Knight in Shiny Black Leather Steve and Kayla - Days of Our Lives Fan Fiction

Chapter Twenty

"Hey, Theo, How is it going?" Ciara bounced over to her friend as they stood at the lockers in the hallway of Salem High School. Her long reddish dyed hair, braided in pigtails, bobbed when she nodded and clutched her books to her Salem High emblazoned sweatshirt chest. It was between classes, and the hallway was noisy and bustling with students.

Theo Carver had been Ciara's dear friend since they were little kids. Theo was older than Ciara by a few years, but because he was a high functioning Autistic, the school kept him back by a few grades, and he had always been by Ciara's side. She loved Theo's sunny outlook and never could have asked for a more loyal friend. Lately, someone in the school had bullied Theo, which was troubling for them. He had been receiving texts saying "retard," and had slipped a disturbing poster in his locker with a cruel joke about riding the "short bus." Ciara vowed to find out who had been doing the bullying, but Theo just wanted her to leave it alone.

"I'm good, Ciara," the handsome young boy mentioned.

Ciara smiled up at him. He was the tallest of the boys she knew. Theo was taller than his Dad, her dear honorary Uncle, Abe Carver. Ciara had heard that the younger Theo looked a lot like his late uncle, Theo, killed in the line of duty while trying to break a police corruption scandal in the Salem PD in the early 1980s. The boy had a broad smile, beautiful brown eyes and coffee-coloured skin. Ciara only thought of him as her dear friend and did not know that the texts and posters bullying him were because the sender felt threatened by their close friendship. "I'm glad to hear it. Thank you for coming to my chillax on Saturday. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah," he shyly answered. "I did."

"Have you had any more bullying texts or anything?" She asked.

"No, no. Not anymore. I got one that was like, I think, a sorry." Theo collected the books from his locker and secured them. He turned to head toward his next class, and Ciara followed him.

"A sorry?" She asked, puzzled.

"It said, 'I made a mistake.'"

"Wow!"

"I sure would like to know who did it."

"Me too," Ciara replied.

"Ciara?"

"Yes, Theo?"

"Thank you for standing by me," Theo said.

The kids stood outside Theo's classroom, but the buzzer still had not summoned them to their desks, "Of course, Theo. I will always stand by you," Ciara smiled.

Chase came bounding down the hall at that moment, taking giant steps. Claire playfully trailed after him. Claire was crushing on Chase, but Chase was oblivious to her crush. "Yo, Peeps," Chase flung his arms around Theo and Ciara. "What's up?" Claire caught up with the trio and smiled as she and Eve Donovan had spent yesterday afternoon rehearsing her audition for Juilliard in New York City.

"Hey, Claire, " Theo and Ciara said in unison as Claire waved back.

"You haven't seen Joey? Have you?" Ciara asked. She was apprehensive about her cousin as he was staying at Grandpa Victor's house. At Ciara's chillax, Claire told her about Joey's drunken outburst on Friday night. She knew that her Mom had talked to Joey at the chillax, so she hoped that whatever he shared with her Mom would make him feel better.

"Naw," Chase said as the bell rang. "Ciara, we better go?" Chase and Ciara had the class next door. She nodded at her stepbrother. They waved bye to Theo as he and Claire entered their classroom next door. Ciara looked around the hallway, looking for her cousin. Ciara knew that school was not one of Joey's favourite things, but he always tried to attend, as Aunt Kayla would rip a strip off him if he skipped school. He spent the prior two years following a boarding school in Ohio, as Aunt Kayla could not control her troubled teen alone while Uncle Steve lived in New York. Chase and Ciara took their seats and opened up their books.