Sterling's Daughter

On Wednesday, it was english first period for both Will and Laya. Miss Jens was dividing everyone up into groups of 4, and Laya found herself being pushed towards Kirsty, Ty, and Will. Not exactly what she wanted, especially as they were going to stay in their groups for the next 4 classes of english after this.
For 5 minutes they discussed what they were doing and Ty and Kirsty flirted with each other continuously. Laya sent a smirk in Kirsty's direction when their gazes met, and watched in satisfaction as Kirsty's cheeks coloured. Then Kirsty tilted her head in Will's direction, eyebrows raised. Laya glanced at him, to find him looking at her curiously.
"What?" she asked tersely.
"You seem a little tense. Relax. I don't bite," he almost looked amused as he spoke, and Laya realised he was referring to the fact that they were sitting side by side, and opposite Ty and Kirsty. She whipped her head around to stare at Kirsty, trying to get the message across with her eyes that he wasn't trying to chew her head off or be horrible like the first few times they'd been together. Her friend just looked away idly. Laya sighed.
"I know that, William," she snapped, making a guess at what Will might be short for.
"It's just Will, not William," he responded quickly. "Will isn't short for anything."
"What a shame," she said sarcastically. "I think William is totally hot."
Will rolled his eyes.
"We both know that you don't," he said.
"Really?" Laya folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. "And how would you know that?"
He lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug.
"And why would the name Will be any different?" she challenged. Will shrugged again, but she caught sight of the small smile playing at the edge of his mouth. She picked up her work book and belted him over the side of the head with it.
"Miss Sterling, that's enough," Miss Jens voice commanded right into Laya's ear. Laya jumped in surprise and whirled around, almost knocking the glasses that balanced on Miss Jens' nose off onto the ground. Miss Jens frowned as she straightened her glasses.
"I'm very sorry," Laya apologised. "Didn't see you there, Miss."
Miss Jens took the work book out of her grasp and placed it on the desk.
"These are for working in, not slapping people over the head with," she said, firmly.
The class laughed and Laya felt her cheeks burn slightly.
"Sure," she agreed. "But he's an exception, I'm sure."
Miss Jens eyebrows shot up.
"I'm sure he is," she said coolly, "but that does not give you the excuse to do so."
Laya sat back in her chair as Miss Jens walked away.
"Busted," Will whispered under his breath. "You won't be able to do that again, will you?"
"There's a lot of things I learn from, mister," Laya jabbed a finger into his chest. "And one of those things is that I get a lot of joy out of hitting you over the head. I might just do that again, but maybe not in front of Miss Jens."
Will smirked.
"Of course, you wouldn't be caught dead in public with me, would you?" he said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Laya demanded.
He opened his mouth to answer, but he shut it almost as fast.
"What?" she pressed. His mouth drew into a tight line.
"Nothing," he grabbed his text book up and began to flick through it.
"Yeah, yeah, you expect me to believe that?" Laya laughed. She reached out an arm and slapped the text book closed, before placing a hand on his arm. She saw his gaze flick to her hand before back up to her face.
"I said, it's nothing," his voice sounded strange and Laya peered at him closely.
"Are you okay?" she asked in a low voice. She couldn't help but feel curious to his strange behaviour, and when people changed like this, it set her alarm bells ringing. Maybe it was Tempo's death that had caused his to act like this. After all, he had started being a lot nicer since the accident. Yeah, that would be it.
"Since when did you care?" Will suddenly flashed, but his voice was still quiet so only Laya could hear. If she was honest with herself, that actually stung. A lot.
She stared at him for a few seconds, then down at her hand which was still sitting on his arm. She snatched it back as felt a hot, burning sensation behind her eyes.
"Honestly?" she asked, trying not to sound like he'd really got to her there. "I really don't know. And why should I? You haven't given me much of a reason, have you?"
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she felt like tearing her hair out. That could sound like she really wanted to like him, couldn't it?
She stared at him in shock, watching as his brows furrowed together, trying to work her question out.
"I need the bathroom," she said quietly, and leapt up so quickly her chiar flew over backwards. Ooops. The class stared as she hastily set it back up on four legs.
"Laya St..." Miss Jens began crossly.
"Need the bathroom," Laya blurted out before she made it through the door and down the hallway. She brushed at her eyes, furious at herself for getting offended over somthing he said - he was a jerk and she'd told herself that a long time ago. Well, he'd only just proved that further. But still...
She didn't bother to wipe away a single tear that leaked out of the corner of her eye.