c h a p t e r s i x

-kayla-

I arrived in school a good fifteen minutes before it started so I could meet up with my friends to talk more about our plans later. I found Judith, Sharon, Clairo and Addison in the cafeteria while the others have yet to arrive. Darius said everyone is invited so it was no surprise they all knew about the party. Addison being the fashionista of the bunch, she suggested us to go to the mall just a few miles away from my neighborhood while the rest agreed as they were going to meet my parents later. Soon all our friends had arrived and knew of the arrangement. I wasn't driving a minivan so we decided to meet in the cafeteria after school and drive our own cars to my house, besides my brother was hanging out at his friend's for the afternoon.

"Are you alright Kayla?" Addison and Judith asked as we headed to class.

" I guess? I haven't talked to Edmund that much ever since I moved here. It's as if we are still in a long distance relationship." I sighed

"You know our thoughts on him but if you still want this thing between you and him to work, it's better to talk to him about it. I'm sure he'll be at the party on Friday" Judith advised. I nodded and thanked them.

We went to our first class of the day which was History, and for once Icarus wasn't in the class before us. I was tempted to take his seat but decided against it. We carried on talking as a substitute teacher came in and everyone kept quiet as he began teaching. As he was beginning to ask questions to students, a student came in and there stood a tall figure, wearing a dark grey turtleneck, ripped black jeans and black leather cap-toe boots. His style is low-key nice. Not many boys can pull it off. I thought to myself. Even the substitute teacher seemed scared to tell him off about arriving late, so Icarus just walked to his usual seat, looking on the ground as his hair covered parts of his face while the rest was in a half bun. As he passed me, I noticed he was limping but trying to cover it up and his hands was shaking as he placed them on his table. He tied his hair back up, which made his face visible. I stared in shock when I saw his face. Bruises along his cheekbones, cuts along his lips and dried blood on them.

"Staring isn't going to make them go away you know." He whispered so only the two of us could hear, snapping me out of my staring trance. I looked away in embarrassment before turning back to his direction.

"Are you alright? Shouldn't you see the school doctor or something?" I whispered back with a voice of concern

"I'll live" He replied which made me think he didn't wanna talk any longer.

"Thanks" He coughed out which sounded like he forced it out of his system. I didn't want him to feel any worse so I just nodded and smile.

After school, I've met the girls in the cafeteria as planned and we head off to my place. I was a little nervous not going to lie but I quickly forgot as Clairo who was carpooling with me decided to play Welcome To The Black Parade which was my favorite song. Naturally I memorized all the lyrics and so did she so we sang all the way. We all reached my place and Dad who was outside washing his car, met my friends before I dragged them to meet my mom inside. After the formalities were done, Mom served lunch for all of us and left us to get back to her work.

"Your mom's so cool Kayla and not to mention her cooking is delizioso" Melina said as she kissed her fingers while I looked at her with confusion on my face.

"I didn't know you were Italian, Melina" I replied, still confused. The girls laughed at clueless me and I laughed along as well.

"Well my mom's half Italian so she taught me a few things" She explained and soon we finished up our lunch. I persuaded them to just leave the dishes to me but they insisted to clean as a way to pay back for the delicious meal. I put my hands up in defeat and left them to it.

After awhile they were ready to hit the mall, so we head to our cars and began to drive. As I passed the modern loft house that I had just seen yesterday, I shivered at the memory of Icarus this morning with his bruises. What was he doing? How did he get those? Questions filled my mind yet again before I was interrupted by Clairo's voice crack from singing Paris In The Rain to which I laughed till my stomach hurt. She glared at me before laughing along. The girls hit the first store they saw when entering the mall. I wasn't a fan of shopping for long hours but I do consider my outfits and appearance before going somewhere, maybe shopping with your friends would make it much better after all time flies when you're having fun. Two hours had gone by and to be honest I didn't really feel it, I was having a blast hanging out with them and helping them with their outfits. It was probably the most fun I've had in a good while. After everyone had their outfit set, it was half past 4 which meant we had another half an hour to hang out before we went our separate ways. They noticed I hadn't bought anything besides a pair of Converses which made them stare at me in confusion.

"Kayla did you not buy anything?"

"We could have paid for it if you didn't have any money with you"

"Come let's go get you an outfit"

I stopped them before they dragged me to go get more clothes.

"Guys it's okay I already have an outfit planned, all I needed were a pair of black Converse and besides my mom will kill me if I bought more stuff for my already packed out wardrobe" I explained. They gave me an are-you-sure look and I assured them. After grabbing something to drink, we went our separate ways while Clairo waited at my place for her parents. With nothing to do but play our phones, Clairo convinced me to show her my outfit for the party which I agreed if only she does as well. I showed my outfit first which was a grey oversized knit-type sweater paired with a black skirt and matching black Converse that I just bought. Her jaw dropped before giving her opinion.

"Kayla are you a secret stylist or something? This outfit is so cute, I'm so jealous ughh" She said in a desperate voice. I laughed at her cute act and ushered her to show me hers. After a few minutes, she came out in a cropped vintage tee with a pair of oversized distressed jeans and white leather shoes. She has such an amazing figure that everything looks good on her. I thought to myself.

"So what do you think?" She asked with excitement.

"It's not fair how everything looks good on you" I replied playfully pouting. She and I burst out laughing after that. Soon after, her parents came and I showed her out before sitting on the countertop while Mom was making dinner with Dad setting the dinner table.

"Your friends seem nice" My mom stated, smiling.

"Yea they're so lovable aren't they?" I replied.

"DINNER'S READY LENNON!!" My dad shouted for my brother and immediately he dashed down the stairs. The glutton. We finished up our dinner and went to our rooms to finish up our work. I went through my messages and noticed Edmund hasn't texted me so I decided to just drop a " are you okay" text. I went about my work before my phone received a message from Edmund and I got distracted from my work and spent my whole night talking to him. For the whole night, it felt as though everything was back to normal and with that in mind I drifted off to sleep.