Covered In Ink

Chapter 31|I thought dodo birds were extinct

Guilt consumed me as I headed out of the classroom in the direction of the playground. I feel the moms eyes' scrutinising my every move but I didn't care. Screw them, I needed to get through to Jasmine and let her know that moms absence wasn't her fault and she needed to stop beating herself up about it.

I reached her fairly quickly. She was sitting by herself on one of the now abandoned swings. I sat on the one next to her.

"What did the teacher say?" She asked without looking up. Instead she focused on scuffing her shoe in the dirt underneath the swing.

"That you're doing well in class," I cleared my throat. "She also said that you've stopped playing outside with your friends at recess and lunch."

She snorted, rolling her eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"What friends?" She looked at me blankly.

"You have lots of friends," I frowned. "The girls on your cheerleading team, those girls that came to our house that time..."

"Not anymore."

"Why? What happened?"

"I told them that mom left, and the next day they came to school saying that they weren't allowed to be friends with me anymore."

"You're kidding," my mouth hung open. "So they said they weren't allowed to be your friend?"

She shrugged.

"That means they probably told their parents, who disapproved and told them to ditch you."

I eyed the bitch group sitting on a bench near the edge of the playground. I pointed to the group. They probably saw me, but I didn't really give a crap.

"Any of those trophy wives over there your friends moms?" I asked.

"Yeah, the one right in the middle, thats Mrs Reilly, Maddie's mom."

I stood up. "Okay, I'll be back in a moment."

Jasmines eyes widened, and she jumped off her swing, clasping my wrist with both her hands, trying to pull me back to the swings.

I looked at her amusedly. "Oh, you're coming too? Good choice."

She groaned. "No, no, no, Hazel please don't."

I laughed as I dragged her. "Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you."

"Oh my god, you're so embarrassing," she hissed, the tips of her ears turning pink.

"I'm your big sister, it's my job."

Heads turned on our direction as we drew nearer, me still half dragging Jasmine. I stopped right in front of Mrs Reilly.

I plastered on the best fake smile I could conjure. "Hi there, I'm Hazel."

Silence.

"Oh right, you think you're too good for me. Fair enough, you probably are."

Silence.

"Look, Mrs Reilly, I'm not here to yell at you about the fact that my little sister now sits inside by herself at recess and lunch because you told your kid to stop being her friend," the other moms gasped, looking at her, shocked. "And I'm not here to humiliate you or shame you in front of your friends. That is, if they're still your friends." Mrs Reilly looked around at the other woman in the group, who were now staring at her the same way they had looked at me when I first walked in. One of them even distanced herself, shuffling to the edge of the bench.

"Not such a flash feeling is it, losing your friends like this," I snapped my fingers. "Now imagine being nine years old, just a little kid, and thinking it was your fault that your friends had suddenly gone, vanished, poof."