Tweetie

50

"I like the sun."

"I think the sun likes you," Joel smiled down at Hazel as she rested on the grass, collecting grass stains on her bare knees, tickling her skin and feeling the blades of green dig deep with the softest of touches. She rested, her hands busy with a daisy she carefully gazed over, taking in the tiny intricate details of its small petals.

"Not enough," she laughed lightly, "I'm as pale as a sheet of paper. I need the sun to like me a little bit more."

"No no," he shook his head, falling next to her as they all sat around doing their own things. "The sun is just being gentle because it doesn't wanna hurt you. That's what sun burns are, they're too much love. It knows it can get too much sometimes so it likes to give you little amounts of love at a time, just to be safe. People handle love differently, some take more, others take less. But no matter what, the sun makes sure they receive."

"Well," Hazel smiled, gazing up at the boy, "I hope the sun knows that I appreciate every drop of love it gives."

"I'll let it know for you." He smiled, happy to see her going along with his words and not criticising the odd conversation. The others let them be, allowing them to chat peacefully about the sun as they enjoyed their own time to go unjudged and unwatched by others.

Ryan read, a book in his hands as he realised that there in an empty field while school continued without them, people wouldn't see nor criticise him for reading. They wouldn't look at his face and the impression he gave and think 'what would a boy like that be doing with a book?' and they wouldn't see the way he let a gummy smile spread across his cheeks upon reading sweetened words and they wouldn't see the joy they forced him to hide by making him fear his favourite pass time.

Fox rested, taking his chance after a long day of practice to simply rest himself and ensure he didn't become too overworked, so he laid, his face covered by his cap and for once, let his mess of brown hair see the light of the sun as it glowed and shone on the strands of gold brought out by the warm light.

Meanwhile, Oscar took it upon himself to study, looking at different topics, unable to decide which to learn. Maths? Biology? French? He decided to look at all of them, taking a chocolate from the collection of snacks Leo and Joel had bought every time he got an answer correct. Leo sat beside Oscar, helping him through the work, guiding him to the areas he needed to look at, what was important and what wasn't, teaching him everything he needed to know while keeping his hopes high for the skills he learned for his future by helping his friends.

It was strange to say, but Hazel had found that in terms of her fame, she was able to relate to the group in an odd way. She hated the fame she had as Hazel White, she despised the fact that she couldn't be left alone and that she still had people talking about her all the time. But, the boys weren't much different. In school, they faced the same type of popularity where in which students would watch their every move, fawn over them and place their ideals on them where they weren't wanted. She hadn't expected to ever find anyone who could possibly understand the feeling of unwanted popularity, and now she had, she wished she could speak about it. But, she couldn't. Her job wouldn't allow her to.

"Tweetie?" Joel spoke up again, his voice soothed as he went back to sketching.

"Mhmm?" She hummed, glancing up at him with warmth in her eyes, noticing the flecks of gold in his own brown eyes as he looked down at his sketchbook.

"Thank you for always being so open to talk to me about things at home, I really really appreciate it. It probably would have been a lot harder to handle if you weren't here to talk to."

"I'd do it anytime, Joel," she said, her words coming out softer than she had intended. But from the closeness of them as he shuffled beside her, resting on her shoulder, it was easy to hear. "I know it's tougher than people realise, people don't see what's happening like you do and it's too easy to forget that sometimes. It'll have an effect, but we can help soften the impact, you know?"