"Sometimes you have to give up on people.
Not because you don't care, but because they don't."

I huddled deeper into the corner, making myself smaller, hiding within myself, trying to run.

Run from sadness.

Run from pain.

Run from loneliness.

There was no one. Not even my own mother, who was out doing some 'fortune telling' stuff.

I tried, I really did.

People were nice, but they never seemed interested in knowing me.

I was just the quiet girl in the class, the one with the good grades, the nice one with no friends.

No sleepovers, no one to celebrate holidays with, no one to give each other gifts to, no one at all.

So I just stayed like this almost everyday, trying to preoccupy myself before my loneliness swallowed me whole.

I looked at my drawing pad.

I was trying to draw a picture of my mother and I in happier times- but to be honest, I couldn't picture them right now.

There were scribbles and x's where I had tried to draw our faces.

Reaching for the tablet, I tore the paper in half, crumpled it up, and threw it in the trash. It was a useless piece of paper anyway.

Finding nothing left to do, I crawled into my cold bed and went into a restless sleep.

--------
The next day, I went into the kitchen, and saw my mother's shoes by the door.

She must be asleep, "exhausted" from her fortune telling.

I got ready and fixed myself lunch.

Time to go to school.

-----

"Good morning Hazel!" my teacher greeted me cheerily.

I forced a smile and said good morning back.

"Okay class, today we're going to do a group project. You and your parter pick any country you want and research it, the flag, the bird, origins, important people, etc. Okay everyone! Hurry to get into groups of two!"

I looked dismally at my hands.

Who would I pair up with?

-------

It was lunch time.

I headed out to eat under the old maple tree that I usually ate at.

For the project, I had ended up being on my own, like I had expected.

The teacher had just smiled at me and said "But you can handle it right, Hazel?"

I had nodded, just to get her fake smile out of my face.

I shook my head. The day was too pleasant to focus on such things. Instead, I decided to direct my attention to the sky. It was a bright blue, very pleasant to look at. I wondered if I could paint it...

Eating a simple turkey sandwich, I suddenly heard an angry voice.

It seemed to be speaking in a different language, an Asian language maybe?

Then the voice switched to English with a bit of an accent. Canadian?

"Grandma! You have to go! No- it's not a choice! I- grandma!"

Curios, I leaned my ear toward the sound of the conversation.

The voice broke.

"Grandma, please. I really care about you, so please at least consider doing it. I'll talk to you when I get home."

With a huff, the voice hung up the phone, and to my surprise, plopped himself down right next to me.

The owner of the voice wasn't exactly what I expected.

He was an Asian, with kind of a baby face, but very tall and built.

"Oh! Hi. Sorry, can I sit here?"

"Um, sure."

I wasn't sure what to expect with him.

He looked awkward and big, yet also looked like he could hurt someone if necessary, but wouldn't want to.

Then he blushed.

That made him look kind of cuddly.

I blushed.

"Sorry,  I bet you heard my conversation. It's just-
Just family problems." he said looking down at the ground.

"You can tell me if you want."

I was curious now.

"Well- I- it's my grandma. She needs this surgery, but she refuses to go through with the operation."

This made me think of my own mother, when we fought and were stubborn with each other.

"Don't give up. That's my best advice. Do something to show that you care about her and that's why she needs to go through with it."

He lifted his face from his hands.

"That's really good advice... I don't know what I would do though..."

"Just tell her that you don't want her to die, and you want her to be with you."

He smiled at me.

"Okay, I'll try that. Thank you-"

"Hazel."

"Hazel." He tested the word out on his tongue, it sounded good there.

"I'm Frank."

That was an unexpected name also.

"Well, I have to go. Thank you, Hazel. See you tomorrow."

I waved at him as he walked off, and then paused.

Wait, did he just say see you tomorrow?

Tomorrow suddenly seemed a lot brighter.

AN

Yay! A happy chapter lol.

I'm VERY sorry for not updating a while.

Also, recently I got into twenty øne piløts, and they're awesome!!

I love their songs, especially kitchen sink, truce, and car radio.

Yours in demigodishness, and all that. Peace out.