Tweetie

29

"Ah, nothing," she uttered, obviously lying.

"Tweetie?" Joel called for her attention, moving so he could lean on the back of her chair with his arms as she turned, unable to turn completely but enough to let him know that he had her attention. "Are you going to be alright? You know, with Ricky? He's not going to try anything, right?"

"...Didn't he say that she should watch her back?" Leo noted, turning to Ryan with a raised eyebrow.

"He did."

"I can sort him out, my offer still stands," Fox said, patting the handle of his baseball bat which stuck out of his bag like usual.

"Hasn't Ryan already done that?" Joel noted, forcing everyone to turn back towards the silver-haired boy with a new black eye.

"I can do it again too." Ryan shrugged, leaning into the bag of peas as Hazel continued to stare down at the table in thought.

As more time passed, she started to feel as though her brain was a maze. She needed to memorise the route, go down the right paths to get to the right information. But, she kept getting lost. She had followed a path, one that she hoped would lead her to the answers she needed. But she must have taken a wrong turn, somewhere along the way, she found herself falling down a path that lead to her own self-doubt and she didn't know how to get back. How was she going to solve this crime when she kept questioning herself like this? Was she even capable?

"...Tweetie?" Leo spoke up again, his eyes moving back to the girl in concern, "are you sure you're alright?"

"Mhmm," she hummed, twisting her face slightly before sighing and letting a smile paint itself onto her features. "I'm A-okay."

"Oh."

She turned, caught off guard by Ryan's sudden movements beneath her hand, and it seemed his mild frustration had drifted away as he shuffled, shoving his hand into his pocket in search of something, meanwhile, she put the peas down, giving her cold hand a break for a while until he needed it again.

Everyone watched him, curious about what he was going to bring out. And it seemed their curiosity was warranted.

He pulled his hand out, revealing a small purse. But, one that probably wasn't his. Probably. It was pink, covered in yellow polka dots. She might have believed it was his if it was green with polka-dots, that was more his style.

He held it out towards Hazel, his eyes glancing over it curiously, turning it over in his hand with a slight tilt to his head.

"Uh," Joel's head dropped to his shoulder, "what have you got there, Ryan? Did you buy yourself a nice new purse?"

"Shut up," Ryan scoffed before turning back to Hazel. "Is this yours? Ricky dropped it and I wasn't sure if he took it from your bag while he was going through it."

"...No," she shook her head, knowing that her purse was fluffy and had a cat face and ears on it. "But give it to me."

"Tweetie," Joel gasped, pushing himself off of her chair, "you're stealing it!?"

"No," she shook her head, laughing a little while she opened it. "I'm looking to see who's it is."

Ryan leaned over, almost resting on her shoulder and glanced into the purse as she did.

She pulled out a few cards, hoping to search through them, and while she did that, Ryan pulled out a £5 note, taking it for himself while mumbling a short 'this is for breaking my nose.' Which was a valid point... If the purse was even Ricky's. Which, she soon found out, wasn't the case.

"Huh," she tilted her head, "weird..."

"What?" Leo asked curiously, leaning against the table to get a better look as she shifted through the cards.