As Hazel moved around the cafe, clearing tables and taking trays that were finished with from students who chatted, she felt eyes on her back. A lot of eyes.
Everyone looked at her, attempting to see her face as best as they could and anxiously, she took a tray back to the counter, her head lowered out of habit. She had learned to avoid the watching eyes of a crowd because of the necessity to be unknown, but what could she do when she was left without a choice? People were leaning out of their seats just to catch a glimpse of her.
Stewart worked like he usually did, zoning in and out when he needed to as he made coffee that made the cafe smell like a blend of vanilla and coffee beans. Turning to the table of boys, Hazel noticed that they watched her too, but, they glanced around every so often, acknowledging the watching eyes that followed her around. Unlike the others, their eyes weren't as intimidating.
She sighed, moved back towards a table that seemed finished and stopped, about to ask if they were done. But, the three girls who sat around it got their words out first, beating her to it as they stared up at her, their lips parting and their eyebrows raised in concern.
"Is it true?" one asked, her voice sweet but hushed so she wasn't heard by anyone around them, "did Ryan James really do that to you?"
"Huh?" Hazel stepped back, surprised to have a customer actually talk to her, "do what?"
"Y'know... Beat you up...? I mean, he keeps looking at you with that glare..."
She stopped, her lips falling open in shock as her fingers lifted up to her lip and the question clicked in her mind. She still needed to answer.
"No, no definitely not," Hazel shook her head, lifting their tray and stepping back. "I fell. My own mistake, it had nothing to do with him."
Truthfully, the question made her feel a little uncomfortable. It made her wonder how violent Ryan was if people were so easily persuaded into believing he had beaten her up. She didn't believe it herself, sure, he seemed a little aggressive towards Ricky, but there were reasons behind that, only, she didn't know the specifics of those reasons.
What about Jason Barber? Was it possible that he was just as aggressive towards him too?
"Oh, good," the girl breathed out in relief, thankful the boy she liked wasn't actually going around beating up girls like Hazel.
"Uh," Hazel went to speak again, realising she should probably ask her own question before leaving the table, "where exactly did you hear that?"
"Loads of people have been talking about it," she shrugged as if it was is just common knowledge, "they've been saying you annoyed him so he just, y'know, got angry and beat you up."
"Oh," she furrowed her eyebrows. She had no idea where that sort of rumour would originate from or why it would spread, but at least she knew it was going around and why she was being watched so much by the students there. "Well, thanks for letting me know."
"No problem," the girl smiled back before turning to her friends and beginning to gather their things.
Hazel moved back to the counter, placing the tray down as Stewart lifted his head to meet her gaze, a tray in his own hand filled with five hot drinks.
"Could you take these to the boys?" He asked.
She took the tray, nodding her head before she approached. She was happy to take the opportunity to speak to them as she handed out their drinks.
As she approached, some of their eyes followed her along until she stopped just beside them at the empty space used for Ryan's foot. She smiled, earning smiles in return as she placed the tray down and put the drinks in front of them all, already getting a good idea of the regular drinks they each ordered every day they visited.
"Hey, Tweetie," Oscar looked up at her, it seemed he was quickly getting more and more comfortable with her and the intimidation he had finally wore away. Still, he was hushing his voice though. "How come everyone's staring at you?"
"I just found out," she said, turning to Ryan as she started her next words, "apparently they think Ryan beat me up. But unless he did it in my sleep, I don't think I believe them."
"What!?" Ryan immediately jolted up in his seat, his eyes glaring into her. She hoped he remembered the phrase 'don't shoot the messenger' because, with the way his eyes sharpened, it was likely that he forgot. "Why the fuck would people be saying that?"
"Don't ask me," she shrugged, unfazed by his raised voice. She had heard too many for them to be quite so shocking. "I don't get why people have to stare and glare at me and not you, I mean, if it was real, I'd be the victim in the situation. They're supposed to make me feel better, not worse."
"Ugh," he groaned, his eyes still glaring coldly into her as he spoke, "fuckin' assholes."
"Sorry Tweetie," Leo said, deciding to apologise where Ryan wouldn't, "we really should have expected this. People tend to get dragged into our messes."
"It's alright," she smiled, pleased by the fact he even said sorry. "It's not like it's your fault, anyway."
"Yeah," Ryan nodded, though his sharp eyes returned as he began to think about it more and more. "Why would they think I would beat up someone like you? What the hell? You look like you wouldn't even hurt a fly."
She shrugged and took the tray now empty of drinks back into her grasp, hugging it to her as they watched her move.
"Maybe it was that guy from yesterday who's spreading the rumour," she suggested, forcing them to tilt their heads. "You did say that he looked like he was gonna try something and he asked if you were the one who beat me up."
"Oh shit," Ryan sat up again, his eyes widened in realisation, "it totally was him, wasn't it!?"
"What're you gonna do?" Joel asked hesitantly as Ryan stood from his seat, his face twisting in annoyance the longer he thought about it. He was quick to anger, and as he clenched his fists and began to gather his belongings, it became evident what he was planning. "Ryan, you're not gonna go confront him, are you?"
"I am," he snapped, keeping his head lowered, "he keeps fucking shit up, what gives him the right?"
"Are you kidding? Don't go and fight him," Leo sighed in defeat.
"Why not? He deserves it."
"It'll only prove his point," Hazel said, taking a step back from the table, her words more like an off-handed comment. "The rumour's about you fighting, if you respond to that by fighting him, it'll only convince more people that you did actually beat me up."
"Yeah, don't give him what he wants, Ry." Leo shook his head.
"Then what am I supposed to do? Let him talk shit about me?"
"It's not the worst thing to happen," Leo said, earning a nod from Hazel who knew far too well that in her life, the bad conversations about her were the least of her worries.
"Yeah, if you ignore it and prove him wrong, it'll make him look bad for talking about you like that," Hazel made a final comment, stepping back and away from the table as they watched her and realised she still had more to do around the cafe.
Hazel moved back towards the counter. It was calmer for the time being as students began to pack up and leave for school. Except for the boys of course, who didn't seem to want to waste their time with an allegedly bad education.
"You sure you're alright, Robin?" Stewart asked, noticing how she kept her gaze away from people and seemed to be slowing in pace, eventually letting her steps turn into more of a shuffle. She nodded, letting a smile paint itself onto her lips. "Seems exhaustion is getting to ya' a bit."
"I'll probably be alright in ten minutes."
"Happens often, I take it?"
She sighed, wanting to deny him the answer she wanted to deny herself. But, she knew she couldn't. The man could read people like a book, a liar was like a bad smell in a flower shop and he could find the source quicker than a sniffer dog.
"More often than not," she shrugged, resting against the counter with dreary eyes, "I mean, it's not usually with injuries like this, but sleep is kinda rare these days anyway. It's hard to sleep when you know people out there probably have a vendetta against you... What a thrilling life for an eighteen-year-old."
"Don't overdo it, alright? I know what it's like, but you're still young, if you don't look after yourself, things'll only get worse."
"I know. Still, I hardly have a choice anymore... But, I'll try."
"It's all you can do," he smiled, happy she was at least acknowledging his words before they both fell back into work.
The day continued on, drifting by slowly until lunch began.
It was becoming abundantly clear that the young detective's lack of sleep was only getting worse. No matter how much coffee she drank, she couldn't keep her body from swaying like a leaf in the breeze. Her head rocked forward when she sat for five minutes, her eyelids fell, but she always flinched awake out of concern of missing something. Though that wasn't the case as each time she woke herself up, she only found the same staring eyes of students who believed rumours and those who strangely blamed her for it.
She heard the odd comment here and there, accusing her of starting a fight to make Ryan look bad. As ridiculous as it was, she seemed to be catching onto the trend of the excuses. The students who fawned over the group of boys would say whatever they had to just to avoid having them take the blame and have any negative connotation linked to them. They were living ignorantly for the sake of young crushes.
But what did that mean for her investigation? She felt herself lose faith little by little, knowing she was going to get nothing if she didn't ask. But how would she ask her questions? Was it even worth it to stay in the cafe, or did she need to look elsewhere for her answers?
"Robin, why don't you take your lunch break? I can handle lunch today, it's quieter than usual."
"Huh?" She turned, lifting her head with dreary eyes towards Stewart who crouched beside her after she had started to zone out.
"You can barely keep yourself awake," he said, less annoyed and more concerned for her. "Use this time to get a break. I know you won't get another chance."
"...Are you sure?"
"Positive."
She couldn't argue as he turned away and went back to the counter, leaving her to do as she was told.
She glanced around, acknowledging the fact that there were enough students around to show that it was definitely lunchtime, a few tables remained empty and clear of mugs and belongings. But, there were still enough people in the cafe to acknowledge the fact that over 55% kept directing their gazes toward her before whispering to each other.
Unfortunately, Archie wasn't present so there was nobody to occupy her thoughts and keep her distracted from the watching eyes-
"Tweetie!"
Never mind.
She turned, noticing the silver-haired boy's scowl, his face twisted as he seemed to grow more annoyed as time went on.
"Hm?" She tilted her head to Ryan as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"C'mere."
Not wanting to upset the already angry boy, she did as he said and approached with quick steps... Well, as quickly as she could move in her dreary state. She stood beside him, acknowledging the fact that for once, he wasn't resting his foot on his chair and was instead resting his arm on it as he swung back to face her properly.
"You're not busy, are you? Stewart just gave you a break, right?"
"Right."
"Sit." He pointed to the chair saved for his feet.
She hesitated, glancing down at it in confusion, looking as if she didn't even know what a chair was.
She dropped into it, not wanting to stand for longer than she had to or give him enough time to change his mind.
"You're good at maths, right?"
"Uh... maybe not right now," she said with a voice much more timid than intended while she began sinking down as she realised just what he was doing. Homework. Of course. "I mean, I can barely even hold a pen right now."
She lifted her hands and wriggled her fingers a little, showing him the still pained hands that were scabbing and hidden under too many band-aids that restricted her movements. They were a bother all morning, truthfully. But then again, she hadn't had much to do besides deal with the morning rush, and even then, she could easily hold a tray.
"I'll write," he decided, "just give me the answers."
Silence lingered between them all like a quiet street. One by one, the boys reacted to Ryan, some rolling their eyes, others staring at him in horror or disbelief. But, she didn't react. She simply watched them with tired eyes as they reacted in her place.
"...Ryan..." Joel pouted, glancing over Hazel carefully as he acknowledged her state, "you're really going to make her do your homework now?"
"I'm helping," he reminded him, holding up the pen as she sat up a little only to sink again and rest forward against the table. She rested her head on her arm as he continued to speak. "I don't have a choice. I seriously can't get a detention, I need to be home on Friday."
"...Oh," Joel said, knowing more than Hazel did. Though, she couldn't push for answers. She knew that if she tried to be subtle in her questioning, she would only give up or let their words go over her head. "But, Tweetie, you look so tired..."
"It's fine," she forced a smile, "it'll distract me from all the staring. Maybe if people see that we aren't for some reason fighting, they'll stop watching me constantly and I'll get to nap."
Another silent pause was placed on them all as they glanced around to see at least three pairs of eyes turn away from them and scramble to look busy.
"I don't get it," Oscar frowned, glancing around at everyone who watched, "Why are they putting the blame on you? I heard some girl say you only did it to make Ryan look bad, but he does that himself. He doesn't need you to do it for him."
"Shut it," Ryan retorted quickly, forcing Oscar to let a single pleased laugh escape him. "Anyway, can you help, Tweetie?"
They turned their attention back to her while she glanced over them all, resting her chin on her arm so it didn't look like she had fallen asleep at their table. But, she seemed to blank entirely as she zoned out.
"Just give it to me." Leo shook his head as he sat up and took the sheet from Ryan who stared with wide eyes towards the calmer boy, "let her rest. If you just asked me in the first place, I would've said yes."
"But you always say no."
"I say no because I know you just can't be bothered."
"Seriously?"
"Obviously."
"Okay," Hazel sat up in her seat, "since I couldn't do it this time, I pinky swear I'll do it next time."
Oscar let a gasp fill his lungs as he turned to her, covering his smiling lips.
"A pinky swear!?" He awed, "she must be serious!"
"Completely, entirely, wholeheartedly serious," she nodded firmly, assuring them of her words.
She didn't know why, but she felt compelled to get to know them more. Was it for the investigation? She didn't have an answer to her own simple question because when she told herself it was, her heart sank and she couldn't understand why.
Ryan shook his head at her, his eyebrow raised as he acknowledged her words and the tired smile that lived on her lips despite the clear stress in her eyes.
"I seriously can't believe anybody would think you could get yourself beat up when you say shit like that."
"You could learn from her then," Fox said, avoiding eye contact with everyone as he seemed to rest his eyes, "maybe it'll stop you from getting into so many fights."
Hazel thought better of telling them that most of her injuries came from other people.
"That'll never happen," Joel laughed, watching as Leo wrote quickly.
"How come you get into fights so often?" Hazel asked with little to no thought.
There was a momentary pause as everyone turned to look at Ryan, each wondering what he would respond with. Hell, she only really expected him to respond with a shrug and a short, 'I dunno.'
"'Cause some douche doesn't know how to stay the fuck away from me."
"Let me translate," Leo uttered, not looking up from the work as he spoke, "That means, 'Because Richard Donnely won't leave me alone'."
"The guy from yesterday?" She asked, a smile slipping to her lips with Leo's wit he barely acknowledged as he continued on.
"Dicky Ricky," Ryan confirmed.
She nodded, noting the name to memory. It seemed it was a name that would pop up often around the boys, and from the way the conversations and past few days were going, there was a chance she would get to spend more time with them or close by at the very least.
"You really only fight him? I hear so much about you fighting people." She pushed further, risking herself just for more. She was desperate for more. Who knew she could be so easily swayed into an addiction like this?
"Yeah," Ryan nodded, taking her probing pretty well, all things considered. "I mean, yeah, I'm an angry asshole, but he's the only one who can get me to the point of fighting."
The others nodded along and, hearing that, she couldn't help but nod along and let the smallest smile appear on her lips, easy to miss but there all the same. She wanted so desperately to believe it, and she did. There was nothing to say that it was true, nor that it was false. But she wanted to believe.
"He does look punchable."
"Right!?" He gasped, glad somebody else could see it. "It's the smile."
She couldn't help but agree.
The conversation ended there and they began talking amongst each other while she sunk a little, glancing over her palms in an attempt to occupy her mind enough to stay awake. But, she couldn't focus on them as she felt eyes on her, though, she couldn't tell if it was from the people around them or from something closer.
The question didn't linger for long.
"You have a ton of tiny scars on your face," Ryan noted from beside her, his eyebrows knitted together as he bore his green eyes into her pasty skin. "Like... a lot."
"Yeah," she shrugged, hoping to leave the conversation where it was.
It wasn't that she had any real deeply invested stories to go with the scars. She didn't have much of a violently traumatic past, she just dealt with violent people poorly... So poorly that she tended to aggravate them. Really, she wanted the conversation to drop so she didn't have to lie to them more or come up with a story for each almost unnoticeable scar.
"How? Are you seriously that clumsy?"
She shrugged her shoulders, though, barely enough to be seen. She felt so heavy, she couldn't even sit herself up properly, let alone exaggerate her movements. It felt like her clothes were soaked with tonnes of water, gallons upon gallons that sunk her down and kept her movements small and stiff.
"I'm clumsy and stupid."
"You're not stupid," Joel immediately sat up, "you taught me stuff the other day. If you want to see stupid, look at Oscar's grades."
"Joel, don't hurt my feelings like this," Oscar pouted, exaggerating his sigh as he sank and attempted to sadden his features more than he really felt. "If you break my heart again, I won't ever buy you another drink. Ever."
"What-!?"
The conversation seemed to roll past them, swiftly moving along so the two boys could argue instead with laughs hidden behind their voices.
She zoned in and out yet again, thinking over the theories and possibilities in her mind. Oddly, she was conflicted. While talking to them, despite not knowing them well, she couldn't help but feel as though the boys were good people. Sure they could be intimidating and a little harsh at times, or at least Ryan could be. But, they didn't seem like the kind of people who would do something like, well, to put it bluntly... murder. Petty crimes, maybe. But not murder. She knew what the guilt of something like that carried and it just didn't seem right. It didn't fit. How else would they have caused somebody to go missing? Even if by accident, it would bury them too deep in the ground to recover from.
"I haven't seen that Archie guy today."
She snapped back to the conversation, glancing between them as Oscar talked to the group about her friend.
"Good. Why does he come here anyway?" Ryan grumbled, his eyebrows furrowing as he spat his words out as if they tasted disgusting.
"Do you not like him or something?" Hazel asked, glancing around as everyone but Ryan seemed careless about the conversation.
"Nope."
"Oh," she hesitated. "Really? I thought Archie was nice."
"No way," Ryan shook his head quickly, "he's probably one of those cops who acts like they're good but actually they're just doing it for the power or the money or something."
"You're only saying that because he got upset at you when you were messing around at the police station that one time."
"That was ages ago," Ryan said, but the frown gave away that he was still upset about that. Hazel wasn't there for it, however, so she couldn't determine whether he should have been told off or not. Probably, if it was Archie telling him off. He was a laid back guy, it would take a hefty push to bother him. "But even then, they're all the same. You ask for help and they do nothing. Like with Jason Barber. Look what happened to him."
"Huh?" Hazel couldn't help herself. The attention he grabbed with his words was blatant as she sat up and turned to him. This was not where she expected this conversation to go. So, she tried her best to get as much as she could. So much that she searched her pockets for her phone, fully prepared to record the conversation to refer back to later, fiddling with it beneath the table as they occupied themselves with drinks and schoolwork.
"Jason Barber? That kid who went missing?" She asked, her head at a tilt as she tried to act oblivious. It seemed to go well. "What d'you mean? What happened to him?"
"A fuckin' mess." He crossed his arms and glared out of the window ahead, just past Leo's head who was paying close attention to the conversation, lowering his pen every so often. Everyone was listening. "People were being questioned for months. Hell, I even saw an interrogation room for the first time- it was pretty boring, by the way- then nothing happened. It was like everyone forgot. Don't get me wrong, the guy had problems, but he was seventeen. He deserved better than that."
She, if she was being too honest, could have thrown up with the amount her mind was running, with how this conversation got her heart beating so hard it hurt. Her breathing deepened and she thought for a moment she was about to go into a coughing fit that could land her in hospital if she wasn't careful. Instead, her breathing only became audible as she calmed, keeping herself outwardly calm and wanting her insides to reflect that too.
She waited so long for a conversation like this.
"Problems?" She pushed for more, glancing down to make sure she was still recording. She was. Thank God her phone was crappy and old, too dull to be attention-grabbing with a vibrant screen.
He seemed to hesitate as he really heard what he was saying and looked to the others. She watched closely, seeing how they looked as intrigued as she was. They were latched to the conversation.
"I mean," she continued, leaning against her hand as she looked down at the table and tried to keep it going, "I only heard bits about it. At my school the rumours kinda went out of control. People said he met a celebrity and ran away. Kinda ridiculous, now that I think about it. But I believed it for a while."
"No way," Ryan scoffed. "Or... actually, maybe. He was pretty handsome. But nah. He was my friend for a bit, pretty popular too. But, after a while, he got into shady stuff and I wanted nothing to do with it. Broke away from him and Ricky and that was it."
"Shady stuff?"
"Drugs. He was always going to parties, selling them there."
"...Drugs...?" She blinked. And, again, she had to hold back her excitement as she swallowed down the urge to go running for her notebook. "Ew."
"Right?" He scoffed, nodding along. "I never went to the parties."
"I did," Oscar said. "Only once. Then I saw Joel on the way there, dragged him with me and we got distracted."
"Let me guess," Leo sat up and let a smile slip onto his lips as he glanced between them while Hazel put her phone away. "A cat?"
"Yeah!" Joel cheered. "We ended up leaving the party after five minutes and just followed it around town then lost it and went on a hunt."
"Did you find it?"
"Yeah," he smiled, happy that Hazel asked the important questions, "I gave it some chicken from a sandwich we stole from the party. I think some guy made it when he got high and was so out of it, he didn't notice me taking it out of his hand... But I needed the chicken. It was important."
She smiled, happy with the good news of the cat getting chicken. She always wanted a cat, but it would be unfair if she had one because of the lack of care she could give it. Of course, she could give it lots of hugs and love, but she couldn't feed it. She could barely feed herself.
"I want a cat," she drifted along with the conversation, sinking down into her arms as she put her phone away and got drowsier and drowsier, "I would knit it a tiny scarf... If I could knit."
"And mittens. You have to keep its tiny paws warm."
"I would name the cat Mittens too." She added to Joel's comment, "maybe one day I'll get a cat..."
"...I think you need to sleep."
She paused at Ryan's comment this time before nodding into her arms, too tired to lift her head up. She barely remembered how she got to the point of talking about a cat called Mittens. Unfortunately, as good as her memory was, it tended to fail her when she was in a state like that. Generally, the worse her state, the less she remembered. It was why she always had to note things down, just to be sure that she could refer back to them if she became too woozy to remember.
But, even in a state like that, she didn't let sleep get to her... Or really, the world didn't.
As always, she was interrupted moments before she drifted off into her dreams. Only, this time she was interrupted by a buzz in her own apron pocket as her outdated phone rang silently.
She flinched to sit up, her eyes widened in surprise as she glanced down at the device and the name that flashed on the screen. 'Police dad #1' There was only one Police dad she knew that was number one and quickly, not caring that both Ryan and Oscar saw the contact name, she brought the phone to her ear and pushed her chair away from the table.
"Bonjour," she spoke into the phone, standing and moving to the counter while the boys listened and watched. "What can I do ya' for on a day like today?"
"Interesting way to say hello," Roderick laughed, "are you busy?"
"I'm at the cafe," she said, glancing around the warmly lit room. "Why? has something happened?"
"No, don't worry. I just wanted to check in. I'll probably stop by your apartment tonight."
"Bad news."
"What?"
"We ran out of coffee, so don't expect any."
A sigh followed.
"I'll bring some for you."