Sterling's Daughter

"Okay, you owe me an explanation," Kirsty said as she sat down next to Laya on the bus at the end of the day. "Why were you crying when you ran out of english today?"
"I wasn't crying," Laya defended herself.
"Well, you had pretty glassy looking eyes when you rushed out," Kirsty stated. "What happened? Will was looking rather confused over the whole thing."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Laya frowned, even though she knew Kirsty wasnt buying it in the slightest. Friends dont usually fall for lame excuse like that. No one does really, Laya guessed.
"Lay..."Kirsty began.
"Look," Laya interrupted quickly. "Can we just drop this topic right now? It seriously doesnt matter, honestly. And if i'm really honest, I'm really sick of hearing Will this and WIll that. I do not like Will Hamilton, can't you see that?"
The look in Kirsty's eyes told Laya quite clearly that no , she didnt see that. She opened her mouth to say something, but Laya gave her a warning look. She shut her mouth for a second, then opened it again.
"Okay," she said softly. "I'm sorry. Guess I was giving you a hard time about him."
Laya raised an eyebrow but said nothing. A long silence dragged out between them for the rest of the trip, and the goodbye's they shared were the last they said to each other for the day.
***
Laya kept her head down at school the next day, hoping that no one would start talking to her about yesterday's english class. Kirsty didn't mention Will at all, and Laya was glad.
When the bell rang for the end of school, Laya thought she'd escaped the dreaded coversation with pure luck and had got off scot free, and couldnt help but feel utterly relieved as she slammed her locker door shut. WHich is why you never think those things before you actually get away.
"We need to talk," a male voice said very close to her ear. She almost leapt a mile and whirled around, slamming into something hard and staggering slightly. A warm hand gripped her arm, steading her and keeping her on her feet. Laya looked up and found herself staring into a fascinating pair of dark brown eyes. They were so dark, they were almost black, and Laya felt the weirdest sensation...wait.
"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed, jerking her arm away and giving Will her most ferocious glare.
"We need to talk," Will repeated, unfazed by the look that was being sent his way with increasing intensity.
"No we don't," Laya went to step away from him, but his arm shot out and blocked her path. She blinked at it for a second, then stepped back. Straight into the locker. Ouch.
"Come on," WIll sounded slightly frustrated. "Look, just this once. For, like, 5 minutes. That's all."
"NO," Laya stamped her foot. SHe took a deep breath. "Listen, William," she said in her calmest, and most composed voice, "I am not interested in talking to you."
She suddenly became acutely aware of Will standing a little bit closer to her than before, and she felt something tighten in her chest. She clenched her jaw and stared back into the now narrowed brown eyes, determined to make him back down, but for some reason it was extremely hard to do. In fact, Laya could feel butterflies in her stomach and she really wished it would stop.
"Fine," he said suddenly, no anger in his voice. In fact, Laya realised with sudden shock, was that he sounded almost...hurt? He took a step back, but Laya's feet wouldnt move. She was rooted to the ground. "What?" he asked after a moments silence, and Laya was jolted out of her trance. With horror, she realised she'd been staring at him.
"Uh..." she sorted through her brain hastily. Nothing to save her. "I..."
Silence. Crap. He'd really caught her off guard that time.
"I guess I should go then," Will said, giving her a strange look.
"Yeah," Laya nodded, unable to find the ability to be horrible to him. "Same here."
As he walked away, Laya just watched him go, thoughts spinning.
What the heck had just happened there?