Chapter 31|I thought dodo birds were extinct

Guilt consumed me as I headed out of the classroom in the direction of the playground. I feel the moms eyes' scrutinising my every move but I didn't care. Screw them, I needed to get through to Jasmine and let her know that moms absence wasn't her fault and she needed to stop beating herself up about it.

I reached her fairly quickly. She was sitting by herself on one of the now abandoned swings. I sat on the one next to her.

"What did the teacher say?" She asked without looking up. Instead she focused on scuffing her shoe in the dirt underneath the swing.

"That you're doing well in class," I cleared my throat. "She also said that you've stopped playing outside with your friends at recess and lunch."

She snorted, rolling her eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"What friends?" She looked at me blankly.

"You have lots of friends," I frowned. "The girls on your cheerleading team, those girls that came to our house that time..."

"Not anymore."

"Why? What happened?"

"I told them that mom left, and the next day they came to school saying that they weren't allowed to be friends with me anymore."

"You're kidding," my mouth hung open. "So they said they weren't allowed to be your friend?"

She shrugged.

"That means they probably told their parents, who disapproved and told them to ditch you."

I eyed the bitch group sitting on a bench near the edge of the playground. I pointed to the group. They probably saw me, but I didn't really give a crap.

"Any of those trophy wives over there your friends moms?" I asked.

"Yeah, the one right in the middle, thats Mrs Reilly, Maddie's mom."

I stood up. "Okay, I'll be back in a moment."

Jasmines eyes widened, and she jumped off her swing, clasping my wrist with both her hands, trying to pull me back to the swings.

I looked at her amusedly. "Oh, you're coming too? Good choice."

She groaned. "No, no, no, Hazel please don't."

I laughed as I dragged her. "Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you."

"Oh my god, you're so embarrassing," she hissed, the tips of her ears turning pink.

"I'm your big sister, it's my job."

Heads turned on our direction as we drew nearer, me still half dragging Jasmine. I stopped right in front of Mrs Reilly.

I plastered on the best fake smile I could conjure. "Hi there, I'm Hazel."

Silence.

"Oh right, you think you're too good for me. Fair enough, you probably are."

Silence.

"Look, Mrs Reilly, I'm not here to yell at you about the fact that my little sister now sits inside by herself at recess and lunch because you told your kid to stop being her friend," the other moms gasped, looking at her, shocked. "And I'm not here to humiliate you or shame you in front of your friends. That is, if they're still your friends." Mrs Reilly looked around at the other woman in the group, who were now staring at her the same way they had looked at me when I first walked in. One of them even distanced herself, shuffling to the edge of the bench.

"Not such a flash feeling is it, losing your friends like this," I snapped my fingers. "Now imagine being nine years old, just a little kid, and thinking it was your fault that your friends had suddenly gone, vanished, poof."

Silence again.

At this point Jasmine was hiding behind me, mostly because the other moms were giving her that sympathetic look. I guess we had that in common, we both hated that look of sympathy.

Jasmine tugged in my arm. I looked over my shoulder, and she gave me a pleading look. She was still embarrassed.

"Well, that was a good talk. Thank you for damaging my little sisters self esteem."

I walked away without looking back, Jasmine trotting behind me.

We reached the jeep. I watched Jasmine strap on her seatbelt.

I continued to just look at her.

"Why aren't we moving?" She asked.

"You know that mom leaving wasn't your fault right?"

She didn't comment.

"You can't blame yourself, there isn't anything you could've done to make her stay," I reassured her.

"So she wasn't mad at me?" She asked with wide eyes.

"No, of course not. If she was mad at anyone, it was me."

"Did you do something wrong?"

"She seemed to think so."

She studied me for a moment

"Hazel?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

I smiled. "No problem."

~*~*~*~

"You know what I think?" I asked as we drove through town.

"What?" Jasmine asked. In my peripheral vision I saw her turn her head to look at me.

"We should get milkshakes."

She grinned, nodding excitedly.

I continued driving to the small ice cream parlour in the centre of town. They had good ice cream, but they had awesome milkshakes. I pulled up outside the rundown looking building with the faded red sign out front. It didn't look like much from the outside, which may have been why it wasn't a terribly popular place. I actually think the owners liked it that way, they had their regulars, but didn't want the place crowded.

The bell jingled as I pushed open the door, holding it open for Jasmine to scoot under my arm. They didn't actually need the bell because the door squeaked. It had squeaked for as long as I could remember and nobody had fixed it.

There was no line to wait in, which was a bonus. Jasmine was already making her decision; ice cream or milkshake?

She had her face pressed up against the glass, one of her hands either side of her face, also resting on the glass. I'm sure the person who had to clean that wasn't very amused. The guy behind the counter didn't seen to mind though. He took one look at me.

"The usual?" I was kind of ashamed that I went there enough times that the employees knew my order. I don't think he knew my name, but he knew my order the second time I went to that place. I wish I had that guys memory.

I nodded. "Please."

"And you've got an extra this time," he commented, peering over the counter where Jasmine was still trying to decide on a flavour.

I smiled. "Yeah, little sister."

He smiled back, leaning over the glass cabinet that contained the ice cream. "What can I get for you sweetheart?"

"An Oreo milkshake please," she requested, beaming up at him.

"Sure thing little lady."

He disappeared for a couple of minutes, reappearing with two large cups. "One Oreo milkshake, and one peanut butter with two pumps of fudge sauce." He stabbed a few keys in the cash register. "That comes to eight dollars."

I handed him a ten dollar bill, and he handed me my change and the receipt together, sliding the cups across the counter. I handed Jasmine hers, taking mine in my free hand.

I thanked the guy who served us, who replied with 'no problem', before heading out back. I let Jasmine pick the booth, which just happened to be the one I always sat at. It was closest to the front window, so I could see everything that was going on outside and watch the people walking past. Watching people was one of my favourite pastimes, creepy I know, but interesting. I think that a lot of people get misjudged, I mean we do all judge within the first three seconds of meeting a person. Which is extremely shallow because the only thing you can judge in three seconds is appearance. I try not to though. I watched as a girl with short black hair and heavy makeup walked past, headphones covering her ears. It would be easy to assume that she was listening to something goth or punk, but then again, maybe she was listening to country. I guess I'll never know.

Jasmine pinched my arm, frowning at me. I frowned back. "Um, ow."

"You were staring at the fire hydrant for ages, it was getting weird," she said, sipping her milkshake. It was funny because her eyebrows rose, and she went cross eyed as she watched the liquid travel up the straw.

I smirked, wishing that my eyes could take pictures and my brain would print them. I could've tried with my phone, but she definitely would have noticed and it wouldn't have ended well for my phone.

I heard the doorbell jingle and my eyes snapped up. A guy wearing a hood over his head walked in. He was holding the hand of a small child, who I couldn't really see as he was being shielded from my view. I couldn't see either of their faces, which was only reinforced when they turned their backs to us to order.

I continued watching them while I drained my milkshake. They looked familiar. Well, I mean, the little boy looked unmistakably like Archie, but I had decided that it was best to be sure who they actually were before I made a fool of myself.

The same guy why had served us earlier returned to the counter with a big ole smile on his face. He worked in an ice cream shop, why wouldn't he be happy?

"What can I get you guys?" He asked cheerfully.

"Two cookie dough milkshakes, thanks."

I stopped slurping my milkshake. I knew that voice.

"Evan?" I asked in a light tone. His head snapped up and he spun around, searching for the direction of my voice.

"Girl next door!" He exclaimed, dragging Archie over to our booth.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Uh, just y'know, hunting dodo birds."

"I thought dodo birds were extinct," he said, looking legitimately confused.

I sighed, shaking my head and laughing

"Sarcasm," I said. "You should look it up."

He didn't look amused. "I'm laughing on the inside, really." He said dryly.

"Ah, do you do know what sarcasm is. Congrats," I grinned.

He stuck his tongue out childishly. "Shut up."

The guy behind the counter returned for a second time, and Evan headed over to pay for the liquid deliciousness.

I turned to Archie, who had sat next to me in the booth, and was quite happy as he swung his legs back and forth. He had one of his thumbs stuck in his mouth. It was weird because the last time I'd seen him do that was when I'd picked him up from football practise and taken him to Lee's house. Wow, that brings back memories.

"So," I said to Archie. "I haven't seen you in forever. Where've you been?"

"Grandmas house."

Why does Archie suddenly sound like a certain red hooded girl?

"Oh cool, what's she like?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Old."

I blinked. Fair enough.

"Oh, well your grandpa, what's he like?"

"Dead."

"Oh...I'm sorry," I said without thinking.

"Why?"

"Uh..." That was a good question. Why was I sorry? It's not like I killed his grandpa, or even knew him. I guess we just say sorry because, well, what are you supposed to say? Pat them on the back and say that it was for the best? No. Bad idea. That would probably earn you a slap, and you would deserve it. Death is stupid. That's why I choose not to acknowledge that there could be a god out there somewhere. If he is up there, then he's not doing a very good job of keeping us alive. To be perfectly honest, I feel like if I ever met god without knowing he was god, he would just seem like another douche-y human.

Evan returned to the table, landing next to Jasmine with a thump. She scrunched up her nose and scooted across the seat so that she was curled up against the wall.

I rolled my eyes, taking another sip from my cup. We all sat staring at each other for a while. Evan was rather tensely slurping from his straw, and Archie was frowning down at his untied shoelace as he swung his legs. His feet couldn't touch the ground.

"So, I haven't seen you guys around for a while." I said, hoping that Evan could take a hint and give me a clue as to what was going on.

"Yeah." He said. I narrowed my eyes at him. What kind of a reply was that? Not helpful at all.

He noticed me semi glaring at him and sighed. "Sorry, I know that's not what you wanted to hear."

"Ya think?"

He ignored me. "Ryan's fine, well mostly fine, if that's what you wanted to know," he said. "He's going to school tomorrow."

"Mostly fine?" I demanded. "What do you mean mostly fine?"

"Oh, you'll see tomorrow. Not such a pretty picture," he grinned.

I groaned. "I swear you speak in riddles."

"Please don't swear, there are little people present," he tutted with a wide smile.

"You're insane," I muttered.

"I know! Isn't it great?"

~*~*~*~

Okay, so just a warning, this is probably going to be a really long authors note, but it's funny so I'm sharing it.

Gather around kiddies, it's story time. So imagine me, not that you know what I look like. I hope you don't. I wake up and open wattpad, checking notifications, and all that stuff. Then I go to my message board to see if anyone wants to talk to me (nobody does). I find several messages that I have no memory of posting. My first thought, *gasp* my account has been hacked! Shit, what should i do?! *Hyperventilating* I quickly check on my works. They are all still there, *sigh of relief * except strangely, the current chapter I'm working on was updated at 2:32am (I'm pretty sure I was listening to Bon Jovi at that point). *Sigh* Well crap. I read the last paragraph and chuckle to myself. Well, at least the hacker has a sense of humour.

There was no hacker. I was severely sleep deprived. Moral of the story; If you want to write funny shit, don't sleep.

That was bad advice. Please ignore me.

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Until next time.