Salvia High School

Chapter 8: Heartbeat

When lunch ended, Kaila had informed Lain and Mallix that she would be walking to class with Nina. As they went on to home economics without her, Kaila found herself walking besides Nina with Alex and Zander not too far behind.

"You know it's alright to talk to me?" Nina playfully attempted to get Kaila to laugh.

"What do you mean?" The girl seriously looked up at her.

"Well you've been around for more than a day now and I'm pretty sure you haven't said more than like ten words. Not to brag or anything but people usually find me easy to talk to. Is everything alright?"

"Uh yeah everything's fine." She forced a smile. However, with Nina being too much of a people person she could see the empty look in Kaila's eyes. This weekend she was determined to get past the thick barriers this girl had created for herself.

"So uh...are you and James okay?" Kaila attempted to change the topic. One that she could be able to mainly listen to.

"Us? Yeah we're fine. Don't worry about us James just isn't exactly the friendly type. Not much of a surprise, I mean Mallix was like that too before Lain brought out his personality."

"James and Mallix are brothers?" Kaila was surprised she hadn't connected the two dots sooner. Especially after seeing how similar they both looked physically.

"Yup. I hoped I could do the same for James but I'm starting to think this is as far as his personality goes. He doesn't laugh or smile. He tends to faze out often and ignore the group half the time. And well he's just always...well down."

"But you're so happy."

Nina laughed taking it as a compliment. "Thanks. But that doesn't mean I don't have my moments. James isn't all bad. He's helped during times when I feel so vulnerable or unsure about what to do, I always find myself able to confine with him. He just makes it easy. I'm able to freely talk to him about anything and everything. I let him know what's bothering me, what's going on in my life, if I have issues with someone. You can trust him. He just takes time to get used to." She assured. "He shows his love in his own way."

Through all her rambling they arrived at Nina's class. "Well this is my stop. Thanks for talking with me Kaila. Hopefully we can do more of it this weekend. I promise you I'm not as scary as you think." Nina joked as she left into her class.

Kaila smiled waving back as she quickly headed off to her class with Lain and Mallix. Getting a good chance to observe the school this morning, Kaila found it incredibly easy to find the right room. As she walked in both Lain and Mallix happily waved her over.

Taking the seat besides Lain the couple looked towards her with serious looks. "What?" She shrugged.

"We just wanted to make sure you actually wanted to come this weekend. We know Nina can be a little persuasive and Zander wasn't exactly helping either." Mallix said before Lain took over for him.

"It's just...we just wanted to make sure this was something you wanted to do with us and it wasn't just out of pressure."

For a moment Kaila questioned that herself. 'Why does turning them down seem so hard?' She pondered trying to convince herself it wasn't hard and that she was just getting too close too fast. But it wasn't working. Deep down she knew the reason rejecting them was so difficult was because she wanted to be around them.

"It...it wasn't out of pressure. I want to come. I think...I think it'll be a nice change of pace." She sweetly smiled making up her mind. 'You've made it this far alone and you hated every second of it. Just give this a chance.' She comforted herself.

"Okay then. I'm glad to hear that." Mallix smirked back.

"I am too. Speaking of which, you don't have to bring any clothes to our place. Nina usually borrows mines. You're welcome to as well. It'll just be a little big." Lain gave Kaila a heads up.

Kaila smiled while thanking Lain when their teacher walked into class ready to start their lesson. The trio started to pay attention for as long as they could before ultimately tuning him out. They continued planning this weekend. Everything had to be perfect.

By the time class ended they had the entire weekend planned out. Kaila left the couple with a wide smile and went on with the rest of her day. The only thoughts running through her mind was of the excitement she had. She hadn't felt this way in a long time. The way her heart raced when thinking about spending an entire weekend with people who actually wanted her there and not having worry was exhilarating.

Thankfully with her parents gone on yet another business trip she knew she had nothing to worry about. Their trips usually lasted anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

The small girl had become used to being on her own, but it didn't stop her from feeling lonely. All the nights she'd spent indoors kneeling at her bedroom window watching the stars in the nighttime sky twinkle. The countless times she shed tears waiting patiently for her turn to live life.

Finally she had that chance. A chance to do something she'd been waiting years for. All she had to do was keep them away from her parents. 'It's a simple task Kaila. Just don't let them over when their home. Easy.' She thought to herself.

By the time Kaila got to her last class of the day her heart couldn't have been happier. In all her previous classes she hadn't even noticed until now the large smile taking up half her face. Forgetting about her seating arrangement in this class she began daydreaming into this weekend.

Even Lauren and her group couldn't break Kaila's  trance. The small girl was so eager. She had a constant feeling of needing to vomit and butterflies swarming around in her stomach all at once. And she loved every bit of it. She felt something again—something besides fear.

When class ended and Kaila made her way out to her bus she felt like she was frozen when a sharp pain made its way across her face. With bug eyes she held a hand to her red cheek. Lauren slowly crept into her field of view and she had never looked so angry.
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off