Infatuation

8|

6 minutes and 43 seconds until she would arrive. 6 minutes and 43 seconds is all Luca had to plan how he would make her feel flustered and confused again. The time against the lockers was the only time he had seen her guard drop so dangerously low; he absolutely loved the surge of power it gave him, the feeling on superiority and power was all too familiar to Luca.

6 minutes 39 seconds. Nayla had arrived, she was early and all eyes were on her. She didn't notice or care about the abundance of horny teenagers who are staring at her longingly.

Luca had to stop himself from releasing a growl, he was frustrated with the situation at hand, this is not what he thought would happen.

"What are you freaks staring at?" Nayla's usual silky smooth voice was completely gone; her voice was raspy, hoarse and loud.

Luca noticed then that her eyes were red and puffy and her caramel-brown skin had faint tear lines on it.

She had tied her hair into a messy puff at the top of her head to accompany her oversized hoodie and thin fabric shorts. She look as if she hadn't slept in years.

Almost instantly everyone's eyes snapped back to their work or they turned towards their friends to continue their conversations, however Luca didn't look away - he couldn't look away. Nayla was annoyed by his staring, Luca could tell by the way her foot was bouncing repeatedly aftet she had lowered herself to sit next to Lena. Luca was waiting for her to snap, to give him the control and power that he loved; but she ignored him and acted as if he wasn't even there, she literally looked right through him.

"Where were you yesterday Nayla?" Lena was attempting to interrogate Nayla and whisper simultaneously but her voice quickly rose in volume as her words filled with concern. Nayla shook her head and shrugged, looking away from Lena almost immediately.

"Nayla," Lena playfully poked her arm - trying to regain her attention "Where were you yesterday?" At this point Luca was pretty sure everyone had stared listening, he was pretty sure everyone could see how rapidly Nayla was breathing in and out. He was pretty sure everyone could see her eyes close and her hand resting against the smooth surface of the desk. Luca was pretty sure everyone could see she was having a mini panic attack; everyone but Lena.

Luca was convinced that everyone was watching as Lena reached out once more to tap Nayla's shoulder. He was certain that everyone saw her snap. Her arms reached out and swiftly moved her chair away from the desk

"Lena just back off!" her voice broke and the whole close froze. "Please... " her honey-like voice dropped to a whisper, her shoulders were shaking and her eyes were threatening to release an ocean of tears.

For some reason Luca began to smirk as he stared at her outfit. Truth be told she looked a mess - but on her the outfit worked. Luca concluded that he would even go as far as saying she looked cute, he couldn't stop his self from releasing a small chuckle, earning him a hateful scowl from Nayla.

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This morning Nayla had woken up way before her alarm, shaking and dripping with sweat from head to toe. She was shattered and tired from yesterday after school and the traumatic dream she just had.

Jude Tómas

Nayla tried so hard to hate and despise the Filipino boy who broke her heart, it was hard to say the least.

Last night he kept sending Nayla pictures, voice notes and recordings of the both of them. He sent her things she never even knew existed. He explained that he only cheated on her because his dad was disappointed that he was with a black girl despite himself and his mum telling his father several times about 'how good of a person Nayla was' she didn't know if she should forgive and forget or just learn to move on. No matter how hard she tried his beautiful face kept appearing in her head along side Luca's.

Nayla's nightmare, however, was a different story. She had dreamt that she was at her mum's funeral and she had crawled back out of her grave. Nayla had dreamt that her mum blamed her for not doing enough to stop her from dying, she blamed her for Nayla's dad leaving them. She had blamed Nayla and although it was not real, Nayla just couldn't get it out of her head.

After having a quick shower, brushing her teeth and washing her face. Nayla had put on some lotion and picked out the first outfit she could find. In her lifeless daze Nayla hadn't realised that she was wearing fabric shorts, that ended under her butt, a loose t-shirt with mixed matched socks and her yellow crocs. Her hair had been tied into a puff at the top of her head and she had tied a purple headscarf over the top and lazily put on her glasses.

It was safe to say, she looked a mess. She was wearing shorts in public! Nayla never wore shorts out of the comfort of her home because she'd always been really insecure about her thighs.

In the end she left her house on an empty stomach and a bag full of her vital things for today.

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When Nayla had walked into the hallway she had expected everyone to start laughing at her. She knew that she would be rolling on the floor if someone else looked the way she did today. To her surprise everyone just stared, she even overhead a couple if people muttering about how she 'still managed to look cute in her outfit' - this made her smile even though she didn't agree with the comment

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As Nayla and Lena walked towards the fields behind their school told her everything. Nayla had decided not to hold anything back, by the time they had reached a bench Nayla had tears running down her face.

"You don't need a man. It's just me and you now babe, I'll take care of you, men are trash anyway. Tell you what, I'll beat Luca up when I go to his house next week!" Lena spoke eagerly with a devious smile plastered on her face

She obviously sensed Nayla's confusion and was quick to declare that she was in fact Luca's cousin. Before Nayla could even reply Lena had stood up and was shouting profanities at someone behind the two girls.

Nayla turned around reluctantly, only to come face to face with Jude