Hawthornes always seemed to weave their way into Evelyn Hastings's life one way or another. Other than one persistent Hawthorne, Evelyn had never really spoken directly to any of them. But lately, a new Hawthorne has been appearing too much, prying...
Evelyn walked into school the next week like normal, a little jittery but that's about it. She got to her locker, one locker down from Andie's former locker. At the thought of Andie, a certain blonde woman caught her eye. She looked so much like Andie... Brushing that thought away, she regained her composure, realizing who it actually was. What was Natalie doing here? Or at least why right now? Not too far from Natalie, Pip and Cara walked down the hall, separating as Cara made her way to her class. Pip went down the hallway, spotting Natalie as well.
"Nat?" Pip said, offering a wave. Funny that she'll use her nickname when she is clearly not welcome to use even her first name, Evelyn snorted to herself.
Natalie slowed in front of her, shooting Pip a nasty, and probably deserved, look.
"What are you doing back in school?" Pip asked, her eyes moving downward to the poorly hidden ankle monitor that Natalie wore.
"I forgot all details of my life were suddenly your business, Piper."
"Pippa."
"Don't care, never will," Natalie spat. "If you must know, for your perverted project, I've officially hit rock bottom. My parents are cutting me off, and no one will hire me. I just begged that slug of a principal for my brother's old janitor job. They can't hire violent criminals in a school, apparently." Yet he has been working here for the last five years.
"I'm sorry," Pip said.
"No, you're not," Natalie said. "And you probably never will be. Also, when has a pathetic apology such as just saying 'I'm sorry' ever fixed anything?"
"Never," Pip answered, mumbling the word to herself.
"Exactly, now leave me out of your project and move on."
That was Evelyn's cue to walk by, making her way to class. She slowed down next to Natalie, looking her directly in the eye.
"Can you tell Dan I said hi the next time you see him?" Evelyn asked with a smile.
"Sure." Natalie waved as Evelyn walked away, going in her own direction too. Evelyn turned around for a brief moment to see Pip throwing her arms in the air, slapping them against her thighs.
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Natalie in fact did not say hi to Daniel for Evelyn. That was very evident after Evelyn ran into Daniel and Jason Bell talking at the grocery store. When James and Eli had been distracted by Evelyn's parents, and Jason had left Daniel, she made her way over.
"Did Natalie tell you that I said hello?" She asked, sidling up next to him in a random aisle.
"No, she didn't," Daniel replied, his eyes searching Evelyn.
"I told her too," Evelyn whined.
"When were you talking to Nat?" he asked.
"She was at school the other day; said she was looking for something or whatever," Evelyn explained, reaching for some random thing that she remembered was on the grocery list.
"Who was she talking to?" he trailed off.
"Some random kid in the grade below."
"Did they look like friends?" Daniel raised his eyebrow suspiciously.
"No. Just looked like a 16-year-old asking why a 23-year-old was in a local high school. Especially with that ankle monitor. She's gonna have buff calves after lugging that thing around all day," Evelyn snorted, Daniel chuckling beside her.
"Sounds exactly like police training," Daniel joked, both of them breaking out into laughter in the middle of the store.
"How's work been?" Evelyn wasn't exactly the type of person to make small talk, but she'll have to adapt.
"Really slow lately, which I should be happy about, but that also means just sitting around in a car with 20 pounds of gear on you. Maybe I should start considering going back to Jason's company…" he trailed off.
"He practically kicked you out last time," Evelyn laughed. "You might say he recommended it but I say that he forced you into it."
"You're not wrong," he mumbled.
"And at the dinner table too! The disrespect." Evelyn shook her head, thinking back to the peaceful dinners she had shared with the Bells' and Daniel in the Bells' mostly peaceful home. Other than Becca's occasional oversharing and Andie's usual snappy tone, it wasn't much different from home. Maybe somehow, in the few months that she had spent dinners with them, she had discovered a new home; planting the seed of herself in their dining room to haunt them.
"Evelyn," an angry voice demanded her attention. She turned to find James standing with one hand on his hips at the end of the aisle; In his other hand—more arm—was Eli.
"What?" Evelyn also put her hands on her hips, mimicking James.
"Where have you been?" He walked up to her, Eli leaning forward to reach out to her.
"Right here, bud," she laughed. "Always will be."
"You sure?" a slight shake to his voice.
"I'll never leave you, hunny bunny." She wrapped her arms around him, swaying from side to side.
——— Author's note!
My first one!! I had absolutely no idea what I was doing with this chapter. I wanted to incorporate the Nat and Pip hallway thing, but also some other stuff with Evelyn and Dan...I don't think I executed it well though. It's also, like, really short...
