Song for this chapter: Rise Up

- Andra Day.

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"You ready to go?" Grayson asks me, leaning against my doorway with his arms crossed.

"You look hot." I say, not being able to hold myself back from complimenting how good he looks in that all black casual suit. Fuck me. Seriously.

"Look who's talking." He mumbled, biting his bottom lip as he pushes himself away from the doorway and approaches me. His arms wrap around my waist as he pulls me towards him to kiss my lips. I gently shove him away, not wanting my newly applied lipgloss to go all over him.

"My lipgloss!" I chastise, wrapping my fingers around his jaw to turn his face away from mine when he leans in to kiss me again. "Dick." I mumble, glaring at him while tapping my fingers against his cheek.

"Come on. Just let me kiss you." He begs, pulling puppy eyes on me.

"No." I mumble, playing with his collar absentmindedly. "If you kiss me, I don't think I'll be able to stop..." I trail off, not knowing how to word it. When I see his stupid smirk I know he's caught on to exactly what I'm trying to say.

"It's okay, no need to get embarrassed baby." He leans down to kiss my neck, pulling me even closer. I turn away from him fully this time, shoving him back with just enough force. "Oh come on, don't be mad at me. It's not my fault I'm irresistible." He teases, reaching forward to poke me in the ribs. I grab his pointer finger and squeeze gently, before bending it back. "Ouch." He comments in a monotone voice, completely unaffected.

Still holding onto his finger, I grab my bag before pulling him after me as I leave my room. I shout goodbye to Connor and dad before we leave, I'll see them later. We have to go in early to do a run through and make sure all the tech stuff is working properly.

"How are you feeling?" Grayson asks when we both get in the car, reaching over to place his hand on my thigh as he pulls out of my driveway.

"A little nervous. I don't think I'm gonna be able to reach the high notes." I tell him, anxiously biting my lip as I think about getting on stage in less than 2 hours. I've been practicing them - a little to much perhaps that I swear my voice has gotten croaky - and I always seem to have a voice crack on at least one of the notes.

"I have absolute faith in you, you're gonna be so fucking amazing. I have the most insanely talented girlfriend in the whole entire world." I lean over to slap his shoulder, crinkling my nose in distaste.

"Ew cringe." I mumble, with a little giggle - wincing a little as he reaches over to gently pinch my side. "Ouchies." I mumble, rubbing the area with a pout on my face.

The nerves hit me full force when we pull into the school parking lot, a cold panic settling over me. Grayson notices straight away by the paling of my skin and reaches over, unclipping my seatbelt and pulling me into his lap.

"5,4,3,2,1 baby. Do it for me." He instructs, gently running his hands through my hair.

5 things I can see.
Grayson's eyes, Grayson's lips, Grayson's hair, Grayson's dimples, Grayson's freckles.

4 things I can smell
Grayson's aftershave, my perfume, the car air freshener, mint from Grayson's breath on my face.

3 things I can feel
Grayson's shirt, Grayson's hand on my leg, his other on my back.

2 things I can hear
Little things playing softly through the radio speakers, Grayson's calming breaths.

1 thing I can taste
Mint from the gum I'm chewing.

"There we go." He says in a tone so soft my heart melts. I lean forward to kiss him, wrapping my hands around his neck. I throw myself closer to him so fast that he barely has time to register, so he remains still for a second before quickly kissing me back. His hands travel lower, pulling me rigidly up against him - almost like he can't stand even the smallest amount of space between us. He lets go of my lips, and I breathe heavily - he however seems to be totally fine as he makes his way down my neck, stopping when he reaches my collarbone, as he presses his teeth into my skin.

"Mhm I love you so fucking much." He groans against my skin, as I thread my fingers through his hair, leaning my neck further down so he has more access.

"I love you too." I mumble, struggling to get the words out as I find myself completely out of air when he begins to suck on my skin. He trails back up my neck, stopping when he reaches my ear to whisper: "the things I want to do to you." He rumbles darkly.

Do them. Do them. Do them.

I'm suddenly pushed back again the steering wheel and when I look up to meet Grayson's deadly gaze, I know I said those words out loud.

"Yeah we'll see how much you beg me to touch you when I'm not giving you what you want."

Hot.

With a smirk on my face, I start moving my hips against him, struggling not to laugh when I see his facial expression. He pushes me back against the wheel, pressing his lips back on mine and rolling his hips against mine. I let out a whimper as he pinches my thigh in warning when I try to wrap them around his waist, him clearly not wanting anyone to be in control but himself.

A car horn pulls us out of our hormonal craze for each other, and we were clearly too focused on devouring each other that we didn't realise the horn was in fact from us as Grayson rubbed himself against me as he pressed me into the steering wheel.

"Shit." He chuckles, leaning against my shoulder to muffle his laugh. "Looks like we'll have to continue this later, in the hotel I've booked." He whispers in my ear.

Holy shit.

He lifts me back into my seat, tucking his shirt back into his pants. His pulls the sun visor down and opens the mirror to mess with his hair while I sit and watch in admiration, wondering how I got so lucky.

"You can stop drooling now. You can't go into school looking like that." He tells me, reaching over and placing a finger under my chin to guide my lips back to his, where he places a sweet kiss. He pulls the strap of my dress back up, making sure that my cleavage is covered as much as possible. I chose to wear a black satin midi dress with a slit up the side and I just realised now how Gray and I completely match. Miss Evans instructed us to dress fancy so we went shopping together for a dress which Grayson insisted to pay for. It led to us having an argument after when he went back into the shop after I'd asked him not to and bought it for me.

He gets out, walking around to my side and helping me out too. It's not easy getting out of a jeep with heels on. He grabs my hand, threading his fingers through mine before pulling me towards the school.

Lydia's POV:

My eyes trail over the room, Layla showed me a picture of the little rat and although I'm hoping it was a hallucination, I'm pretty sure I just saw his face. I frantically scan the crowd, smirking when my eyes make contact with just the guy I've been looking for. My feet are moving towards him before I even decide to move.

"Hey, are you here for someone?" I ask, putting on my best flirtatious smile even though it's practically killing me. All I want to do is stomp on his ugly face. Layla definitely upgraded coming here. His attention finally moves away from his phone and I watch in disgust as his eyes trail from my face and then all the way down my body. What a slime ball looking bitch.

"Yeah. Something like that."

"I haven't seen you around, do you go to another school?" I question, trying and quite obviously failing to be innocent. Anyone who knows me would know I don't have good intentions. I watch as Layla and Grayson enter the room, his arm wrapped around her as she laughs at something he's saying. Cuties.

Mason's eyes quickly dart to them, clearly seeing my doting smile aimed at my best friend.

"They're adorable, aren't they?" I coo, clasping my hands close to my chest as I make heart eyes. "Honestly you'd think that Gray was made for her, I'm pretty sure they're soulmates." I continue, watching in satisfaction as Mason's jaw ticks as he keeps his gaze fixed on them. I watch as Grayson kisses her forehead gently, before bringing her into a hug - clearly wishing her good luck before she steps up onto the stage.

"They're together?" He questions, voice tense. Damn, ugly personality, ugly face and no brain. What did my beautiful best friend ever see in this douche?

"Yeah, isn't it obvious? Layla deserves that though, after everything she's been through." I comment, my eyes watching for his reaction. I get exactly what I wanted when he removes his eyes from Layla and fixes them on me, curiosity swirling within his gaze. "Sorry, I have such a big mouth. I guess you know more than anyone about what she's been through, seeing as you were there putting her through all of that shit. Weren't you Mason?" I smile tauntingly at him, before moving the heel of my foot and pressing it down aggressively onto his. He lets out a grunt and I thank my mother for giving birth to me that I wore heels today.

"How do you know my name?" He questions, through a pained groan as I stomp my foot down a second time.

"I'm friends with Layla and I know all about you and the ugly little sewer rat that you are." I spit, before bringing my knee up and discreetly kicking him in the balls, "you should go, before Grayson finds you. He'll do a lot more damage than me if he sees you here." I warn, before adjusting my clothes and hair to turn around and strut back to my seat. I don't want to miss one moment of my favourite girl's performance.

"I'm here to get her back." He calls after me, thank god we're at the back of the room, beside the food tables so not that many people can see or hear us.

"Yah good luck with that. I think she's more in love with Grayson than she ever even liked you. He actually treats her like the queen she is." I tell him, wanting to rub his nose in her happiness for as long as I could, "I mean I get it, she's so far out of your league, you felt insecure and needed to bring her down but fuck... that girl was the best thing that ever happened to you and it must have been so embarrassing to have had to lose her." I walk away then, leaving him stood flabbergasted as he watches me saunt away from him with a big smile on my face. When I get to my seat next to Gray, he immediately turns to me with an angry glare on his face.

"Where were you, she's just about to go on and was probably just stressing for the past ten minutes because she couldn't see you in your seat." He tells me off and I find myself rolling my eyes before pulling harshly on his ear.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"I didn't. I asked you where you were." He grins, and I find his face annoying so I punch him in the stomach. I want his sole focus to be on Layla's performance which is the only reason I decide not to tell him about the rat at the back of the room until after she's done. I know that as soon as I tell him, Grayson is going to beat him to death. As he should.

I watch with a death glare as Kenzie the bitch turns around to offer Grayson a more-than-friendly smirk and I move my hand in front of her face to flip her off, before I begin to bark like a dog.

"What are you doing, freak?" She spits, looking between Grayson and I with a quizzical gaze as if asking Grayson what is wrong with me.

"Duh? Talking in a language you would understand."

"Shame I don't know how to speak fat cow." She spits, forcing me to lean forward and grab a handful of her hair. It had to be done.

"Grayson!" She squeals, looking to him for help. He just looks between us with a neutral expression.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"She's pulling my hair." She screeches again.

"Is she? I don't see her doing that, do you Myles?" He smirks, making blondie's eyes narrow on him.

"I should've told the whole school what you did to him. He was my bestfriend and you caused his overdose. Here I was acting like the model girlfriend, not telling anyone your secret. I didn't even rub it in and here you are picking some bitch over me. You're gonna wish you hadn't." She screeches at him, before getting out of her seat and storming over to her cheer squad. I see Grayson go as white as a sheet, and I stretch out my hand to reach his shoulder where I rub it comfortingly.

Reece told me the entire story about why they were acting weird and it's understandable that Grayson feels unease at the idea of the psycho bitch "exposing" him. But even if she does that, we'd all stay by his side and I guarantee Layla would find a way to pull off those crocodile tears and get Kenzie off the cheer squad if she got mad enough. There's nothing that makes my girl angrier than people hurting the ones she loves.

"She's still in contact with him you know? That's why we were speaking in the locker room. She was telling me he was coming back next weekend and that he wants revenge. I was so stressed I didn't even realise I was kneeling in front of her. She must've sat down or something to make it out to be something that it wasn't - I wouldn't put it past her. As soon as I realised it was too late. It's a shitty excuse I know and it looked terrible, but it really wasn't what it looked like. At all."

"Have you told Layla this?" I question.

"She hasn't asked, I think she felt like she couldn't because of what I told her." He tells me, that is one hundred percent the reason, she told me herself.

"Well tell her." I instruct, knowing his answer will put her at ease, despite her knowing nothing was happening, she's still curious - any girl would be. "And by the way, everyone can see from a mile away how much you love her, hell even Mason-" I'm cut off by the lights moving - fate intervening and reminding me of how much of a big mouth I have.

I'm almost certain he mustn't have heard as he stands up to clap for a nervous looking Layla who timidly walks out onto the centre stage mark. I stand up too and begin cheering her name, watching with a grin as she makes eye contact with me and her face brightens.

"Are you ready?" Grayson whispers and I nod my head, "you don't think it'll trigger her, do you?" He asks.

"No I don't think so." I murmur, crossing my fingers that it won't. We'd all planned a little special something for her while she's up on stage, miss Evans was in on it too, the song choice being completely our idea.

"I hope not." He huffs, slouching in his seat. I watch as his face erupts into another grin as he hears the song begin.

Layla POV

I feel the shortness of breath throughout my entire body, my heart erratically beating in my chest as I step out onto my centre mark and look out the crowd. I feel the panic rising, so instead turn me gaze to the one person who makes the panic disappear. Grayson. He sends me a dimpled smile na a wink and I feel immediately at ease, my heart fluttering for an entirely different reason.

The music softly echoes through the speakers and I tap my foot anxiously as I wait to begin singing.

"You're broken down and tired
Of living life on a merry go round
And you can't find the fighter
But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out
And move mountains
We gonna walk it out
And move mountains."

My voice feels weightless through the microphone, everything feels like it's supposed to be, an eerie calm as I stand on a stage where I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to stand for the rest of my life. I open my eyes to see the crowd as they all stare in what I hope is amazement rather than shock at how bad I am.

"And I'll rise up
I'll rise like the day
I'll rise up
I'll rise unafraid
I'll rise up
And I'll do it a thousand times again."

I hear cheers from the crowd at the more powerful edge to my voice, and start to feel even more at ease. I'm not bad. I've got this. I'm doing well.

"And I'll rise up
High like the waves
I'll rise up
In spite of the ache
I'll rise up
And I'll do it a thousand times again
For you
For you
For you
For you."

I try my best not to focus all of my attention on the front row, but find it hard not to when I catch Grayson standing up and cheering for my high notes that I'd told him before that I wasn't sure I'd reach them.

The spotlight feels hot on my skin, as I take the microphone from its stand and walk towards the left side of the stage.

"When the silence isn't quiet
And it feels like it's getting hard to breathe
And I know you feel like dying
But I promise we'll take the world to its feet
And move mountains
Bring it to its feet
And move mountains."

The music quiets down a little and I look over to the tech guy in question, wondering if something has been broken, but stop singing completely when a news report sounds throughout the entire theatre.

"Layla Greene, a teen originally from North Dakota has closed her case against her two rapists, sending them to jail for 30 years."

30 years wasn't what I wanted, but Jess' dad told me that the police had more evidence against them for other crimes, which would make their sentence longer. As long as they never came near me again, we were all good - as much as I want to see them rot and die in prison like they deserve, I'll settle for a peaceful life far away from either of them.

"Layla Greene, a teen who has inspired so many others, sparking conversations everywhere about the #metoo movement."

I find myself staring up in awe at the flashes of news reports that appear on the screen behind me, and turn around in a daze to see my friends smiling up at me.

"Layla Greene, a girl many others can relate to. An gut wrenching story that has brought so many together. Sending all of our love to her and her family in these difficult times."

I had refrained from watching TV at all, just used Netflix on my laptop. I was aware that my case was facing media exposure, but I never realised there were countless news articles about me.

The music begins to play again, but I'm too mesmerised by what's going on behind me to start singing again. The video from when Brody beat me up plays for about a second, Grayson clearly didn't want to dwell on that. We only have access to it as it got released to the public as a result Videos from the hospital play, one of me with an oxygen mask on and bruises littered all over my skin, and another of me curled up in Grayson's arms as we're both sleeping.

"And I'll rise up"
The screen flashes and there's a video of me racing my dad to the car, running around the hospital corridors, laughing my head off as he chases me.

"I'll rise like the day"
A video of me playing the piano in the music room.

"I'll rise up"
A clip plays of me dancing with Lydia in the club, clearly before everything went tits up and Lyds poured her drink over my head.

"I'll rise unafraid"
Lydia and I falling out of our kayak and the guys laughing. I wasn't