A/N: Okay so, like I had said, I can't update until the weekend but here I am... writing a new chapter on Monday... that's just weird for me... specially since I've been in a -gulp- good mood... BLAH! I'm so sick. This may not be the greatest chapter, I just want to write something down for the mind... Enjoy.

The bus finally stopped at Layla's house and she got up from her seat lazily, "Thanks Ron," She said as she exited the vehicle, "I'll see you around."

Ron tilted his hat with a smile and closed the doors behind her. Layla trudged her way up a few steps and the walkway to the front door. She searched in her bag for her keys but found that they weren't there. She sighed and let her head drop on the door. She groaned as the pain shot through her head like lightning.

"Moooooommm..." She groaned through the door. No answer. "Moooom!" She called out again. The neighborhood dogs started to bark and she glanced at her cellphone for the time. That's when she realized there was one missed call. She pressed the 'view' button and saw that it was from her mother, "That's weird..." She pressed the appropriate keys and pressed her phone to her ear to listen to the voice mail:

"Hi, Rosebud! I'm sorry about this and on such short notice but there's an emergency out in Africa and I have to take care of it immediately, don't worry about it though, it's nothing too bad. I went out and did a little shopping to keep you set for at least a month, that's how long I'll be gone at the very least. Again, I am so sorry about this and I hate that I had to leave without giving you a hug but I hope you had a great time at the party and I love you. Oh, and there's a list of some things you'll need to do while I'm gone... I don't know where I left it but you'll find it eventually. Okay, I have to turn my phone off as the plane takes off so goodnight honey and if anything bad happens, go to Will's house for-"

There came a 'beep' indicating that her message time was up. Hadn't she been talking so fast, she wouldn't have fit in at least half of the message in time.

"A month? This is just great, just great! Hey, mom, I forgot my keys inside and guess what? I'm outside!" Layla grumbled to herself as she tried her best to gracefully climb over the fence. She fell onto her backyard and went straight toward her tree. She climbed it, reached a branch over and hopped on her roof. She knelt over and pulled her window up... or at least tried.

"Locked? Locked? But I never lock my window!" She whispered as she tried to pry the window open. I guess she was hoping to suddenly be super strong like Wi- Larry the rock man. She looked through her window but found her view blocked by a piece of paper taped to her window, "I guess mom knew I'd come through here if she was asleep..." She mumbled as she noticed that the paper was taped facing outside, just so she could read it.

She pushed that thought aside and concentrated on trying to get inside her house. She looked past the note and searched for her beautiful ivy plants that were always on her nightstand. Not there.

"What? Not there? Where could they have gone?" Layla threw her head back and closed her eyes as she let a long groan escape her lips in despair. She then again, glanced at the piece of paper taped to her window.

'Layla, I put all your plants out in the garden so you can remember to water all of the plants at once. Also, I borrowed some of your jeans. Love, Mom.'

"Perfect." She said with a smile as she took deep breaths, "Can this night get any worse?" She cried out.

As if on cue, rain started pelting her body, "Thank you," She said, indicating to the higher power that is God, "I so needed that." She could nearly hear Him chuckle.

"I am so not going to Will's place, Magenta lives too far away to walk, I don't know where either Zach or Ethan live, Warren isn't an option..." She glanced at her cellphone, 10 p.m.

Layla got up from the roof, climbed down the tree, hopped the fence and headed down the street under the freezing rain. The water running down her cheeks just taunted her to cry... so, she did. She walked down the street aimlessly, crying silently all the while laughing at the irony of it all.

Vengeance led to all of this. Her carelessness and stupidity were it's accomplices. She bought it upon herself. To her, this was God getting back at her for what she had been trying to do to her best friend with his archenemy. But what did Will get for what he did to her, she wondered.

A dim light flashing through the darkness caught her eye. She looked up and saw her favorite restaurant sitting at the very place it did every day. The flickering light just called out to her.

Layla scoffed, "I feel like a moth right now." She chuckled as she went up to the restaurant and went up the small steps. She tried to squeeze the water out of her clothes and hair as best she could before opening the door.

As soon as she looked into the restaurant, she saw the person she least wanted to see right now leaning over the counter arguing with his boss. For some reason, at that very moment he decided to look her way. He fixed her with a glare that would send anyone running. He held his glare despite his boss yelling at him in Cantonese angrily.

Layla was frozen for about a minute. She felt a very familiar sting reach her eyes but she didn't do anything about it. Tears started to stream down her face as she stared back at him. Seeing the tears escape her eyes, his glare softened but his jaw remained clenched. Layla wanted to run but her world was spinning right now. This can't be happening to me right now, she thought to herself miserably.

More tears came and she just stood there. She felt the eyes of the customers on her but her body would refuse to move. He continued to stare at her. He merely twitched and that's all Layla needed to be sprinting out of the place.

She could hear him yell something at his boss in Cantonese, clearly angrily. But, she didn't stop running. She was terrified of what he would do to her, were he to reach her. She didn't know exactly where she was going, she could only register that she had just taken a right turn.

She felt a hand grab her by the shoulder and it spun her around forcefully. She finally came face-to-face with him and boy was it a sight to see. The rain that fell over his body evaporated as soon as it came in contact with his skin and smoke was surrounding him creating a horrifying scene for her.

"What the hell was that all about back there?" He demanded.

"I'm sorry." She choked out, "I know that I got you into a lot of trouble for being selfish and careless. I just thought about getting back at Will and he's my best friend so I shouldn't have done what I did. I even got Zach hurt and Magenta got involved in it too. I managed to get all of you involved when I could've been the better person and just forgive him and everything would be normal right now and I would be having fun at the party with my friends and you wouldn't be on the verge of getting fired and I wouldn't be locked out of my house feeling terrible about everything and you wouldn't be here making me realize what happened so badly and, and, and-" Layla started to hyperventilate due to her state of fear, guilt and saying all that so quickly.

"Yep." He said as he let her arm go and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"S-So that's it? No yelling, no glaring, no nothing?" She asked between sobs.

"Nah, I think you already feel horrible as it is. So your locked out of your house? Where's your psychotic mother?" He asked casually.

Layla was beyond confused and tired, "Mom went out to Africa a few hours ago. Last minute thing. She said that if anything happened, I'd have to go to Will's place... not happening. She took my ivy from my room so I can't use it to break into my own room."

"Okay?" He said slightly confused.

There was a horrible silence between them that was practically killing Layla. Suddenly her adrenaline was wearing her out and her body felt as if it were trapped in a block of ice. She started to tremble uncontrollably and her teeth chattered audibly.

"Come on." He finally said as he started to walk the other way.

Layla followed him reluctantly without a word which he was grateful for. She wrapped her arms around herself and hugged herself tightly, trying to ease the piercing cold. All of a sudden there's a splashing sound and a sharp cry.

"You okay? What happened?" He asked as he looked back where she was supposed to be. She was currently wrenching her flats in her hands angrily. Angry is a cute look on her, he thought.

"I stepped in a puddle." She mumbled as she continued to walk barefoot.

"Relax, we're almost there."

"How much farther?" She asked, almost whined.

"20 minutes from here." He said simply.

Layla groaned loudly not caring if it was unlady-like.

"Come here," He said.

"What?" She asked, obviously confused.

"I said, come here. Are you deaf now too?"

Layla picked up her pace, "That would just make my day." She said as she finally reached his side.

He reached out, put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her flush against his side.

"What are you doing, Warren?" She asked awkwardly as she hid her flushed cheeks from him.

"Shut up." He snapped.

Layla felt a surge of heat around her suddenly. Was he really being nice? After all that has happened? She wanted to ask if he was suffering some kind of brain damage but having already been told to shut up once, she decided not to. Besides, the warmth was unbearably nice, she didn't want to mess up and have it taken away.

"Oh, wow." She suddenly said as she wrapped her arms around his waist and hid her face into the crook of his neck.

Even in the state of heat he was in, he could still feel her cold nose on his neck. Then he noticed that he was also trembling. Oh wait, that's just Layla. He decided to kick it up a notch and he felt her warm breath on his neck as she sighed in a sign of relief.

"You know I'm only doing this out of pity, right?" He asked her.

She just nodded her head and tried to walk in her current position. She tripped a few times since half her body was facing Warren and the other half was walking forward. Suddenly she fell face forward onto the ground. She turned around despite the pain to glare at Warren who had a faint smirk on his face.

"Why?" She asked simply. She made sure to sound angry.

"I didn't feel satisfied about it all." He answered just as simply.

"Fair."

"One more thing," He said as he walked past her, "I'm not helping you up."

Layla rolled her eyes, "Fair." She helped herself up and looked at her surroundings. She tripped over the steps to a porch of a house. She watched as Warren pulled out a pair of keys and unlocked the door. He stood aside and used his head to point inside.

"Get in." He said firmly.

"A simple 'after you' or 'come in' would be nice." She said as she walked inside.

"Don't." He barked. Well, it was more of a rumble in his throat which made Layla shut her mouth.

He walked in and tossed the keys into the key bowl on the table. Layla remained at the door politely.

"What?" He asked her as he loosened his tie.

"This is weird." She admitted.

"Try being on my side of the table." He said as he tossed his tie into a nearby trashcan.

"Where are you parents? Would they mind if I'm here?" She asked.

"Don't know, don't care. I live alone." He answered coldly like he had been talking since he caught her by the arm. Layla had a feeling that was going to be his tone for the rest of the night.

"Oh..." Why hadn't I seen that coming, she wondered.

"What do you want me to say?" He asked, suddenly extremely annoyed.

"What?" Layla asked in a whisper because of his sudden mood swing.

"Make yourself at home? Mi casa es su casa? I won't bite? There are no monsters in the closets set out to eat you alive? Just come in." He barked.

"But..." She flinched at his sudden glare, "I'm all wet." She said nervously.

Warren growled and stomped upstairs. Seconds later, he came back down and threw something at Layla's face. Failing to catch it on time, it fell onto the floor. She bent over and picked it up. It was some clothes. A shirt and some sweat pants. She didn't fail to notice that the shirt wasn't his... it wasn't even a male shirt. I belonged to a girl.

Warren noticed the expression on her face, "She's long gone. She left that here when she left."

"Who?" She asked, still staring at the shirt.

"I don't really know. It was a spur of the moment thing." He said as he opened a can of soda he had fetched from the fridge.

Layla tossed the shirt across the room frantically, "Ew!" She squeaked, "Warren!"

"Relax, we didn't go all the way. I wouldn't, with a whore like her." He said before taking a sip from his soda.

"Warren, shut up! I don't wanna know!" Layla said as she covered her ears childishly. Warren took that chance to chuckle to himself. He walked over and picked the shirt up. He held it out for her, "I am certainly not wearing that." She said.

Warren rolled his eyes and shoved the shirt in her face. Layla screamed and shoved it away... or at least tried. He kept rubbing it in. Layla managed to pull away and shove him back. She caught a glimpse of a smile before he dashed off with the shirt and sweat pants in hand, back upstairs. He came back down with something else in hand. He threw it at her and it hit her in the face again. You would think that after a first time, she would catch it... or at least not fail so miserably.

She picked it up and this time is was only one of his shirts. Then, something fell from her hands and onto the floor. She looked at it and it was a pair of boxers.

He noticed the expression on her face, "Wear that or stay in your underwear, either way you want it." He said as he took another sip from the can.

"You're such a jerk." Layla said as she picked the boxers up.

"So are you." He reminded her.

She rolled her eyes, "What was wrong with those sweatpants?" She asked.

"Very same ones I was wearing when-"

"Ah! Lalalala!" She shouted as she ran up the stairs. She walked down the hall and found the bathroom easily. She walked in and removed her wet clothes, setting them into the sink. She sighed and pulled on the shirt and boxers. The shirt wasn't too baggy but it was long enough to cover up her shorts (she refuses to refer to them as 'her boxers'). She looked at herself in the mirror and noticed that all of makeup was running down her cheeks.

She searched around in the bathroom for soap and started to clean her face from all the makeup. Once it was all off, she searched for a comb.

"I'm sure Warren won't mind." She said to herself as she started to comb her tangled hair. Having been wet, her hair took it's natural wavy curls back.

She looked in the mirror and only a little bit of liner surrounded her eyes that wouldn't come off. She pulled her lip balm from her purse and applied some since the cold was starting to dry her lips up. She sighed and walked out of the bathroom to see Warren exiting his room in some sweatpants and no shirt.

"Move, I have to pee." He said as he brushed past her and shut the door behind him.

"Jerk." She mumbled.

Layla looked around and sighed. For some reason, she wandered into Warren's room. It wasn't exactly what she expected. The walls were white with a few posters here and there of some rock bands, a black beanbag rested in a corner, a desk with a laptop and other junk scattered over it, his bed with the black sheets, clothes and shoes scattered all around the room, a lava lamp on his nightstand and a mirror. Not that it was a surprise but she was shocked to see that the mirror was shattered in the center. She walked over to it. He clearly had punched it because there was dried up blood were the impact is. Absentmindedly, she reached over and ran her hand over it carefully.

"What are you doing?" Came Warren's deep voice from the doorway. Layla flinched back from the mirror and spun around to look at him.

"Nothing." She said quickly before dashing past him and out the door before he could say anything else.

She raced down the stairs and walked into the middle of the room. To her left was the kitchen, to her right, the living room, behind her the stair case and in front, the door. The front door seemed tempting right now. She just wanted to leave, get home, crawl into her bed and die. Then she would have to suffer at school the next day.

Now that she thought about school, she checked the time on a nearby clock. It read 11:45 p.m. It was way past her bed time... but for some reason, being around Warren, she didn't want to seem like a total pushover like he assumed her to be. Because she wasn't.

"What's with the face?" Warren asked from behind her.

"You can't even see my face."

"Yeah I can. I can see your reflection on the window."

"Oh," She said as she turned to face him, "I was just thinking about school..."

"Shocked and amazed. You, thinking about school? No way." He said with a roll of his eyes.

"Shut up."

"No," He said harshly, "Aren't you usually happy to go to school every morning? There's only like one week left, right?"

"Yeah..." Was all she could answer. Her mind was somewhere else and she wasn't really with it.

"Thinkin' about Stronghold?" He suddenly asked.

Brains' back, "What? No. Why would I be?"

Warren just shrugged. Layla heard her phone ringing from the bathroom where she had left her bag, "That's weird..."

"What is?" Warren asked from the couch as he watched T.V.

"That's the school's ring tone." She said before dashing back upstairs and searching for her phone. Too late, there was a voice message.

"What's up?" Warren asked from the doorway.

Layla jumped out of her skin and screamed, "How do you do that?" He just shrugged. Layla put her hand over her pounding heart and tried to calm down, "I don't know, someone left a message." She said as she put the phone against her ear and leaned against the sink.

Warren leaned over and pressed his ear against the other side of the phone. Layla pushed him away with her shoulder and pressed the speaker button.

"Hello, Layla Williams, it is my duty as principal of Sky High to inform you that as of today you are suspended for the remainder of the school year as consequence of what happened today during prom night. I am deeply disappointed in you Miss Williams, you are an excellent student here in Sky High. I am sorry for having to do this through the phone and at such a late hour. I also hear that your mother is not going to be home for a month, take care of yourself, sweetheart."

"What? Suspended? I can't be suspended! No!" Layla cried out. "Do you think Will or you got suspended?"

"For sure."

"What about Magenta and Zach? Would they have been suspended?"

"Don't know, don't care." He shrugged.

"Of course you don't." Layla barked as she pushed past him and down stairs. She started to pace in the living room.

Warren followed after her, "Would you relax? It's just a suspension. It's not like you're expelled or something."

"Warren, it's my first suspension in my entire life! This is like, what?, your 20th suspension?"

"35th but who's counting?" He tried at a joke.

She groaned, "Kill me now!" She yelled.

"Shut up, it's already midnight. Oh yeah," He said calmly, "your mom isn't coming back for how long?" He said in a threatening growl.

"A month."

"You aren't staying here for a month, sorry." He said as he shook his head.

"Whatever... God, this is all my fault!" She screeched.

"I said, shut up!" Warren hissed.

"Stop telling me to shut up! It's annoying! You shut up! Ugh!" She snapped.

"You need a nap." He grumbled as he walked up to her and tossed her over his shoulder. He went upstairs despite her yelling and pounding on his back. He went into his room and dumped her on his bed. "Shut up and sleep." He said before walking out and shutting... or more likely slammed the door shut.

She didn't even bother. She may have been furious but she was still scared to death of Warren Peace. He is Warren Peace after all. Nothing has changed, he was still the same guy only she was about to commit suicide and he was stopping her. At least that's how they both saw it. Tomorrow was a day Layla wasn't looking forward too.

I have not the slightest clue what happened here. I just started to type and this happened. I'm finished writing this chapter and I don't know what it is... funny? Dramatic? Dark? I really don't know... but I know I enjoyed writing it and hope you enjoyed reading it. I think I might have another chapter ready tomorrow or the day after. These will be updated on Wednesday... or maybe tomorrow if we all get lucky.

Please review! No one seems to do that anymore! REVIEW! Thanks lots!

Love, Shadow.