Smoke Screen

Chapter 5

The next day Layla barely managed to drag herself through the course of getting herself ready and getting through school. She barely payed attention in class, though even if she wanted to she could not . Her hazy mind acted as a barrier between her and the world around her. She had not slept well the night before, so she was extremely tired. The smoke that was still fresh in her lungs made her head light and a little dizzy. And her thoughts were racing everywhere.
    They always were. She was never able to calm her thoughts or her mind. Thoughts she did not want to think about constantly made her feel like she was drowning in her own mind. It made her want to smoke real bad. More than anything, she longed to pull out her vape, to light a cigarette, something, anything! She did not care as long as it would make her head light and would give a slight bit of relief.
    But being in the middle of class, she could not. She could only lay her head down on her desk and just wait, wishing that school would end quickly. Time seemed to drag on as it flew by. She felt like it had been days or weeks since the first class. Yet she also had no clue what time it was or how much time actually passed. She could have just looked up and checked the clock, but she decided that she did not care that much.
    A random tap on her shoulder caught her attention and she looked up to find Tony looking down at her with a smile. "It a habit of yours to sleep during class?" He asked in an amused tone.
"I wasn't sleeping." She said.
He chuckled. "Mhmm, sure you weren't."
She rolled her eyes. "What do you want, Toretto?"
"I just wanted to check to see if you're up for working on our project today." He said. She groaned. She had forgotten about the project. That was the last thing on her mind and the last thing she wanted to do. Or was it?
After school she would have had to go home. She did not really have any friends or anyone to hang out with. And even if she did, her dad always hated it when she was out for too long or did not come home immediately after school. But it was not like that gave her any incentive to go home or even want to go home. That was the last place she wanted to be, so in comparison, the project was not so bad.
"Yeah, sure." She said. That would make her get home really late again, but maybe her dad would understand since he knew she had a project. But even if he did not, which was more likely, she did not care. She would have rather gone home later and get in trouble than get home on time and have to be around her father.
Tony smiled. "Alright! But first I have practice. Hey, if you want you can watch. I promise it won't take too long."
She looked at him skeptically. He was asking her to watch him practice? Why? She barely knew him. She did not want to sit around and watch him while he ran around chasing a ball. But at the same time she felt like she would not mind it. It could not have been that bad and even a little part of her was slightly curious.
"Sure, whatever." She said.
His smile widened. "Alright, c'mon!" She leisurely got up and followed him out the school building to the fields where his practice was taking place. There were a few benches near the field where a few students were already seated. Layla was able to recognize them as she had seen them hanging out with Tony, but she had not been aquatinted with them.
She sat down on one of the benches that were not occupied and was the farthest away from the other students as Tony joined the football team for practice. Layla watched the practice for the most part. Sometimes her mind or eyes would wander off and she would get a little bored, but it was not that bad.
The entire time Tony's friends were yelling and cheering for him. It annoyed her a little, especially as the loud noise started making her head hurt. But other than the annoying sound, they did seem sort of nice. They were really supportive of him. Layla wondered what that was like. It must have been nice.
When football practice finally finished Tony disappeared for a moment to put his stuff away and everything. When he came back he went up to his friends who congratulated him on playing well. They all talked for a few minutes then he waved bye to them and approached Layla.
"Took you long enough." She said.
"Sorry, it ran a little bit longer than I thought it would." He said, scratching the back of his neck. "I hope you didn't mind it too much."
"Whatever." She said, brushing it off. It was not that big of a deal and she did not mind it that much. Though it was not like she was going to say that out loud. "Let's go."
"Right then." He said, leading her to his car. They drove in silence but this time it was not as awkward as the time before.