Smoke Screen

Chapter 12

When Layla woke up the next day she was met with a dull pain coming from her face and her hand. Her hand had a small reddish purple mark on it from when her dad stepped on her. It was still sore, but the mark was barely noticeable. She hoped that the mark on her face would be even less noticeable but was disappointed when she looked in the mirror and found a bright red mark on her cheek.
She tried to do her best to cover it up with makeup, but having slept in too late, she did not have as much time to get ready as she would have liked. After gathering her stuff, she quietly crept towards the kitchen. She was planning on grabbing something for breakfast really quick but immediately turned around when she noticed her dad in the kitchen. Not wanting to run into him or talk to him or even see him right now, she quickly and quietly left the house.
    Her stomach growled as she walked down the street. She tried her hardest to ignore it, but it got harder with every step. School was going to be hell if she had to wait until lunch to eat. Which, since she had no food, was exactly what she had to do.
"Hey Layla!" A familiar voice suddenly caught her attention. She turned towards the street to see Tony in his car stopped beside her with the window rolled down. "Need a lift?"
"I'm good." She said. She was still grouchy from what happened last night and from the lack of food in her. She did not feel like being around him right now, but he would not give up.
"You're gonna be late." He said.
"So are you." She shot back.
"Come with me and you'll be less late." She could tell that he was not going to back down. She was going to be late anyway but at least if she went with him she would not have to walk while feeling half asleep and starving.
Rolling her eyes, she accepted his offer and got into the car. "You oversleep, Toretto?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow at him.
"You can't talk! You did the same." He said. As he looked over at her his smile faltered, being replaced with a look of concern when he saw the red mark on her face. "What's that?"
Layla froze as she scrambled to come up with a reasonable explanation. "Remember, I fell asleep on your shoulder yesterday. It left a little mark."
"Oh, yeah." Tony said, though he did not really buy it. He did not doubt that it would have left a little mark, but would it really still have been visible the next day?
Knowing that if she was lying it meant that she did not want to talk about it, he decided to leave it alone. If he knew anything about her, he knew that she did not appreciate when he would try to pry.
Layla's stomach growled again and she groaned. "Ugh, I'm starving." She mumbled under her breath.
    "Skip breakfast?" He asked.
    "Yeah." She admitted. Tony turned down different street than the one she usually took when walking to school. "Wait, where're we going?
    "To get you something to eat." He said.
"You don't need to do that." She told him.
"I can't have my partner starving, especially since our project is due today."
"But we're gonna be late." She argued.
"We're already late, it doesn't matter now." He said.
"I didn't know you were so reckless, Toretto." She raised an eyebrow at him. She did not expect him to purposefully miss class like this, but that just served to show how much she did not about him yet.
She had to admit that he was cooler than she had first thought, and he was caring too. He definitely seemed like a good person. And a good friend. If only she could have been friends with him.
Tony chuckled. "You have a lot to learn about me, Gray." He said. He drove to a fast food drive-through and bought her some breakfast. By the time they actually arrived at school they had already missed the first class, but they did make it in time for the presentation of their project.
As they did their presentation together, Tony's eyes kept moving to Layla each time it was her turn to talk. He was happy to see that she was actually putting some effort into it. She did not sound too enthusiastic, or enthusiastic at all, since it was still schoolwork, but she did not sound as bored as she usually did.
Usually she did not pay attention in school or put in effort or even care about it. When they first started working on the project together he did not expect much from her. Though she was reluctant to do the work, at least she turned it around and at least tried to pretend that she was interested in it.
Now that he had gotten to know her, he just wanted to learn even more about her.