You never know - Pjo Fanfiction

19- In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take

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Hazel took the bus that went to the city at seven am on Monday morning. Her brother had leaved earlier with that boy, Will.

They were really close, she guessed.

Hazel had her bags in her feet and was drawing absently on her sketchbook, her pencil tracing lines at random until she didn't know what she was drawing anymore.

When she was done, she flipped through the pages to see what she had drawn.

There were some eyes, a big and golden horse which she hadn't seen in her life and some flowers she had noticed when walking to the station. But there were other things, too. Dark things, with graphite smudged all over them. 

A woman screaming. Glass shards. A blood puddle that had the words 'your fault' written across it. A broken mirror with a reflection of a tiny girl.

She was about to furiously close the sketchbook when she realized she had another drawing.

Right next to the tiny girl in front of a broken looking glass was a boy. He smiled and seemed to light up the whole page.

It took her a few seconds to realize who she had drawn, and even less to blush up to her ears.

And just then, Frank Zhang appeared by her side.

"Hi!" He waved, smiling.

She closed the small leather-bound notebook and quickly tossed it in her bag.

"Frank!" She said, motioning to him to sit beside her "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better" He smiled "Must have been a 24 hour bug. I kinda remember you being there, then I fell asleep and next thing I knew, I was ready to run a marathon!"

Hazel found herself smiling. She placed a loose strand of her curly hair behind her ear.

"I'm glad" She said, before yawning "So... excited?"

"Scared" He corrected, fidgeting with his fingers "Nervous"

"So am I" She replied, looking out of the window. "But it's our moment. We made it. We're here."

He nodded, but he still looked scared.

She playfully pushed him.

"Hey! No sad faces allowed. We're living the dream!"

Frank forced a smile that made the two of them break into a fit of uncontrolable giggles.

After a few minutes, they managed to take a breath and stop laughing.

Hazel wiped a tear off her cheek and yawned again.

"It's way too early" She complained.

"Sleep then" He told her "I'll just read something"

She didn't need to be told twice. She placed her head against her window and fell into a deep slumber.

Hazel was back at her house, her mother in front of her.

"I hate you!" Marie screamed at her "I wish you were never born!"

She wanted to reply, but she couldn't speak. She couldn't move. She could only stay and suffer, unable to do anything else.

"World would be better without you. Happier without you. Your father and brother are just taking pity of you. All of your so called friends actually hate you. And that boy, ha... That boy thinks that his life would be better if he had never met you at all"

Appearently, she could cry. And that's what she did for a while.

"No one will ever love you! Because, deep down, you will always be a burden, a little worthless girl."

She fell to her knees. She seemed to be able to do that, too.

"There is a reason you didn't go to the academy in the first place"

Hazel woke up with a jolt. She realized she was crying, and couldn't calm down. Words from her nightmare kept replaying in her head. "World would be better without you. And that boy, ha... That boy thinks that his life would be better if he had never met you at all"

She shook, unable to do anything, still paralysed, her world dark as her mind right then.

And, suddenly, light.

"It's ok. It's alright" She felt some strong arms grab her. She melted in them, sobbing "It's over, it's over. I promise, it's over."

She curled up in a ball and stayed in his arms. He didn't push her away.

"I'm here. I'm here" He repeated, stroking her hair "I'm not going anywhere"

Finally, her breathing steadied and her sobs died down until they were barely audible anymore.

"She's right" She repeated, her hands covering her ears "You'd be better without me. Everyone would"

Frank just held her tighter, craddling her in that early bus ride, as they aproached the city and the rain rivuleted down the windows.

"That's not true, Hazel" He said firmly "Look around. You deserve this. It's what you told me, what you taught me. Remember? To believe in myself. Not to fret. And that what we only regret, at the end, are those chances we didn't take."

Finally, she looked up at him.

"That one isn't mine" She hiccuped

"Oh well, guess that one is self written" He confessed.

Hazel grabbed her bags, as they reached the stop, and wiped her tears. The rain kept pouring.

"Ready?" He asked, reaching out his hand to her.

"Nervous? Yeah. Broken? Probably. Scared? Heck yeah, more than in my entire life"

Frank looked down.

"But, ready? We are going to burn this place down."

He looked up, and a smile lighted up his face.

"They will see us from outer space" He assured.

And, with that, they leaved the bus, walking side by side under Frank's umbrella, him pulling her closer as she rain kept pouring, all the wayto the Olympus Ballet Academy.