Drama
Chapter 37: Through The Dark
Leila’s P.O.V.
“W-what?” I stutter, everything suddenly moving in slow motion.
“I’m terribly sorry, Leila, but you’ve been caught several times and we’ve even put you on security and you still found outlets for whatever your problem is. I can’t keep letting this immaturity happen and jeopardizing our show. You’re obviously not ready for this. Spencer, go out and tell everyone to meet in here in 10 minutes. Leila, you’re free to go. I’m not banning you from the studio, but if you return here and you do something like this again, you will be banned. For now, you’re just off the show. Dismissed,” Mr. Conners explains.
Spencer swiftly walks out of the room, sauntering down the hallway and yelling at everyone. Following after her, I exit the room and find Niall. He can tell something’s up, but I’m definitely not in the mood to tell him the news. All I do is lead him out of the building, stopping for security in the process. After we’re free, he catches up with me.
“Leila, what the hell happened in there?! Don’t you have to get ready?” Niall shrieks, struggling to keep up with my fast pace.
“I will explain it at home,” I simply say, not looking at him but instead straight ahead.
“But—”
“No buts, Niall. Just go home.”
That has probably been the quickest we’ve ever walked home, making it back in 10 minutes rather than 20 like usual. As soon as we enter my apartment, Niall blows up again.
“Now will you tell me?” he demands.
I begin pacing the living room, trying to figure out how to say it. In the end, I just come out with it.
“Mr. Conners fucking fired me.”
The look Niall gives me causes me to feel even more horrible. This is not what I wanted to happen and I certainly wasn’t expecting it. I break my eye contact from him and fall into the couch. Immediately he’s there and wrapping his arms around me while I bawl again. I never get a break, do I?
“What happened?” he asks, his voice calm and gentle.
“W-well, Spencer obviously t-told Mr. Conners that I was the one w-who tweeted on Spencer’s account, and I admitted to it. He wasn’t h-happy and s-said that he’s n-never had this happen in his eleven years of directing, a-and the f-fact that there’s been a t-ton of shit happening that I’ve been in the middle of, he f-figured that I was the trouble child and f-fired me so none of this stuff would h-happen again,” I confide.
“Oh, my God,” Niall sighs.
“I should have seen this coming,” I continue. “I should have done s-something about this a long time ago—”
“Ssshh, it’s not your fault,” Niall interrupts me.
“I know it’s not. That’s what makes me so fucking mad,” I admit, my mood changing from gloomy to irate.
“Why didn’t he fire Spencer?” he rhetorically asks.
“I don’t know,” I answer even though there really wasn’t a reason for me to. “Niall, what am I going to do?”
He doesn’t respond but leaves me to my thoughts. Since I don’t have a job here anymore, I won’t be able to support myself living here, which means…
“I have to move back,” I blurt out.
“What?” Niall questions.
“If I can’t work here, I can’t pay for anything, which means I’m going to have to move back to my real home with my family,” I inform.
“No, no, no, no, no, we don’t have to resort to that. I can help pay while you look for a job,” he suggest.
“That’s really amazing, Niall, but I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not? We’re in this together. Leila, I can’t bear to lose you, especially in your worst of times when I can help you.”
“I don’t want to, either, but I would feel guilty, Ni. I have to call my parents.”
Reluctantly, I get up from the couch and Niall allows it. I pull out my phone and dial the number, hearing the rings on the other side. After a few moments, a familiar voice picks up.
“Leila! My dear child, how is everything?” my mom cheerfully greets. The lump in my throat rises and now it’s even harder to tell her.
“Mom, I have bad news,” I start.
“Darling, what is it?” she asks, sounding concerned. I swallow and push myself to say it.
“I got fired from the show today,” I reveal, scared for her response. Niall comes up behind me and snakes his comforting arms around me.
I hear my mother breathe on the other line, making me even more nervous. “And how did that happen?”
“Do you remember when I told you about Spencer and how she was out to get me and did so many horrible things to me?” I begin.
“Yes,” my mom slowly responds.
“Well, she pushed me over the edge this week,” I continue, eloping into the many horrid shit Spencer’s set for me this week. I even tell my mom about the tweeting thing, and then Mr. Conners finding out about it, and then I was fired.
“So what you’re trying to tell me is that it wasn’t your fault that you got fired?” she replies after a few moments.
“Please don’t give me even more crap, Mom. I’ve had enough and I just don’t know what to do,” I plead. She sighs.
“Okay, I won’t say anything. What would you like to do, Leila? Do you want to see if you can find another job there or are you saying that you want to come home for a little while and find stuff here?”
I look at Niall and realize I’m torn. Niall said he’d cover for me while I try and find work, but I would feel so bad for taking his money.
“I-I don’t know,” I answer.
“How about this; I’ll give you a few days to think it over, since you’ve had a rough time lately. If I don’t hear back from you by Sunday night, I’m booking you a plane ticket to come home,” she compromises.
“Sure. Thank you, Mom,” I agree, taking a deep breath.
“I hope you figure it out, Leila. I’m going to let you go now because I have to get back. Love you,” my mom says.
“Love you, too, Mom,” I respond, and end the phone call.
“What did she say?” Niall asks, still tangled around me.
“Didn’t you just hear all of that?” I question him, peeling his arms off of me and turning around to him.
“Yeah, I did,” he admits, looking down.
“It’s okay, I’m not mad,” I reply.
“I just don’t want you to leave,” he whispers, looking into my eyes with a very irresistible puppy dog face.
“But what happens if I don’t have a choice?” I whisper back. I glance away from him and move around him, sinking into the couch. Since I talked to my mom, I should probably talk to my best friend whom I haven’t spoken to in forever and who probably hates me so much right now because of it. I open my phone and text him to see if he wants to video chat, Niall snuggling up to me and not saying a word.
A few minutes later, he responds saying he would love to and I boot up my laptop, pulling up the video chat. Soon, Cameron’s face appears on my screen.
“Hey,” I say, waving at him.
“Hey,” he replies, not as cheerful as me since he spotted Niall sitting close next to me.
“I have some bad news for you and I don’t know how you’ll take it,” I begin. “I just called my mom and so she knows, but she’s giving me two options and time to think about it.”
“Okay…” Cam presses.
“I got fired from the show today,” I spill. His reaction is not what I was expecting.
“He didn’t have anything to do with it, did he?” he demands, pointing at Niall.
“No!” I shout, giving Cam a glare through the screen.
“Let me talk to him,” Niall whispers in my ear. I scoot over and let Niall take over the middle of the screen.
“Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but Leila’s gone through a ton of shit lately and she doesn’t need yours,” he defends.
“To start off, my problem is that you stole my girl,” Cameron confesses.
I jump in, “Cameron, for the last time, he didn’t steal me away from you! I chose him! I’m sorry it broke your heart but I’m pretty sure you knew this was coming!”
“Hey, hey, hey, this is not what this conversation is about,” Niall intervenes. “Cameron, you know that whole thing with Spencer, right?” Cam nods. “Well, I’ve gone through the exact same shit Lei’s gone through with Spencer, okay? I’ve been trying to help her get through this but it’s hard when they’re both co-leads of the same show and they have to work together. I understand you don’t like me, but that’s not going to help this situation.”
Cam rolls his eyes and sighs, but doesn’t dig deeper. “So what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know exactly, but this isn’t going to work without you, Cameron. We need you for this,” Niall replies.
“What do you need me for?” Cam asks.
“For now, we need you to be Leila’s best friend. I need you to be there for her when I can’t be and I want your opinion on certain things. If you really love Leila, you’ll do this.”
Cameron is silent on the other side for a few moments, thinking. Finally, he looks at us and nods.
“Fine, I’ll do it. For Leila,” he agrees.
“Thank you,” Niall breathes, smiling at him, and I’m positive I can see a slight grin on Cam’s face, too.
“I don’t know what I’ve just gotten myself into,” he jokes.
“Neither do I,” I speak.
“Trust me, I don’t either, but we’re going to make Spencer wish she didn’t live on this planet, anymore,” Niall laughs.
We continue in a friendly chat and I notice that Cameron doesn’t see Niall as a threat anymore. They’re actually becoming friends, well, acquaintances, at the very least. Finally.
“W-what?” I stutter, everything suddenly moving in slow motion.
“I’m terribly sorry, Leila, but you’ve been caught several times and we’ve even put you on security and you still found outlets for whatever your problem is. I can’t keep letting this immaturity happen and jeopardizing our show. You’re obviously not ready for this. Spencer, go out and tell everyone to meet in here in 10 minutes. Leila, you’re free to go. I’m not banning you from the studio, but if you return here and you do something like this again, you will be banned. For now, you’re just off the show. Dismissed,” Mr. Conners explains.
Spencer swiftly walks out of the room, sauntering down the hallway and yelling at everyone. Following after her, I exit the room and find Niall. He can tell something’s up, but I’m definitely not in the mood to tell him the news. All I do is lead him out of the building, stopping for security in the process. After we’re free, he catches up with me.
“Leila, what the hell happened in there?! Don’t you have to get ready?” Niall shrieks, struggling to keep up with my fast pace.
“I will explain it at home,” I simply say, not looking at him but instead straight ahead.
“But—”
“No buts, Niall. Just go home.”
That has probably been the quickest we’ve ever walked home, making it back in 10 minutes rather than 20 like usual. As soon as we enter my apartment, Niall blows up again.
“Now will you tell me?” he demands.
I begin pacing the living room, trying to figure out how to say it. In the end, I just come out with it.
“Mr. Conners fucking fired me.”
The look Niall gives me causes me to feel even more horrible. This is not what I wanted to happen and I certainly wasn’t expecting it. I break my eye contact from him and fall into the couch. Immediately he’s there and wrapping his arms around me while I bawl again. I never get a break, do I?
“What happened?” he asks, his voice calm and gentle.
“W-well, Spencer obviously t-told Mr. Conners that I was the one w-who tweeted on Spencer’s account, and I admitted to it. He wasn’t h-happy and s-said that he’s n-never had this happen in his eleven years of directing, a-and the f-fact that there’s been a t-ton of shit happening that I’ve been in the middle of, he f-figured that I was the trouble child and f-fired me so none of this stuff would h-happen again,” I confide.
“Oh, my God,” Niall sighs.
“I should have seen this coming,” I continue. “I should have done s-something about this a long time ago—”
“Ssshh, it’s not your fault,” Niall interrupts me.
“I know it’s not. That’s what makes me so fucking mad,” I admit, my mood changing from gloomy to irate.
“Why didn’t he fire Spencer?” he rhetorically asks.
“I don’t know,” I answer even though there really wasn’t a reason for me to. “Niall, what am I going to do?”
He doesn’t respond but leaves me to my thoughts. Since I don’t have a job here anymore, I won’t be able to support myself living here, which means…
“I have to move back,” I blurt out.
“What?” Niall questions.
“If I can’t work here, I can’t pay for anything, which means I’m going to have to move back to my real home with my family,” I inform.
“No, no, no, no, no, we don’t have to resort to that. I can help pay while you look for a job,” he suggest.
“That’s really amazing, Niall, but I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not? We’re in this together. Leila, I can’t bear to lose you, especially in your worst of times when I can help you.”
“I don’t want to, either, but I would feel guilty, Ni. I have to call my parents.”
Reluctantly, I get up from the couch and Niall allows it. I pull out my phone and dial the number, hearing the rings on the other side. After a few moments, a familiar voice picks up.
“Leila! My dear child, how is everything?” my mom cheerfully greets. The lump in my throat rises and now it’s even harder to tell her.
“Mom, I have bad news,” I start.
“Darling, what is it?” she asks, sounding concerned. I swallow and push myself to say it.
“I got fired from the show today,” I reveal, scared for her response. Niall comes up behind me and snakes his comforting arms around me.
I hear my mother breathe on the other line, making me even more nervous. “And how did that happen?”
“Do you remember when I told you about Spencer and how she was out to get me and did so many horrible things to me?” I begin.
“Yes,” my mom slowly responds.
“Well, she pushed me over the edge this week,” I continue, eloping into the many horrid shit Spencer’s set for me this week. I even tell my mom about the tweeting thing, and then Mr. Conners finding out about it, and then I was fired.
“So what you’re trying to tell me is that it wasn’t your fault that you got fired?” she replies after a few moments.
“Please don’t give me even more crap, Mom. I’ve had enough and I just don’t know what to do,” I plead. She sighs.
“Okay, I won’t say anything. What would you like to do, Leila? Do you want to see if you can find another job there or are you saying that you want to come home for a little while and find stuff here?”
I look at Niall and realize I’m torn. Niall said he’d cover for me while I try and find work, but I would feel so bad for taking his money.
“I-I don’t know,” I answer.
“How about this; I’ll give you a few days to think it over, since you’ve had a rough time lately. If I don’t hear back from you by Sunday night, I’m booking you a plane ticket to come home,” she compromises.
“Sure. Thank you, Mom,” I agree, taking a deep breath.
“I hope you figure it out, Leila. I’m going to let you go now because I have to get back. Love you,” my mom says.
“Love you, too, Mom,” I respond, and end the phone call.
“What did she say?” Niall asks, still tangled around me.
“Didn’t you just hear all of that?” I question him, peeling his arms off of me and turning around to him.
“Yeah, I did,” he admits, looking down.
“It’s okay, I’m not mad,” I reply.
“I just don’t want you to leave,” he whispers, looking into my eyes with a very irresistible puppy dog face.
“But what happens if I don’t have a choice?” I whisper back. I glance away from him and move around him, sinking into the couch. Since I talked to my mom, I should probably talk to my best friend whom I haven’t spoken to in forever and who probably hates me so much right now because of it. I open my phone and text him to see if he wants to video chat, Niall snuggling up to me and not saying a word.
A few minutes later, he responds saying he would love to and I boot up my laptop, pulling up the video chat. Soon, Cameron’s face appears on my screen.
“Hey,” I say, waving at him.
“Hey,” he replies, not as cheerful as me since he spotted Niall sitting close next to me.
“I have some bad news for you and I don’t know how you’ll take it,” I begin. “I just called my mom and so she knows, but she’s giving me two options and time to think about it.”
“Okay…” Cam presses.
“I got fired from the show today,” I spill. His reaction is not what I was expecting.
“He didn’t have anything to do with it, did he?” he demands, pointing at Niall.
“No!” I shout, giving Cam a glare through the screen.
“Let me talk to him,” Niall whispers in my ear. I scoot over and let Niall take over the middle of the screen.
“Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but Leila’s gone through a ton of shit lately and she doesn’t need yours,” he defends.
“To start off, my problem is that you stole my girl,” Cameron confesses.
I jump in, “Cameron, for the last time, he didn’t steal me away from you! I chose him! I’m sorry it broke your heart but I’m pretty sure you knew this was coming!”
“Hey, hey, hey, this is not what this conversation is about,” Niall intervenes. “Cameron, you know that whole thing with Spencer, right?” Cam nods. “Well, I’ve gone through the exact same shit Lei’s gone through with Spencer, okay? I’ve been trying to help her get through this but it’s hard when they’re both co-leads of the same show and they have to work together. I understand you don’t like me, but that’s not going to help this situation.”
Cam rolls his eyes and sighs, but doesn’t dig deeper. “So what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know exactly, but this isn’t going to work without you, Cameron. We need you for this,” Niall replies.
“What do you need me for?” Cam asks.
“For now, we need you to be Leila’s best friend. I need you to be there for her when I can’t be and I want your opinion on certain things. If you really love Leila, you’ll do this.”
Cameron is silent on the other side for a few moments, thinking. Finally, he looks at us and nods.
“Fine, I’ll do it. For Leila,” he agrees.
“Thank you,” Niall breathes, smiling at him, and I’m positive I can see a slight grin on Cam’s face, too.
“I don’t know what I’ve just gotten myself into,” he jokes.
“Neither do I,” I speak.
“Trust me, I don’t either, but we’re going to make Spencer wish she didn’t live on this planet, anymore,” Niall laughs.
We continue in a friendly chat and I notice that Cameron doesn’t see Niall as a threat anymore. They’re actually becoming friends, well, acquaintances, at the very least. Finally.
Notes
Happy Mother's Day! Sorry for the late update today, I've been very busy this weekend!So someone made a guitar part for my song from Chapter 32! OH MY GOD! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!
By the way, my birthday is coming up on Wednesday (which is the next chapter update, hopefully!) and I'M GOING TO BE 18. HOLY SHIT. I feel old :/
Rachel :)
Make a Sequel please.
9/13/14