Kaleb's POV

During dinner I was a little worried when I saw Lizzy's mother talk to my mom and point at Layla. Layla must have seen her talking to my mom too, because she sunk in her seat and stayed quiet. Layla didn't eat much of her dinner due to her worrying about what my parents would say. "You have nothing to worry about. I promise, Layla." I say trying to reassure that everything was going to be okay.

"They're not going to be mad you, and by some off chance they are you can come and stay with me for a few nights." Whitney says trying to calm her down, but instead it ended up freaking her out more.

"W-What if they want to kick me out now? Where will I go?" Layla hides her face in her hands. "Why was I so stupid?"

Connor starts laughing, and we all stare at him. This isn't the time for him to be making jokes while Layla is so upset. "Layla, they would never ever kick you out. Do you not see how all of our parents look at you?" Layla looks up at Connor and wipes away a stray tear that has fallen before shaking her head. "Our parents love you. We all love you. Kaleb's parents would never even dream of kicking you out and trust me when I say we wouldn't let them." He says smiling genuinely at her.

"Really?" Layla says looking at all of us. It's times like this that I am reminded how broken she is. Never in a billion years would I be worried about being kicked out of my home and not being loved. Sure, I could end up grounded or something like that, but that's nothing compared to the fears that Layla has.

I grab her hand and give it a tight squeeze. "We all love you, our parents included. I promise." I say and everyone agrees. Layla gives us a small smile and tries to calm herself down.

I'm about to ask her if she wants to dance when my mom appears out of nowhere. "Layla, may I speak to you in private?"

Layla looks petrified, but I give her hand reassuring squeeze before she stands up to follow my mom. To be honest, I'm a little scared too. My dad keeps staring at me giving me an unreadable look. Once my mom and Layla is out of earshot I look back at my friends. "My parents wouldn't kick her out, right?" I gulp.

Everyone is silent for a moment. "O-of course not." Whitney says, but her voice holds a worriedness to it.

"Well, if you parents kick her by some weird chance, I know my parents would take her in, in a heartbeat.  They've always wanted a daughter and they keep saying how they wish she would live with us." Daniel says reassuringly.

"That's great and all, but I don't want her to move out." I growl causing all of my friends to laugh at me.

"Because someone is in love. Just admit it." Jake laughs.

"Shut up." I mumble only causing my friends to laugh more.

As the music plays more and more people make their way onto the dance floor. Knowing my friends want to dance, I tell them to go ahead while I wait for Layla. I figured it would probably be best if they weren't here when she returns anyways incase, she is upset. I watch my friends dance as I wait for Layla, I can't help but laugh at Winter and Connor. This isn't like a school dance where they play music that we listen too. All of the music is classical. Most of the people are older rich people who like to gently sway back and forth with their partner, but then you have Connor who is acting like he at some sort of rock concert jumping up and down like a crazed maniac. Poor Winter looks mortified. As I'm laughing, someone comes over and taps me on the shoulder. "Wanna dance?" The moment I hear her voice I cringe.

I turn in my seat to come face to face with Lizzy. "I already told you I have a date." I say through gritted teeth.

Lizzy smirks at me and bats her eyelashes several times. "I doubt you date is still here after what she did to my mom. It's okay though, Kaleb. I'm not mad at you. I know you had nothing to do with it. It was that poor excuse of a girl you brought. My mom said that your parents forced you to take her as your date because they pity her."

My anger is through the roof and I'm ready to lash out at her when someone else's voice rises above Lizzy's. "Well, this poor excuse of a girl wants you to get the hell away from her boyfriend before I spill something on you next." Layla spats.

Lizzy's eyes widen as she turns to see Layla standing right behind her. "Y- you're supposed to be gone. My mom said you had to leave."

"Well you're no good mother was wrong. Now I would advise you to leave us alone before I give them a reason to make me leave." Layla growls looking scarier than I've ever seen her.

Lizzy glares at Layla, before getting right into her face. "I can destroy you." Lizzy hisses "I can make you regret the day you met Kaleb."

Layla's eyes darken and an evil smirk appears on her face. "You can't destroy what has already been destroyed. Take your best shot at me, because you can't even begin to compare to what I've already been through." Layla whispers with a tone that is dripping with venom. Lizzy glares at Layla, but when she sees no sign of her backing down, she turns on her heels and quickly walks away looking frighten.

Once Lizzy is gone, Layla slumps down in the chair beside me. "I really hate her." Layla sighs.

"Me and you both." I laugh. Layla gives me a small smile before looking at everyone else dancing. I stand up and offer her my hand. "So, if I remember correctly you promised to dance with me."

Layla smiles standing up and taking my hand. "I thought you would never ask."

I swing her around and pull her into me closely. We start swaying to the music like everyone else around us and for the first time tonight Layla is calmed and relaxed. Time to change that. "So..." I say causing her to look up at me. "I'm your boyfriend?" I smirk with one brow raised.

Layla's cheek instantly turns red and she looks down. "I-I um I you see. I uh." She stumbles over her words. "I-I was j-just trying t-to get h-her to l-leave us alone f-for the n-night." She stutters before biting her bottom lip. She continues to look at the floor before whispering, "Sorry."

"I kind of like the sound of being called your boyfriend." I say causing her head to shoot up and look at me.

"W-what?"

Now it's my turn to be slightly embarrasses. "Uh, I mean I would have liked to take you out on a proper date first, but nothing about us seems to proper or normal." I say rubbing the back of my neck nervously.

"I like calling you my boyfriend, but you haven't asked me to be your girlfriend yet. So, I guess I can't call you my boyfriend..." She trails off.

"I haven't?" I say eyeing her. With a bright smile on her face, she shakes her head. "Hmm... I should probably do something about that."

"You probably should." She says with a boost of confidence.

We continue to dance on the dance floor and it's like we are the only two in the room. "Layla, will you please be my girlfriend?"

She stops dancing and just stares at me for a brief moment before standing on her tiptoes to give me a small kiss. "Yes, I'll be your girlfriend."

In my excitement I forget where we are as I grab her and spin her around. She giggles in excitement before hugging me tightly. Our friends must have noticed us, but then again, we weren't being very quiet in the first place, and all made their way to us.

"About time." Connor laughs at me before looking at Layla. "You still owe me one dance though."

"Of course." She laughs at him.

"Thank goodness Whitney and I aren't the only couple anymore." Daniel says.

"Shut up." Whitney says as she playfully glares at her boyfriend. "Yay! We can go on double dates." She squeals causing me and Daniel to groan.

For the rest of the night we all take turns dancing with each other and having a good time until one of my dad's previous co-workers comes up to us. He hasn't worked with my dad in about six years, but still comes to all of the banquets and other events my dad's job holds. "Kaleb, it has been a while since I've seen you last. How are things?" Travis, my dad's previous coworker asks.

I'm about to answer but, I notice Layla tense up beside me. He looks at Layla for a moment longer than I feel like he should have, before asking her, "Have we met before?"

Layla starts trembling. "N-no we h-haven't." She stutters quietly.

"Are you sure? You look like my friend's daughter who has been missing." He says eyeing her suspiciously.

"No." Layla says firmly. "My father is in jail."

"Oh." Travis says with a small smirk on his face. "Well it was great seeing you again Kaleb, if you would all excuse me, I have a phone call to make." That was strange.  He normally doesn't stop talking to me.

We all stare at Travis as he walks away. "That was weird." Jake says. "He was acting all creepy when it came to Layla."

"Yeah. If he was really friends with Layla's dad than he would have known Layla's not missing and her dad is in jail." Summer snorts.

After a few minutes we all start joking around, but Layla is distant. "I'm not feeling well. Excuse me." She says suddenly before rushing out of the room. My friends all give me a weird look before I chase after her. I follow her as she quickly maneuvers through the crowd, and I finally catch up to her when she runs outside and sits on a bench in the garden. "Layla, are you okay?"

She looks at me with worried eyes. "I-I just wasn't feeling well. I think all of the events of tonight were getting to me." She whispers.

I take the jacket of my suit off and wrap it around her shoulders as she starts to shiver. "Come on, I'll call a cab to take us home."

"No, Kaleb. You can't leave." She starts to protest. "Your parents won't want you to leave. I am fine. I just needed some fresh air."

I shake my head and smile at her as I use my phone to call us a taxi. "It's fine, Layla. I promise. I am already tired of being here anyways. We can go home and watch a movie as we wait for the others to get home."

I sit beside Layla on the bench as we wait for the taxi to arrive. "Thanks, Kaleb." She whispers as she lays her head against my shoulder. "You've made tonight special, even though it was also really strange." She laughs.

"Well you are special to me." That sounded cheesy I think to myself.  "Hey, so what did my mom want to talk to about anyways?" I ask, still not knowing how that conversation turned out.

Layla laughs even more. "She asked me what happened between Lizzy's mother and me. I explained everything to her and then she told me she was proud of me for standing up for myself. She said she knew better than to believe the awful things that lady says. Your mom then squealed like a schoolgirl over us kissing." I shook my head at my mom's craziness. "She then said that she would never ever let you date such an awful girl like Lizzy."

I kiss Layla on her forehead. "Why would I ever want to date Lizzy when I already have the most perfect girl out there?"

Layla blushes as we sit in silence waiting for the taxi.