Kaleb's POV

Running up the steps, I take two at a time. My friends can be so stupid at times. Especially Connor but he means well. Standing next to Layla's door I can already hear her crying. Whitney is right beside me. I know she's blaming herself for Layla running upstairs but it's not her fault. She didn't know the extent of what was going on and Connor speaks before he thinks.

I take deep breath before knocking on Layla's door. To be honest, I don't expect her to answer. It's not easy for her to open up and after the what happened downstairs it wouldn't surprise me if she either tries to go home or keeps herself lock in this room for days. To say that I am surprise when she opens the door only a few seconds after I knocked on it would be an understatement.

Her eyes are bloodshot and puffy. "Layla," I say, as I push the door open wider. "I only thought Whitney was coming over. Connor can't help himself. He doesn't think before he speaks."

She sits on bed the staring at the ground. "Why are they all here? What do you all want from me?" She whispers.

Like earlier I sit beside her and take her hand in mine. "They want to be your friend too."

"Why?" Tears falling from her eyes for the umpteenth time today. "Why do care about me?  Why do they care about me? And why now?  Y'all have gone to school with me for the past three years.  Why can't y'all just let me finish the school year alone? I'm worthless."

I don't even know how to answer her.  Why did I wait so long?  I don't know if my friends had noticed Layla or not, but I did.  What if I could have put a stop to this long go.  I don't have answers that she is looking for but the one thing I do know is that she is not worthless.  "Layla, I wish I knew why I waited this long, but I don't know.  But now that I have gotten to know you I just cant pretend that you don't exist.  The one thing I do know is that you aren't worthless.  If someone is telling you that you are, they are so completely wrong.

Whitney slowly walks over and sits on the side Layla. "Layla, he's right.  You aren't worthless and I'm also sorry about what happened downstairs. Kaleb's mom called me last night to tell me to come over this morning, so I called everyone else to let them know we weren't going to be at school today. All I told them was that you were dealing with some stuff and that Kaleb and I were going to help you. The next thing I know they all said that were going to help you too. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let them come. It's just when it comes to things outside of school the seven of us are always with each other and they all really do care about you.." Layla nods her head without saying a word. "We all do want to be friends with you. I don't know why you think you aren't worthless because you're not to us."

"Whitney is right." Daniel says nervously, barging into the room with the rest of our friends following him. "None of us think you are worthless, and we want to be your friend.  We care about you."

"Well, Kaleb might want to be more than friends, but you get the point." Connor smirks. Luckily, I don't think Layla heard him. "Layla, I really am sorry for my comment downstairs. I didn't mean to upset you. I was just in shock to see that you had been so badly hurt."

"Come on." Winter and Summer say in unison, as they both gently grab Layla's arms pulling her up from the bed. "Kaleb's mom makes a delicious breakfast." Summer says as they pull her down the stair to the kitchen.

Whitney follows them out of the room, but Jake grabs my arm before can I leave the room. Jake, Connor and Daniel look at me with concern in their eyes. "What happened to her? She's covered in bruises."

Sighing I comb my fingers through my hair. "I don't know. I was close to finding out until y'all barged into the kitchen this morning. On my way home from Whitney's last night I drove by Layla's. I didn't see her, but as I was driving, I saw her at some run-down park. She was crying and beaten to hell. She looked a lost worse. She had a glass shard in her leg, and as my mom was tending to her wounds, we found that she was fully covered in bruises."

"So, she's abused?" Connor growls. "From where? Her home?"

"I think so, but she wouldn't tell me."

Daniel looks deep in thought. "Why is she so thin? I mean she is like sickly thin. How did none of notice it before now? You don't think she has an eating disorder, do you?"

I pace back and forth through the room. "I don't know. You can tell by just from where she lives they probably don't have much money to buy food.   Something in me is telling me that it isn't an eating disorder, but more of someone not allowing her to eat much"

"That would explain lunch yesterday. She didn't want to go because she didn't have any money." Daniel says.

"But even after Kaleb said he would pay, she didn't want to go." Connor buts in. "And we all know she didn't bring her lunch like she said. If she is not eating at home wouldn't she want to take Kaleb up on his offer so she could have at least eaten something."

Jake just shakes his head in anger. "She didn't want to go because she is not use to eating. That is part of the reason why she couldn't finish her food. Her stomach isn't used to eating. Trust me if she had an eating disorder, she wouldn't have finished her shake."

Jake's right I think to myself. The few times I have seen her eat, she eats whatever is in front of her. "Come on," I say. "Let's go downstairs before the girls miss us."

Connor nudges my shoulder. "You mean before you miss Layla too much." He smirks.

The girls are already sitting at the table when we enter the kitchen. I'm not to happy to see that both seats next to Layla are taken. Whitney is on her left and Winter is on her right. Both of them should have known I wanted to sit by Layla. Not wanting to make a fuss, I take the seat across from Layla. She briefly looks up and give me a small smile.

I still want to know what happened to her last night and so does my mom. We are both afraid that what ever happened to her happened at her home. If she is getting hurt at home than she can't go home.  I wont allow her to go home, and I doubt my parents would let her go home either.

The entire time we are eating I can't keep my eyes off her. It's obvious that she is still in pain every time she takes a bite. My mom has overloaded her plate like she did everyone else's. Layla finishes her eggs and takes a few bites of her toast and bacon, but doesn't finish completely finish her breakfast.

After breakfast we go to the game the room to hang out. This is the first time for Layla to be anywhere besides the living room, kitchen and guest room. She is a little overwhelm by the size of our house. I guess if the shoe was on the opposite foot, I would be too. Just by the looks of her house, it is smaller than my living room and kitchen combine.

Everyone is doing their own thing in my game room. Connor and Jake are playing on the PS4, Whitney and Daniel are playing darts, and Winter and Summer are playing on some of the arcade machines. Layla looks so out of place as she sits on one of the couches silently watching everyone.

Grabbing her hand, I pull her up and take her over to air hockey table. "Have you ever played air hockey?"

She grins at me. Whoa! She grinned at me! "Yeah, I use to play it a lot when I lived with my-" She bites he lip. "Um. Yeah I use to play it a lot and I'm pretty good at it."

"No one has everyone against me." I proudly tell her.

"We'll see about that she." She teases back. Wow where is this confidence coming from.I like this side of her. 

"Want to make it interesting?"

She quirks one brow up at me, "What do you have in mind?"

Thinking for a moment a bright idea pops into my mind. "If I win, you have to leave your schedule the way it is."

She bites he lip thinking about it. "Okay, deal but if I win you have to tell me the truth about any two questions I ask."

"No deal." I tell her. "I'll tell the truth no matter what, so you need to think of something else in case you win."

She sits there thinking. "Fine if I win then you have then you have to..." She stops mid-sentence still trying to figure out what I should do if she wins.

After giving her a few more second, I say, "if you win, I'll take you out to dinner and a movie." Her mouth slightly drop opens and her cheeks tint pink.

She tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Okay," she says, shyly. I feel my heart speed up until she says, "as friends." My heart suddenly drops when she says as friends. I mean of course I know we would be going as friends but there was just something about hearing her say it that caused a pang of pain in me.

"First person to win three rounds wins." She nods her head and we start. She was lying when she said she was pretty good. She's not pretty good. She's amazing. Normally when I go against my other friends it's an easy win, but not with her. We are now tied 2-2. All my friends... No. All of our friends are surrounding us and cheering us on. Well cheering her on I should say, but that's okay. I want her to know that we all really do care. Even though I care for her I can't let her win though. I can't have her changing her schedule.

Cheers erupt as I score and win the game. I glance at Layla afraid that she might be upset at losing because now she can't change her schedule, but to my surprise she is laughing at something Whitney said. She is laughing. Her laughter causes a warm feeling inside of me that I've never felt before. Crap. I think I'm falling hard for her.