CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Hannah tossed and turned that night but barely got any sleep, her mind whirring with all that she had discovered. When she had gotten home the previous evening after saving her potential fathers office address, she had gone straight to Cameron's bedroom.

Cam had been wary when she sank down on his bed, recounting the events of her Facebook stalking. He didn't want her to look for her father, in case the man didn't want a thing to do with her, but he had always trusted his cousin to make her own decisions. After all, Hannah had been in the dark about everything for so long that she really did deserve to uncover her past.

He just hoped it wouldn't hurt her further.

Before she had climbed into her own bed, she had also phoned her Aunt Sara although she didn't want to worry her by bringing up the whole trying-to-search-for-the-dad-that-never-wanted-her thing. Instead, they had talked about everything and nothing, reminiscing of the years that had flown by.

'I'm so proud of you, darling,' Sara had ended the phone call with, a lilt in her voice showing her smile and the words warmed her heart.

It was six in the morning, sunlight barely streaking through the sky through Hannah's bedroom window. The soft light fell on the Polaroid photographs taped to her wall, gaps in the middle of them. The majority of her pictures had been with Gabe and Ash but after all they had said and done, she had ripped them off, leaving squares of pale blue paint between the remaining photos. After she had made her way to the bathroom and had some toast for breakfast, Hannah proceeded to pull the rest of them off as well. Maybe later, she would collect new photographs of moments and people that actually mattered to her and stick them up instead.

Still dressed in her lilac fleece pyjamas and with her hair tied up in a messy bun, Hannah decided she needed some air to digest the events of the previous day. Shoving her phone in her bra, she made her way to a small park, smiling at the cold air and the quiet roads.

She ran when she got there, round and round and round the edge of the park until she could memorise every blade of grass beneath her feet. She took joy in the way her breath rose like smoke in the cold air and her feet hit the damp grass. She pushed all her problems aside as she did so, focusing on nothing but her running.

Her gaze scanned the area, pausing at the sight of a guy bent down beside a small canal in an attempt to take a photograph of a lone duck. The scene seemed familiar and she vaguely recalled having seen him before. It was only when she got closer that she recognised the boy, dark hair almost obscuring his eyes.

"Hey, Alex," she called out, coming to a standstill beside him. She had spoken to Kalila a few times after meeting Alex at Tyler's birthday party and from what she had heard, he sounded pretty great. He was struggling to get through the death of his twin sister, something that tugged at her heartstrings. Whilst she had no siblings – that she knew of anyway – Hannah couldn't imagine living for a second without her cousin. "Why you up so early?"

He stood from where he was kneeling, shrugging his shoulders as he greeted her. "I couldn't sleep, I guess," he mumbled and she nodded, in the exact same boat. They spoke for a while, Hannah questioning him on how he felt about her neighbour. The guy was nice but he was incredibly dense, not even having realised he liked Kalila until he was outraged that some other guy had tried to flirt with her. And the poor sod hadn't even realised that meant he was jealous.

She wanted to shake some sense into him but before she could do so, loud footsteps alerted them of someone else's arrival. "Hey, guys!" a sugar sweet voice called out, a flash of hot pink streaking past. Melissa Knight stood there, adoration filling her eyes as she looked up at them.

Hannah didn't know Mel very much but she attended Alex's school and was somewhat friends with Ashlyn. Just that fact made her skin crawl but she tried to hide that feeling as the girl in question tried to flirt with Alex.

"How's Gabe?" Mel asked eventually, pushing perfectly curled blonde waves back as she did so. Hannah tried not to flinch but she couldn't help it, the fear at the thought of her ex-boyfriend too instinctive to deny. Before Mel could analyse it however, Alex changed the subject, something she was grateful for.

"How do you two even know each other?" he asked, fingers wrapped around the edges of his large DSL camera. Mel went off on a tangent about some party they both attended years ago, the details of which were greatly exaggerated but Hannah didn't really care.

She tuned out and from Alex's glazed over expression, so had he until Mel decided to change tack and lean her body against his. His dark eyebrows rose and Hannah snorted at the blatant flirting, having had enough. "Get off the poor boy, Mel, he isn't interested in you. He's with Kalila, get over it."

Hannah ignored the way Melissa growled in reply and instead focused on Alex. Something about him seemed off and at their previous meeting he had asked her if he had met her before so evidently, she wasn't the only one who thought so. The problem was, however, Hannah couldn't quite figure out what was bothering her about him.

Thankfully Mel got the hint and turned away, not having enough courage to challenge Hannah. Whilst she may have fallen off the popularity ladder at school somewhat after the Ashlyn and Gabriel fiasco, there was perhaps still a slight advantage of being as well-known as she was.

Alex – who was far too much in his own thoughts to notice Mel's final attempt of swaying her perfect bum in her ugly pink tracksuit – was clearly analysing Hannah's words.

"Look, you're a boy and most of the time boys are idiots so I'm gonna have to spell it out for you," she began, raising her hand to stop him from arguing back like she knew he would. She could still feel a gaze on the back of her neck and hoped that she was being paranoid, not wanting Mel to still be hanging around them. The girl was far too annoying for her own good. "Kalila likes you, she might not ever admit it but she does. The only other guys who she hangs out with are Tyler and my idiot cousin Cameron, who are both gay as fuck and happy together so that doesn't count. And I assume you like her too..."

Thankfully, the message finally got into his head and Alex burst out in a string of swears. "Oh fuck, I do like her, don't I?" he groaned with a pink tinge to his cheeks, making them both laugh.

---

Hannah stretched from where she sat at her desk, fingers aching from all the typing she had just done. She'd spent her day going over all her seemingly never-ending homework and was finally done. Just as she was about to pull herself up and force her cousin to cook for her, her phone buzzed, the sound causing her rabbit to jump up in fright.

Rubbing one hand over his head, careful to avoid the scar where his ear had been, she looked down at her phone screen and resisted a smile. It didn't work out so well, however, as her face began to glow with a joy so pure she barely recognised it.

To: Hannah Adem – From: Rayne Parker

heey, sorry its late but just wanted to say hope everything is okay after what we found yesterday and thanks for playing with my sisters. since i no longer let them dress me up as elsa from frozen, they've decided ur their new toy. I appreciate u saving me from that torture haha :)

Hannah lay down on her pillow, making space for Puddles before she tapped out a suitable reply. Just the thought of Rayne dressed up as a princess was enough to make her burst into a fit of giggles all over again but instead, she took a breath and replied, thinking back to the purpose of her visit.

To: Rayne Parker – From: Hannah Adem

Thank you for the help. once I work up enough guts, I think I might just pay him a visit at his office or something. Stalker-ish? Probably but desperate times call for desperate measures! Also I'm pretty sure you look more like Anna with the hair but no problemo xx

She sat up when she heard footsteps approaching, Cam pushing her bedroom door open without bothering to knock. She threw a pillow at him, rolling her eyes when he caught it without an ounce of hesitation, a stupid smirk plastered over his terracotta skin.

"I'm bored," he announced, jumping onto her bed as though he was diving against the blankets. She kicked him in reply, her socks brushing against his bare chest as he stuck his tongue out at the grey ball of fluff curled up beside his cousin.

"I can't believe its December," she answered in reply, ignoring his statement. "It feels like these four months of school have just flown by so fast, it's almost Christmas already."

He nodded, both of them unconsciously frowning simultaneously. Neither of them particularly enjoyed Christmas, the day of festivities often ruined by their grandfathers incessant questioning and Jasmine shooting daggers towards the daughter she pretended she hadn't birthed. "Not much left of school now, is it?"

She groaned, not wanting to be reminded of the fact that she was very nearly done with it forever and still hadn't decided on what she wanted to go into as a career. She only had a month or so left to decide.

Thankfully, before she could dwell on it any further, they were interrupted by a soft buzzing noise, Hannah's phone lighting up with the notification.

To: Hannah Adem – From: Rayne Parker

don't know if im flattered or insulted that u think i could be a princess tbh but thanks?haha. if u do pay a visit and need some moral support, I dnt mind a trip down to central. we're friends now, friends support each other and shit don't they :)

Ignoring the way Cam wriggled his eyebrows suggestively and made ridiculous kissy faces, Hannah's heart fluttered.

They were friends.