Rejection

Too Lonely

  Even when you have nothing, you have to make something.

  No one liked Hazel. She didn’t know why, but she never bothered to find out. She didn’t need to. After all, she had Sophie as her friend. Sophie told her it was because Hazel had no parents. Hazel thought of that, but she never asked.

  Hazel was six years old when her parents got into a car accident while driving her to an amusement park. Hazel survived, but barely. When she opened her eyes again, her parents were gone. All she had was an Aunt who didn’t like her. Hazel cried, because she missed her parents. That night, she met Sophie. Sophie was on the bed beside hers, so they could talk. Soon, Sophie and Hazel became best friends.

  As Hazel grew up, she grew distant from her friends. It wasn’t that she didn’t want friends. They didn’t want her. She was the orphan, the one with no parents. She was different from them. Hazel felt horrible, and for many weeks, she fell into silence. She didn’t want to talk anymore. After all, no one would talk to her.

  Then one day, Sophie came to move in beside her! There was an empty house all this while, but now, Sophie came to stay in it with her family. It was a miracle! Hazel rarely saw Sophie’s parents though. They were always busy. But that’s alright. Sophie became her friend. She never had to be alone again. Sophie transferred to her school, and Hazel was delighted. She had a friend!

  At least she had one.

  Till now, no one would talk to her, but Hazel didn’t mind. She had Sophie now, she thought.  They talked all the time, well, except when they were in class. Sophie said that they had to listen to the teacher. They hung out all the time and Sophie would always come over to her place for sleepovers. Hazel was under the custody of her Aunt, but her Aunt was never around. Hazel didn’t mind though. She had money, and she had a home.

  She had Sophie.

  But something was different. The way the other students treated Hazel was no longer the same way they treated her when her parents died. It was different. It changed when Sophie had joined her. It became…hostile. They became more wary.

  They grew up like that. The other students didn’t like Sophie too, so they weren’t alone in their rejection. That thought comforted them.

  “Do you ever wonder?” Sophie asked her once.

  “Wonder about?”

  “Why don’t they like us?” She whispered as a few of the students shot them furtive glances.

  Hazel shrugged.

  “I guess we’re just different.” She whispered back.

  “How different?”

  “Just different.”

  “Because you don’t have parents?” She asked.

  “I don’t really care.”

  It wasn’t that Hazel didn’t care. Sure, she acted like she didn’t, but a tiny part of her did. She was always stared at, and it infuriated her to not know why. Was she too ugly? Was she too fat? Too disgusting? Why were they like that? They stared at Sophie too, but not so much. It was just Hazel. It unsettled her, and she would have nightmares about people looming over her, staring and staring. She would wake up crying, before forcing all those unpleasant feelings to the back of her mind.

  It didn’t matter that they didn’t want her. She had Sophie. That was enough. That was her mantra to sleep every night. That was enough.

  One day, Hazel helped Sophie paint her nails. Sophie had a terrible problem of not getting the polish smooth, so Hazel became the person she went to for manicure help.

  “It’s really pretty,” Sophie smiled, stretching out her fingers to watch the light rays reflect off the glitter sprinkled on her fingers.

  “It suits you,” Hazel smiled, painting her own nails with blue polish.

  Sophie’s nail polish was yellow. She liked sunny things.

  Even when they were in school, Sophie was still admiring her nail polish. To Hazel, it was rather amusing to watch. Besides, it was easier to watch her than to watch the people who were watching them.

  Sometimes, it got really tiring to pretend that nothing was happening.

  “Hang on; I’ve got to go to the toilet,” Sophie said. “Wait for me!”

  Hazel chuckled and nodded. She leaned against a wall beside the toilet, out of sight from everyone, eavesdropping on the people who walked past that wall. This was a pretty good hiding place, she thought to herself. You can hear everything, and no one can see you. You almost belong.

  “Did you see her today?” A girl’s voice drifted over. “I can never get over the creepiness of it.”

  “Well, when someone’s like that, it’s hard not to freak out. Hazel’s….quite a poor thing actually.” Another girl replied.

  Hazel felt her breath stop. They were talking about her.

  “I know! I wonder why no one wants to help her.” The first girl said.

  “It’s not easy. She’s always silent in class, and I heard that she stays alone. No adult sees her when she’s in that… It’s no wonder why she became so twisted.” The other girl dropped her voice. “Being alone beside that abandoned house isn’t healthy.”

  Abandoned house? Sophie lived in that house. What were they talking about? Hazel thought. They can’t even get their facts right.

  “How did she become like that?” The girl was whispering now.

  “They say she lost her parents at a young age. It’s a coping mechanism….I guess.”

  Coping mechanism?

  “I read about people like that. Usually, they get a big accident, and they can’t cope in life so they do things to feel better. One of them actually hallucinated that her parents were still around!” She whispered.

  “Just like Hazel. The difference, I guess, is that Hazel dreamed up a whole new person.” The person said. “Hey, class is starting. We better go.”

  Hazel stood there rooted to the spot. Hallucinated? She didn’t hallucinate! Who was the whole new person she dreamt up? Save for Sophie, she didn’t have any friends!

  Sophie.

  Oh.

  Hazel wrenched herself from the wall and ran into the toilet.

  “Sophie?” She could barely stop her voice from wavering.

  No one replied.

  Hazel pushed open every door of the cubicle, and she stopped at the last one. It was closed.

  “Sophie?” She nudged the door.

  The door swung open, revealing no one.

  Hazel slumped against the wall.

  Impossible.

  Impossible.

  She didn’t dream Sophie up! Sophie was real. Sophie was her friend! Hazel felt her chest shake uncontrollably, her tears dripping down to her jeans. She wiped them away, and she paused, her eyes fixed on her fingernails.

   It was a horrible mixture of green, as if she painted the yellow coat on before smudging it with the blue.

  You could still see the glitter on the yellow.