Blocked Away | A TMF Fan-Fiction

Chapter Five

Zander's P.O.V.

Zander quickly walked out of the English classroom. Why this was bothering him so much, he didn't know, but he did know he just wanted to get home. He quickly walked through the crowded halls, got to his locker real quick to grab his backpack, and then found Hailey at her locker. Next to her were Sean, and Milly with whom she was talking with.

"We can't seem to get any work done recently. Maybe we should do some after school rehearsals. The band competition isn't that far away, and we still have no idea what we're doing," Hailey complained.

"I wouldn't worry too much, Hailey. I'm sure things will work out! But after school rehearsals aren't a bad idea. Where would we work?" Sean asked.

"I think my place-" Hailey was cut off by Zander walking up to her.

"How much longer is it going to be until you're ready to head home?" Zander questioned, in an annoyed tone.

Hailey gave Zander a small look, "What's the rush?"

"I just...don't wanna be in the school building."

"Preach!" Milly called out.

"Well I'm not going to rush myself, just so you don't have to stand in a building," Hailey explained. Hailey then turned back to her locker to grab something.

"Please."

Hailey turned back around, and must have seen some kind of desperateness in Zander's eyes, because she agreed. "Okay, I'll get my things. We'll talk about details for some after school rehearsals later. Is that okay with you guys?"

"Of course," Sean reassured.

"Yeah. And if we're really on a time crunch we can always text about it," Milly chimed in.

"Okay," Hailey grabbed the remaining items from her locker, and slung her backpack over her shoulder, "Let's go."

Zander and Hailey walked through the halls a bit, until Hailey asked Zander a question, "So, is Luke waiting for us outside?"

"No," Zander flatly replied. They had just gotten to the exit, and Zander pushed the door open.

"Why not?" The two of them got through the exit, and Zander shut the door.

"What!? Is it impossible for us to walk home without Luke!?" Zander snapped.

Hailey didn't say anything in response, but made a clearly taken aback expression. Zander continued to walk, "Let's just go."

Hailey caught up to Zander, "What's the matter Zander? Are you mad at Luke? I thought you'd be...happier with him after today."

"Why is that?"

"No reason."

No one talked after that for a bit. Zander and Hailey just continued walking, now in silence. It was mid-fall, and the sharp, cool weather was someone making the walk feel even more awkward. After a couple of minutes of this silent, awkward walking, Zander decided to say something.

"Yeah, I'm a little mad at Luke. It's not like I'm enraged or anything. I just don't wanna be around him for the time being."

"Why are you mad at him?"

"Well, first, he didn't tell me he was interested in songwriting, which, I mean, that's not awful. He did explain he hadn't known for long we wanted to. But then all of the sudden I found out he has a crush which he also didn't tell me about. Then, when he finally did me who his crush is-"

Mid explanation, Hailey quickly cut Zander off, "Wait! He told you who his crush is?"

"Uh, yeah. I mean, we are still friends." Zander felt unsettled by the expression Hailey was giving him. She seemed both confused, and shocked. "Why is it so weird to you he told me?"

"Who did he tell you his crush is?" Hailey asked, completely ignoring Zander's question.

"I would say, but he was being kind of weird about it, saying he felt weird talking about it, so I don't know if I should just out his crush to you."

"We're step-siblings. We live in the same house together. He knows we're connected. I'm sure it's fine. It's not like I'm gonna tell anyone else."

"Why do you want to know his crush so bad? You're being kind of weird..."

"I'm just curious," Hailey explained.

Zander was still quite off-put by the way Hailey was acting, but he just decided to say; he knew Hailey wouldn't tell anyone else, "Well, fine. He has a crush on that girl Stacy. Stacy Whiteman I think. Or maybe her last name is just White? I don't know. You know who I'm talking about, right?"

"He told you he has a crush on Stacy!" Hailey exclaimed.

Zander was becoming extremely confused, "Why are you saying it like he's lying or something!? Why would he even lie about that?"

Hailey recomposed herself a little, "Uh, sorry. I mean to ask, 'He has a crush on Stacy?'"

"Yeah, that's the person he wrote the song about today."

"He wrote it about her?" Hailey questioned, once again with a tone that implied she was questioned if what Zander was saying was true.

"Yes! Her! Why do you sound like you're having such a hard time believing this!"

"I'm not! I'm just...surprised, that's all."

"What? Do you like him or something?"

Hailey immediately spat out a laugh in response, "God no! Not to be rude to Luke, but just, no."

That lifted a small weight off Zander's shoulders. Ever since he had the thought that Luke might like Hailey in the music room, even after Luke said he liked Stacy, Zander couldn't seem to get the small worry out of his head. But Zander could tell that by Hailey's tone, she was being truly sincere.

Zander continued the conversation, "Anyway, before telling me about his crush, he was being really weird about it. Then, after he told me, he just ditched me after gym! Usually we walk to classes together, but he just left. Like I said before, I'm not enraged with him or anything. Just annoyed. He's just being weird around me overall, and I don't know why..." During that small monologue, Zander had drifted off, and started staring at the ground as he was walking. When he looked back up at Hailey, he saw what looked to be almost an expression of physical pain on her face, except she didn't look hurt.

"Are you okay, Hailey?" Zander asked, concerned.

"Yeah, it's just, really annoying that we don't know why Luke is being so weird. But I'm fine. It's just...you know what? We're almost home. Let's just continue to walk."

"Okay..."

Hailey picked up her pace, and started walking ahead of Zander.

What is up with her? Does she know something I don't? She was just acting like I was spewing lies out of my mouth, but why would Luke lie about who his crush is? Maybe I'll ask her about it later. I don't know if I have the energy for it right now...

As Zander continued to walk, a fall leaf fell into his hair. Ever since he started dying his hair from black to purple, it got this fluffy frizzy texture that seemed to catch a lot of leaves. He reached up to his head, and grabbed the leaf, and looked down at it resting in his palm. He placed his other hand over it, and dragged his finger down its stem.

Who knows though? Hailey can be pretty weird. I doubt there's any big mysterious story I don't know about.

With that thought, a small breeze pushed into Zander's face. He then held out the leaf, and released it into the wind.

I can be thankful for that.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading chapter five of Blocked Away!  Yeah, it's been a bit since I uploaded, but hopefully this chapter of Hailey pretty much internally screaming over how dense Zander is being, makes up for it.  And oh my god, thank you so much for three-hundred (almost four-hundred!) reads!  I appreciate it so much!  As usual, all comments and/or critiques are welcome, and I hope you enjoyed!