"Are you okay Tweetie?"
"Yeah. I don't think my day can get much worse, so that's keeping me sane for now."
"Must've been really scary..." Oscar said, walking with his head craned back to look at the sky, watching the clouds get thicker and darker, thick enough to block most light and force some streetlights to flicker to life as they passed them. It looked as though they were about to walk into a storm.
Hazel was honestly glad to have been walking with Oscar. She wasn't keen on the area, not after what happened in the flat complex, nor after investigating so many crimes that lead back towards the area. It always put her on edge, with every case, she got more anxious just walking down the street alone. So having some company was a nice change.
"Honestly, it takes a lot to scare me, but that almost got me."
"Almost."
"The worlds gonna have to work a little harder than that to scare me," she said, allowing a smile to slip to her lips. Dreary, wonky and drenched in her exhaustion. "I'm the unluckiest person alive. I dared God to smite me and he's still trying."
He laughed at that, letting a grin grow himself as he watched how she walked and avoided every crack in the street. He subconsciously joined in, seeing the subtle joy in it and then feeling it as they both looked to the ground rather than the street ahead of them.
"My dad always says that 'nice people burn twice as bright so others can find the way,'" Oscar said, still watching the ground for cracks, then watching the water droplets that were beginning to fall, too dispersed to know for sure if it was raining, but the dark circles on the ground where they landed telling them they weren't mistaken. "So I think you're nice, and all the bad stuff that's happening is gonna mean more eventually, to somebody at least."
She almost stopped walking entirely as she was left looking at the back of his head with parted lips, blank eyes and a held breath.
"Thanks, Oscar." She said, keeping pace with him again. "That means more than you could possibly know."
"I always try to keep things like that in mind. The other guys have been through a lot too, but they'll always be nice. Mostly."
His words felt like medicine, a medication that was treating the headache behind her eyes and soothing it with every word. She didn't expect such a nice conversation with him, one that was more profound than she anticipated. It was something to keep in mind and remember, even when he seemed a little dopey, he wasn't an idiot. He went through enough in his life to have words like that mean so much to him and she wanted to know more.
"How does rain work?" Oscar asked, squinting up at the sky as more droplets fell, landing on his cheeks as it got a little heavier. "My brother said it was God peeing, and now I can't get that image out of my head."
She laughed.
"In romance movies, when they have that romantic moment in the middle of a road in the rain-"
"Oh no!" He gasped with a loud laugh, seeing exactly where she was going with that. "That's not romantic at all! They need to go shower, that's gross!"
They walked on, oblivious to the world around them as they passed alleys and buildings, set on getting to the shop quickly before they ended up getting drenched. But that hope was washed away as fast as the rain started to pour down on them, getting them soaked in seconds as they twisted their faces, grossed by the images in their minds of what was coating them.
By the time they reached the shop, they were dripping. Quickly buying chocolate and anything else they might have wanted, which wasn't much, and left again with the intention of not being yelled at by the store owner for soaking everything and leaving pools where they stood browsing.
Neither of them could see very well. They looked at each other and saw similar states. Hazel had rain running down her face, it soaked her hair and her clothes, it dripped from her nose. Oscar was no different. And meeting each other's eyes, they stopped, then, they laughed.
"I'm gonna hug Ryan when we get back." Oscar decided.
"I'd join if I didn't think he would kill me."
"No way, Ryan loves hugs- well... we are soaked, so I doubt he'll like these-"
He stopped, cutting his own sentence short as they stopped walking, the cafe in the distance glowing warmly but blurred by rain.
"D'you hear that?"
She squinted, listening past the pattering of the rain that muffled every other sound. She didn't expect to hear anything, honestly. But she did.
She heard the footsteps, the frantic pleas, and then the sinking voice of a woman giving up and giving all she owned to a muddle of male voices, not quite close enough to hear properly, but close enough to know was there.
Hazel, being the curious girl she was, followed the sounds with Oscar close behind, but didn't reach it before a figure darted past them.
Running away...?
Hazel stopped, acknowledging that the blur of a young woman ran from an alleyway just a few steps away, and she approached, taking care to keep her steps slow enough and quiet enough until she heard the male voices again. this time, they were decipherable.
"...Weren't we told to stay out of trouble...?"
"...I need money, man. You know I can't wait for him to call us again..."
"...But this is dangerous. What if they find out...?"
"...They won't find out because nobody will find out..."
They crept further, peeking around the alleyway together to find a huddle of four boys around a single pink purse. It wasn't any of theirs, they didn't seem to match it in their tracksuits and rugged, soaked clothes. And Hazel figured out what had happened.
They just mugged a woman.
She was at a bit of a loss, admittedly.
She wasn't the sort of girl to play hero, she wasn't going to get into danger to save something that was already lost. The woman was gone, she ran and Hazel didn't know who she was. She didn't know who these boys were and even if she did, their voices were hard to make out through the rain. But this felt awful. She wanted to do something, she was supposed to. She was Hazel White, she was supposed to help. But, her help tended to come after the problem occurred.
"-Oh shit."
She snapped back, noticing a wide set of eyes that caught her movement.
She got careless, she didn't take enough care to conceal herself properly. And now, just like always, that carelessness got her into trouble.
"Uh oh," Oscar gasped, pulling her arm back and around the wall, his eyes wide. "Time to go!"
They backed up, both as panicked as the other and with quiet glances towards each other before, still pulling Hazel by the arm, they went sprinting down the road. There was no way they could pretend not to have seen anything, not with the subtle voices behind them yelling after them.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Was all Oscar could yell out as they kept going, the steps behind them quickly approaching.
They were being chased, by who, Hazel didn't know. But it wasn't good, and she wasn't able to run or see. Her body was already aching from the unexpected exercise and her lungs were too broken to handle the job of getting oxygen around her, the rain hit her too hard to see.
Then she was stopped.
A hand yanked her jumper, grasping at it and forcing her to jolt back as the collar choked her for only a second. Then there was pain and Oscar was spinning around too.
She wasn't sure what was happening. But, when she blinked, she was on the ground, looking up at a figure while three others stood further back to watch in anxious panic. Oscar quickly came to her side, grabbing onto her shoulders as he towered over her and glared at the boy who faced her.
"If you tell anybody about what you saw, I'll kill you."
"Piss off, Ricky!" Oscar yelled out, "we aren't going to say shit! Tweetie didn't even do anything!"
"If you say anything, Worsely, I'll go after your brother too." Ricky threatened and Hazel could feel Oscar's grip tighten on her shoulders. She wished she could see what was happening, but her eyes were watering, blurred by rain and tears she couldn't prevent from the pain of a throbbing nose.
Then footsteps, running away before she could find her vision through the rain.
Her hand grasped her nose, unsure of what had happened other than what she had felt in those few seconds.
Confusion. All she could think to describe what had happened is with the feeling of complete and utter confusion forced by a lack of preparation for the situation she didn't expect. She thought her day had already been bad, she had hoped the world would take pity on her... But instead, she sat on a stony path with a throbbing nose and confusion.
"He..." Hazel said through a muffled voice, "he has a good punch."
"Are you alright?" Oscar quickly turned to her, pulling her hands away from her nose to see the damage. "You're bleeding. A lot."
"That's- ow- that's okay." She said, pushing herself up and to her feet with his help. "Let's just go back to the cafe- so we're out of the rain."
He nodded and with that, they began their walk again in silence that didn't last long before she broke it, wiping her nose again and again and finding a voice to ask questions.
"Was that Ricky?" She asked, still muddled over what had happened. "Dicky Ricky?"
"Yeah... I don't know what he was doing- he doesn't normally chase after people like that. Just Ryan." He shook his head. "Ryan's gonna be really upset."
"Should we tell him?"
"Uhm..." He glanced back over his shoulder, still a little muddled over the situation. "...No. He'll end up chasing after him and getting into another fight- but what do we say instead? I'm a terrible liar..."
Hazel paused, stopped walking and stood under the rain as she thought it over. They were both threatened, and she assumed that Oscar was worried about the threat sent to his brother too. If Ryan went after Ricky for what happened, they wouldn't be able to hide that they told somebody about the incident. But if Oscar was a bad liar, he could be pushed to tell the truth with just a glare.
"We'll tell the truth," Hazel said, trying to stop the bleeding and the ache. "Just leave out names. I certainly didn't see anything."
"Okay... I can do that." Oscar agreed with pursed lips. "Sorry, Tweetie..."
She gave him a toothy smile, shaking her head to dismiss his apology.
"You didn't do anything, it's fine."
With that, they continued walking the short distance, intent on trying to move past what had happened.
The moment the pair stepped through the door of the quiet cafe, they felt the sudden warmth bring tingles to their skin like needles poking at their fingertips. Their voices, despite what had occurred, were chirpy and a little louder as they went back and forth about all of the romance movies with scenes ruined by the visualisation brought by Oscar's earlier words about God and his pee. Still gross, but also funny to think about when everything else seemed pretty bad.
"Doesn't Pirates of the Caribbean have a scene like that?" Hazel asked, her voice still unfortunately muffled as they stood in the doorway to try and dry off a little, pulling at the clothes that clung to them and rinsing their hair.
"No! I love that scene!" Oscar laughed. "It's my dream for Orlando Bloom to marry me while fighting on a ship, but I'll have to make do with what I have-"
He stepped away from her and approached Ryan who was focused entirely on his phone. And like he said he would, he dropped onto Ryan's shoulders and wrapped his arms around him, almost getting a partial hug back as Ryan, still too zoned out, brought his hands up to his arms that wrapped around him. But, squinting and twisting his face, he pushed him off instead.
"Ryan, will you marry me?"
"Piss off."
"Gah, I'm bound to a loveless life."
Hazel laughed again, and with a glance to the bathroom as Oscar looked back at her and saw the red that ran from her nose, into the creases of her lips and down her chin, he stopped and faltered, seeing that now they were out of the rain and in more light, it was far worse than he first thought. The table of two boys, both mostly too zoned out to really notice the pair, were yet to see.
It looked as though Fox and Joel made their way to school while they were gone.
"I'll ask Stewart for an ice pack, okay?" he said, leaning down to get a better look at the mess made. "...I'm really sorry."
"don't be, it's not your fault," she smiled. It looked a little sinister with the blood, but it was a genuine smile all the same. "I'll go clean up a bit."
"Okay."
She pushed herself up and limped her way to the bathroom, keeping her gaze as far away from the table of boys as humanly possible until they were ready to tell the pair what happened. But, as she passed through the door to the bathroom, she heard Leo speak up with a, 'did I see blood just now?'
The second she stepped into the bathroom, she approached the mirror to see that, as she expected, her nose was swelling and already she was getting a black eye. It was encircled by shades of red that would eventually turn purple. They were colours that were, unfortunately, much more noticeable thanks to her pale skin and dark eyes.
She looked around, hoping to find something to help clean her up, but there was nothing but the sinks and tissue.
She did all she could to dry herself more. She grasped at her jumper, twisting the wool in firm hands to rinse the water out into the sink as best as she could, twisting the sleeves and the bottom of her black skirt, getting as much of the rain out of the fabric that stuck to her skin as she could. But, she could only do so much. She twisted the water from her hair, pulled it out of its tied knot on her head and watched it drip into the sink.
Quickly, before leaving the bathroom, she tied her hair up again, hoping to prevent it from dripping down her back too much. And with nothing more she could do, she left, a little bit more comfortable knowing that she wasn't trailing water with her everywhere she went and with a handful of tissues shoved to her nose.
"Robin," Stewart said the moment she stepped into sight. "At this point, I'm speechless."
"I think I should become a stunt double."
He refrained from telling her that, typically, a stunt doubles job was to not get hurt. Instead, he opted for a question, wanting to know what prompted her new attempt at a career of stunts.
"What happened exactly?"
"We saw somebody get mugged," she said as she approached the table of three boys who were watching her, shivering from the nipping cold of rainwater she had to keep convincing herself was not actually lake water. "The guys must have panicked when they saw us because they chased after us and the next thing I know, I'm on the ground with a bloody nose and some guy is standing above me, telling me that if I tell anyone, they'll kill me."
"Do I need to call the police?"
"No," she said, seemingly already pretty calm after what had happened. Really, she just snapped back into Hazel mode as she tried to think about everything logically and with as much reason as she could muster up. She faced worse, and that kept her sane for the most part. "We didn't really see them and they all ran off. There's nothing I could say that would help at all."
"Right," he nodded, sighing as he acknowledged how easily she collected herself. "Are you okay? Do you need anything? Want me to call anyone?"
"No, I'm okay." She shrugged and, with that, finally reached the table.
"I'll get you a coffee and ice pack." He said, hurrying away to get started on the coffee and search for anything that could help.
Honestly, she felt like an inconvenience. She dragged all of her problems along with her and Stewart was the one who panicked and worried. She never panicked because she was just that careless. But, she at least cared about making a mess of his cafe.
Ryan lowered his legs the minute she realised he was looking at her. He emptied the chair he used for his feet and gestured to it silently. Without a word, she took the seat, dropping between Ryan and Oscar.
There was a brief moment of silence as the three stared at her, all of them able to see the swelling nose once she was there in front of them, the tissue rapidly turning red with every passing second.
"What the actual fuck, Tweetie?"
"Nice to see you too, Ryan."
"Seriously," he gawked, scowling at her and her blackening eye, "what the fuck?"
She shrugged. Really, she had no way of answering that question even if she wanted to. What is the fuck?
"You were fucking jumped!?" He lifted his arms, exasperated as he looked around the table to find his friends silent in their own horror, all realising that the misfortune she had was far more than they first realised. Then his gaze set on Oscar. "That is more than an 'oopsy' dude."
It was just Ryan, Oscar and Leo, and it seemed that whatever test they had, they decided, despite their earlier thoughts, that they wouldn't go. Hazel thought they probably regretted the decision once she turned up again, carrying all of her troubles for others to put up with.
"How many were there?" Leo asked, his regular charming smile faded entirely as he leaned across the table to get a better look at her eye, glancing between her and Oscar. "They didn't do anything else, did they? Did you see who they were?"
"No," she said, "just a punch to the nose and a death threat. I think there were four of them though, so it probably could have been way worse. I'm just glad Oscar was there."
"Neither of you saw who it was?"
They both shook their heads, but Oscar's was just a little more hesitant which earned him squinted eyes and uncertainty. Yet, nobody asked him more about it, likely seeing that he knew more but wasn't saying it.
"If you were only punched in the face," Ryan squinted, "how come you're limping?"
She sunk, scrunching her nose as she realised exactly why she was limping. The lake incident.
"It's a long story and I don't want to talk about it," she said simply, and he nodded, accepting whatever reason she had for not wanting to talk about it.
"Whatever," he shrugged, "the nose looks painful enough, I'm not gonna force you to talk about what you don't want to."
"You don't seem too upset by all of this though," Oscar turned to her, his words escaping him quicker than he noticed her shaking hands. "Or maybe you do...?"
He went to touch her hand on the table, moving quickly but slow enough for her to see him reaching out to her. Yet, he didn't touch her, he instead let his fingers float just above hers, looking at her for consent. She nodded, not caring much about a simple hand touch, but appreciating the sentiment of his need for consent before touching her.
His eyes widened and he turned, his fingers squeezing hers.
"You're so cold! Even I'm not that cold and I was with you!"
"It's a little chilly outside..." She smiled weakly, not wanting to seem too upset by the situation. It was getting difficult to breathe with her nose clogged, the oxygen definitely wasn't getting to her as well as it should have and her head was aching again.
"You're shaking a lot," he continued to point out, his own pout painted on his lips. But, she only smiled, biting the tip of her tongue in an attempt to hold back her dumb joke. But, given her terrible day, she allowed herself to spit it out.
"No," she smiled tiredly, "it's a handshake. See?"
She pulled her hands away from his and lifted them up so they could all see her shaking hands.
"Oh my god..." Ryan sighed, sinking in his seat but unable to hide the short smile. Leo shook his head and Oscar beamed, laughing brightly at both the fact that she had said a joke and the way she seemed to keep herself positive.
"That was terrible," she admitted but continued to smile.
"Seriously," Leo raised an eyebrow, "are you okay? That looks painful..."
"I'll be fine," she nodded reassuringly, "it's just a bit of an ache and a blurry eye."
"Are you not cold?"
"I'm always cold."
"Dude," Ryan said, "don't you have a jacket or something?"
"Uh," she glanced around, though, she knew she wouldn't find anything. "Nope."
A silence drifted over them, lasting for a few seconds as they listened to the sounds around them and thought over everything. She was a mess, the bags under her eyes had gotten heavier, her nose looked more painful than they cared to admit, her eye was blackening, and she still dripped with remnants of rainwater while Oscar tucked himself away in his big coat, huddled to dry and warm up.
"Here you go," Stewart brought them back to the empty cafe as he placed a bag of peas and a mug of coffee down for her. "I don't have an ice pack, but peas should do the job just as well."
"Thanks, Stewart," she twisted herself around to smile at him.
"Have a rest, please." He seemed to be begging her to stop now. And she was given no choice. Even if she wanted to work, her brain wouldn't allow it.
"I will."
"Good. Let me know if you need anything else."
She nodded and glanced over the bag of peas, hearing his footsteps tap further and further away until he was in the kitchen again, tidying up and preparing things for the week to come.
She lifted the bag to the top of her nose, pouting as she did and leaned her elbow against the table before moving the conversation along.
"Where's Fox and Joel?"
"School," Ryan said, "They had things to do there."
"Ah, okay," she nodded, feeling the conversation drift to nothing again.
The wind still whistled through the door, the rain still pounded against the window and the sound of rainwater dripping from her and to the floor still repeated over and over again in rhythmic patterns. The cafe never changed, it was either a quiet and peaceful place with only a few sounds or it was noisy and bustling with enough life to lose yourself in thought. There was no in-between, no grey area. It was always one or the other and she appreciated that more than anything. Her life was ever-changing, twisting and turning as she saw the cruellest side of society in its harshest reality. The sameness of the cafe was a fresh break.
"Osc," Leo called out to the purple-haired boy beside Hazel, "want to carry on with that maths from last night?"
"No."
"Why not? You were doing fine before."
"Because Tweetie's here now." Oscar turned to her, beaming brightly, "I wanna talk to Tweetie about dumb romance movies and pee rain."
"...What does that even mean?"
"Osc..." Leo sighed, shaking his head and moving on while Ryan questioned it. He didn't want to know at all. "You need to study..."
"Nooo..."
"I can leave?" Hazel gestured to another table with her free hand, offering to give them time to focus. But, she was stopped as not even a few seconds after speaking, she was answered.
"No you can't," Ryan decided, sitting up in his seat, "you're gonna help me with my homework."
"Oh."
"No," Leo decided this time, interrupting the silver-haired boy and making him turn quickly to face Leo who spoke again. "Ryan, you can't seriously make her do your homework now... She's had enough stress to deal with, she doesn't need you adding any more to it."
Ryan stopped, turned back to Hazel then to Leo again, unsure of what to do. As much as he would have liked for somebody else to do his homework, he didn't want to upset his friend by disappointing him. And so, he slipped further down in his seat, not wanting to decide.
"I don't mind," Hazel said, her voice softer than anticipated. But, it didn't need to be louder than a whisper in the silence of the cafe. "My brain's scrambled, I could use something to distract me for a while."
"Really?"
She turned, finding Ryan sunken so low in his chair, he was practically hidden beneath the table, the soles of his old tattered shoes were barely enough to keep him from slipping off of the seat. Yet, he looked hopeful, his green eyes stared right into her with a wideness she hadn't expected. They were usually so sharp and cold, she didn't think he was able to pull off what seemed to be a form of puppy eyes.
She nodded, unable to deny him of what had made him so hopeful and he rushed to push himself up again, rising above the table before leaning down again to reach into his bag.
"You're sure this is okay?" Leo asked, recalling the last time he had asked this. This seemed to be a regular occurrence and it was only going to become more and more regular if she let it.
She nodded, watching Ryan drop the textbook onto the table. Physics.
Unfortunately, she wasn't as well versed in physics. Sure, she knew some things. But, she doubted the things you learn in school are the same types of things you learn at crime scenes.
"I might not be very good, but I'll try."
"Can't be worse than me," he shrugged, uncaring of whether or not she butchered his work.
"Are you not good at physics?" Oscar asked, his head falling to his shoulder as he turned to face her and she shook her head. "I'm not good at it either, I always fail the exams..."
"That's because you rarely turn up for them and never listen in class," Leo shook his head. "Would you focus, please? If you fail another maths test, you're gonna get detention and you know you can't get another."
"Awh..." Oscar pouted, "okay."
Silence fell onto them all, only the usual subtle sounds with the additional movement of flicking paper filled their ears as Ryan attempted to find the correct page in his textbook. The engulfing silence lingered on and on, making Hazel wonder if it really was possible to die of boredom.
It seemed Oscar was never at risk of this type of death as his boredom rose unbelievably fast and just as fast, he found something to wash it away with. He had the perfect balance.
"Okay," Oscar sat up again, fed up with the silence, "would you rather be able to pet dogs but not cats, or be able to pet cats but not dogs?"
"Oh no," Hazel gasped, turning to him with widened eyes, "both of those are terrible!"
"You have to choose!"
"...I'd rather..." she thought for a moment longer, "only be able to pet cats."
"What!? But dogs are so cuddly!"
"Yeah but I see more cats than I see dogs," she tried to validate her answer to both herself and Oscar, "I had a photo album on my phone filled with random cats I see around the city. I'd be really sad if I had that album but wasn't able to pet any of the cats I saw."
"Awh," he pouted, "that would be sad."
"...You've gotta be kidding me," Ryan said, shaking his head. "How does somebody see a person like you and think, 'yeah, that's the type of person I want to attack right now.' You're talking about a photo album on your phone filled with cats. Can a person be any more innocent?"
"Well, to be fair to them, they were probably thinking 'hey, she looks like she won't be able to fight me off.'"
He paused before nodding slowly, unable to argue. That seemed like sound logic.
"Tweetie," Leo spoke to her this time, "Do you want my jacket or something? You're kinda shaking like crazy right now..."
She glanced over her hand, putting down the bag of peas while the other kept hold of the tissue. He was right. But, she didn't want to get his coat wet...
The hesitation was clear as day on her face, she stared down at the table, her eyes blinking quickly in thought.
Slowly, he turned, twisting himself so he could pick up the coat that hung from the back of his chair and passed it over the table, holding it in front of her as she lifted her gaze and stared at it momentarily. Unable to say no, she took it from his grasp, glancing over the brown fabric with uncertainty.
"Really," he smiled reassuringly, "it's fine. Use it as a blanket or something if you're really bothered about getting it wet. I don't mind, it's just a coat."
"Ah, thank you," she finally accepted, smiling up at him before laying it on her lap, deciding that this way, she wouldn't get as much water on it from her hair.
"Okay Tweetie," Ryan said, "Physics."
"Physics." She nodded firmly, staring down at the page he had turned the book to.
She continued to stare at it, her expression blanking more and more the longer she looked at it. It wasn't until a sharpness in her hand brought her back which made her realise that she had been staring. Then, she found an issue with what he wanted from her.
She put the bag of peas down, looked to her hand, felt her swollen nose, looked to her hand again-
"Ugh," Ryan groaned, lifting the bag, "if I hold the bag to your face, will you help?"
He didn't wait for a response. He took the bag and held it firmly to the bridge of her nose but not firmly enough to cause any pain. And without a reason to not work, she lifted the pen he had placed on the table for her and began to work, writing on a sheet of paper about how physics somehow works.
Unfortunately, she only got fifteen minutes into the work before she felt her head and eyelids grow heavy, finally worn from weeks without sleep and far too much stress. She leaned into the bag, falling asleep against Ryan's hand while he scrolled on his phone, too absorbed in the device to even acknowledge the sudden weight that was added.