Recovery | On Hiatus

Chapter 33

Don't you just love how precious Hayden is?

Chapter 33

      I DIDN'T GET suspended. I should have, considering I punched another student in the face and broke his nose, but Adam told the nurse the injury was from an accident in gym. I guess his ego wouldn't let him snitch me out to the principal and look fragile to any of his friends. What had I ever seen in him to make me stay in a relationship with him for as long as I did?

      It took me a while to stop shaking and calm down. I'd never punched anybody before. My knuckles stung after the adrenaline wore off, but I didn't care. The headache my hangover left me with hurt more. It felt strangely empowering to have an injury that was more or less self inflicted and not from somebody else. I was the one who threw the punch, and it was to defend Hayden and I from the cruel words of my ex. Even still, a part of me was irrationally angry at Hayden. He shouldn't have said anything to Adam in the first place—not only today, but back when he broke the two of us up. It wasn't Hayden's place to come between us back then, and it wasn't his place now.

      Those were the thoughts that filled my mind as I walked into detention that evening. Hayden hadn't made it yet, which surprised me. His last period class was a lot closer than mine to Mr. Nelson's classroom. He always made it here before me. I tried to consider his tardiness as a good thing. Hayden being late would give me time to talk myself out of taking my anger out on him. After all, it was Adam who deserved my anger, not Hayden for tying to defend me.

      Mr. Nelson passed out roughly five minutes into detention. He didn't give any type of assignment this time, so I spent the following twenty minutes rotating between games on my phone and trying to take a nap on the uncomfortable desks. I wasn't sure how Mr. Nelson could stand to sleep on the cold, hard wood. I'd been trying to nap whenever Hayden finally opened the door and slipped in the classroom.

I looked up to greet him, only to see his hood pulled up to shield his face. "Hayden?"

      "Yeah?" he answered, his voice gruff. He cleared his throat and took a seat a few desks away. I didn't hesitate as I stood from my seat and marched over to the brunette. "Scarlet, don't—"

      I yanked the hood off his head and nearly choked. "Oh, my god."

      Hayden's jaw spotted a greenish-purple bruise, accompanied by a matching black eye and a cut on his left eyebrow. His bottom lip was swollen and busted with a crimson line trailing down before his tongue dipped down and slowly caught it. "Please, don't make a big deal about this."

      I took a slow seat at the desk next to his and leaned toward him, a hand reaching out to gently turn his chin and get a better look at his injuries. Any response I had died in my throat as his hand rose to cover mine. "I'm fine, Scarlet," he said gently. "I'll heal."

      I hated seeing Hayden like this. Was this what things would be like when he found out about Darrin. No, I thought. It'll be so, so much worse. "You fought Adam?" I finally brought myself to ask.

      "I tried." He winced when my thumb brushed against the cut on his lip. I whispered an apology so quiet I wasn't sure a sound actually came out. "I lost."

      I retracted my hand from his face to my lap. "Why did you do that? You should've just left it alone."

His face darkened. "I wasn't going to let him talk about you like that. It was disrespectful and uncalled for."

"And I broke his nose for it," I argued. "I can handle myself when it counts."

The look he gave me said he clearly didn't believe me. "When it's with Adam, you mean."