The Warrior- Laila Nomon

1. Storm

It was a bright December morning when was Laila Nomon was awoken by her pet Zoppy rushing into the room and climbing on to her bed. Laila awoke with a jolt as Zoppy's warm fur brushed past her face as it tried to snuggle undercovers with her. She sat up and looked around the room lazily, brushing her hair out of her eyes, when she caught a glimpse of her alarm clock- 7:23. She panicked- only 37 minutes to catch the bus. She quickly looked out of the window beside her bed. Some kids were having a snowball fight below. She went to freshen up and then rushed downstairs, her toothbrush dangling in her mouth.

Laila looked around and noticed that her mother was out but someone had already prepared breakfast and kept it in the microwave. She quickly heated her breakfast and wolfed it down. She hurriedly threw in some dog food in Zoppy's bowl, scattering dog food everywhere. Her thoughts kept wandering to why her alarm had not sounded this morning, as to where her mother was and why hadn't she woken her up. She skipped three stairs at once and rushed upstairs and found her bag, stuffed some books in it, raced downstairs again, realized she forgot her algebra book and rushed upstairs and back down with it. She was about to put her boots on when she heard keys turning in the lock.

She looked up and saw Rosalie standing in the doorway with two bags in each hand. She put down the grocery bags and took off her coat, revealing the flowery blouse she'd worn over her low-waist blue jeans. Rosalie was a tall, strawberry-blonde lady with an air of comfort, sunshine, and everything summer. She owned a book-café which she also managed.

'Didn't know you'd be up so early, Laila; did you eat? I went to the supermarket and bought your Rasher Brasher Choco Cereal but there wasn't any-' then she noticed Laila's school bag beside her on the sofa- 'Where are you off to? I thought today was a Saturday?'

'What?' Laila asked as she finished lacing her boots.

'It's a Saturday, Laila.'

She walked to the calendar in the dining hall and checked. Rosalie was right. 'Shoot. I forgot.'

'You did?'

Laila nodded, 'Yeah, all that rush for nothing.' She said as she tied her hair in a bun. She went to the kitchen and cleared the dog food mess she'd made.

Rosalie said, 'You can go and sleep some more or you could go and hang out with your friends.'

'For the last time, they're not my friends.' Laila said, her jaw locking.

'Come on, don't be like that, you see how hard they try to befriend you.'

'Can we drop it, please?' Laila said, suddenly bitter, as she climbed the stairs for the sixth time in the last 30 minutes with her bag in her hand.

She hung her back on the rack near the door before she helped Zoppy out of the covers it was struggling to get out of. It licked her face, got down and went out of sight as it rolled its way down the stairs. Laila, too, after making her bed, went downstairs and asked Rosalie if she needed any help. When Rosalie denied, she went out of the front door, for a walk.

And then it happened- The sky suddenly turned dark and it started pouring hailstones and before she knew it, a huge storm was coming her way. Laila started to run back towards her house, but the stones were falling even now, and Laila braced herself for impact when a pair of strong hands emerged out of nowhere and pulled her to safety, away from the storm and everything went black.

A/N: Cliffhangers, cliffhangers... What do you think about this so far? I hope you like it! See you in the next part, bye! <3