The Hooded Figure

THIRTY FIVE

I'd only seen Mia a handful of times, but I could vaguely remember her appearance. I kept a sharp eye out for an Asian girl with long black hair, but headed straight to my Math class. When I walked in, I noticed Alexander sitting beside my usual seat and I scoffed lightly. I payed attention to the teacher, instead of Alexander, though I thought I saw him look over at me periodically throughout the class.

Just before the bell rang, Mrs. Yaworski announced that mid terms were next week and I sat there dumbfounded for a moment. Have I really been so invested in the boys in my life that I've completely forgotten about school?

I quickly made a promise to myself to study during my spare. I headed to my usually table in the cafeteria, expecting to be sitting alone again like I had the past few weeks, but I froze when I caught sight of Layla at the table. And Damian. And three of Damian's friends. I scoffed and went to turn around, but I made the mistake of making eye contact with Layla.

"Amy! Come sit with us!" I was half turned when she called so I shut my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before turning towards her. I mustered up a smile and approached what used to be our table. Layla snuggled up to Damian and patting the tiny space on the bench beside her. I took the seat she had offered and the boys quieted down.

"Amy, this is Patrick, Aiden, and Hayden," she introduced me, pointing to the three boys across from me. Hayden and Aiden seemed to be twins, and Patrick threw me a small wave, along with a barely concealed frown. The twins didn't even acknowledge me as they battled for control of the DS they were holding. Do people still use those?

"Hey Amy," Damian said, not even looking at me. Instead, he was looking down at Layla with a smirk on his face. Layla was returning his gaze, wearing a whole hearted smile on her lips.

He is so going to break her heart.

On one hand, I want to help her and make her realize who he is and what he stands for before he can hurt her. On the other hand, I want her to learn her lesson; mainly that she can't treat everyone else like shit just because she's going through a tough time. However, the first option definitely involves Layla shunning me and saying that I'm just jealous. Jeez, it's like he brainwashed her. And weren't Damian's friends the ones who were taunting her that one week?

I didn't know what to think so I grumpily bit off the top of a carrot.

I sat there for the entirety of the lunch hour, listening to their frivolous conversations, being as cynical as possible. The only time Layla talked to me, let alone mentioned me, was to introduce me. I can't express the relief I felt when the bell rang. I almost sprinted to my locker so that I wouldn't run into Layla, but she was too busy making out with Damian to bother being on time anyway. I found my usual corner in the school to sit and study in silence, finally my life was getting back on track.

Just as I processed the thought, I caught sight of a short girl with long black hair lingering in the hallway.

"Really?" I asked quietly, looking up at the ceiling. I left my stuff where it was and stood up. Putting my phone in my back pocket, I jogged after the girl as she turned a corner. "Mia!" I whisper yelled, trying not to disturb the classes while catching her attention. Obviously she didn't hear me so I jogged until I was beside her.

"You're Mia right?" I inquired, stopping as she did. She looked up at me with a quirked eyebrow.

"Who's asking?" She snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. Ah, I see why Jade likes her.

"Hi, I'm Amy, Jade's friend," I started, "she asked-"

"Yeah, bye," she said at the mention of Jade's name. She started to walk away, but I ran in front of her.

"Wait," I tried, but she just walked around me. "Jade wants me to apologize. I don't know why," I tried to explain, but she didn't stop.

"Please, she said she'd only stop the-the," I stumbled with the word, "she said she'd only stop using if you forgave her."

Mia stopped in the middle of the hallway. "What?" I walked towards her slowly.

"She said she'd stop the drugs if you forgave her," I said in a quieter tone.

"That's not fucking fair," she snapped, turning around to face me. She started storming towards me and I felt afraid for a moment even though she was hardly 5'1". "How could she put that on me? After how she treated me?"

"Look, Mia, I don't know what she did-" she cut me off and jabbed a finger into my chest.

"Where do I even start? I don't even have enough fingers to count! She stood me up, she disappeared without a word, she used me to keep her addiction a secret, she-she..." Mia sniffled and instead of poking my chest, grabbed my shirt and held her face to it. I looked left to right, trying to see if anyone was coming before patting her back awkwardly. I realized that was a dumb thing to do so I just wrapped my arms around her, hoping that was the right thing to do. I deduced that it was when she relaxed into my embrace. I didn't even know this girl, what is happening?

Mia didn't take long I collect herself, just a few tears and sniffles and she backed away from me, wiping her nose. "Sorry about that," she said with a small laugh, pointing to my shirt. The pink now had dark splotches on it, but I wasn't really bothered by it.

"It's no problem, but do you think that you could forgive Jade? I still don't really know what happened, but even though she ditched me entirely, I hate seeing her like this," I told her, watching as her tough facade cracked, if not shattered.

"I don't know if I can forgive her yet, but I'll get it sorted out," she assured me, "thanks um..."

"Amy," I said with a small, sad smile.

"Thanks Amy," she replied with a sniffle. She turned around and started walking away, leaving me there confused and somewhat curious.

• Author's Note •

Sorry for not updating in MONTHS, but this semester is stressful as fuck. It's spring break though and I'm off to Las Vegas tomorrow so hopefully I'll get some writing done then.

Lots of Love, Nat 💕