Fixing the Broken Boy (On Hold)

Chapter Seven

                 Three weeks have passed since Hayden last came to school. I had given up hope that he was ever going to come to school again because he couldn’t face me; he couldn’t face his emotions. As I showed up to school, I walked with a couple of my new friends, that were jocks, down the halls talking to them about my father and if they could get any discounts through me, but I couldn’t promise anything.

                As I was walking down the hall and pass the cafeteria, I spotted him, I spotted Hayden, talking with Rebecca and his friends. He looked sickly, his skin pale, and his hair mussed from his usually neatly gelled hair. I separated from my friends, telling them I’d see them later and walked over to him, but when they saw me coming they quickly ditched, Hayden not even looking at me.

                I set my jaw and looked at the glaring faces, I turned away and walked towards my Chemistry class wondering how I was going to speak to Hayden about everything that happened that one night; it didn’t have to mean anything if he didn’t want it to. I stepped through the doors of my Chemistry class and I glanced over to Hayden who sat in his assigned seat, but as soon as I walked in, he averted his eyes to his hands that were placed on top of his desk. I looked over to Rebecca who was dangerously glaring at me, daring me to do something to Hayden so that she could jump up and strangle me.

                I sat down in my seat behind Rebecca, who was rigid in front of me, ready to jump at any chance. During the whole period I couldn’t pay attention to what the teacher was saying, I just kept constantly looking over at Hayden who tried his best to pay attention.

                The day passed on slowly and I decided at lunch I would capture Hayden and talk to him, I would stop at nothing to make him talk with me about everything. After third period I met up with Heath and headed to the cafeteria, laughing along with some of his jokes, but once I spotted Hayden, I deviated paths from him and headed over to Hayden. But when he saw me coming Hayden ditched, but I was able to follow him and he ended up going into the guys bathroom. So I followed him in, leaning against a wall, waiting.

                He ended up going into one of the stall that they had in the guys bathrooms, and he took his time, so I waited patiently as he took care of business. When he got out his gaze instantly fell on me and he tensed up, stopping where he was. But then he tried to play it off calmly, as if maybe I was just in here for the same reason as him, but I wasn’t.

                Once he got done washing his hands, he had to come to where I was leaning against the wall by the towels, to get a towel. My eyes followed him as he moved around and then we made eye contact, “Hayden, we need to talk.” He flinched and his small frame shook. This was the first time today I was able to get a good look at him: he had dark circles under his eyes from probably lack of sleep, he was also very skinny like he hadn’t been eating while he was gone, and his skin was paler than I thought.

                He said nothing, only tried to pass me quickly to get out of the bathroom, but I snagged him by his sweat shirt and pulled him back lightly, scared to break him. He whimpered and looked down at his shows as I glanced around to see who was in the bathroom with us, my haze fell on a guy who was watching us through the mirror hanging over the sink. I just disregarded him and looked down at Hayden.

                “You can’t just avoid me forever,” I spoke softly and Hayden lifted his eyes to me, his once bright blue eyes looked at me sadly. I just wanted to hug him tightly, but I knew that would only make Hayden even more upset than he already was. “Really Hayden, it meant nothing if that’s what you want. I don’t want you avoiding me because of it.” I said softly and the only guy that was in the bathroom with us exited and I let out a small sigh of relief.