Hazel sat, her mind boggled once again as she surrounded herself with work. Photos from the older crimes at the Southblock Hotel, eye witness accounts gathered by Archie, student files, a shoe. It didn't make sense. The motives didn't make sense. Nothing made sense. Anything at this point could have been possible if she argued her point enough, what she needed was viable evidence, unarguable and clear.
"Hazy... I really can't drink this many coffees."
"You can if you believe in yourself."
Archie laughed, slumping back into his seat with a file in his hand about the Daniel Thompson case, going over and over the same information time and time again. They were both exhausted, the bags beneath their eyes were dark and heavy, neither had slept well in a long time. They just worked through the whole night without stop.
Hazel's eyes never stopped moving, they moved from one sheet of paper to the next in an attempt to make sense of something. It felt like something was missing. Literally. Her pile of evidence seemed to be shrinking, or was she forgetting? Was she misplacing things again? Putting them somewhere and forgetting later? Was her memory really getting so bad?
"Archibald," Hazel finally lifted her gaze to him, "have you seen those records of drug crimes in the South? I can't find them."
"Hm... I think you took it to the kitchen with you when you made the third coffee."
"Did I?" She turned and glanced over towards the kitchen, scanning the messy counter filled with mugs and teaspoons, some unopened letters, papers from files scattered around. A mess. "Oh man... That's gonna be impossible to find."
She wasn't given much more time to think about it as she watched her phone vibrate against the coffee table, shaking everything and forcing her eyes to turn with a tight feeling in her stomach from the fright. The number was unknown, one she hadn't seen before. Yet, she picked it up anyway, not caring for the dangers.
"Hello?" She hummed, her voice questioning and quiet while she still looked over everything she had, ignoring the missing evidence while Archie spared a glance to her to quirk an eyebrow up.
"Tweetie, hey."
"Fox?" Hazel sat up, letting her head fall to her shoulder, "you have my number?"
"Yeah, Ryan gave it to me," he said, his voice calm and silky. "Sorry to call out of the blue, you weren't doing anything, were you?"
"No not at all," she turned away from her work in an attempt to convince herself that she wasn't lying. "What's up, Foxie?"
"I've been meaning to speak to you about something," he admitted, his voice still clear as day even through the phone. "It'd be good to do it face to face, but I'll be at practice all day tomorrow. I was wondering if you would come to practice at some point so we can talk for a while? Would that be okay? It's just, the others are always around, so I never really get the chance."
"Yeah of course," she immediately agreed. "Honestly, if you ever want to talk without the others, you can totally just drag me out of the room, I don't mind."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Tweetie."
Hazel walked, her bag swinging as she smiled to herself. The sun was shining, for once it came out and the dull, drowsy day felt so much brighter. At first, she had left her house with the same dread as always, saying farewell to Archie and leaving for her bus. But as the sun rose and the sky turned blue, she felt her hopes rise, bringing her a sense of awe at the thought that despite the fact that they were in the cold season, there could still be some warm sunny days... It was a little concerning though. Global warming was and still is an issue. Forests are falling, ice caps are melting... Think of those poor animals...
She walked, her pace quick as she approached the glowing cafe to begin her day smiling.
"Robin, hi! How're you doing?"
"Good!" She chirped, skipping towards Stewart who stood behind the counter, waiting for the flood of students to come in.
"Really? Has something happened?"
"Nope," she shook her head, her smile never leaving, "I just feel happy and bouncy."
"You look it," he chuckled, watching as she bounced on the spot. "It's good to see."
She beamed.
Quickly, she glanced around, meeting the eyes of a table filled with boys and her smile grew upon noticing them watch her with their own smiles. Stewart hummed, fond of the way she grew brighter in the presence of friends.
"Tweeeeetie!" Oscar yelled out, jumping from his seat. "You stole my energy, didn't you!?"
"Me? Never!" She bounced towards him, stopping as he laughed and patted her head, standing tall in front of her. "I just really like the sun."
"Me too!" He grinned, hopping around her. "Maybe we should go out today, visit the park or go to the-"
"I hate to ruin the good mood," Stewart spoke up quickly to stop them from getting too excited, watching as Oscar turned Hazel around, spinning her so she faced Stewart and began to lean against her shoulders from behind her, his smile never fading. "But you guys need to go to school."
"Do we really need to?" Oscar attempted to change his mind with his smile and happy voice alone. It would probably have worked if it wasn't for the fact that Stewart had become immune to it.
"Well, yeah. Actually, it's a whole legal thing and-"
"Yeah, yeah, we know. We'll go," Ryan sighed, turning in his seat. "But don't complain when you start missin' us."
"How could I miss you when I know you'll be back by lunch?" Stewart chuckled, moving around the counter with a glass of water and cups of coffee, as well as lemonade for Oscar. "Robin, make sure they actually go, alright?"
"Okay," she nodded her head, taking her new job very seriously with a wide smile spread on her lips. Quickly, she patted Oscar's hands gently, indicating that she wanted to move and he let her go, removing his arms from her shoulders as she took her seat and he followed her to the table. "You guys had better go to school today."
"Yeah? Why should we?" Ryan turned to her, a smirk on his lips as he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. Though, his smile faltered, noticing her smile was gone while speaking her next words.
"Because, your education is important," she said, taking notice of the way he slumped low, realising she was just going to tell them they need the education to get a job. It was true.
"Knowledge is power, and if we want to overthrow the government one day, we'll need all the power we can get."
They fell silent, all of them letting the words click in their brains after a few seconds while her smile returned, happy with their confused expressions.
"...Not what I was expecting."
She let a short laugh escape her, turning to Leo who had made the comment and let his own laugh escape him.
"You guys seem happier today too," she hummed, taking notice of their smiles while they nodded.
"Huh," Leo let a short breath escape him, his own smile never leaving his face. "Guess it must be the sun..."
Hazel glanced around, noticing how they all nodded along to Leo's words and tilted her head, taking notice of the strange knowing hidden under their expressions.
She sunk down, sipping at her straw and drinking her icy water with a happy smile never leaving her lips. They began to speak between each other, talking about how weird the sudden sunny weather was and how their school day shouldn't be too bad with absent teachers they were told would be gone for a strike. She stayed silent, glued to her straw while watching them all, her gaze moved back and forth from each boy as they spoke and her smile remained.
"Hey, isn't it the fireworks festival soon?" Joel asked, Causing Hazel's head to fall to her shoulder and raise an eyebrow while letting the straw fall from her lips.
"You guys have a firework festival?"
"Yeah... Didn't your last school?"
"No... Nobody does... do they? Have I been missing out all of this time? When is it? What's it for?"
"Our school's the only one that does it," Fox explained, his voice softened towards the giddy girl, "they just like celebrations so they can throw the schools funds somewhere that doesn't need constant upkeep. We do it on the last day before the holiday."
"It's the holiday soon? What else have I missed? Next, you're gonna tell me I missed my own birthday..." She paused, squinting her eyes in thought, "when is my birthday?" She didn't speak for another moment, considering the date and the date she recalled her birthday being. She didn't celebrate it enough to think to remember it. But, she shrugged quickly, brushing it off and painting her smile back onto her face. "What do you do at this festival?"
"There's the big baseball game," Fox began to explain again, "everyone watches that, then we either celebrate and watch fireworks, or if we lose the match, we still watch fireworks, just without much celebration. Weird stuff, but it's like a school tradition."
"Is that the game you're preparing for?" She tilted her head, watching him nod. "Oh, well, good luck! You have practice today, right?"
"Right," he nodded along, "stop by when you get the chance, okay? We still need to talk."
"Will do," she nodded happily, bobbing her head along.
"Ryan," She turned her attention quickly, directing her vision towards the silver-haired boy beside her who sent her a single nod, indicating he was listening. "Did you move your stuff to Fox's place okay?"
"Yeah, I mean... I saw my aunt, told her what I was doing, then she tried shit. But, Fox's grandma came in and backed me up." He glanced back towards Fox who smiled, glad to see his friend was okay after the situation. "I just hope she doesn't try anything and say that it's kidnapping."
They all paused, wondering whether that was a possible outcome. And, from the frowns, it might have been. Yet, despite that, Ryan shrugged his shoulders and slouched back in his seat, letting an eased sigh leave him.
"It's fine." He said, "Stewart can vouch for me."
"I can get Roderick to help too." Hazel added, getting him to turn to her and perk up. Two police chiefs would certainly help. So, she gave a smile to the hopeful look in his eyes and a small nod, assuring him that she would help if needed.
"Hey Tweetie?" Joel sat up. "How do you know Chief Hemms?"
"Huh?" She faltered, realising that she had never thought of an answer to this question despite the numerous times the man was mentioned and seen with her. So, she shrugged and figured that it would be something she could attempt to avoid, at least for a while. "It's kinda complicated, honestly. It'd take like an hour to explain."
While the others nodded, Joel leaned in a little more, his interest piqued when he realised it was more than just 'he's my dad' or 'he's an uncle' like he had suspected. However, before he could make any attempt to push, Leo started to move, packing his things away and glancing towards the clock on the wall.
"We should go," he said, saving Hazel from an interrogation she wasn't prepared for yet. "We only have five minutes left."
With that and a few grumbles, the group started to pack up and make their way to school, waving and beaming to Stewart on their way past with smiles and an ease that the man hadn't seen from them all in a long time.