Take A Walk (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 5 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Seventeen

❝cookie (pronounced ˈkʊki or koo k-ee), noun
1. a small cake made from stiff, sweet dough rolled and sliced or dropped by spoonfuls on a large, flat pan and baked.
2. a person
e.g. tough cookie; smart cookie
3. a term of endearment
e.g. I love you, cookie❞

He was a lot taller than her. He had darker skin than his father, dark brown eyes that sparkled and his hair was dark and curly. He smiled at her, revealing braces. "Hey. Robin, right?"

Robin just nodded, words failing her. "I, uh, need help with my work," she said lamely. Nice way to start a conversation with a crush. She'd had crushes before, plenty of times, on all sorts of boys. Why was it so hard to talk to this one?

"Sure. Sit down here, I'm a helper now because Dad says I'm good enough. Right, Dad?"

"Of course," he said with a chuckle. "I'm sure you'll have a good time here."

Ryan kissed the top of Robin's head, hugging her. "You'll be okay, right?"

"Yeah," she said faintly.

"I'll pick you up at five-thirty. Bye!"

"Bye," she mumbled.

Jordan smiled at her. "Follow me, I'll take you to where the others are," he said. "There's one other girl, so you can be friends with her. She's my age, though. How old are you?"

"Eleven."

"Oh, right. I'm fourteen. But I'm sure she'll still be friends with you."

"Fourteen?"

"Yeah, I turned fourteen last month. Why?"

"I- I thought you were-"

"Younger? Is it because I'm in eighth grade?" He cracked a smile. "I got super sick when I was in sixth grade, so I had to stay back a year. Still love school, though."

"Sick?"

"Yeah, I had mono."

"Oh. That's not good."

"Nah, it's not. Anyway, here's everyone!" He opened a door, revealing three boys and one girl, all of who looked up at the same time. The girl was tall and skinny, and wore practically a million piercings. Her hair was straight, and her eyeliner was dark around her eyes. Robin was reminded painfully of the times that Elle had done makeup on Robin and made her look beautiful. The boys were all varying- one wore huge glasses, one was a big and round and happy, while one looked more like a girl than a boy, but seemed nice nonetheless. "So, this is Kat, Toby, Song and Harry. Guys, this is Robin."

"Hi," she said softly. She was maybe the youngest other than Harry, who was smiling.

"Don't worry, we're all cool," he said.

"Sit down," offered Toby, smiling widely. "What do you need help with?"

She shrugged, sitting down beside Toby, and the girl, Kat, observed her curiously. "You'd look nice with black eyeliner, it'd bring out your eyes," she said, before looking back down at her papers.

"We're working on spelling words," said Jordan, sitting down beside Harry. Song took a cookie from the plate in the middle of the table, prompting Robin to do the same. He smiled. "What's your favourite pastry?"

"I dunno. I guess I like brownies."

"Great, I'll make that next week," he said. "I made these as well."

"They're really good!" she said, taking another one. "My little brother bakes as well, he wants to own a restaurant when he's older."

"That's cool, I should meet him," said Song with a grin. "Mom reckons I should stop cooking because I just eat everything I cook, but I can't be bothered with that."