Gem | Daniel Desario

[14]

Layla stared at the quiet boy in front of her while she laid her cheek against the palm of her hands, just thinking. Her eyes traveled his face, desiring to look as peaceful as he did. He was sketching on his notepad, unconsciously chewing on his bottom lip. His curtained hair was so long, it was covering his eyes and every couple of minutes, he would reach up and push it away. It wasn't for a while before Layla decided to look down to see what he was sketching.

Her eyes widen, feeling her face heating up. It was her, in the exact position she was just in. Her cheek in the palm of her hand, head slighty tilted. He looked up at her and smiled. "You were staring for so long, I just decided to draw you."

Her friends, who were at the same table turned their heads when Joey spoke up. "Woah, that's really good," Jacob said, leaning over to look at the sketchbook. Nicole just turned to look at Layla with a slight grin on her lips.

"staring huh?"

"I was just curious" Layla mumbled, crossing her arms in embarrassment. "and thinking." She would never say what she was thinking to her friends. In her head, she was comparing Joey to Daniel. They had the same style. wavy hair that was always messy, the same clothing style, and the same hard expressions. But she couldn't help listing things she liked better about Daniel. His smile, his no fuck attitude, his warmness when he was around Layla. She knew it was going to be difficult to get over him, but she knew she had to do it. He belonged to someone else.

"It was just a quick sketch," Joey said, catching Layla's attention. he closed his sketchbook, putting his hand over it, as if he was afraid she would reach over and grab it, flipping through all the sketches.

"It was nice." Layla smiled at him, watching as the corner of his lips raised.

"Okay, students!" the teacher yelled to get the teens' attention. "Grab a partner! we are going to start a project that will be half your grade. choose wisely." The students around groaned before chairs scraping against the floor filled the room.

Jacob and Nicole immediately turned to each other, then giving Layla a nod. A nod to ask the quiet boy in front of her. Layla cleared her throat. "Joey? do you want to be partners?" he quickly looked up at her, before nodding. Layla stood up, grabbed her bag, and sat in the empty chair beside him.

Once everyone had been seated with their partners, the teacher went on to explain the project. Research your partner's life and draw a portrait of them in a way that best fits them. Jacob had made a joke about drawing a portrait of Nicole with condoms, getting him a detention slip from the teacher and a hard slap from Nicole. The class was then dismissed.

"Maybe, we could hang out at your place for the project?" Joey asked Layla as they walked out of the class.

"Ah, I don't know, it's not really a good place for this," Layla explained before getting shoved by a couple of students who ran past them cheering.

"Assassinate Lincoln!"

"fucking assholes!" Layla groaned, kneeling down to grab her bag that had dropped to the floor, along with her textbooks and belongings inside the bag. Joey kneeled down as well to help her, along with Nicole.

just as Layla was gonna pick up her notebook, she watched as a pair of dirty shoes came up in view. She looked up to see Daniel and his friends behind him. "Need help princess?"