Five's A Crowd

thirty six

Adrian began aggressively punching the wall, and although it didn't break upon contact, it looked like it wanted to. The thick stone wobbled for a second, before going back to its original state.

But the boy wasn't done. He slammed his hand against the lockers until 1 bent in an unusual way. 

I shouted for Adrian to stop, but he decided to ignore my pleas and continues hitting everything within his line of vision.

When I place my arm on his shoulder, Adrian turns around, and faces me, like I'm the crazy one.

"You can't tell anyone. Please," I beg the boy, staring up at him with wide eyes.

He breathes heavily, as he tries to regain his lost breath, before shaking his head, repeatedly, causing me to go into a frenzy.

"Please, I'm begging you," I cry out, desperate for Adrian to listen to me.

"Hazel, this is important, and if he does it again, I won't hesitate to place my fist up his face, okay? But for now, I'll keep it between us," he sighs, looking disappointed in himself, for not having the guts to tell someone else. 

"Thank you," I exclaim, hugging Adrian, for the second time in the past 10 minutes. "I appreciate that so much!"

The boy mumbles something about not wanting to keep the secret, before hugging my back.

I look up at Adrian, hesitantly, before stating my thoughts. "I think I want to go on that date after school."

I shy away from him, expecting to be ignored, or have him mock me, but Adrian does the exact opposite and instead nods his head in excitement. 

"That sounds like a plan," he says, pulling away from the hug.

I smile into Adrian's chest, and soon the bell goes, so quickly, everyone is rushing out into the corridor.

I gasp in horror, and quickly de-attach myself from Adrian, as people swarm towards us, trying to get to their next class, before the bell goes again.

To make me feel more comfortable, Adrian winks at me, before disappearing into the crowd of oncoming people. 

I just shake my head and sigh, moving back towards my locker, where Dolly is waiting, because we have English at the end of the day together.

When the girl sees me coming, she smiles her usual pearly white smile, and waves me over, signaling for me to hurry up.

I over exaggerate my movements, before laughing, and approaching my friend. 

As she asks where I went, I grab out my books, and reply vaguely, so she doesn't think anything is wrong.

I'm sure that my eyes are still red and blotchy from all of the crying, and Dolly might have noticed.

I'm sure that Levi will see it as well, which is the last thing I want, right now.

We slowly walk to the class, and for a second, I'm scared that we'll be late, but as the door opens, the bell goes, and we're safe. 

Levi looks at us suspiciously, but doesn't push it, as we sit down in our usual seats.

Dolly pulls out her books and laptop, while I pull out mine. Today, my goal is to try and listen to whatever Levi is saying, but since I have the date with Adrian this afternoon, I'm finding it hard to do anything, but count down the minutes until the end of the day.

I remain looking down, so I don't have to face Levi's judgmental stare. Even with my eyes positioned on my paper, I can feel my older brother looking at me. 

I gulp, and focus on the stick person I am drawing, before a sharp voice calls my name.

"Hazel!"

It's my brother. I snap my neck quickly, as I make eye contact with Levi, as everyone in the class begins to stare at me.

"Yes?" I ask, feeling intimidated by all the people looking at me, from around the room.

"Come up here, and complete the sentence," Levi says, holding his white board pen in one hand, and gesturing to me with the other.

My eyes become glazed over, and I realise that I'm iron deficient. With a quick shake to my head, I stand up, and walk towards my brother's desk, waiting impatiently. 

He hands me the white board marker, and I confidently approach the board, not knowing what to do.

I look back to Levi who's smirking at me, and then to Dolly. She's mouthing words to me, and I have to presume that it's the answers. 

But I've always been terrible at lip reading, so I don't get anywhere. However, I think I see her mutter the word 'cake' and 'astrophysicist.'

So I go with that.

As I open the cap of my white board marker, I write the two words in the blank spaces, between Levi's neat writing.

The entire class begins laughing at the words I have written, and I immediately furrow my eyebrows, knowing that my answer is wrong.

I frown in frustration, when my eyes meet Levi's.

"Stay behind after class, Hazel. And go sit down. Listen harder next time," my brother demands, pointing back to my seat.

I don't respond, but follow his orders, obediently. 

When the bell goes for the end of the day, everyone else rushes to leave, while I just sulk at my desk, as Levi approaches me.

"Are you trying to be funny?" He hisses at me, squatting down beside my desk.

I shake my head. "I don't know. I just can't concentrate on what you're saying."

Levi nods sadly, and I can see the pity dancing in his eyes. 

"Can I please go out after school, one of my friends and I have something planned," I say, quietly, expecting him to decline my offer.

"Of course, Ze, just be careful," Levi mumbles, as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

Internally, I'm doing a happy dance. He's so consumed by my lack of concentration, that he has forgotten to ask who I'm going out with.

I have no desire to correct him either.

I kiss him on the cheek, and murmur a 'thank you,' before running out of the classroom in happiness, and going to find Levi.

A/N: Hey guys, thank you so much for reading. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE VOTE, COMMENT, AND READ WHEN I GET A CHAPTER OUT TOMORROW. I have a plan for where this book is going, I just need a little support. Also, thank you very much for 13800 reads and 748 votes (I know that it's not a lot,) but to me, it means the world. Keep slaying in life, and I will see you tomorrow night- or day depending on where you live- when I update tomorrow. Bye <3