Chapter 4: Sleep Deprived
Layla tossed and turned that night in bed, unable to close off her thoughts from the events of that day.
She and Will's relationship had never been this complicated before. She knew that above anything else, Will was still her best friend. This was just high school, and these things were bound to happen, right? People change and grow up, but they never forget where they came from.
Whenever she thought of her best friend, she couldn't imagine her life without him. His parents were the greatest superheroes of their time, and Will was bound to follow in their footsteps. He and his family would be off saving the world, and no matter how she imagined their future to be, in the back of her mind she knew realistically that she would eventually be left behind.
Perhaps he deserved someone who could fight evil and crime alongside him. Maybe it was time for the fantasy to go. It would be impossible to stop loving him, but maybe she could go back to just being friends. It would take away the risk of their cherished friendship from falling apart due to her jealously. After all, it was better to have him as a friend than to not have him in her life at all.
She winced as she remembered what she said to him this afternoon.
She had told him about her and Warren's plan to make him jealous. Will, in return, told her not to hang out with Warren, that he was bad news. But Warren had never done anything to make her suspicious of his intentions. He was even nice to her at times.
Warren.
He was definitely a loner, never talking to anyone unless he was spoken to and even then it was a chore to make him participate. Even if someone did try to be friendly to him, he was always so defensive and off-putting. She could see why most students didn't even try.
She wondered if this was because of his father. She didn't know much about Barron Battle other than small details of his incarceration. She imagined it would be hard to grow up without a dad. Especially when you compared it with the close relationship that Will and his father shared.
Layla knew in some ways Warren blamed Will and his parents for placing his father behind bars. Maybe seeing Will for the first time was too much to take, like when he attacked him that first week at school. It was the only time she'd seen Warren show real, raw emotion at something in the very short time she had known him. Maybe his family was a weak spot for him, like how Will's friends were a weak spot for him. At least, they used to be.
That's why she was so surprised at the fight earlier this afternoon. She knew that Warren had a temper, but what on earth could Gwen have possibly said to him that would make him go ballistic like that? She knew it had to be the older teen that provoked the situation, because she couldn't come up with any scenarios that would make Warren just attack another student randomly.
Did she say something about his family? Maybe something about his dad? Warren never did anything to her, other than dislike Will. Was Gwen being nasty to him for that reason? You would think that Gwen would have been relieved that Warren was going to Homecoming with Layla and would cut him some slack.
Layla groaned, grabbing her pillow from underneath her head and pressing it to her face. Why was everything so confusing?
She looked at the clock, frowning as it read "4:37" in the morning.
She and Magenta had made plans to shop for dresses to the dance afterschool, but without a date, she didn't feel much like going anymore. She knew her friend would convince her to go anyway.
Layla turned over and watched the numbers on her clock count minute after minute, and before she knew it, her eyes grew heavy and she slipped into a light sleep.