broken promises

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Song for this chapter - broken promises

by Torey Lanez.

"Are you sure you still want to go?" Lydia asks me for the one hundredth time.

"Yes. I'm sure." I say.

It's Friday morning, and currently Lydia is grilling me on whether I still want to go to the club opening tonight due to the events of Rob's attack.

"But are you seriously sure?"

"Lydia," Gray says from the doorway, causing an easy smile to appear on my face, "I'm pretty sure, she's sure." He laughs, then turns his attention me, lifting up a Starbucks bag. This guy. I walk towards him, giving him a hug to show my gratefulness.

"Hey." I greet, and then walk back to Lydia so she can continue to braid my hair into two Dutch braids.

"You've ruined my work." She screeches, "I'm gonna have to start all over again." She sighs then yanks her fingers through my hair to untangle the knots.

"Ouch Lydia!" I yelp, massaging my scalp where she surely must've ripped some hair out.

"There's no beauty without pain, Layla. Suck it up." She says and then begins to pull tightly at the different sections as she neatly braids my slightly wet hair. I want it wavy for tonight so we're taking early precautions before we run a curling wand through it later tonight.

"I don't feel pain, and I'm beautiful." Grayson comments, a smirk on his face.

"That must be why you don't feel pain, you know? The lack of beauty?" I tease.

His mouth opens, but before he can even take a step forward, Lydia growls at him to not come near me. I know he was preparing to tackle me, I could see it in his eyes.

"I'm almost done, then you two animals can fight." She mumbles, and slightly tugs on the braid again, making me wince.

"Animals?" Both Grayson and I question in sync.

"Yep." She says, while tying the elastic at the bottom of the braid. She then pulls at them a bit before pushing me up and running out of the room. Grayson jumps on me and we fall back on the bed, as I let out an 'oomph', he props himself up on his forearms but keeps his legs between mine.

"You're heavy." I groan and he lays his chin on my chest, a lopsided smile on his face as he looks up at me.

"There's none of my weight on you," he replies, "You're weak." He kisses my cheek, and before pulling away licks it too, making me groan in disgust.

"What's wrong with you?" I ask, my face still scrunched up.

"A lot of things." He mumbles, before reaching out and poking my sides, making me thrash against the bed. I'm most ticklish on my sides, my shoulders and my neck. Grayson found this out and hasn't stopped torturing me since. He likes torturing me, in fact; I'm pretty sure he loves it.

"Stop it." I groan and attempt to roll over to try and stop his relentless attack on me, but he holds my waist, pinning me to the bed. "Grayson!" I whine and when that doesn't work, I shout for Lydia instead. She barges back into the room and jumps on top of Gray, making him crash on top of me; which forces me to take both his and Lydia's weight as one. My body gets crushed, and I find it hard to breathe as they both lie on top of me, laughing. "Fat-asses." I comment, and  at once they both attack me. I wriggle from beneath them and finally set myself free from them both.

I take a look in the mirror and see that my braids are practically non existent as hair sticks out from every direction.

"Look at what you did!" I screech, pointing up to my messed up hair and looking at them through the mirror. Grayson laughs at the mess he made, but Lydia's features turn dark and I watch as she growls before swinging back and landing a powerful punch on Grayson's shoulder. When he grunts in pain, my mouth drops open before I glare at her fiercely. "Lydia!" I cry in shock and rush over to Gray who's cradling his shoulder.

"I'm fine. That didn't hurt at all." He grunts, his teeth gritted the whole time. I roll my eyes, before gently helping him sit up.

"Oh yeah?" Lydia taunts, her arms folded across her chest, "want me to hit you again?"

Grayson shakes his head ferociously, and I let out a giggle at the sight of him cowering away from someone as small as Lydia. In fairness to him though, that punch looked and sounded like it hurt. "You okay?" I question, cupping his jaw and squishing his cheeks together.

"I am now." He says, but the words are barely audible as his cheeks still remain squished together. I giggle, before letting him go and reaching down for my bag before leaving the room. When no one follows behind me, I stop and turn around; "What are you waiting for? Move it, we're gonna be late!" I exclaim and continue to walk out of the house, placing a kiss on my dad's cheek before leaving.

Connor already left for hockey practice about half an hour ago, and he's actually the reason I woke up at an ungodly hour of five in the morning as he was the one who let the devil through the door and into my room. Lydia has started riding to school with Gray and I as he refuses to let me back into Lydia's car, arguing that he needs me to be in his car to calm his 'anxiety' about going to school.

Lydia and Grayson straggle behind me, as I untie my hair and softly run my fingers through my waves. I hop into the passenger seat and as soon as Grayson sits in the drivers seat, he hands me his phone to choose the music. I decide to pick my TikTok playlist, and as soon as Give Your Heart a Break by Demi Lovato starts to play Lydia lets out a fake sob and dramatically fans her cheeks before she starts screaming along to the lyrics.

"When will you realize,
that baby, I'm not like the rest?" Grayson sings to me, very out of tune and very high-pitched. I shake my head in mock disappointment, before joining in with both of the weirdos I choose to spend my time with. I can't think of the reason right now.

"Don't wanna break your heart
Wanna give your heart a break
I know you're scared it's wrong
Like you might make a mistake
There's just one life to live
And there's no time to wait, to wait
So let me give your heart a break, give your heart a break." I join in and we all sing together, them screaming while I sing along quietly. Grayson put his hand on my thigh, tapping his finger on my leg along to the beat. He grabs my hand to place it on the gear stick as he shifts the gear and then keeps it there with his hand on top. It's become a thing.

When we get to school, Grayson and I rush to Chemistry, while Lydia slow walks behind us to French. She hasn't stopped complaining about it since she showed up this morning, so it makes sense her reluctance to get there. I'll be surprised if she even shows up to be honest.

Bits of paper lay on all of our desks when we walk in the room. Grayson takes the eat next to me and I immediately wince at my paper as a big fat D sits on the paper. Shit. I subtly check next to me at Grayson's to see a gorgeous A* on the top of his. I poke my bottom lip out and widen my eyes, wanting him to say yes to my upcoming request.

"Gray?" I call and he swings his head around, smirking at my pouting face when he sees it, "please tutor me." I say and he smirks even wider.

"What do I get out of it?" He replies.

"My happiness?" I frown. "What? Do you not care for my failing grades?" I question, a little shocked. He smiles straight away.

"Of course I care about your failing grades, lil' one." His white teeth gleam even under the dull classroom lights. "I just think I should be given something in return. Maybe another date?" He encourages, making me smile widely.

"Ugh. Another one?" I joke, scrunching my nose up. He reaches over and jabs at my side with his pointer finger and I immediately move right to the edge of my seat. I almost fall off the side but he pulls me back towards him swiftly. "I don't need you to help me with Chemistry to want to go on a second date with you, Gray." I say, just before the lesson starts and Gray has to stop what he was about to say. I smile cheekily in his direction before looking back down at my notebook, beginning to write notes. His arm creeps around the back of my chair and his fingers rub gentle circles on my uncovered waist, I can almost feel him smirking while he does it. "Stop." I whisper as I feel the goosebumps rise all over my body.

"No." He whispers back, while continuing what he was doing. I lean further into him slightly, while writing notes. His tricks of teasing last the entire lesson, and by the end I'm ready to leave and get as far away as possible.

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When lunch comes around, I walk into the cafeteria and find Myles sitting alone at our usual table. I quickly grab my food and join him.

"You okay?" I ask as I eye his hunched position in his seat.

"No. I've messed up."

"What's happened?" I ask straight away, concerned at the look on Myles' face as he looks so upset.

"I just - I was so jealous seeing them together. I thought his relationship with her would change our friendship so I made him choose. And he chose me." He puts his head in his hands. "How could I be so selfish? How could I do that to my little sister?" He questions, clearly hating himself.

"Wait - Reece chose you over Lyds?" I question. "When?"

"The beginning of the week." He says. I knew that they'd had a disagreement, but Lydia didn't let into details, just telling me she was waiting for Myles to cool off. I didn't realise that the guys she was practically in love with since forever chose her brother and their friendship over a relationship with her. She already felt like Reece put everything before her, but it's different with her brother because I know that she'd rather see him happy than her.

"You're so stupid." I say softly, and take his hand to comfort him. "Reece wouldn't have ditched you, because Lydia wouldn't have let him. She is so protective over you, there's no way Reece would get away with not spending guy time with you and Gray." I tell him. "The only reason they were spending so much time together was because it was new and different, once thing had settled down between them, everything would've gotten better."

"I'm such an asshole." He huffs, and I can't help but agree.

"Yeah. A little I guess." I say and watch as he cracks a smile at my honesty, "but you can fix it, by just telling them how you feel. Communication works you know." I joke.

"I will." He mutters, "I just don't want to be left behind, you know? I've already lost Gray to you-"

"Nope." I cut him off. "Don't even start. There's no way I could cope with Gray being with me 24/7." I laugh. Arms wrap around me immediately after and I laugh even more at the possibility of him hearing what I just said.

"She could totally be around me 24/7, don't listen to her bullshit Myles." He laughs, placing his bag in the chair next to me before walking off to get food.

"Talk to them both, let them know how you feel. You're not in the wrong for how you feel, just how you've acted about it. They both love you and would've listened to how you felt." I tell him and he nods his head, a smile finally appearing on his face.

"I'll speak to them." He says, "I'll fix this."

Lydia sits down the next minute, a frown on her face. She doesn't greet anyone and immediately my smile falls. It gets worse as Reece joins us, due to her nervous habit of picking her nails. I reach over and delicately place a hand over hers to let her know I'm here for her. The heartbroken look on her face has me ready to jump out of my seat and pull her away to where we've been eating lunch just us two this past week. Myles stops my thoughts though by beginning to speak.

"I'm sorry." He breathes, and I watch as both Lydia and Reece go stiff, desperately trying to not make eye contact with each other. "I'm selfish. I knew how much you guys liked each other and I stopped that because I was jealous. It was wrong of me, and I'm so sorry." He says and I feel uncomfortable, like I'm intruding on a conversation because really this has nothing to do with me. "I forced you to choose me instead of my sister, how horrible of a brother does that make me?" He questions, his eyes scrunched up.

Of course, Lydia isn't going to have that comment pass by and grabs his hands to comfort him.

"It's okay. You're not a bad brother at all. I'd get jealous too if it was the other way around and one of my friends was dating you." She looks at me in warning and I let out a giggle. "I understand and I forgive you." She tells him.

"Can you forgive me?" Reece's timid voice pipes up, just as a tray is getting placed down next to me. Gray sits down and his eyes run over us, confusion melting his features.

"Of course." She says, but her eyes are looking at the floor. "But maybe we shouldn't let anything else happen between us." She says and grabs my hand for comfort. "Although he's my brother and I wouldn't have wanted you to choose me, you still gave me up and I can't stop thinking that you'll just give me up for anyone." She seems to think for a second. "I've made my feelings perfectly clear, but I feel like I'm always walking on eggshells with you. I'm scared you'll find someone better than me." She says, a tear escaping. "I just want someone to pick me for once." She cries, stumbling up from the table and hurrying out of the room.

Myles starts to get up, aiming to go after he but I stop him.

"I'm not sure if she'll want to see you." I say timidly, and turn to Reece. "If you want something with her, go after her now and explain from your perspective. She said she wants someone to pick her, so go and be the one who picks her for once." I tell him and immediately he springs up and dashes after her. "Myles, she loves you and would do anything for you, but they need to sort this between them and sorry for saying this but you're the one that caused the problem." I decide being honest is the best way forward for this situation, if Myles has been honest with the both of them, then maybe this wouldn't have happened.

He nods his head, but picks up his bag and leaves the cafeteria, and as I watch I feel sympathy for him - he just didn't want to lose his best friend.

Grayson wraps his arm around my shoulders and brings me closer to plant a kiss on my forehead.

"Stop touching me!" I mumble but make no attempt to shove him off which only makes him chuckle and kiss my forehead once again. "Do you think they'll work it out?"

"With you here?" He questions, more to himself than me, "definitely." He says, smiling softly at me before he starts digging into his fries.

A/N
It feels kinda weird updating, even though I wasn't gone for that long.

First of all, just wanted to say that I hope you're all safe in this coronavirus situation and listening to the isolation guidelines. I know this is a shitty time, if anyone needs me I'm always looking through my comments on my page and am happy to talk if you're struggling. Just reach out to me!! :)

I'm hoping to be updating more frequently, but I'm struggling with the workload right now but hopefully as soon as I get into routine, that'll be sorted!!

Finally, 50k!!!!!
Wow, I actually am shook, thank you so much for all the reads, the votes and the comments, it absolutely makes my day coming online and seeing it all!! I'm so happy that so many of you are enjoying it, even though I'm so bad with the updates.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Lots of love,
Kia xox

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