Chapter 18

"Why do you care so much about it?" Kayla doubtfully asked him. "Because I love you." Parker replied with a genuine smile. "Here here take it. You don't even have to answer me." Kayla gave him her cigarettes and lighter." "Good girl." With that, they left for their homes. Kayla had just reached her house when she saw a huge ruckus happening in the house. Kayla didn't ask anything and left for her room silently but she did know that whatever it was, it was definitely related with her mom so she didn't even bother to disturb them. Kayla's sister followed her to her room. "You know what mom did again?" She tiredly began. "No." Kayla replied. "They're saying that mom conned our dad and now he is in jail. Uncle has to pay the bail for him." "Oh." Kayla's sister couldn't get any other response from her so she left.

Kayla went to sleep and woke up the next morning quite exhausted again. "Damn. I must have committed some serious sin in my past life. Or maybe did I smile too much again?" Kayla thought to herself. She genuinely believed that whenever she smiled something really bad would happen to her so she would try to stay dull most of the time but she couldn't help it as her new persona needed to smile no matter what. Kayla quickly prepared the breakfast and watched some tv till it was time for her to go to school.

Kayla was silently sitting in her seat when Ben approached her again. "Oh c'mon. I said I was sorry. Chill out already." Ben tried bumping her fist but Kayla kept on ignoring him so he mildly slapped her. "Aw c'mon we are friends. Just talk to me once and I'll leave you alone." Kayla was surprised and annoyed at the boy's audacity to touch her after talking shit behind her back so she replied to him with a little harder slap than his. "Aw c'mon! All I did was spread rumors about you and nothing else but we're friends so cheer up." Kayla said to him while looking him dead in the eyes. Ben felt awkward as everyone was staring at him so he left quietly without making any scene.

During lunch the three of them were peacefully eating when Jane approached them with a sweet smile. "Hi Kayla!" Jane sat beside Kayla not knowing that Kayla was in a really bad mood. "You look so pretty today. What kind of foundation do you use?" "When will you leave foundation." "Hahaha that was so funny, right guys?" Jane said while looking at the two guys with an innocent look. "So Kayla, I'm having a party this weekend wanna join? And you can bring the guys with you." Kayla didn't budge and kept on chewing on her food. "Really? You're still doing the silent thing. No wonder you have no friends." "Oh. You're still talking? No wonder everybody considers you a bitch." Jane, Parker and Cosmos jaws dropped at her response but Jane still continued. " Is it that time of the month?" "Yeah it's the time for you to shut up once in a while month." Kayla replied while giving Jane death glares. "Anyways I'll see you guys at the party." Jane left while Parker gave Kayla a proud smile. "K. You're so mean but I like it." Cosmos flashed a thumbs up at Kayla while she gave him a half hearted smile. "But really. What happened? Why are you so down today?" Cosmos asked her worriedly. "Nothing." "You can tell us you know." "Fine. You want to know what happened? My mom conned my dad and he went to jail last night. My uncle had to pay a huge amount to bail him out. And now they're all cursing my mom." Kayla replied and left the table.

At the end of the day Kayla quickly left the school without Cosmos and Parker's notice. She was walking quietly when someone caught hold of her. Kayla turned back to see Ben standing infront of her with an apologetic look. "Kayla. Please listen to me. Just this once. You can slap me even if you want me to." "I ain't cheap like you." Kayla cockily replied. "Please." "Okay then. Explain yourself. Explain why I was slut shamed for no apparent reason. Explain what I did to deserve such comments from not only you but your friends. Explain why is it me!" "I thought you were a slut because you drastically changed your appearance. You were one of the most shy girls in our class last year and you would always wear a hoodie but suddenly this year, you started wearing off shoulders and dresses. You suddenly became outgoing and loud." "Just because I changed myself, you decided to talk like this about me! Wasn't this what all of you wanted! This doesn't explain anything!" "Plus I heard Jane talk about you so I thought she was speaking the truth. I mean you guys are friends, right? And honestly I liked the old you more." "Fuck you and that damned girl!" "I-" "Hey K!" Ben was in mid sentence when Cosmos interrupted him. "What are you doing here? Let's go." Parker said in a serious tone. "Hey I'm talking to her." Ben protested. "More like degrading her and then apologizing to her just so you could feel like you did nothing wrong." Parker replied while holding Kayla's hand. "Why'd you care?" "You don't have to know you piece of trash." Parker left with Kayla while Cosmos followed them from behind. "K?" Parker began after sometime. "Yeah?" "You okay?" "Yes." "You're not and you don't have to be. That's okay, you know." "Really? But the people surrounding me thinks otherwise." "Because they don't know you. They just assume anything. It's not your fault and it never was. If you keep listening to them then you will never be happy and they won't stop until you become nothing but a cold mass of flesh. Just focus on me." "You say those things but one day you'll leave too."