Chapter 11|I'm practically a fish

Hey! It's another chapter.

If I could, I would give all you guys jellybeans. Sadly, that's kinda impossible. Virtual jellybeans for you all!

Why is there no jellybean emoji?

There is a poop emoji, but no jellybean. What the hell is this?

Anyways, there has been some confusion about Caleb, Hazel's bro. He is 100% alive. I repeat alive. I wouldn't just kill him off without even introducing you guys, that's just rude.

And for you guys who don't read authors notes, this is important so....

CALEB IS ALIVE!!!

Enjoy.

~*~*~*~*~

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine looking down and seeing my own flesh and blood plastered to hundreds of posters. Yet there I was, standing in the middle of the hallway as everyone watched with baited breath.

It felt like his cruel eyes were boring into my soul, searching for any glimmer of light to snatch and leave me like him. Soulless, heartless, cruel, a criminal.

The mugshot on the poster was very familiar. Too familiar. I had drawn it. It finally dawned on me what had been so special about the very last page in my sketchbook. I'd drawn it from memory after my first and only visit to the Pelican Bay State Prison. I was so disgusted and angry when I got home that under the drawing I wrote:

Dominic Carabello

Rapist and murderer

The monster.

All of that was also on the poster. To make matters worse, if they can get any worse than your criminal of a birth father being waved around on sheets of paper, I was also on the posters. Half of the paper was taken up by my face and half by his. The picture of me wasn't necessarily bad, but whoever had done this had been extremely smart in picking one that showed all of our similarities. Below my picture was my full name, followed by, 'Daughter of Dominic Carabello.'

I was way beyond upset as I shoved the poster at Ryan's chest and stormed down the hallway. I was livid. I was pissed. I forcefully snatched the posters from people's hands as I stomped past, they protested but I didn't stop, I was on a warpath. Let those bitches get paper cuts.

I knew without a doubt who the culprit was, not that she could have made it anymore obvious with her threats the day before, but at least I knew for sure who it was. I knew there had to have been an accomplice because there was no way Erika could have joined the dots by herself. It would have to be someone who was good with computers, someone smart, someone artistic, and someone who I wouldn't suspect.

I rounded the corner to be greeted by a group of sniggering blondes, Erika at the centre of the bitch pack.

"Look girls, it's Hazel Harper," she smiled humourlessly, "or do you go by Hazel Carabello now?"

That hit a nerve. I stared at her murderously.

"Do you enjoy making other people's lives miserable?" I stepped closer and her eyes widened, realising just how pissed I was. She tried to move away, stepping backwards only to have her back hit the lockers with a bang.

"What's the matter? Scared?" I taunted.

"N-no," she said with forced confidence, but the stutter enforced the fact that she was indeed scared out of her mind.

Scared of little ole me? What an empowering feeling.

I took a step back, taking my stance.

"This is on behalf of all the people who have ever had the displeasure of dealing with you in their lifetime."

I launched myself forward, my fist connecting with her nose which crunched the way a juicy apple does when you take the first bite.

The impact caused her head to snap back, hitting the locker. She let out a cry as her nose gushed blood all over the shiny floors. I almost felt bad for her, until I remembered how much of a bitch she was.

I tightened my ponytail, spinning around go see that a crowd had gathered. It wasn't surprising that people were videoing my little stunt either.

At the front of the crowd were my friends. Kyle, Lee and Justin had their jaws slack, clearly not believing what they just witnessed. Tara was cheering, hollering and jumping in circles, while Ryan was looking past me at the blubbering mess with a smirk on his face, clearly enjoying the show.

I started walking in the direction of the main entrance, ready to get the hell out of there, but a shout from someone spun me around.

"You're going to get expelled once I tell my mother what you did."

I smirked internally.

"Oh really? Well I have some stories that I think your mother would love to hear. You remember the time I caught you with Mr-"

"Shut up!" She hissed, her face paling. "Fine, I won't tell, but you better watch your back Harper."

I snorted. "And you better get that nose fixed or your future career as a stripper is over."

She huffed, cradling her deformed nose and stomping back to her minions.

I continued my journey out of the building and into the parking lot, unlocking my jeep and pushing the keys into the ignition.

"Hey! Sunshine wait!"

I looked up to see Tara, Ryan, Lee and Kyle running across the parking lot towards me.

Ryan reached me first, calling shotgun and climbing onto his seat. The other three piled into the back, Tara sitting between the two boys. She looked thrilled about that.

"What're you guys doing here?"

Tara face palmed. "I thought I taught you better than this. We're here to join you on your quest of whatever your quest is because you can't skip school alone. It's just not the same."

"But I was just gonna go home..."

"I'm so ashamed right now," Tara muttered to herself, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You have to do something spontaneous when you're skipping school," Kyle clarified.

"Why?"

"Makes me feel like a rebel," Lee grinned.

I sighed. "If this is about the whole 'Hazel's dad is a murderer' thing, which is completely true by the way, then don't worry about it."

"It's not about that," Ryan said sternly. "We're your friends, we don't care if your dad is a criminal, if you grow a third eye or if you skin suddenly turns blue. Wherever you go, I-we'll go, cause that's what friends are for," he cleared his throat. "You're the captain of this ship, so where are you taking us?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

"You do realise that it's practically winter, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "You do realise that we live in California and it's practically Summer all year round, right?"

"Touché, sunshine, touché."

"Hazel, Hazel!" Tara shouted, dragging me out of the vehicle.

"What?"

"You'll never guess what happened!"

"Okay..."

"We don't have bathing suits! It's a complete disaster."

I rolled my eyes. "What do you think underwear is for?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh my god, you're a genius." She smacked my arm excitedly, then started stripping her clothes.

The two boys in the backseat gawked as Tara discarded all of her clothing except for her underwear, then proceeded to sprint down the beach and into the waves, yelling profanities as the freezing water lapped over her body.

Lee and Kyle glanced at each other, before taking off down the beach, tripping over their own feet as they threw items of clothing in all directions. Kyle pounced on Tara who fell under his weight, she screamed as her head got dunked under the water.

I rolled my eyes, pulling my shirt over my head, then starting on the zipper of my shorts. It was oddly quiet in my jeep, considering there were two people. I looked over at Ryan to see that he was still fully clothed and staring rather intensely at my right shoulder blade.

"You have a tattoo?" He asked, his eyes slowly dragging up to meet mine, not before hesitating on my cleavage first though.

"Yeah, got it about a year ago," I confirmed, flipping my hair over my other shoulder and turning my back to him so he could see it more clearly.

I heard him lean forward in his seat, and I felt him studying the inked cursive.

"May your journey always lead you home," he muttered, reading the words stained into my skin.

"For Caleb, y'know? He's got one the same, except his is in a more manly font. Apparently, that's what he said anyway. It kinda makes me feel like I've got a little piece of him with me all the time, it puts me at ease-"

My breath hitched as he started to softly trace the letters with the tip of his finger. I was perfectly aware that I was only wearing a bra and shorts at that point, but I seemed to have lost the ability to speak, move and breathe, which was slightly alarming.

I slowly turned around to find Ryan's face about an inch from mine. I could've kissed him right then and there, but instead I pulled away.

"We should go," I coughed awkwardly, "Or they'll start to wonder where we are."

Ryan cleared his throat, looking down. "Uh, yeah."

His cheeks reddened and something I couldn't quite decipher flashed through his eyes.

I coughed again, swiftly removing my shorts and stepping out of my jeep. I started walking slowly down the beach, feeling the sand between my toes. Ryan caught up with me, bumping my shoulder as he came to a stop. He was only wearing boxers, and it took a hell of a lot of willpower not to just stare at his chest the whole time.

We walked in silence to where the water lapped the sand, then I let my toes touch the water.

"Holy shit, that's cold!" I screeched.

Ryan, who was already up to his knees in the water, smirked, bounding with inhuman like strides over to me.

"You have to go in, this whole thing was your idea."

"Nuh uh."

"Uh huh."

Suddenly I was lifted off the ground, and being carried into the water. I kicked my legs to try and make him put me down but he wouldn't budge. By the time we were in chest height water I was screaming bloody murder because obviously it was freezing.

"Ryan Martinez, put me down right now!"

He grinned. "Okay."

Then my whole body was submerged under the salty water. He'd dropped me. The bastard.

I decided that payback was in order. Instead of coming straight back up to the surface for air, I held my breath. I was one of those kids who held their breath every time we drove over a bridge, so I had a great lung capacity.

The water wasn't exactly clear due to the fact that it had started to rain, so I used that as an advantage, swimming so that I was behind him. I would say that I stayed underwater for a good twenty seconds, and I could tell he was getting worried because he kept moving frantically, rippling the water around him.

I finally popped my head out of the water, tapping him on the shoulder. He spun around, his whole body deflating as he saw me. He engulfed me in a tight hug, lifting my feet off the sandy ocean floor, I was too shocked at first to return the hug, I mean we'd hugged before, but that was when I was a crying mess. I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my face into his chest, feeling his unsteady breathing brush over me.

"Don't ever do that again sunshine," he warned, a little breathlessly.

"I'm okay, you can't drown me I'm practically a fish," I mumbled into his chest.

"I'd never forgive myself if anything ever happened to you," he whispered.

I sighed. "I'm sorry."

We pulled apart to find three spectators standing a few feet away in the water.

Ryan rolled his eyes. "C'mon guys shows over. Let's get out of here, it's fucking freezing."

Kyle shrugged, jogging out of the sea. Tara followed, wiggling her eyebrows as she sauntered past me. She took off at a run, catching up to Kyle and jumping on his back, almost taking them both down in the process.

Ryan and I walked together back up the beach to my jeep, Lee trailing awkwardly behind us.

We threw our clothes on over our wet underwear, and I turned the heating onto full.

"Alright, where to?"

*~*~*~*~*

We ended up at an old school diner, the five of us crammed into a tiny booth by the window.

"Holy crap, they have all day breakfasts here," Tara gushed, "I am so having pancakes."

I smiled as well as I could with my chattering teeth.

Kyle nudged my arm. "You okay?"

I nodded. "Just cold."

Ever since we got out of the water I couldn't seem to get warm again, which was weird because I was probably ninety nine percent dry at that point.

Ryan suddenly shot up from his seat, causing all of us to stare. He pocketed his phone which he had been staring at for a while.

"I have to go," he said harshly.

I frowned. Where would he have to go? We were supposed to be at school. Maybe his parents found out he was skipping school?

"Right now?" Lee questioned.

"Yes, right now," he hissed.

Lee raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, no need to get all snappy about it," he muttered under his breath.

"I'll give you a ride," I added, standing up.

Ryan shrugged, exiting the booth.

"I'll come back for you guys," I promised.

Tara waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it girl, we're probably just going to hang here for a while. I'll see you tomorrow though."

I nodded, following Ryan who was already halfway across the parking lot.

I jumped into my seat. "So where are we going?"

"The hospital," he replied.

~*~*~*~*~

"You sure you're alright?" I asked for the second time as we pulled up outside the hospital.

"Fine," he replied for the second time, slamming the door and walking up the concrete path towards the main doors.

"Okay then," I muttered to myself.

"Hey sunshine!" My head snapped up.

"Thanks for not asking."

I just nodded, heading out of the hospital and driving home.

I was so exhausted when I got home that my brain barely even registered to the note saying that mom, dad and Jasmine would be out of town for a couple of days.

It was only twelve o'clock but I was so tired that I didn't even make it up the stairs and settled for the couch instead.

~*~*~*~*~

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