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— 𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐀 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 she noticed Warren wasn't on the bus in the morning, but figured he was probably running late and would catch the second bus that came around.
Instead of sitting by Will for the day though, she moved to the back of the bus and sat there by herself.
Since Warren wasn't there, all the seats near her filled up quickly, and a random boy whose name she didn't even know ended up next to her. She tried to make herself as small as possible to avoid brushing arms with him, and fortunately, she was able to succeed for the most part.
She couldn't have gotten off of the bus fast enough though, barely remembering to wave to her friends before she began making her way to the tree.
She smiled once she reached it, and sat against the trunk, waiting for Warren to show up.
She became so engrossed in the book he'd suggested she read, that she didn't look up once until the bell rang. When she finally did look around to see if Warren had just quietly joined her and decided to leave her to her reading — she realized that he never came.
— 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐍'𝐓 find him by the time lunch came around either, she began to worry.
Pulling out her phone, she decided to text him.
Layla Hey, are you okay?
Layla I didn't see you this morning, and you're not at lunch.
Layla Just let me know you're okay when you see this, please.
She lasted all of 15 minutes before she dumped her tray and left the cafeteria without a word to her friends.
For a moment, she had no idea what she wanted to do. Look for Warren — if he was even at school, or go stew in their spot, upset that he hadn't texted her back. Eventually, the latter option won out.
She started making her way to the tree but stopped in her tracks when she saw Warren Peace — in the very flesh, leaning against the trunk.
All she could do was stare, and Warren must've had a sixth sense or something — because he suddenly looked up from his book and made direct eye contact with her. He froze once he registered that it was Layla, and that was enough to break said girl out of her stupor.
She glared at the Peace boy as she suddenly began marching towards him. She was not letting him get away with ignoring her.
If he was irritated with how much time she was spending with him or if it was something else bothering him, then he would simply have to tell her to her face. Only then, would she back off. She wasn't going to jump to conclusions or play guessing games. Whatever was going on, he was going to tell her straight. She would make sure of it.
