— ❝always an angel,
never a god.❞
The next morning, Estelle went to school earlier. She had an appointment with the blond football player —whose name she now knows to be Logan— to give him back the money she apparently owed him.
It was the hottest day since a while, so Estelle couldn't wear her comfort outfit with either a sweater or a vest. She felt a little exposed, but maybe that was just because she wasn't used to it. She wore a pair of blue boyfriend jeans with a black baby tee, the upside down house of the Neighbourhood's I'm Sorry... album on her left shoulder.
She waited for Logan outside, her backpack hanging lazily over her shoulder, a few of her books in her hands, held against her chest. Estelle was bouncing on the balls of her feet, looking at all directions.
"Hey, there," Logan's voice sounded from behind. Even though she'd been checking every direction, Estelle had not seen him approach. "I see you've brought my money." Logan smiled.
The money was in a golden envelope. Estelle had written Logan's name on it in her cursive writing. Any stranger could've mistaken it for a ( love? ) letter.
"I hope it's enough. I wasn't sure how much it was supposed to be." She gave him the envelope. Logan checked the insides, but didn't bother to count it. Having proof of it being money in the first place was enough for him.
Logan's smile grew bigger. "It'll be fine, don't worry about it. Estelle, wasn't it?" Estelle nodded. "Beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Listen, I'm sorry about the room. Thomas's idea."
Estelle gave him a nervous chuckle. She felt uncomfortable just being in his presence after last time. "It's fine." She said lowly.
"No, seriously," He grabbed something out of his backpack. Estelle was it was a cd in Logan's hand. The same album that had broken when her room was trashed. "I felt really guilty when I saw it broke," Logan took a step forward, using his hand to angle up Estelle's face. His voice became softer. "I just wanted to apologise."
A tight lipped smile found its way on Estelle's face. More people started coming to school. She was afraid someone would see them. Quickly, Logan gave her a peck on her cheek, leaving her dazzled. "I'll call." He said.
He then left, leaving Estelle bewildered. She touched the spot with her hand, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. Yesterday had been her first kiss, with a girl, and today, boys were suddenly kissing her. She definitely liked the prior one better. But maybe that just had to do with the girl being Hazel.
Estelle looked around, but thankfully she saw no one she recognised. Except for Jeff, but he was leaning against his car, having Tim taking pictures of him. Jeff's eyes travelled to Estelle and she saw him say something to Tim. Tim turned around, nodding, speeding towards her with some papers in his hand.
"Just the redhead I was looking for," Tim smiled innocently as he came to a halt in front of her. He handed Estelle the set of papers. "I would appreciate it if you could hang these up all around school. They're for the big game."
Estelle took the big pile of posters in her arms. Jeff was flexing his —non-existent— muscles, he had no shirt on. In bold, red letters stood the text "Get horny!" in the center of the poster. Estelle felt the secondhand embarrassment for her brother, but everyone seemed to be super enthusiastic about it.
"Of course, Tim," Estelle replied sarcastically. She smiled to add to the sarcastic effect. Yet Tim still had no knowledge of it being sarcasm. "Anything else?"
"Maybe throw them in a few lockers. That always does the trick." He instructed. "Thanks a lot, E-Man."
Estelle smiled wryly as he turned his back at her. "Of course, Tim, do I need to polish your shoes also, or do you have someone else for that?" She muttered to herself bitterly, going inside the school. Luckily, Estelle's first two periods were free periods and she had plenty of time to spread the posters everywhere.
She was going to need that time with the amount of paper Tim had given her. She was sure it was the equivalent of an entire tree.
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Taking a big sigh, Estelle finally hung the last poster on the big, red clipboard in the hallway. At last. And just in time, it seemed, because PJ's boisterous voice came towards her.
PJ and Josie had risen on the social pyramid rather quickly. They went from the ugly, untalented gays to people everyone knew and liked in a couple of weeks. All because of the fight club. Estelle turned her head towards them. Josie and PJ were high fiving their way through the halls. They even received high fives from rugby players and cheerleaders. Hazel draped after them.
Estelle's eyes lingered on the short-haired brunette. Since it was warmer, Hazel had put on a white tank top that showed its fair share of cleavage, with what looked to Estelle like a green shorts bra sticking out from under it. It was a completely new look for her, as she usually wore clothes two sizes too big for her.
"No, if we keep it up, we can put our fingers inside of each other. Grow up," PJ was just saying. She was facing Hazel, which told Estelle she was blowing her off again.
Estelle jogged behind them, stopping next to Hazel. She put a hand on her shoulder to let her know she was there. Hazel's head turned in one swift movement, but her expression was not what Estelle had expected. In her eyes suddenly flashed a form of pain, targeted at the redhead.
Estelle's eyebrows furrowed, but Hazel turned back to PJ. She tried her best to ignore the confused girl beside her. "You know, PJ, I feel like people are actually liking more than just the hitting and the tackling part of the club." She continued to say.
PJ didn't turn around, so she wasn't aware of Estelle's presence. "Yeah, I know. We're empowering them. Duh."
"No, I mean, seriously, to have a safe space like this, it means a lot to people," Hazel wasn't aware of the disinterest in PJ's voice. "And I think that if we took some time to spend a meeting and actually get to know these girls," That made the both of them turn around. They silently greeted Estelle during Hazel's speech. Hazel became a little more timid when they finally looked at her. "Like, it would be really important, instead of just, like, sweating on them and..."
The two best friends stayed quiet for a few seconds. They shared a glance. "Hazel, that is a genuinely brilliant idea," Josie said. Estelle wasn't sure if it was sarcasm or not, but if it was, it was hidden very well. "I love talking about my trauma."
"I literally jack off after every single therapy session," PJ joined. With her it was most definitely sarcasm. "It just makes girls weirdly horny. It does."
"Don't say 'girls'. It's you." Josie stared at her best friend.
From behind them, an unwanted guest tapped their shoulders, but they didn't notice. "Guys." Estelle exclaimed. The two looked up, followed Estelle's gaze behind them and were faced with Tim.
"Bonjour," The darker skinned boy greeted. Josie groaned, turning towards him. "I just wanted to say I'm loving what I'm hearing about the club. It seems so supportive of women. Especially the hot ones."
"Yeah, well," PJ shrugged. "All women are hot to me."
That's not entirely true, Estelle thought. This was coming out of the same mouth who'd previously complained about all the ugly girls joining the club.
"Listen, it's really cute and everything, but we're getting a little close to the game now and, um..." He trailed. "I'm just a bit concerned it might be taking away attention from our team."
Estelle rolled her eyes. Josie looked down to the poster Estelle'd put in her locker. She held up next to her head, pointing at it. "I think that's, like, impossible to do."
That satisfied Tim enough to put a smile on his face. "Okay," His eyes trailed behind them, to Estelle. "Have you hung them all?"
Estelle forced a smile on her face. "Look around."
"Just checking," In one firm motion, Tim walked away. The four girls looked after him with a grossed out expression on their faces.
"Why would you work for them?" Josie asked. She didn't directly point the question at Estelle, but she knew it was meant for her.
She shrugged. "Sometimes, you gotta know when to stop bickering with them, because it doesn't matter anyway."
"Huh," PJ jutted her jaw, nodding along. "Well, we should go to class, don't you think, Josie?"
Josie agreed to that. Together, the pair said their goodbyes, leaving the other two standing in the hallway. Hazel was ready to leave as well, but Estelle called after her. Hazel stopped in her tracks, turning back around.
"Hey, are we okay?" She asked her, her voice coming out merely above a whisper. "I just— I feel like you were kind of avoiding me, back there."
Hazel shook her head. "No, we're good," Estelle expected something else to come out of her mouth. Nothing followed. She didn't believe what she said.
She took a step forward. "Are you sure though? It's not about last night, right—?"
"I said we're fine," Hazel's voice came out rougher than usual. Estelle was taken aback by the words spoken, she took a few steps back. Hazel sighed. "You should go back to your boyfriend. What's his name? Logan?" Before Estelle could say anything, Hazel had disappeared into the crowd of students.
For a minute, Estelle didn't know why Hazel had mentioned Logan, especially as her boyfriend. Than she realised. "Fuck." She muttered. Had Hazel seen the interaction this morning?
And more importantly, had she looked into the interaction? Because that was going to be hard to prove wrong.
Author's Note
okay so question. do you guys want me to write that interaction with logan from hazel's perspective? it would make sense, but i'm not gonna write it if no one wants me to