Mom offered to let me stay home from school the next day. I guess she felt bad about having Luke around when I was, well, you remember. I didn't feel like staying home and feeling sorry for myself, so I told her I'd go.

Jane seemed to notice a shift in my mood. She could always tell when I was upset. Unfortunately that meant her poking and prodding at me until I spilled whatever out whatever was wrong. Eventually English came around, a class that would only come as a relief that one day, because that one beautiful and torturous class meant that Jane would finally stop bothering me.

I think Hazel noticed my moodiness as well, but she said nothing. I was thankful for that. We continued our project in silence.

Finally, after a half hour of heavenly quiet—aside from the scratching of pencils and chattering of students—Hazel looked up at me.

"Hey," she said. "Do you wanna get out of here?"

I'd only heard a girl say that in the movies, when she was really into in a guy, so I was a little thrown off.

"Woah, what?" I stuttered. She raised her eyebrows in suspicion at my response, and I quickly amended myself. "We're in school, we can't just up and leave."

Hazel stood up from where we were sitting on the floor and called out to Mrs. Berkely. "Hey, Mrs. Berkely? Could I please go to the bathroom?"

Mrs. Berkely smiled at her and inclined her head. Hazel then turned to me and said in the lowest voice that was humanly possible, "meet me there in five minutes. If she says no, piss yourself."

I stared at her, wide eyed as she left the room, giving Mrs. Berkely a sweet smile as she did. I watched her go, then glanced up at the clock on the wall looming over the teachers desk. This was insane. I couldn't meet Hazel in the bathroom, what if she tried to kill me? Or even worse, what if she tried to kiss me? The minute hand seemed to stand still, but finally five minutes had passed.

I felt my hand go up, almost involuntarily, and Mrs. Berkely looked up at me through her glasses. "Yes, Mr. Brown?"

"I have to go to the bathroom," I said, trying to keep my face as still and blank as possible.

She considered me for a moment, then shook her head and put one of her papers in a folder. "You'll have to wait until Ms. Meringuer is back."

I felt my breath catch in my throats and I stood up. "Er—I really have to go, Mrs. Berkely."

I could hear the snickers begin.

She sighed and looked back at me. "I'm sorry, Mr. Brown, but you must respect the rules of the classroom."

"Mrs. Berkely, I have to go!" More snickers.

Mrs. Berkely glared at me. "Mr. Brown. If you cannot respect the regulations of this classroom you might as well leave the class. There's a switching classes form on my desk."

"I'm about to piss my pants!" I cried out. Mrs. Berkely looked shocked. The classroom walls were now shaking from the class's roars of laughter. I turned red, and then stormed out of the classroom, towards the bathrooms. That was hard, but now came the hardest question.

Which one was Hazel in?

First I checked the boy's bathroom. It wasn't the likeliest place for her to be, but it was safer for me and I had no idea whether or not Hazel would be bothered by that kind of stuff, unlike me.

Unfortunately for me, she wasn't there.

I groaned and turned towards the door, slowly making my way towards the girl's bathroom. Oh, almighty being who decides my fate, please don't make me do this, I thought.

My hand was reaching for the doorknob, shaking ever so slightly. I couldn't do it. There was no way.

I had just closed my fist around the knob when someone tapped me on the back.

"Hey, pervert. Whatcha doing by the girls bathroom?"

I turned around quickly to see Hazel standing there, holding a bag of chips.

"Where were you?" I hissed.

She shrugged. "I went to get a snack from the vending machine. I didn't expect you to be able to get out of that class so fast. And I definitely didn't expect to see you sneaking into the girls bathroom."

I glared at her, but felt a sense of relief that I wouldn't have to go in.

"You ready?" She asked.

Was I?

"For what?" I asked back, feeling my nerves jump up and down inside me.

"For an adventure."

I took a shaky breath, but felt myself nod before I could even realize what I was doing. Hazel smiled brilliantly, then pushed me into the boy's bathroom. I saw her glance at the security camera (which did not face us, thank goodness), then came in as well.

Once we were both inside I felt the need to ask rise up inside me, until I blurted it out. "What are we doing here?"

Hazel put a finger to her lips and looked at a stall, then kicked the door open. Thankfully no one was there.

"Let's go," she said, hoisting herself up onto a urinal and using that to get up to the window. I stared at her, wide eyed.

WHAT THE HELL?

"What the hell are you doing?" I nearly screamed. I had no clue what was going on, and it was beginning to freak me out. Or maybe it had already begun to freak me out, and this was the top of it.

"Just get up here!" She said in annoyance. "I'm tired of all your questions!" She was unlocking the window. The window.

"I don't want to climb up a urinal!" The door opened just as I said that, and a boy quickly turned around and went the other way.

Hazel rolled her eyes and slid the window open, then climbed through. I stood slack jawed as she bent down and cursed me out, basically threatening me that if I didn't get out of there soon—well, basically it got me out of that building pretty quickly.

We sat on the grass outside the bathroom for a few seconds, catching our breath from all the yelling, then Hazel grabbed my hand and hoisted me onto my feet.

"Let's do this," she said simply, then pulled me along with her as she ran past the security guards, who yelled at us to slow down. I wish we could have.

We continued running for quite some time. It was almost exhausting. No, wait. It was extremely exhausting.

After about ten minutes, I couldn't take it any longer. "Can we take a break or something? I feel like my legs are about to fall off."

"No need for your exaggerations, Marty," Hazel said. "We're here."

We were standing at an abandoned gas station. Old tires were stacked up on the sides, the machines were incredibly outdated, and the store was boarded up and looked like it hadn't been visited in years. The place was a dump.

"This is my haven," Hazel said, spreading her arms wide and looking over at me. "It's where I come when I get all down like you were. D'you like it? I know it doesn't look very nice, but the place has got heart. Almost literally. A guy was murdered here and they took out about everything inside him.

I stared at her, then at the place. At her, at the place. It was strange, how different they were from each other, and yet she seemed to love it. "It's uh... it's great." I said quietly. "But I've got to be honest, I was hoping for something a little cooler. Or more relaxed. This place looks awful."

Hazel wrinkled her nose at me, and I fought the urge to laugh. "Shut up, stalker, this place is awesome and you know it. Now go sit on those tires while I get us some snacks." As I hopped up on the dusty tires Hazel turned and walked over to the door, swinging it open easily. As I stared, she pointed at the wood and I realized it was only boarded to each door separately, not holding them together. Strange.

Minutes later she returned with two bags of pretzels and cans of Pepsi, and I couldn't help but grin. She was a Pepsi fan. Good to know.

We sat and chatted there for a while, telling jokes and such. I was about to try and push her off the tires (jokingly, of course) when she held up a hand. "No touching, mister. That's the rule of this acquaintanceship."

I sat there for a moment, then nodded in agreement. I could understand that, I guess.

After that, we were quiet for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company. Or at least, I was.

"You know..." Hazel hesitated, and I leaned in closer. Was I finally about to find out something about her? About to gain a piece of the puzzle that was Hazel Meringuer?

"I'm sorry, about whatever you were upset about. It's hard, not being able to talk about it, or not wanting to."

I turned to look at her, maybe to read in her eyes what she was trying to tell me, but she was facing the ground, and her hair covered what little of her face I would have been able to see.

"It was nothing," I said after a minute. "Just a moment of weakness."

She chuckled. "The only moments of weakness you have, stalker, are the moments in which I beat your ass in English grades."

I felt a small smile appear across my lips, and was about to speak when she jumped off the tires. "Come on. School's bound to be over by now. I'll walk you home."

"What am I, five?" I asked, but the idea of walking home with Hazel was appealing, so I said nothing after that.

As we headed home, I wondered why Hazel had trusted me enough to take me to this place, and if our friendship would soon get high enough for her to take me to the roof.