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Song: DNA - Little Mix

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Song: DNA - Little Mix

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Hailey

I let my plastic fork fiddle with the food, not really hungry and instead I moved the vegetables from one side to another. I knew I was neglecting myself this past week, but everything tasted like sand in my mouth and the constant nerves twitched my stomach in the most random moments.

Seeing my mother cry only added to the already bad mood I was having. I mean, if she was distressed it wasn't just some mistake. This could really be serious. Maybe my father was in trouble.

I felt like drowning, metaphorically but also physically in some way. I hated it. I just want him to contact us and tell us everything was okay.

To make things even worst, I was on my lunch period alone, since none of my friends shared it with me today, and whether it was good since I wasn't the best company lately, I could really use the distractions.

Instead, I was here, in one of the small table in the corner of the canteen, scrolling through TikTok without really looking at it. My mind numb when Nate had entered the semi full place.

He hadn't even seen me yet. Not like I'd expected him to, I wasn't that needy and in school we barely interact. But after he'd disappeared again this morning I would have expected some kind of greeting at least. I didn't know why it still hurt me he flew in the morning, but considering his state when I left him in the barn last night, I was worried.

Worried, that's it. Not hurt, worried that my not-stable-friend was suddenly gone God knows where.

It didn't help that he didn't appear at all the first periods, but then he and Seth suddenly popped out of nowhere at the cafeteria in my lunch break -that we happen to share. All smiles and charisma again, the black eye not that swollen anymore but it still attracting attention.

In other circumstances it would have been even fun to actually see the rumors spreading. In barely ten minutes that was the talk of the school, all my group chats beeping, commenting on it, but I heard him claim it didn't hurt so I guess that was good.

I didn't get why he always seemed to get into fights so much, tho. In Roosevelt he didn't look like a violent person, yet that day at the viewpoint he picked up a fight quite easily. And he's often covered in bruises. As well as drinking. Since we started this deal he'd come smelling like alcohol a few times now, and I knew his reputation.

Maybe he had a drinking problem? And then is when he gets violent?

A part of me was relieved he'd finally shown up at Roosevelt, but it fought with an equally -if not more- strong one that felt like shaking him for leaving me hanging with that simple text:

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