Reflection - Book 1 of the Leila Series

Chapter 3

"You never really told me what Jovan did to you," Myra says as she walks in between Leila and Reflection. They're walking back to Leila's old house, where she used to stay with her parents, to get her handphone and some other supplies. "Well, Jovan was really nice, handsome, caring, you know, the perfect boyfriend, but I caught him texting some other girl named Bethany when we were eating lunch together. He was sending her kissy faces and all the other boyfriend things he sends to me. I realised he was just using me to make her jealous and all that. It's sickening, I know," Leila replies, with a disgusted and sad tone. "This bastard is so going to get his ass handed to him. How are girls so blind to see who he really is? No offence, Leila," Myra says, punching the air. "Girls are just desperate for boyfriends, I guess," Leila simply replies. "Don't feel so down, Leila! This plan of ours is going to work! We just need the right people for it!" Reflection enthusiastically says. Leila sighs, "I hope you're right."

Twenty Minutes Later...

Leila's old house hasn't changed since Aunt Audrey made her leave it. It's become dustier and darker due to the lack of people in it. The mailbox is overflowing with bills and advertisements and letters. From outside, it just looks like an empty house but on the inside, it's every lonely girl's nightmare. "I can see why you didn't come here to hide, " Myra says. Leila ignores her and climbs the steps of her house to her old bedroom. The note she left on her study desk is still there, untouched and unread. That note was meant for her parents to read when they actually suddenly reappeared. Leila finds her handphone, which is fully charged and working. She picks it up and blows some dust away. "I found it!" Leila shouts as she runs out of her bedroom. 

As Leila makes her way downstairs, she stops outside her parents' bedroom. Just outside their door is their wedding photo. It's not as dusty as it should be because Leila purposefully wiped it before she left the house two years ago, hoping they'd jump out of the picture. Leila's parents looked so happy in that photo and it made her wonder what she did wrong to make them want to leave her. She shook her head and looked away. There was no way Leila was going to cry over this. Especially not with Myra and Reflection around.

When Leila reached downstairs, Reflection and Myra had already packed what they needed and were waiting for her by the door. She hadn't realised she took so long. "Good, you guys are ready. We have one week before school starts again and people are going to find me. That gives us one week to put together our plan and get enough people," Leila says as she walks out of the house. "Okay, so who are going to ask for help first?" Myra asks, following Leila out. "Shayne Reese," Leila replies.

Leila unlocks her phone and goes to her contacts list. She scrolls past Jovan's name angrily and stops at Shayne's number. She dails his number and waits for him to answer. Shane immediately picks up. "Hello? Leila? Where are you? Do you know how much trouble you're in? Basically everyone you know is looking for you! What happened?!" Leila rolls her eyes and says, "It's a long story that involves stupid Jovan. Can we meet up? I need your help." Shayne sighs into his phone and says, "Fine. Meet me at our spot in one hour. You better tell me what's going on." "Promise. See ya," Leila says and hangs up. "You guys have a spot? Are you sure Jovan was the one cheating on you?" Myra asks Leila. "Our spot is where I always bump into Shayne! It's just a little meet up point that we have. Shayne has a girlfriend too. We're just friends!" Leila answers, a little too defensive. "Okay, okay. So what do we do for one hour? We're like five minutes away from your "spot" with Shayne. We can't just wait around   for an hour," Myra says. "Then, we call your friends for help. See if they'd be willing to go through our epic plan," Leila replies with a smirk on her face. 

About an hour later, Shayne shows up at the mall in a t-shirt and long pants. His hair is pushed to one side and there's a serious look on his face when he sees Leila and Myra. Unfortunately, like everyone else, he doesn't see Reflection. Leila walks towards him and steers him into the cafe. Myra quietly follows behind, walking next to Reflection. "Okay, what happened?" Shayne gets right to the point when they find a seat in the cafe. Leila tells Shayne everything. From her parents disappearing, to her Aunt Audrey, to what happened with Jovan, to what Leila did to his house, to meeting Myra and lastly, to her epic plan. Shayne just sits there, listening attentively. Everything Leila had bottled up inside of her just spilled out of her. When Leila stopped talking, she waited for Shayne's response. "I never knew Jovan would be such an asshole! I know he's a pissy friend but I never knew he was such an ass! And then you had to deal with your- situation, WOW! What an asshole! Obviously I would help you! Why wouldn't I? He's such a bad friend to me! Anyone in the right mind would help you!" Shayne was shouting so loud, practically the whole cafe and a few passers-by could hear him. Myra told him to quieten down a little and he sat back down in his chair. "So you'll go through with it?" Leila asks Shayne. He says yes about ten times before he calmed down again.

Just then, Myra's phone buzzes with multiple texts from her friends. "YES!" She shouts as she reads through the texts. Again, the whole cafe turned to look at them. Leila sighs and asks, "What is it?" "Lilly and Sarah have agreed to help! They say they would do anything to get revenge on Jovan! Two is enough right? We've still got more people to recruit," Myra says. "Yup. Shayne has friends who hate Jovan too. I would ask my friends to help, but they sadly are no longer talking to me. Just because some bitch who likes Jovan spread rumours about me," Leila explains. "I can go call my friends now if you want me to," Shayne tells Leila. "Right, you go do that." Leila glances at a girl with brown hair. "I'll be right back, " she says. Leila gets up from her seat, leaves the cafe, and walks to the girl.

"So, you're the girl Jovan's so crazy about," Leila says to the girl. She turns around and gives Leila a shocked look. "You're the girl Jovan lied about," she replies. "We were both Jovan's lies," Leila says. "He's a prick. I can't believe I ever talked to him in the first place. I'm Bethany, by the way." "I'm Leila." "Look, don't hate me. I never knew about you and Jovan. If I did, I would have stayed out of the way completely," Bethany says to Leila. "I would have too if I knew about you two. It's Jovan to blame. He broke both our hearts. While some girls would just cry, I like to take revenge. If you want to, you can help me take revenge on Jovan. I've got the perfect plan ever," Leila tells Bethany. "I'll do anything to make Jovan pay for what he did. I'm in! Whats the plan?" Bethany asks. "I thought you'd never ask." Leila says with a slight grin on her face as she tells Bethany her plan.