It didn't get any easier after she went back to her parents' house. If anything, life only got harder for Leila.
Instead of the numbness Leila had gotten far too used to, she became filled with rage, snapping at everyone and everything until her parents learned to leave her alone they avoided her. Everyone did. Everyone except Jasper.
In the mornings, Jasper talked to her at school, more than he ever had, after school he would walk her home on the way to his own home and he came over every day and no matter how many times she screamed at him, he never left. He only left when he wanted to and although Leila acted as if she hated it, it was nice. It was nice to have someone. But then Jasper got busy, he couldn't come over every day anymore, he rarely talked to her at school, he never walked her home and Leila once again became a shell, returning to her numbness before she could even truly begin to move on and get better.
So Leila did the same routine as before, get up, eat something, put her hair up in a messy bun, and leave for school. When she returned she went to her bedroom and stared at the walls where pictures of her boys were hung from before.
Currently, Leila was walking among the teenagers in the hallway, her backpack hanging heavily on her shoulder as she pushed through the crowd that seemed so impossibly happy. She couldn't even imagine being that happy despite knowing she had been that happy only two weeks ago.
As she walked she bumped into someone who merely grinned at her. It was a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, the classic popular girl, Leila vaguely recalled her name being Cassidy. The girl's eyes widened, "Oh my gosh! Have you been invited to my party?"
This was when Leila took notice of the fliers held in the girl's hands and confused she shook her head in response, unable to find the strength to speak.
Cassidy didn't seem to care as she practically shoved a flier into her hands, "Here! You have to come, it's going to be so much fun!" With that Cassidy rushed off and began to hand other people, who were far more likely to actually come to her party, fliers.
Leila sighed as she crumpled the flier without a second thought however as she went to toss it in the nearby trash can, she decided against it, shoving it into her backpack instead as she walked out of school desperately wanting to get home.
Once she arrived home she rushed up to her room and threw her backpack down beside her shut door before sitting on her bed. She found her eyes floating to her backpack, thoughts of the flier running through her mind before she groaned and got up, she picked up her backpack with another groan before throwing it onto her bed, sitting back down, and zipping it open. Leila hastily pulled out the flier and straightened it out, it was a bright neon pink that hurt Leila's eyes, big white letters in the center of the flier spelled out 'Cassidy's 18th Birthday Party' in a much smaller font that Leila found hard to read was 'Free Booze,' below that in a bigger font although still smaller than the first read 'Details On The Back.'
Leila thought this over for a moment, simply staring at the flier before setting it on her nightstand where she would later pick it repeatedly and stare at it some more before placing it back down before finally she decided to hell with it and looked at the date on the back of the flier that she hadn't bothered to look at, the date of the party was much sooner than she thought. It was in two days.
Leila didn't officially decide to go to the party until the day of the party however that party was merely the start of her newest downward spiral that led to her wrecking her life until eventually, it didn't exist.
Leila glanced at the flier as she laid on her bed, her unopened homework folder beside her. She let out a sigh as she figured what the hell.
Without another thought the blonde stood up and went to her closet, she picked out a black overall skirt, a plain white baggy long sleeve sweater, black tights, black combat boots with gold trim, and lastly a pair of gold hoop earrings that Reggie bought her as a joke one year after they teased girls who wore them.
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Leila looked at herself in the mirror, scrunching up her nose before she ruffled her hair a bit making it seem wild yet strategically styled.
With one last look in the mirror, Leila nodded and picked up the flier glancing it over a few times before stuffing it in her pocket just in case she forgot the address. The party was set to start in around fifteen minutes and based on the address which wasn't too familiar to Leila as it was in the nicer part of town, it would take her around twenty minutes on a bike, thirty if she walked.
As she made her way to her window to climb out of it and sneak away so her parents wouldn't know where she was off to, her eyes caught a picture of her, Reggie, Alex, and Luke on the beach, where the boys regularly played music for tips and fun.
Reggie was on Leila's left side, he had his arm thrown over her shoulder, Alex stood on her right with his arm over her other shoulder, meanwhile Luke stood next to Alex, and rather than having an arm thrown over the shoulder, they had their arms intertwined in between them. Each of them had big grins, a twinkle in Leila's eyes that hadn't been seen since that day.
Leila no longer recognized the girl in the photo, nobody did. She had changed. She missed her old self however she knew she wasn't going to get her old self back, she had gone with her boys just like a huge part of her soul and heart.
Leila huffed tearing her eyes away from the photo as she returned her focus to the current mission, escaping the house.
She climbed onto her bed and opened her window before taking the screen off, she placed the screen on her bed before swinging a leg over and beginning to climb out.
That one party was the start of it all.
That party was the start of Leila ruining her own life after losing her happiness. Perhaps if she had decided to stay home or if she had never been handed that flier, she would have found happiness again someday, she would have done more than survived until her last day, she would have lived.
If only Leila knew that when she took her first sip from that cup.
꧁ 𝟷,𝟷𝟾𝟷 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 ꧂
Hey phantom weirdos! I'm back finally, I had a busier week than I expected so I wasn't able to fit in any time to write this along with my other stories but I'll be able to focus on this story today and Monday so you'll probably get more chapters soon!
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed these chapters, if you did be sure to...
