castaways

~4~

The next morning eventually rolled around but hazel was awake anyways, she was exhausted and traumatised to say the least, she was already in her uniform so she packed up her school bag and put her earphones in her pocket before going downstairs for breakfast, "morning" her dad slid a bowl of cereal over the counter. She nodded but kept her head down and accepted it, Norman felt kind of guilty for putting her through everything but then again she's been to jail for him, what's one more traumatic experience gonna do to her? He just watched as she ate her breakfast before sliding something else across the counter to her, "told you I'd make it up to you" he smiled and revealed the 2 $50 bills from under his fingers.

Hazel smiled falsely, "thanks..." she laughed falsely again and accepted it, but she doesn't want his money, she wants his honesty, his care, his apologies, his love, she just wants a real dad who will raise her how she should be raised, not living in some kind of gangsta's paradise. He smiled and nodded before shooing her out of the house, "c'mon I'll drop you off" he sighed and grabbed his keys, it was only because he needed to go clean the mess out of the back of his car. She obliged and got into the car before sitting in silence, her mind was full of dark thoughts about what happened last night, she has no clue how she's gonna get through the school day, but she's gonna have to find a way.

She got to school and walked into her classroom early, she was the first one there so she kept her hood up and slouched in her chair as she pulled out her ear phones and put them in to drown out reality. She didn't even notice when her classmates started flooding into the room a few minutes later, "helloooo?" Emily tapped her desk after calling hazels name for the third time. Hazel looked up and took her earphones out of her ears for a second, "sorry what?" She nodded. Emily huffed, "I said, what's going on with you? Not gonna lie, you look like shit" she tilted her head and laughed a little. Hazel smiled weakly, "didn't get much sleep" she shrugged then put her ear phones back in, ready to ignore everyone for the whole day.  Emily looked back over to Jamie and shrugged, "didn't get much sleep she said" she whispered.

                   Jay was stood behind the kids at the back of the class, he was keeping a close eye on hazel, she seems off, not talking, ignoring everyone, somethings not right but he can't figure out what.  He was snapped out of his thoughts when the teacher walked into the classroom to start the first lesson of the day, hazel didn't even bother to look up once, she just kept herself to herself and sat on her phone at the back of the class which her friends chatted around her, often giving her worried stares.

About 12:45pm jay was given the task of handing the work sheets out to everyone since he is meant to be the teaching assistant, he successfully handed a sheet to every kid until it got to hazel. He stopped at her desk and crouched down since the kid was asleep with her head on the desk and her hood up, he placed a careful hand on her arm, "hey..." he whispered but her reaction took him by surprise.  She sat up abruptly and pulled her fists out at him, "woah, hey it's okay..." he grabbed her hands before she could uppercut him in the jaw.  She softened her worried gaze and sat back, "sorry" she whispered and ran her hands over her face before taking her hood down.  Jay smiled and shook his head, "it's okay, don't worry about it. Everything okay?" He whispered back.  Hazel smiled weakly and nodded, "yeah, just tired" she lied and looked down at the sheet he had just given her.

He smiled weakly and nodded before tapping her desk and standing up to walk back to the seat he sits on at the back of the class.  He knew she was lying, he could see right through her pale skin, she's hiding something and it must be something big if she's falling asleep in the middle of a rather important English lesson.  He couldn't help but focus on the teenager as she bounced her leg up and down nervously, threw her head back and tapped her pen on her desk until one of her peers told her to stop, she seemed totally distracted and he wanted to know why.

Not long after jay had caught her sleeping in the middle of class she began to panic, everything was hitting her again, she raised her hand and grabbed her teacher's attention, "yes hazel?" She sighed. Hazel smiled weakly, "please can I go to the bathroom?" She sat up straighter. The teacher checked her watch, "you should've gone at lunch" she huffed and turned her back on the class. The whole of the class just turned and looked at hazel which made her want to cry even more, without a second thought  she grabbed her backpack and stood up. Without saying a single word she just walked out of class and ran down the hall to the nearest bathroom, her teacher turned back around at the sound of feet leaving her classroom.

                     She sighed as the kids just laughed, walking out was always funny to them, "mr Miller could you go chase her up?" She pointed to the door.  Jay smiled and nodded, "sure" he walked out of the class and walked in the direction of the bathrooms on that floor.  There were only two sets of bathrooms on this floor, a unisex one so the teachers could go in and keep an eye on them, and a disabled one with a lock from the inside.  He walked into the main bathroom but saw that the toilet stalls were empty so he walked back over to the other toilet door and knocked lightly, "hey kiddo, it's me Ryan, can you let me in?" He spoke softly since he could hear quiet crying coming from the private room.

A few seconds of silence passed and the toilet door finally clicked open, he smiled sadly and let himself in before locking the door behind him so no one could interrupt. He crouched down in front of hazel as she sat there crying on the floor in the corner, "hey, it's okay. You wanna tell me what's going on?" He smiled weakly. Hazel shook her head so jay placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "that's okay, it's okay. Can you at least look at me, just let me know you're okay?" He added. Hazel lifted her tear stained face up from her knees and looked at him through blurry eyes, "that's it, you're okay. Do you need a breather? 10 minutes alone?" He smiled sadly. Hazel nodded weakly so he helped her off the floor, "c'mon" he lead her out of the bathroom and into an empty classroom where she sat on a desk and just stared into the void with her chin in her elbows, "I'll come and check on you in 10 mins yeah?" He smiled. Hazel nodded so he left her alone for a while, there's definitely something wrong.

                    10 minutes later he walked back into the room to find hazel with her head on the desk again, "how you feeling?" He smiled and sat on the chair next to her.  Hazel nodded but kept her gaze away from his, "fine" she spoke bluntly.  Jay smiled sadly, "you sure you don't wanna talk?" He added.  Hazel paused for a minute, "you ever wonder why things happen to you? Like, out of everyone, why just you?" She kept her eyes on the desk.  Jay frowned, "yeah, I do" he nodded.  Hazel sighed, "well, it just feels like that" she shrugged.  Jay frowned, "what happened kiddo?" He asked with concern.  Hazel sat up straighter, "nothing... nothing happened" she spoke rapidly, almost giving away her secret.  Jay just looked at her in concern, "alright then, how about I go get your work and you can stay in here for the rest of the day?" He smiled weakly.

                    Hazel nodded, not looking at him once, "can you stay though?" She added.  Jay nodded, "of course" he smiled then left to go get her work, so she's hiding something and she's scared of being alone? Suspicious much?  He reappeared with her work and placed it in front of her before she instantly started to get on with it, "just let me know if you need any help" he smiled and walked over to sit on the teachers desk at the front.  Hazel smiled weakly and nodded, meeting his eyes for the first time, jay saw something in her, a familiarity, then it hit him, she has her partners eyes, that fearful look in her eyes when she's trying to hide something that's clearly bothering her...

At around 2:55pm they joined the class again, she was feeling a little better now but the sound of the gun firing at the man was haunting her and the sights, the thoughts of disposing of that body was slowly killing her. She couldn't help but overthinking about the police finding the body, that she's have to go to jail again, she can't, it's all too much. She endured the last few minutes of school before the class were dismissed, but she still had a task. She met the guy from the grade above and threw the bag to him, "there, you can stop pestering me now" she scoffed. The older boy laughed, "maybe, maybe not. You're kinda cute" he pointed to her and shoved the drugs into his backpack. She scoffed and rolled her eyes before turning around and walking out to go home. Jay was stood in the far distance, he saw the transaction go down, but that's what he needed so he just let it play out. The clocks ticking...