A/N: IMPORTANT! Before I begin, I want to point out that I went through and changed a few things in previous chapters. Instead of Layla telling Will that she liked him, I omitted that part although her feelings toward him obviously still took place. I also edited the "group" date to seem less date-like for her and Will. The reasoning behind this is I never intended for it to seem like Will was actually interested in Layla and reading back through my chapters, I realized that is how it came across. They're just very close friends. You may want to go back and read it with fresh eyes, but that's up to you :)

Chapter 15

The day couldn't drag on any longer than it possibly had all morning. By the time the class was dismissed for lunch, Layla one step away from jumping out of her chair and screaming all the way down the hallway. Ok, maybe not that dramatic but she did feel she was starting to go just a little crazy.

After Will's permission, she was finally comfortable to make a final decision in the matter of her and Warren's relationship. He may have been a pleasant distraction (alright, maybe not a complete distraction but you know…) to her troubles with Will, but she was really starting to feel something more for the older teen. She actually liked him. Not in a 'he's so hot!' kind of way, but rather she looked forward to his company.

Sure, her feelings for Will probably wouldn't go away any time soon, but it was ok. She would move on, and they would be friends until the end. Just like it was always meant to be.

Besides, now that word got around that Will was dumped (besides his best efforts to convince everyone that he did the dumping) girls were practically throwing themselves at him. Maybe it was the super strength that made all the girls swoon. Most likely it was that Will, no matter how much Gwen disliked the idea now that they were no longer together, was extremely popular. And anyone hanging off his arm was sure to get noticed.

Layla felt a little bad for her friend. She certainly did not want him to get used again, but it didn't seem like Will minded the extra attention for the time being.

She picked up her usual at lunch: a salad with an apple on the side while her friends salivated at today's menu of greasy cheeseburgers.

She frowned when, after paying for her lunch, she looked toward Warren's typical table and he was not there. In the few months they had been attending Sky High, he was always sitting there. Same table, same seat. Always.

Someone nudged her with their tray from behind and she moved forward, a bit hesitant. She made her way over to the table and looked around curiously, still not spotting the surly teen.

"Where's the boyfriend?" Zach questioned, setting his tray down a bit clumsy and shifting everything on it to one side.

Layla shrugged her shoulder, trying to look indifferent but failing.

"Everything's ok, right? You didn't say anything…" Magenta asked, sitting beside her friend.

"I haven't seen him since this morning. He didn't say anything about missing lunch," Layla responded. She had to admit, she was really disappointed because all morning she was looking forward to seeing him.

"Maybe he got held up in class?" her friend offered while shooting Zach a disgusted look as he shoved a handful of fries in his mouth.

"Well, Gwen's just made her presence known so we know he didn't try to kill her again!" he stated after swallowing his mouthful of food. Gwen had, in fact, just stepped into the cafeteria, her nose so high up in the air she could have been sniffing out clouds.

"Ew! Chew with your mouth closed!" Magenta snapped, hitting him on the arm.

"Dear God woman! What's with the abuse today?"

"Anyway," Magenta said with a roll of her eyes, completely ignoring Zach's protests, "I'm sure there's a good explanation."

Zach and Ethan looked doubtful.

"Hey guys!"

The three friends turned to Will who approached their table with ease. Before sitting down he glanced back toward Gwen's table only to find her glaring at him with as much hate as she could muster. He quickly averted his eyes and his attention was back to his friends.

"This is Krista, she's in one of my classes."

Everyone peeked around Will to see a girl their own age, light brown hair and pretty blue eyes. Layla felt a stab of jealously for a second before she willed it away, her thoughts drifting back to Warren.

"Hey, I'm Zach and this is my old lady," the platinum blonde said, pointing to Magenta. Layla tried not to laugh as her friend shot him the dirtiest look she had ever seen.

"I remember you guys from the first day of school," Krista smiled warmly. "You can turn into a hamster."

"Guinea pig actually," Magenta corrected a bit snottily, then changed her tone seeing Will's pleading expression to be nice. "But it's the same thing really…" she muttered.

"And that's Ethan," Will introduced, the small boy giving the newcomer a shy wave. She smiled in return and Layla thought for a second that he might turn into goo, but he refrained.

"I'm Layla," she said, introducing herself with a small wave and smile of her own.

"I know," Krista replied, giving her a grin. "You're the one who attacked Gwen. That was so cool!"

The rest of the table grinned, recalling the memory.

"You know, she dated my brother last year," stated Krista while opening her bottle of juice. "She was constantly putting him down and being so rude to all his friends. I don't know how anyone can stand her."

"Join the club," spoke up Magenta, warming up just the slightest bit.

"Yeah, well…" Will trailed off, having been the only one truly close to Gwen. He had flushed a bit and the rest of the table either chuckled or sent him sympathetic looks.

"So Krista, what's your power?" Zach asked, wiping his fingers on his shirt rather than the napkin directly in front of him, much to Magenta's chagrin. Obviously she was training him up for boyfriend material.

"Oh, I'm a crystal ball," she replied, completely serious.

The table, apart from Will of course, stared at her.

She giggled a bit and then clarified her answer. "Not like literally, but I can see what someone is doing at any certain time. I try to only use it for emergencies, because it can get kind of embarrassing to catch someone in the bathroom and stuff like that."

"Um, I don't get it. So-"

"You can see anyone?" Magenta asked, cutting off Zach from what she was sure to be a stupid question.

"Pretty much, yeah." Krista replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Magenta smiled wickedly at Layla, then turned back to the girl in front of her.

"How about Warren Peace?"

"Warren Peace?" questioned Krista, confused.

"Yeah, what's he doing right now?" the dark-haired girl questioned. Layla kicked Magenta's foot under the table but the other girl did not take the hint, still looking expectantly at the newcomer.

"Um…" Krista said, obviously confused. She looked toward Will who was not paying attention to her, but who was fixed on Layla's embarrassment.

"What's wrong with you and Warren?" he questioned.

Seeing as Magenta would not stop staring her down until she performed the task, Krista had already gone into a trance-like mode, her eyes glazing over slightly as Will asked this question. She came to only seconds later, blinking a view times as if to clear her vision.

"He's in Principal Powers' office."

"What's he doing there?" Magenta questioned, "Did he get into trouble again?"

Krista shrugged apologetically, having not looked that far into the scenario but before anyone could get into any specifics, Layla stood up, gathering her tray.

"Um, what's going on?" Will asked, clearly confused.

"That's what I'm going to find out," Layla replied, already heading toward the doors.

A/N: So… long time no see! I apologize a million times over for taking so long to update. I really have no good excuse. I think I've finally got my inspiration back so hopefully the plot will come to me a lot more smoothly. Anyway, I have one more BIG thing planned for this story that is going to extend it far past the 2-3 chapters I thought would be left, but I think it'll be worth it. We'll see where it goes from there. Thanks for reviewing guys, YOU are my biggest inspiration! :)