Five's A Crowd

twenty six

Matteo POV:

I'm in the middle of a meeting when a notification comes up on my phone. Hazel withdrew money from her bank account and has been spending it, at a store. I thought she was at school.

The man who's proposing business ideas to me shuts up the second I raise my hand. I stand from my chair, and motion for my personal guards to follow me. We leave the building, and I check my phone, to find Hazel's location.

I scoff in surprise when I see that she's on a street in the city, probably shopping. She didn't even think to turn off her location. 

Hazel's supposed to be at school right now, but instead, she's in public. I'm not sure that she's aware, but I do have enemies that will use her against me. And I can't risk that.

I ask my driver to slowly go towards Hazel's location, while I text her. It's obvious from her messages that she's suspicious and lying.

When I tell her that if she moves a muscle, I'll know, I ask the driver to speed up. I see my little sister waiting on the side of the road, pacing up the street with bags attached to her arms. 

She's still wearing the halter top that we flipped out about this morning, and I'm less than happy that she's not wearing Levi's hoodie. She looks good, and I can't help but feel protective of the fact that young males are looking inappropriately in her direction. 

She looks worried, and I don't recognize any of the brands on her bags. I open the back door and look her up and down, as her eyes trained on the floor.

I demand that she gets in the car, and she obeys the request in a second, as I click her seatbelt in. 

The ride is silent, and I fume silently at the prospect of my angel sister skipping school. When we're around 10 minutes away from home, I hand her my phone. 

"I want you to call Levi, and tell him that you're not going to be in his class today because you skipped," I say coldly, as she slowly presses the keypad.

Hazel dials her third oldest brother's phone number and waits, as it rings.

"What do you want, Matteo? You know that I'm working right now," Levi says, sounding irritated. 

"It's Hazel." Her voice violently trembles, and I almost feel sorry for her, but Levi needs to know why she won't be in his class today. 

"Ze, why are you calling from Matteo's phone? Is everything alright?" He asks, and his voice turns from irritated to concerned.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Hazel says vaguely, looking to me for support, but I just shrug my shoulders, "I just wanted to tell you that I won't be in class today."

I can imagine Levi's eyebrows raising in confusion. "Why, Hazel? What happened?"

"I skipped school, okay. Matteo caught me, and we're going home," Hazel snapped, as tears pooled in her eyes. 

I want so badly to pat her back, and pull her close to my body, and reassure her that it wasn't her fault. But I wouldn't do that for my brothers, so I can't do it for my sister.

"Why'd you skip, Hazel?" Levi asks, in a hard voice, not feeling apologetic.

"I-I don't know," she whimpers, "my friend and I needed a day to catch up."

"Needed, or wanted?" I contribute to the conversation, looking at my little sister. 

"Wanted," she whispers, sounding ashamed. 

"Was this friend a girl?" Levi asks from the other end of the phone line. 

"Y-yes," she stutters, looking down at her lap. 

"Was there someone else there?" Levi asks, noticing Hazel's lie.

"Only for a little while. He ran into us at the bank," she admits, sadly, refusing to make eye contact with me.  

"Who's he?" Levi demands. "There's one boy I was supposed to teach today, and he also didn't come to school. But if it's him, I swear to God..."

"What's his name, Hazel?" My eyes bore into Hazel's as I demand an answer. 

"Adrian..." She exclaims quietly, and I don't know who the boy is, but Levi's sour reaction doesn't help.

Levi breaths deeply, sounding annoyed. "He's a troublemaker. I think he's close with the twins, and is known to often skip school."

I think that Levi's explanation is more for my benefit than Hazel's.

She sits still in her seat, seeming embarrassed, which lets me know that there's more to the story, than she's explaining.

"What else, Hazel? Did he say something bad to you?" I ask, as she plays with her hands, seemingly uncomfortable.

"No, it's nothing. I think I'm just traumatized from being caught," she responds lightly, as if the matter isn't important. 

I know that she's lying, but sooner or later I'll figure it out, and she'll get in trouble for lying to us. 

There's an awkward silence between us for a couple of seconds, before Levi speaks. 

"I should probably head back to class, I have things to teach," Levi says, dismissing us.

"Yeah, we have things to do as well," I vaguely exclaim.

"We'll see you at home tonight."

"Bye," Hazel says sadly, still looking down at her lap. 

A/N: Hey guys, thank you so much for reading. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE VOTE, COMMENT, AND READ WHEN I GET A CHAPTER OUT TOMORROW. I have a plan for where this book is going, I just need a little support. Also, thank you very much for 5500 reads (I know that it's not a lot,) but to me, it means the world. Keep slaying in life, and I will see you tomorrow night- or day depending on where you live- when I update tomorrow. Bye <3 

P.S. The chapter's early today, because I have to go to the cricket this afternoon, so there wouldn't be a chapter. I know that it's not too good, but it's better than nothing, and is averagely long.