Getaway

[18] Cash On The Dance Floor

Sitting in Starbucks, Jayla is on her laptop. Connecting... Hurry up!

Finally, as a Chelsea Bun and lemonade is placed next to her arm, briefly smiling at the staff and saying a very quick thank you, the internet is set up. She goes immediately to Facebook and starts up the chat. Leya – online. The little green dot is next to her name.

Her hands thump to the keyboard, abusing it immediately as she clicks on Leya's name and begins to hit her up.

"Omg, Leya, hey! <3' She types and shoves down the enter key.

Hearing a bloop noise almost immediately after it says Leya is typing...

She reads, "omg, hi c:" Then again, Leya is typing...

Impatiently, she waits to hear what her best friend has to say.

"are you okay?"

"Yeah!" Jayla types, taking a carnivorous bite out of her sugar encrusted pastry.

She types some more, "I was just... wondering um, I'm so proud of you but at the same time I'm confused. What's happened?!"

There is a pause.

Then Leya is typing... flashes on and off intermittently from the screen for a long time as Jayla assumed Leya is composing an explanation.

She slurps a long sip of her lemonade through the straw.

Then suddenly a huge block of text jumps up into the chat box.

Dropping the food, Jayla leans closer to read it.

"after the news announced raven's court case, three days ago, my mum asked me lots of questions about it... ok, she was really mad. i'm not gonna lie. but then, we got a call from the BBC. somehow, they found out it was me. they knew my contact details. my guess is someone from the DTTS show on Friday was from my school and knew me, and sent the photo with my information. whatever. it's wrong. anyway.. my mum insisted I went to the interview with BBC because I had to. I knew I didn't have to. but I went anyway. and then suddenly, I had an-"

In the middle of reading, Blu jumps up behind her.

"Oi!" Jayla hits him playfully over the head.

"Can't I see?" he begs.

"No, not now, sit down and chow your bagel and coffee like a good dog," Jayla laughs at his face, turning straight back to the laptop screen.

"...idea. I had the idea, that I could tell them the truth, but do it really powerfully. really controversially. make big headlines with it. maybe it could change what people thought. maybe it could save raven. maybe it could save me. I don't know. but you always told me I had a way with words... so I decided to test their powers. turns out, it worked! c,: <3"

Jayla is left breathless.

"Okay..." She hits enter.

"Omg, wow *__*"

"That's... incredible. I can't even begin to say how happy I am for you right now."

Seeing the familiar Leya is typing... again she stops.

"me too ^__^"

Then Jayla starts typing furiously again, dying to know: what kept her up all last night. Unspoken tension sends waves through the laptop even as their conversation flows pretty seamlessly. She can tell there is something not being addressed. And they both know it.

"So... um, why then last night, did I get a text from you... about this... from Raven's phone number? O_O"

There is an odd silence.