Kaleb's POV

Today has been boring to say the least. Everyone besides me and Connor slept in late. When they woke up, we ate the breakfast my mom had made us. Of course, it had to be reheated since it was already almost one in the afternoon, but everyone still enjoyed it. Anyone and everyone will tell you my mom is the best cook ever when it comes to breakfast.

Once we finished eating breakfast or lunch depending on what you're wanting to call it because of the time of day it is, we all go to the game room. "Let's play Mario Kart 8 on the switch, so we can all play at the same time." Winter chirps.

"That's a racing game, right?" Layla asks.

Connor tosses a control at her. "Yep."

Layla stares at small green controller in her hand with a funny expression on her face. "Why is the controller so small?"

It takes everything inside of me not to laugh. "Have you ever played Mario Cart?"

Layla looks down at the ground as she turns red. "Umm. Yes, but not on this system."

"What system? The Wii?" Jake asks. Layla shake her head. "The DS?" Again, she shakes her head. "Gameboy advance?"

"No," Layla whispers slightly embarrasses. "The Nintendo 64." She squeaks out.

"That's a really old system." Daniel says. "Umm the graphics have gotten a lot better." He laughs.

Layla rolls her eyes. "And the controllers have gotten a lot smaller." Everyone starts laughing as Layla looks at the small controller nervously.

As everyone take their seats, I make room for Layla to sit beside me. Whitney smirks and winks at me while, Connor makes a kissy face. I want nothing more than to slap the two of them. Thank goodness Layla doesn't see either of them acting like the childish idiots that they are.

We end up playing Mario Kart for the rest of the afternoon. Again, Layla surprised us by coming in first place several times. Hours had flown by when we decide to go downstairs and eat the cake that was made yesterday. Right as I cut into the cake, the front door opens, and our parents walk in.

Immediately Layla tenses up. My mom comes running into the kitchen, "Kids, can all of you meet us in the living room?"

We all quickly walk into the living. Layla is the last one to enter the living room and everyone's eyes are on her. My dad introduces all of the parents to Layla. She gives them all a quiet 'Hello'. She is so nervous, that she's trembling.

All of our parents look at her with love in their eyes. My mom and dad have only known her for a couple of days and everyone else's parents are just now meeting her, but they care for her as much as they do for us.

No longer being able to wait, I clear my throat. "So, what happened?"

"It took a few hours, but Layla, you father went in front of the judge. The judge explained several things to your father, and then your father signed his parental rights away." Layla doesn't say anything. She shows no signs of emotions. There are no tears, she's not smiling, she doesn't say a word. She just sits there as still as a stone with a blank face.

Finally after a few minutes she seem to gain the courage to ask a  question.  "D-did he try t-to fight it?" She timidly asks.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but he signed them willingly." My mom says softly. She walks over to Layla and gently rubs her arms. "On the bright side, he can't hurt you anymore. You're safe with us."

Layla looks my mom in the eyes. "You have permanent custody of me?"

My mom swallows hard. "Well, umm not yet, but we will." She says giving Layla a small smile. "There was a glitch that wouldn't allow the computer to give us full custody of you. The judge said it is just a computer error and it should be fixed soon. Until then we are listed at your temporary guardians, but rest assure we will have full guardianship of you soon okay, sweetheart?  Since you are now with us, how about we all go and  celebrate?"

Layla briefly looks at me, and something flashes in her eyes, but I don't know what. "T-Thank you. Would it b-be okay if I had a f-few minutes alone please?"

"Of course, sweetheart. I'm sure this is a lot to process." Layla gives my mom and everyone else a small smile before running up the steps to her room.

"Is she okay?" Winter ask with a look of worry on her face. "I thought she would be happy."

My mom as well as everyone else's mom just look at us. "I'm sure she is happy, but this must be a lot to process." My aunt, Whitney's mom, says. "Even though her dad did those evil things to her, he was still her father and probably her only family left. Him just signing his rights away without even a fight was probably hard for her to hear."

"I didn't even think of that." Whitney says as her eyes start to glisten with tears. "I couldn't imagine what she is feeling right now."

"Dad?"

"Yes, Kaleb?"

"Is it common for the computer to have glitches or errors like it is doing with Layla?"

My dad rubs the back of his neck. "No. Normally the only things that hold up something like this is a home visit, which in our case was waived or if there is a parent or family member who is trying to gain custody. We search through her records and from the looks of it, neither of her parents had siblings and both sets of grandparents are deceased. The only other explanation is a computer glitch."

"Cheer up! This is a happy occasion. Y'all sit here and think of somethings that we can get Layla to help her feel more comfortable."  My mom says trying to switch the subject to something less gloomy. The parents all walk into the kitchen trying to decide where we will go for dinner to celebrate Layla living with us while my friends and I sit in silence in the living room.

Everyone seems to be happy with the outcome of today's events, but there is still something gnawing at me. The look Layla gave me before going upstairs was almost as if she was trying to tell me that this isn't over. That there are still things to come.

"Kaleb." My mom shouts from the kitchen. "Can you go and check on Layla and see if she ready to go out to eat?"

"Yes Ma'am." I say as I run up the steps.

The moment Layla's door is in front of me I rapidly tap on it. "Come in." Her voice rings out.

I notice that the room is dark, and she is sitting on the edge of her bed. "Are you okay?" I ask as I turn one of the lamps in her room on.

She squints her eyes as they take a few moments to adjust. "Umm. Yeah. Just a lot to take in I guess."

She refuses to make eye contact with me, and I can immediately tell she is lying. "What's wrong, Layla?"

She lets our eyes meet for a split second before looking anywhere but at me. "Nothing Kaleb. We should head downstairs. Your friends and family are probably wondering where we are."

Layla starts to walk out of the room, but I gently grab her arm. "Ours."

"Huh?"

"Ours. They're our friends. Everyone downstairs care for you as much as they care for the rest of us."

I can tell just by the look on her face that she wants to argue about it with me, but instead she takes a deep breath and puts on a smile. "Okay, our friends are waiting." I would normally be happy that she called them our friends, but I'm to distracted by her smile and not in a good way. Her smile is fake. There is something wrong, but she doesn't want to tell any of us what is wrong.

I sigh as she walks out of the room. I was hoping my mom was right and that the only thing bothering her was that her dad gave her up so easily, but that doesn't seem to be the case. There is more wrong and I'm going to find out what it is.

By the time I make it downstairs, Layla is sitting in the midst of everyone with a smile plastered across her face. A fake smile. "I'm glad you are feeling better now, sweetheart." My mom says as she hugs Layla gently.

"Yes Ma'am. Umm thank you for all that you all have done for me." Layla responds quietly.

"Okay, everyone. We've decided to go to Dave and Buster's. We figure there is something for everyone to eat there and we can all have fun." My mom announces.

"What you really mean, Abby, is that we can play games while y'all drink." Connor snickers.

"Connor O'Bryan!" My mom howls as she glares at him.

"Sorry, Abby. I was just stating the truth." He smirks.

"It's a good thing you are like a second son to me or else you would be in a heap of trouble." I love how him and my mom banter back and forth.

With everyone thrilled about going to Dave and Buster's, we all load up into six vehicles. Wanting to be alone with Layla since I can tell there is something still bothering her, her and I ride in my car. The ride is silent at first with her just staring out the window. I want to ask her what's wrong, but I want to be careful on how I go about it.

I know she doesn't want to tell me, and if I come straight out and ask her she's going to lie. "Kaleb?" She says my name breaking me from my thoughts.

"Yeah?"

She tucks a strand of her hair behind her hair like she normally does when she's nervous. "What's Dave and Buster's?"

We stop at a red light and I look over to her to see if she is joking. She's never been to Dave and Buster's? "You've never been to Dave and Buster's?"

"I wouldn't be asking you, if I had been there before."

"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't." I chuckle stupidly. Of course, her dad would never take her to a place like that. He probably couldn't afford to, but I doubt he would have taken her even if he could afford it. But, what about before her dad when she was living with her mom? "It's a restaurant that serves all types of food. It has steak, fish, hamburgers and chicken. It also has all type of games we can play after we eat, and a bar for our parents."

"Oh, so kind of like a Chuck-e-Cheese, but for older people?" She asks.

"Umm. I guess you could say that." I laugh. "I've never thought of it that way."

We pull into the parking lot and I quickly jump out and run to her side to open her door. "You didn't have to do that." She says, as she gives me a small but real smile.

"I know, but I wanted to." I grin.

We walk into Dave and Buster's and meet up with the rest and take our seats. There are several open seats at the table where Layla can sit by the girls, but she takes the open seat next to me instead. I can't stop the smile that stretches across my face. Connor take the seat on the other side of me. "It looks like she is warming up to you quite a bit." He smirks. I nudge him hard in the side. "Ouch!" He yelps causing everyone to look at us.

Layla leans forward to look at Connor. "A-are you okay?"

Connor glares at me before smiling at Layla. "Peachy. Thanks for asking."

Layla gives me a weird look. "Don't worry about Connor. He's a goof." I tell her causing her to laugh a little.

We are all soon staring at the menus in front of our faces trying to decide what we want to eat. I look over at Layla worriedly after remembering when we took her to the diner, she didn't want to order anything. "Why do you keep looking at me?" She whispers, without taking her eyes off her menu.

"Umm... do you know what you want?"

"I umm d-don't know." She somewhat stutters causing me to worry that she doesn't want to eat. "I was thinking about either the cantina nachos or the tuscan chicken alfredo. They both look good." She says shyly.

A sense of relief washes over me knowing it wasn't that she doesn't want to eat but she doesn't know what to choose. Well, I can fix that for her. "How about you order one and then I'll order the other and we can share?"

"You don't have to do that. I can just choose one. You can get whatever you want."

"Well, since you mentioned the two, I want both. Let's share." I say hopeful that she will agree.

"Only if you're sure." I smile and nod my head. "Okay, we can share." She says with a huge smile.  A real smile.

After we order our food and drinks, everyone makes small talk as we wait for our food and drinks. For the most part Layla stays quiet just listening to everyone while I ignore everything around us and just stare at her.

"So are y'all in?" Connor ask while snapping his fingers in my face.

"Huh?"

"Damn. You got it bad for her." He laughs, as does Daniel and Jake. Thankfully Layla seems to be too busy listening to Whitney, Summer and Winter to hear what the guys are saying.

"What are y'all talking about?" I say agitated with them.

"We've been trying to get your attention for the past ten minutes and you've been to busy staring as Layla like a lovestruck puppy." Daniel laughs.

"No, I wasn't. I was just thinking." I mumble.

"Yeah, about Layla." Jake says.

"Whatever. What were y'all asking me about anyways?"

Connor rolls his eyes at me. "We asked if you wanted to bowl with us. Guys versus girls."

"I guess. I mean if Layla wants to play. She's never been here before and I don't want to leave her out if she doesn't want to bowl."

The three of them just stare at me for a few second before bursting into laughter. "What?" I growl.

"Wow!" Connor says as he slaps my back. "You're so lost in thought about her that you don't even pay attention to her. She's already said she would play."

"Oh." I say in embarrassment, as I feel my cheeks heat up. Thankfully I am saved by our food being brought to us.

As soon as our food is placed in front of us, Layla digs in. The food is really good, but I am more amazed at how much Layla is enjoying the food. I guess after spending the past few days with us and being able to eat whenever she wants her appetite is growing.

I look up from our plates and catch everyone staring at us. My Mom, Aunt and Whitney are trying to fight off the biggest smiles I've ever seen the three of them wear. I'm glad that Layla is so into the food that she doesn't notice everyone staring at the two of us. "So," Connor whispers to me. "Y'all are sharing. Isn't that like a couple thing?" He smirks before taking another bite of his food.

Yeah, I may like Layla, but there's no way she likes me in the same way. Whatever. Tonight, we are just going to have fun and not worry about anything until tomorrow.

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A/N:  Hello Amazing Readers!  Don't forget to show me some love for this book by commenting, voting and following me!  ~KarenJ128~