Admiring Who? {Short story} {On Hold}

Chapter seven: "You'd be a good match for her but you're too scrawny."

The girls hopped out of the van, and took off towards the party. Streamers and balloons outlined the entire house.

"Woah!" They all exclaimed. "That's amazing. It must have taken hours to decorate though."

"Girls, let's split up." Hannah declared. "It's best to work in teams of two."

"I'm soloooo! Like Batman." Layla said, grumbling at Hannah's comment.

"I'll take Jaylen." Kierstein decided. "Hannah, you go with Felicity. Juliet, go with Layla."

"Nooo, I don't wanna go with that lunatic! I'm safer going by myself!" Juliet whined.

"Juliet, you need to learn teamwork skills, and Layla, you need to stop trying to make decisions on your own."

"You're no fun, Kierstein."

"Solving the mystery will be fun. Goofing off will only lead to bad things."

"It's a simple mystery. No ones going to die because of a secret lover. If anything, that mysterious lover would come swoop in and save her like she was a damsel in distress." She argued back at Kierstein.

"My decision is final."

"Says who? When did you become leader?" Juliet asked, feeling a bit left out of the disagreement.

"All in favor of me being leader, say I."

"I"

"I"

"..I"

"And I vote for myself so that's four against two. I am leader. Now go and find clues,gang."
The pairs all went off, and obeyed their leader. Layla and Juliet's group was the last to obey. Which they reluctantly did.
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            (With Juliet and Layla)

"Layla, I think that we should go to the snack bar first!" Juliet suggested hungrily. Earlier that morning she had tried to eat breakfast but she was quickly stopped by Layla. They fought over the last bowl of cereal, but Layla came out victorious. "You did eat my bowl of cereal."

"It was rightfully mine."

"Whatever. Can we just go?"

"Hmm.. I am pretty hungry. Let's go."
They headed to the snack bar, until they were accompanied by two boys in Felcity's class.

"Hello, are you perhaps Felicity's cousin Layla?" A male voice said politely.

"Who's askin'?" Layla replied harshly. She didn't like strangers very much. It's not that she didn't like them, but she liked to test their character by acting mean to them.

"Umm.. my name is Noah and right beside me is my friend Oliver. Felicity talks about you a lot, and all of your crazy schemes."

"Oh she does.. that's nice... and you're telling me this why?" Layla snapped, trying to contain her laughter.

"Well, I just wanted to meet you I guess, I'm sorry.. is this a bad time?"

"Not at all. Why would you think that?"

"You seem.. agitated." Oliver stepped in and explained carefully.

"What does agitated mean?" Juliet asked.

"Like aggravated or annoyed."

"She's just testing you." Juliet then told them. "Testing your character."

"That's a smart thing to do.." Noah mumbled. "Is Felcity near here by any chance?"

"She is somewhere at this party." Layla answered plainly.
"By any chance, does one of y'all have a crush on my cousin? Just asking. We're trying to set her up with a .. guy."

"W-w-why... are you asking? Felicity should decide who she gets to date!" Oliver declared passionately.

"When did I ever mention having her date a guy?" Layla began rhetorically. "I said set her up, not to date."

"Hmm..you're smart. I might have a crush- a slight-one-Who knows..maybe I do, maybe I don't." Noah  stuttered nervously, as he played with his fingers.

"You're a good match for her Noah,but you're too scrawny. Goodbye sir." And with that, Layla dragged Juliet away from them, leaving them shocked.