The Boys And Her

Chapter 16

*Hazel's POV*

Lunch. Finally. I met the boys at Grant and Ryan's locker. "Hey guys." I waved. Everyone said hi except Mars. Weird. "We all ready?" Bryan asked. "No! Not yet!" Andrew said sitting on the ground digging in his backpack.

We all looked down to him. Then he pulled out an ID card. "I'm eating lunch today!" He said holding the card over his head. "You finally found it." Ryan laughed helping him up. "Yes I have. Now I don't have to starve." Andrew said as we walked outside to the eating area.

Mars, Andrew and I got in line as Bryan and Grant sat down. "Mars are you free anytime this week?" I asked him because we still need to work on our project for Language Arts. "Um I'm not sure." He looked down at me; sounding a bit scared. "Okay because we need to work on our ELA project." I said as the line moved a bit.

After getting lunch, we sat down to see Daniella and Jamie walk up to us. "Hey boys." Daniella waved not acknowledging my existence.

"So, Friday Daniella and I are going to be throwing a party at her house and we wanted you guys to come." Jamie said. "I'll think about it." Bryan said taking a granola bar from Andrew. "Um, when's the invitation being sent out?" Ryan asked. "In a bit we're going to go tell Olivia so she can send it to everyone." Daniella piped up.

"I might go. I have nothing to do with my life. So I'll see you there." Andrew said examining his pizza. "Well I guess I'll see you there then." Jamie smiled; twirling her hair around her finger. I could see a hint of disgust on Andrew's face.

Clearly he doesn't like her... or girls in general.

The girls walked away towards Olivia. A few minutes later I felt my phone buzz in my back pocket. Olivia doesn't have my number? I looked at my phone and it was a text from Bryan. But he's right there across from me. I opened the message.

Bryan: hey wanna hang out after school?

Ohhhh. He wanted to ask if we could hang out without making a scene.

Me: Sure

Bryan: Want to go to the park? :)

Me: Yes :)

Bryan: Cool we can go after then

Me: Yeah

"So are you guys going to the party?" I ask putting my phone away. "I am." Andrew said finally taking a bite of his pizza. "Yeah. I'll try." Grant shrugged. "I am. I have nothing to do." Ryan said.

"I might." Bryan replied. "Cool. I'll try to go." I smiled. "What about you Mars?" I looked at him. "I'm not sure. I'll have to ask..." he trailed off. That made me feel...worried for some reason.

"If you can go, we can walk there if you want?" Ryan asked. "Sure." Mars shrugged. What's wrong with him?

Suddenly I see Bryan turn his head and his eyes go big. He nudges Mars on the shoulder and points to what he's looking at. Mars looks and his eyes go big too. The rest of us are still confused. 

I turn around to see a little girl with the same features as Mars and the saddest look on her face. Under her left arm she's holding a tan colored stuffed bear and from where I'm sitting I think she has a bruise on her face.

She looks around and her eyes land on Mars. I could see that Mars' eyes were tearing up. He motioned for the girl to come and she ran over to him. Mars engulfed her in a huge hug and the little girl broke down. All of us confused and heartbroken for something we didn't know.

"Mars! S-Sh-She..." The little girl sobbed into his shirt. "Delilah. It's gonna be okay." Mars said hugging the girl tighter. "Let's go somewhere else okay." He said holding the girl by his side. "I'll be back." Mars looking back at us. "Maybe." he said slowly as he walked away. Soon enough everyone outside was watching. And all to soon they started to talk again.

"Who was that?" I ask slowly. Knowing probably the answer would be as sad as Mars' past. "That was his sister." Andrew nodded. "I guess she's been through a lot." Ryan stuttered. "What's wrong? Is she okay?" I ask. "Can we not talk about it." Bryan said with his voice raised slightly.

For the rest of the lunch period we were quiet. Not saying anything. And Mars didn't come back. At least for lunch.