Tweetie

34

Of course, Ryan was the one to realise they were shoeless as they passed him, all too focused on not stepping in puddles to notice him and Joel stood to the side, leaning against a wall beneath low hanging shrubs that spilled out from a garden, feeling the droplets of rain slip down and land on their heads and shoulders as they had chatted.

Immediately after hearing him call out, the four turned towards him, Fox as careless as ever, Oscar having fun playing 'don't step in the puddles' but failing, and Hazel and Leo surprised, too focused on their chatting to have noticed him properly.

"We're undergoing operation find the shoes," Hazel stepped forward, stopping in front of the once chatting pair as she beamed, washing the surprise away with the genuine enthusiasm she felt.

"Did you all lose your shoes?" Joel smiled, though, it seemed sadder than usual. Hazel, unwilling to zone out in the whirlwind of thoughts about why his smile seemed so sad, shook her head.

"Only Leo," she explained while the group of six stood in a huddle by the wall, "but we can't let a person walk shoe-lessy alone so we joined while we search."

"God," Ryan combed his fingers back through his hair, shaking his head. "You're such a weirdo."

Of course, she would have been more offended by his words if it wasn't for the fact that immediately after, he began to remove his own shoes, handing the pair to Hazel.

"Look after 'em, I don't have my bag."

"Alright, bossy," she nodded, dropping the pair into her own bag and turned towards Joel who began to remove his shoes too. "I'll take yours too, Joel. I don't think your bag can hold much more."

"Thanks, Tweetie," he beamed this time, genuinely happy.

Although the longer she looked at him, she couldn't help but notice his puffy red eyes and reddened nose. Crying. She would have liked to talk to him and make sure he really was okay, but she knew that this wasn't the time. Maybe, she thought, she should let him talk to her first. She was so used to having to force people into conversations for the sole purpose of getting information from them, she didn't know how to deal with not doing that.

"So, where are we going?" Ryan asked, adjusting to the cold on his toes with shuffling steps.

"School," Leo answered, figuring the best place to start would be the place where he had lost his shoes to begin with. "I lost them this morning. I had to take them off so I could go to the pool and speak to Mr Hanwell about why I wasn't in gym yesterday," he recalled, reminding himself of what had happened. "When I came out, they were gone."

"Then," Hazel said, pretending for her own sake that she didn't just hear the word 'pool'. "We'll look there first."

They began to walk, all of them getting soggy socks the longer they stayed outside where the puddles lingered. But, despite the gross feeling, they didn't mind. It wasn't like they alone had soggy feet, it made it a little more fun when they could all complain about the same thing together.

"If you don't mind," Joel said, catching their attention, "I think I'll go see Miss Roberts when we get to school. I'll meet you guys at the school's entrance though when I'm done."

"Want me to go with you, Joely?" Oscar asked, receiving a hesitant nod in return.

The two began to talk, leaving the others to follow after, glancing around every so often as they searched for puddles to avoid.

"Hey, Leo," Hazel turned to the boy she walked beside, deciding to take the opportunity to ask him some questions. "Do you know why somebody would steal your shoes? They weren't new, were they?"