"Tweetie, you look beyond confused."
"...I... am...?"
"What happened?" Leo asked as she dropped down at the table, sinking in thought. She dropped her bag, her head to her shoulder and slowly sank in a mess of confusion until she was barely visible above the table. She couldn't decide.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded up to Oscar before pushing herself back up in her seat to sit up, her hands landing on the surface of the table.
"So," she started, "I was walking, minding my own business," she scrunched her nose in thought, forcing everyone to listen carefully to her words, intrigued by what it was that had her so confused. "But then I started feeling weird, like I was being followed-"
"I swear to God, if you were attacked again-"
"I wasn't," she interrupted Ryan before he could go into a fit of rage over something that never happened. "But, it was Ricky who was following me. So I stopped, and he came up to me, then he told me to meet him at Wicker Street. And then he left. And that was it. No punch to the face. Just, 'we need to talk', and then he was gone."
They all fell silent, glancing between each other in confusion.
"For as long as I have known that dude," Ryan breathed out, "I have never heard of him being civil."
"Maybe he has a thing for Tweetie," Oscar suggested, forcing everyone around the table to stiffen their faces in frowns.
"He better fuckin' not," Ryan snapped back, shaking his head frantically. "If that prick lays one finger on her, I will rip his damn-"
"Ryan," Hazel turned to him. Admittedly, the fact that he was so bothered about it was nice but she couldn't actually say that. She continued to speak, her voice calm and steady as she caught his attention. "He won't."
"How do you know?" He argued, "That prick has been weird to you since the day he saw you. Rumours, threats, attacks, now weird cryptic meeting requests."
"...Uh, that doesn't sound like things a person would do if they like someone..." Fox noted. Yet, Ryan shook his head.
"I wouldn't put it past him. Ricky's a creep," he announced as if nobody knew this fact already. "Tweetie, if he shows any signs of liking you, tell me and I'll beat his ass."
She shrunk at the thought.
"I hope he doesn't..." Hazel admitted, fiddling with the hem of her plaid skirt. She wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of Ricky having a thing for her. "He said he'd hunt me down if I don't go..."
"Wait, what?" Ryan turned to her, tugging his shirt sleeve that had been risen up his arms down slightly.
There was a single beat of silence.
"...Ricky is really creepy towards Tweetie," Oscar announced, fiddling with a strand of his hair as he kept his gaze low and distracted, "I remember seeing him follow her through the corridors once when she was leaving for lunch. I was gonna help, but then Mr Davins called me back to detention..."
"...What...?" Hazel turned, her skin paling slightly at the thought of being followed without any knowledge.
She wanted to think about it more, to put two and two together, but, she was distracted too soon.
"-What the fuck!?" Ryan stood, immediately seeing her wash over with worry. "Why the fuck can't he just leave you alone!?" He marched towards the counter, his left leg hobbling slightly until his march turned into a limp which Hazel couldn't ignore. Why was he limping? And why did he have such a big bruise on his arm? How did she miss this? "I swear, this time I'll actually- gah! The fuck is wrong with people!?"
He stopped at the counter, ready and willing to tell Stewart to look after his things while he left, but, he didn't make it far. Hazel turned, calling out to him as she acknowledged just how easily frustrated he was today.
"Ryan?"
"Tweetie, don't try to fucking calm me down this time-"
"Ryan."
"Not this time!"
"Ryan! Why are you limping!?" She pushed herself up, turning and walking towards the furious boy, "Sit down before you hurt yourself!"
He glared at her, his eyes firm but still sharp as they now stood face to face, his breathing heavy and her eyebrows furrowed as she pointed towards his seat. And like a young boy told off by his mother, he did as she said, his expression never shifting.
"...Jeez, didn't realise you could be so intimidating..." Ryan mumbled, shrinking into his seat as Hazel stood, her back turned to the table with her arms crossed over her chest as she thought.
How long had he been following her around? Was it a one-time thing? Maybe that was how he found out that she told the guys that he attacked her... But, wasn't that in the cafe on another day? Oscar was there when she told them all. When wasn't Oscar with them during lunch...?
"...Now I'm even more conflicted..." She sighed, turning to them all as she continued to think. "I need to see what he wants, but, I don't want to be punched again."
"Is it really worth the risk?" Leo asked, watching her approach and slump down into her seat.
"I feel like he might've been following me for a while," she admitted, sighing as Ryan tensed a little, frustrated by this fact. She appreciated his anger on her behalf, but, she would rather he didn't hurt himself because of it. "I mean, he found out that I told you guys about him attacking me and Oscy, and that was on a completely different day to the one Oscar saw him follow me. I just want to know if he is going to blackmail me into something."
They fell silent, realising that she was right. None of them had told anyone, and they were sure nobody else knew about the attack. But, Oscar was there. So, how long had she been followed for? It was difficult to tell, the boys often received detentions and it wasn't uncommon for them to be missing during the first half of lunch because of it.
She needed to know. How many things would this confirm? What would it answer?
But, she still wasn't entirely certain if he was involved with Jason. She couldn't recall if she heard of the pair knowing each-other quite like Ryan and Jason did. Unless Ricky just randomly attacked Jason and took him by surprise, it didn't make sense. Somebody who knew Jason and his routine had to have done it.
She was conflicted. Until, she pushed her mind further, thinking back further.
Had she really never heard of them being friends...? She felt like that itself was a lie. But when did she find proof that they knew each other?
"Fine, fuck it." Ryan came to a decision as he sat up and quickly finished the last of his coffee, "Tweetie, we're going."
"Eh?" Hazel turned, watching as Ryan moved away from the group, stopping to send the girl a glance. "Is that a good idea, Ryan? You won't get angry?"
"It'll be fine," he sighed, brushing his hair back and through his fingers.
She stood, going to stand next to him by the door and, really, they looked like a mess. A duo mess. She was covered in injuries, he was limping on a bad leg and constantly frowning. If anybody saw them, they would think they found trouble for a living. But, that was only Hazel's lifestyle, not Ryan's.
"Ryan," Leo sat up, his eyebrows raising and a small frown formed on his lips as he grew more and more concerned, "you won't lose it, will you? You know Ricky always makes you angry."
"Seriously, it'll be fine," Ryan sighed again, "I'll have Tweetie there, she'll calm me down, right, Tweetie?"
"Right," she nodded, smiling up at him as he put his trust in her. "I pinky promise that I'll allow no harm to come to Ryan and I won't let him hurt Ricky." She lifted her hand, raising her little finger as Ryan nodded in approval.
"And I pinky promise that I won't let Tweetie get hurt," he lifted his hand, raising his own pinky beside Hazel's, however, he let a sigh escape him as everybody raised an eyebrow, expecting more from his promise, "And I won't hurt Ricky."
"If either of you come back with a black eye, I'll make you run laps around the city," Fox announced, forcing Hazel to widen her eyes, drop her hand and nod frantically before Ryan dragged her out of the cafe, leading her down a street and in the opposite direction of the school.