lair around 4:30. She took her bag and put it in her room, where Donny wouldn't find it. Then, she grabbed some spare cash off her desk from helping Mikey on one of his birthday party gigs. As she passed the couch she grabbed her helmet.
"Going somewhere?" Kayla turned around to see Don leaning his shoulder against the wall with his arms crossed.
"Um, yeah. I'm gonna hang out with Alana."
"Actually, no. You're not." Don corrected.
"What? Why not?" Kayla demanded, turning to face her brother.
"Because I got an e-mail from the school. They said they're giving you the opportunity to get your grades up, and whether you like it or not you're taking it."
"Look Don, I never asked to be put in school. That's what you wanted. I don't care about my grades. It's not like I plan on going to college."
"Either way, you have barely over a year left, and I plan on making you finish it. The school e-mailed me a list of all the assignments you missed, and I estimated that if you do about six a day you can finish all of them before the end of spring break." Kayla raised her hand and was about to speak, but Don continued, "And before you even say anything, one of your teachers called me and told me she saw you bring pretty much all your books home, so don't even try saying you didn't bring your homework home." Kayla snapped her fingers in annoyance.
Don came closer so he was right in front of her. "So, I've decided that if you want to leave the lair you have to get at least five homework assignments done per day, and I have to check them off."
Kayla's mouth dropped open. "You mean I can't leave the lair until I get five assignments done a day?!"
Don nodded. "Yup."
"You're not the boss of me, Master Splinter is." Kayla pointed out.
Don smirked. "Yeah, I talked this over with Sensei. He's completely on board. So, you're stuck in this situation whether you like it or not. He's not going to bail you out of it."
Kayla dropped her head, trying to think of a loophole. Then, she looked up at him and smiled. "Spring break doesn't technically start till tomorrow."
Don smiled back at her. "Nice try, but aren't you the one who always claimed that break starts as soon as school gets out?"
"This is different." Kayla argued stubbornly.
Don shrugged. "Sorry sis. You dug yourself into this hole, now you gotta dig yourself out of it."
"Can't I at least go have ice cream with Alana?" Kayla begged.
"No."
"But she's expecting me."
"Then I'll call her and tell her you won't be able to make it."
"But Don-"
"No, Kayla. I don't care if you had plans. You're not leaving this lair until you get that homework done!" Don shouted in frustration.
Kayla glared up at him for a few moments before chucking her helmet at the sofa, spinning on her foot, and racing to her room; slamming the door shut so hard her room shook. She leaned her head back against the door, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths to calm herself down. When the tense anger left her shoulders she lowered her head and opened her eyes, instinctively doing the one thing she had forbidden herself from doing for the past year.
She looked across the room to the large bulletin board, and her eyes found one of the many picture of Leo smiling into the camera. As she looked into the shadowed deep brown of his eyes she felt tears begin burning her eyes. Her emotions were just so jumbled up she didn't know how to feel anymore. She always put up a front of anger, saying that she hated Leo and never wanted him to come home, but she honestly had no idea how she really felt. If she really hated him… would she still be crying over him?
Kayla sighed and hung her head, allowing a few tears to fall.