Okay, so you've probably noticed that I have a new cover, which is amazing. Thanks @ilovepizaaaa :)

But can we please just acknowledge this masterpiece that she sent me by accident. Yes, this one didn't even make the final cut. That is talent you guys. You should all go and follow her right now.

Now read on, young grasshoppers.

~*~*~*~

Ryan's eyes fluttered open. He frowned when he saw my face. "Sunshine, you look exhausted."

I rolled my eyes, smiling. "Thanks."

Good, good, cover up your suspicions with sarcasm.

"Seriously though," he said, looking me straight in the eyes. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

I couldn't take my eyes off his because then he would be able to tell that I was lying to him. Instead, I playfully smacked his shoulder. "I slept fine, stop worrying."

"If you say so," he replied, rolling onto his back.

I propped myself up on my elbows. "How did you sleep?"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye as if he was judging whether he could get away with lying to me or not. He shrugged. "Fine."

Liar.

"If you say so," I repeated.

"Hey," he said, flicking my hair with his hand. "That's my line."

"So it is." I looked out the window, frowning at how high the sun was in the sky. "What's the time?"

Ryan grabbed his phone. "Nine thirty."

My eyes widened at the same time Ryan cursed. We both scrambled out of bed, not before getting tangled in the sheets and falling on my butt though. I ran out of Ryan's room, down the hall and burst through Archie's bedroom door.

"Guys, get up we are so...late," the words died on my lips as I realised I was talking to thin air. Both Archie and Jasmine were gone. Vanished, poof.

Ryan walked in behind me.

"They're gone," I informed him.

He peered around the room, looking under the bed and in the closet.

"Well they can't have gone far," he reasoned.

He finally checked the bottom bunk where Jasmine had been sleeping. On the pillow lay a folded piece of paper. Ryan unfolded it, letting out a relieved sigh and rolling his eyes at the same time as he read it. He walked towards me, handing over the note.

I took foetus and blondie to school. I didn't wake you because I couldn't tell if you guys were naked or not.

I snorted at Evans very non descriptive note.

"What did he even send Jasmine to school with? Her backpack and all her school stuff is at home."

"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he gave her a trash bag as a replacement for her backpack," Ryan said.

"That's reassuring."

~*~*~*~

Ryan and I took separate vehicles to school since he had somewhere to be straight after, and I was going to the hospital to see Caleb anyway. We arrived at the same time, just in time for second period, which was quite convenient and spared me the embarrassment of walking in during the middle of a class.

We walked together through the parking lot and then down the main corridor of the school.

"What do you have?" Ryan asked, just as the bell rung to signal the end of first period.

"History," I answered. "You?"

"Physics," he replied in disgust.

"Oh, well have fun with Igor." We called one of the physics teachers Igor because well...he just looked like Igor. his real name was...actually now that I think about it, what was his name? Was it Mr Thomas? Or maybe Mr Dorian? I don't know, lets just keep calling him Igor.

"Can we trade places?" He asked dejectedly.

"Yeah because you're a girl, I'm a guy, and I'm totally awesome at physics."

He mock gasped. "You're a guy? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

I rolled my eyes, smacking his arm lightly. "Have fun in physics." I watched away, laughing as he physically deflated at the mention of physics.

~*~*~*~

History went rather smoothly if I may say so myself. By that I mean nobody talked to me, so I didn't have the chance to say something snarky. Therefore, I didn't get in trouble.

And I didn't hit anyone so that's good, right?

Well, I was doing fine until Alex showed up. I instantly made my 'you're dead to me' face.

I had math next. I should've been mentally preparing myself for an hour of brain pain, but instead I was wasting my limited energy supply on not caring about Alex.

"Hazel, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for-"

Oh, for fuck's sake, here we go again.

He looked at me incredulously.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Oops, did I say that out loud?"

He blinked, trying to work out if I had actually said that or if it was just a figment if his imagination. I mean, it would be funny if I had just let him think that, but I'm not that mean. Well, not all the time.

I sighed. "What do you want Alex?"

He opened his mouth and then closed it again.

"Forgiveness?" I asked. "Fine, you're forgiven. There, happy?" I didn't wait for an answer. "Good, now get your miserable ass away from me."

I left him standing in the middle of the corridor agape. I don't know what he was expecting me to say, but clearly not that.

I strolled leisurely into my math class. I was in that class with all the brain boxes, you know the ones I'm talking about. You know the people who actually pay attention in class and do math problems before the class even starts. Yeah, well I was in a class full of those, and I was the dumb one who sat in the corner, just trying to get through the class without getting preyed upon by the teacher. He was like a vulture, picking on the ones who he knew weren't paying attention, or had no idea what he was taking about.
My common goal during each lesson was to avoid getting picked on. This was mainly achieved by avoiding all eye contact, and putting on my 'I'm thinking really hard' face. If they think you know what you're doing then they probably won't pick you. It's a solid strategy.

"Hey Hazel," I snapped out of my daydream.

Harrison Thomas was looking at me through his thick glasses. Not to be stereotypical, but he was a nerd. Plain and simple. He didn't exactly help himself, wearing plaid sweaters, which were hand knitted by his mother. No I did not stalk him to find that out, he announced at to he whole history class a while ago. Some advice, if you want to get picked on, just tell the whole class that your mom knits sweaters for you.

"What?" I said, weary of what he wanted. I knew he was going to ask me some horrifically difficult math question just because he knew I wasn't anywhere near as smart as he was. See, he wasn't always the victim here. I think he just needed to choose carefully who he wanted to make feel Intellectually challenged. Last year he had made fun of one of the wrestlers for not knowing a simple multiplication question. That didn't end so well.

"How many numbers of pi do you know?" He asked smugly, fully aware that I didn't know very many at all. I knew it was three point one something something. Why would I even need to know that anyway. That's what a calculator is for.

So instead of answering seriously, I humoured him. "Ah, Harrison, it's not about the numbers of pi, as you put it, it's about the balance of flavours. There are far too many to put into numbers of pie, so I'll just name them for you."

He looked less amused now.

"Well there's apple pie, blueberry pie, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, chocolate pie, banoffee pie, peach pie, apricot pie, coconut cream pie, pear pie, pecan pie, rhubarb pie," I looked at his face now, which had lost all traces of smugness. "Should I keep going?" He didn't say anything, which I took as a sign of defeat.

"Next time you're trying to be a smartass, specify what kind of pie you're talking about because I clearly know way more about pie than you do."

He turned around dejectedly as the teacher entered to room, clapping his hands together as if he was actually excited about teaching us. Puh-lease, he was only thinking about the pay cheque he was getting at the end of the week.

~*~*~*~

I exited school feeling rather relieved that it was over. Not that I didn't just love the mental torture, but it was good to get out of there. I always felt claustrophobic being stuck in classrooms all day. Maybe I just had a phobia of school, I don't know.

I was headed to the hospital because I had promised Caleb that I would visit him. I didn't have to babysit Jasmine either because dad was home, so it was the ideal time to go.

I parked in the hospital parking lot. I always found it rather depressing there, in the parking lot I mean, mostly because it was always full. This meant that lots of people were probably getting bad news, or visiting their loved ones who were dying. See? Depressing.

I made my way into the hospital and up to Caleb's room. Although, I got to the door and realised he was sleeping. It wasn't that that deterred me, usually I would have just waited for him to wake up. It was the fact the he wasn't the only person in the bed that stopped me on my tracks, and I couldn't be sure if they were wearing clothes or not. Seeing my brother naked was not on my to do list.

Instead, I decided to explore, telling myself that I would come back later. I ended up aimlessly wandering the hallways and corridors of the hospital. Then I realised I was lost. In order to get unlost I needed to retrace my steps back to Caleb's room. That idea went to hell. That would've taken way too long. So I just kept walking. I was bound to find my way out eventually right?

I kept walking, taking every possible right turn that I could, just to see where it would take me. The result was interesting. I ended up in an older part of the hospital which I never even knew existed. One corridor in particular stood out to me. Instead of white walls it was illustrated with what looked like children's artwork. It was nice to see something non clinical in a place like this. I walked over to peer at the brightly coloured walls. The corridor wasn't large like many of the other ones, in fact it only had two doors. The door of the first room was open, and I peeked inside. It was empty, unoccupied. The second one, however, was not. The door was closed, so instead I read the name on the door.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Please don't let this be what I think it is," I muttered to myself, walking forward and gently tugging on the door handle.

The first thing I saw was Evan. He was sitting in the corner of the room, biting his thumbnail. He hadn't seen me. I crept into the dark room, too scared to turn my head to the left. Too afraid of what I would see. I slowly turned my head, letting out a strangled sound as I did so. I covered my mouth with my hands. The man from the photo was laying in the bed, the light reflecting off his bald head. His eyes were closed and his skin was ashen. IVs were stuck into both of his arms, and tubes were stuck up his nose. He looked frail, not at all like the man in the photos.

My outburst had seemingly snapped Evan out of his daze. He stood up quickly.

"Hazel?" He said gently.

I looked at him with a mixture of shock and horror on my face.

"I take it he didn't tell you then?"

I shook my head dazedly, refusing to take my eyes off the man. his chest was rising and falling, but it was unsteady, like it could stop at any moment. I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come out. I was frozen to the spot, trying to comprehend what was happening. Evan didn't try to talk to me, instead he just wrapped me up in a bear hug. I couldn't even respond, my arms laying limp at my sides.

"Hey dude, I bought coffee..." A familiar voice said. I whipped my head around, following his voice and breaking free of Evans grip. Ryan was already gone. I managed to tear my eyes from Mr Martinez, rushing out the door to stop Ryan.

He was storming down the corridor.

"Hey!" I yelled. He kept walking. "Ryan, please!" He slowed down and then stopped completely.

I caught up to him. He spun around to face me, tears glistening in his eyes, but he was angry.

"I get it if you're mad."

"What are you talking about?" I asked searching his face for an explanation.

"If you're mad that I didn't tell you. I get it."

"I'm not mad, I understand why you did it."

He glared at me. "You don't understand. You don't understand any of it," he spat.

I was taken aback by his anger, but he was right, I had never gone through what he was going through. "You're right, I don't understand."

He tensed his jaw. "Stop it."

"Stop what."

"That, stop being so nice and sympathetic," he ran his had angrily through his hair. "Just be mad at me or something."

"But I'm not mad, or angry, I already told you that."

He sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "Why are you even here, you're too good for me," he sniffed, wiping his eyes with the back if his hand. "Look at me, I'm a mess. No wonder Erika cheated on me, I'm a sorry excuse for a human being. If god is even fucking up there then he would be ashamed of me."

"Don't talk like that."

"It's true. I'm not even a good person. My dad deserves to live more than me, so how come he's dying? Does that seem fair to you? He's a fucking good person."

I walked up to him, looking him straight in the eye. "You listen to me. I don't care who it is, nobody deserves to live more than you, so don't you dare say that."

"You're just saying that, you don't believe that. I don't believe it. I might as well just jump-"

I pressed my lips to his, cutting off his sentence. At first he didn't respond, but eventually he came around, moving his lips in time with mine. He wrapped his arms around my waist. A nurse walked around us muttering something about crazy kids, and Ryan smiled into the kiss. He heard her. It made me smile because he was smiling. We pulled apart.

"What was that for?" He asked, grinning.

"You just wouldn't shut up."

~*~*~*~

I cried writing this chapter. I don't know why, I never cried in any of the other chapters. Well, they finally kissed, isn't that a relief. Seriously, what will you guys have to complain about now?

Vote, comment, follow.

Until next time.