A Time To Fight And A Time To Run

Part 5- Hazel

"Which is not a good quality for someone with a mission," Grey continued, eyeing Hazel. "I don't think you'll be ready."

Hazel glared at him. Why is he so annoying? If he's not acting strange, he's insulting me. If we are going to be stuck together for a while, I do not want to get insulted two times every minute. Besides, he doesn't know that I have a 4.0 GPA and I'm the captain of the basketball, soccer, and track team. It's time for the good ol' silent treatment.

"Fine, then," she scoffed, then sat down and took her phone out of her backpack. She really didn't want to waste the battery, but she had to prove that she didn't care about Grey and his insults.

Instead of saying something stupid like "Aw, has Blondie gone into pouty mode" or "Aw, did Bwondie get her fweelings hurt?", Grey just looked down at her then kept a straight face as he looked over the edge into the clouds.

Hazel really wanted to see the view- she hadn't been able to really look at it yet, on account of her arguing with Grey the whole time- but she couldn't let Grey think she had forgiven him. Oh well. She could just stay turned away from him.

She stood up, setting down her phone and turning away from him, leaning over the edge. It's so beautiful, she thought. The sun was just beginning to set and the clouds looked like they were pink and orange and purple. Hazel reached out and touched the clouds, smiling as her fingers slid through them.

"It's pretty."

Hazel turned around and saw Grey looking out at the sky.

"Yeah, it is," Hazel agreed cautiously.

She slowly brought her hand to the back of her head to see if it was still bleeding, and let out a frustrated breath to see new blood on her palm.

"You're bleeding?"

Hazel turned in alarm and saw that Grey was looking over her shoulder.

"Yeah, but it's nothing," Hazel replied, not wanting to any further into it. She didn't want Grey to feel bad for her.

"If your head is bleeding it's not nothing," he said, then Hazel heard things moving around behind her.

She turned around and saw him with a first aid kid in his hand.

"I'm fine, really," Hazel said, trying but failing to convince him.

Grey scoffed, moving things around in the kit. "I told you once and I'll tell you again: you're not a good liar." He walked over to Hazel, a rag, his water bottle, and gauze in his hands. "Can you sit down?"

Hazel sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to win this argument, then sat down, facing her backpack. She heard water drip, then what she assumed was the rag was pressed to her wound. She winced, realizing how bad it really was.

Grey gently but firmly pressed and lifted up the cloth, cleaning the dried and new blood.

Hazel was nervous; she still didn't know if she could trust him- she didn't even really like him. But she couldn't do it herself, and even if she were able to somehow see the back of her head, she didn't know how to clean and wrap a wound.

She suddenly felt the gauze being wrapped multiple times around her head, and she imagined that she looked like one of those characters in cartoons who had a headwrap for a toothache.

Finally, she felt him fasten the end, and she asked, "Are you done?"

"Yeah," he replied.

Hazel stood up and faced Grey, and a small amused smile appeared on his face. She rolled her eyes. "I know I probably look really weird, but thank you for wrapping it."

His smiled suddenly turned genuine, and he nodded. "Anytime."

She grinned back, and Grey's smile faded, and he quickly looked away.

What was that about?, Hazel wondered. What a weirdo.

"When are we going to get to your oh-so-important place for your 'plan'?", Hazel asked, wanting to lighten the tension that she felt. She wasn't sure why there even was, but she didn't like it.

"By the morning", Grey replied. He looked at his cooler. "You hungry?"

"A little, yeah," Hazel responded, realizing how hungry she really was.

He walked over to the cooler and pulled out a couple sandwiches and a bag of grapes. "Here," Grey said, holding out a PB&J to  Hazel.

"Thanks." She looked at him. Grey is so confusing. One minute, he's rude and obnoxious, the other, he's caring and considerate. I guess he's not the worst person to be stuck in a hot air balloon with. Not the best, but not the worst.

They both noticed that they were staring at each other at the same time, and they both looked away quickly, heat rushing up to Hazel's cheeks. 

Soon, the sky was dark, and billions of stars were shining and twinkling.

 "It's so beautiful," Hazel said, overcome by how amazing and vast it was, and how much she had been missing out on in the first nineteen years of her life. She never wanted to go back to her old life.

"It is," Hazel heard, but she was still transfixed on the gorgeous view.

"You should get some sleep if you don't want to be a grumpy blonde tomorrow."

Hazel looked at Grey, annoyed. "Okay, I will. But not because of you."

She went over to her backpack and took out a blanket. She rested her head gently on her bag, and slowly drifted off into a calm sleep, surrounded by what felt like two soft blankets.