ELLA
Lyla and I had spoken during lunch. Her trip to the principal’s office had been a simple misunderstanding—at least, that’s what she said.
But as she narrated the ordeal, I felt like her teammates were trying to sabotage her and get her out of the cheerleading squad for reasons best known to them.
She asked if I had seen the pictures of her making the rounds in the school gossip vine, and I told her I was out of touch with anything that wasn’t related to schoolwork and going straight home once the day was over.
She chuckled at the response, and that was the first time I had seen her genuinely smile all day.
It was great to see the stress lines on her face lessen a little, and I asked her to tell me all about it.
She explained that someone had made a fake picture of her in a compr
