Morgan's POV
"Hayley?" To say I was shocked to see her here —especially as a teacher apparently— was an understatement. "How— what are you doing here?"
"Me? I work here," she then pointed a finger at me. "What are you doing here?"
"Well my brother studies here—"
"I know that, I teach him. What I mean it's what are you doing here in Oregon—in Jerome?" Hayley stood there with her arms crossed.
I couldn't help but stare at her — still not believing she was standing in front of me. Eight years had passed since I last saw or heard of Hayley, I never thought I would see her again after so much time passed. I mean, she left without even telling me where she was going, she changed I didn't have her number and she disappeared from social media. And now she's here back in town, the one place I thought I would never find her in.
I looked at Hayley and noticed how much she's changed since last time I saw her. She still stood taller than me, her dirty blonde hair was longer and darker, it was down in beautiful waves, her face was a bit fuller — more mature looking which was expected as she was no longer a teenager, this was a twenty six years old Hayley — she was a grown woman. Her entrancing dark green eyes looked back at me with confusion and another emotion I could not read.
Part of me missed her— I know we weren't the conventional kind of friends but... I missed her. I thought of her even if the year went by.
"Morgan, Morgan, Morgan!" The yelling of a kid interrupted us and then I felt Matty crash against my leg in a hug — almost making me fall from the impact.
"Hey kiddo, where's the fire?" I chuckled as he kept on hugging my leg.
"Where's mom?" He asked looking up at me.
"She asked me to come and pick you up, don't you like it?"
"Yes!" He then turned and looked at Hayley. "Miss Duvall this is my big sis, she's the best in the whole world. She bought me a Nintendo switch!"
"That's awesome Matthew." Hayley said with a genuine smile towards my brother. One I almost never saw towards me.
"It is we always play fortnite together!"
Hayley nodded at everything he was telling her as she attentively listened to it. I never thought Hayley would be a teacher, like — I didn't see her as the kind to want to teach little kids or have the patience for it but she seems to like her job and be good at it even if I just found out I can tell.
"You are picking him up?" Hayley asked once Matty went to get his bag.
"Yeah, my mom told me I needed to talk to his teacher though..." I responded trying not to stare too much and come out as a weirdo.
She frowned, "You don't have to talk to me, you can take your brother if your mom already told the school."
Well I didn't know that.
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh."
Matty came back and pulled me towards the door. "Let's go, I'm hungry!" He complained while my eyes were still set on his teacher.
"Sure..." I mumbled mindlessly, when we were out of the classroom I shook myself out my daze. "Wait— wait here for a second bud." I ran back into the class room making Hayley turn back around when I entered.
"Left anything?" She asked while letting her attention go back to some papers on her desk.
"No, I just- can we like talk. I mean— not here or right now but like, one of these days."
