⎯ ❝love is embarrassing.❞

There was no use for Estelle to be around PJ and Josie anymore. They were growing annoyed with themselves because of the failure and embarrassment they'd undergone and aimed it towards anyone talking to them. This was the precise reason she hadn't wanted to go in the first place. Hazel's tips didn't seem to pay off ( since Estelle hadn't made any new friends since ). But if she was being honest, Hazel herself didn't have that many friends either. So how good were her tips really?

"Wanna go on the ferris wheel?" Hazel asked once PJ and Josie had walked off in shame.

That same moment, Estelle got a text. She checked it, seeing it was from Isabel. You can go back with your brother alone. I don't have to see him. It said. "Oh, fuck, I can't," She held up her phone for Hazel to read the text. "Jeff again. This man seriously can't do anything alone. And I'm the younger sibling." She scoffed.

"Want me to come?" Hazel offered again. She raised her brows. "I bet if you gave him the wrong directions, he'd forget where his own house is."

Estelle looked down, trying to stifle a smile. She looked up at her friend, said smile on her lips. "He has fallen into that, yeah. I'll just— I'll see you tomorrow at school."

            "Okay," Hazel's expression faltered, but Estelle didn't notice. "See you tomorrow."

            The redhead walked off, towards the parking lot. Since the fair had plenty of visitors each year, they had big parking lots. Two rows with cars on each side. Jeff had a reserved spot, right at the front. Estelle didn't have the keys, so she just sat on top of it, her arms crossed as she waited for her brother.

            He wasn't the first to arrive. Josie and PJ walked into the other row, PJ pushing cars out of frustration as she did so. Estelle hid herself behind the car more. She was not about to be sucked into another conversation with them, straight after the awkward one from before.

            They were talking loudly and, even though she didn't wish to, Estelle heard every word they were saying. It wasn't anything interesting ( the only topic was how fucked their love lives were now ). Soon Estelle's attention was brought to Isabel and Jeff, who now also entered the parking lot. Estelle hadn't expected them to still be walking together.

            Isabel was walking about two feet in front of Jeff, yelling for him to leave her alone. "Why do you always have to flirt with other women?" Isabel screamed. She tried running away from him, however due to her heels, she wasn't as fast as she'd usually be.

            "It doesn't count if they're not in high school." Jeff countered.

            "Especially Ms. Reilly!"

            Screaming a few other things at him, Jeff sunk to his knees, grasping for his head. Estelle felt that was the time to near them, even if it was just to get the keys in her possession. Jeff grunted. "You're hurting my head. You're attacking me and it's giving me a migraine. And it's giving me PTSD about all the other times I've had migraines."

            Isabel saw Estelle coming closer. She seemed relieved she was there, but the anger and annoyance had a bigger presence. She shook her hands in the air next to her head, walking away from her ex-boyfriend. From one of the cars a female voice asked. "Isabel, would you like a safety ride?"

            Isabel immediately made a sharp turn into the back of the car. Estelle watched how Jeff moved to stand in front of the car. He placed his hands firmly on the hood. "Get out of the car." He ordered.

            Estelle mixed herself in the fight. "If she doesn't want to, Jeff—"

            "Shut up, Estelle, no one asked you!" Jeff screamed abruptly. Estelle jumped at his reaction a little, she then stepped back. There was no way she was letting him take Isabel with him, but in this state there was no arguing with him.

            "You can't tell me what to do!" Isabel screamed back from inside the car.

            Jeff held up his hands mockingly. He spoke in that same mocking voice. "Okay, I'm sorry that I looked at Mrs. Reilly and slightly grazed her left tit, all right?"

            "Move, you prick!"

            The boy only groaned in response. "Uh, excuse me, she said, 'Move, prick.'." Estelle now recognised the voice as Josie's, though she thought they'd already left. That meant PJ was in that same car.

            "Don't talk to me, you ugly bitch, okay?" Jeff pointed his finger at the person behind the wheel, presumably Josie. "I do not talk to girls in overalls." Definitely Josie.

            "Okay, I might be ugly, but these aren't overalls." Josie defended herself. Estelle groaned to herself, crossing her arms tighter to her body as it was starting to get chilly. Jeff and Isabel had these sort of arguments all the time and they were always about him cheating, yet somehow she always went back to him.

            Jeff raised his voice even more. "Isabel, get out of the freaking car! Get out! Get out! Come on!" Estelle took a few more paces back as Jeff started to break down. "You're being really mean right now."

            Estelle rolled her eyes. She took her phone out of her pocket, opening Insta to a picture Brittany had posted of her and Isabel at the fair. She looked up one moment, realising that the bickering had silenced. She narrowed her eyes, trying to see what had happened.

            Jeff was doubled over, Estelle noticed the car had moved only the slightest, which meant this was just another one of Jeff's dramatic moments. He squealed before falling to the ground, hysterically holding his knee, sobbing. In a fast pace, the rest of the rugby team ( led by Tim ) came running towards him.

            He sat down with him on the ground, pulling Jeff on his lap. The team surrounded him, they acted as though they were in a World War and Jeff had just been shot. Isabel saw her chance and took off. She pulled Estelle along by her arm.

            "I am so sorry that is your brother?" She leaned in to say.

            Estelle shook her head. "I'm telling you, by tomorrow he's gonna be on crutches." She laughed. Really, this shouldn't have been anything for her to laugh about. This meant she was probably gonna have to stay up half the night, tending to a wound he didn't even have in the first place.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

            However bad Estelle wanted to be wrong about that, she was not. That night, she barely slept because of Jeff's whining all night. And the worst part was, her dad actually bought it. He believed every single word he said and when Jeff said Estelle stood there and did nothing, he was not happy.

            She sat in Mr. G's class, preparing for the day to come with a little power nap. Estelle knew there wasn't going to be much of a class this hour. This was Jeff's first hour, and knowing he was bringing his crutches, he was going to make a scene.

            You might wonder if it has been failed to mention that the siblings are twins ( they're in the same class after all ). Thankfully, they are not. That would mean they didn't only share DNA but their entire system, and Estelle would rather die an agonising death. Jeff was held back in sixth grade. She was surprised he was only held back once in his life. However shortly after the decision was made, both the teacher and director had to urgently leave the school and were never spotted again.

            In front of Estelle sat Annie, a curvy, black girl. She was smart, probably one of the smartest kids in the whole school. She was already making homework ( I mean, come one, who makes homework at 8.30 AM? ). On Estelle's left sat Sylvie, one of Estelle's former regulars. That's really all she knew about her. In front of Sylvie sat Hazel, though she hadn't arrived yet.

           Estelle was just about to close her eyes to drift into a vast sleep when Hazel entered. That was reason enough for her to hold them open. Her bag —which she'd been using as pillow— remained in its spot. And her head on the bag remained in the same position also.

            Neither girls had time to say anything to each other as PJ and Josie came in shortly after Hazel. Hazel hadn't even sat down yet. "Holy shit. Are you guys okay?" She asked, sitting down next to Annie.

            "What? Yeah." PJ answered. She seemed confused by the question.

            Estelle was just as confused as PJ. She raised her head from her bag, narrowing her eyes. "Do they not look okay?" Annie looked back at her, Estelle wasn't sure what to make out of her expression. "Am I missing some vital information?"

            "All right, kiddos," Mr. G started his class. He sat on his desk, folding his hands together. "Welcome back to class. All right, check it out. Today I got a special lesson for all of you."

            Estelle sank back in her seat, her head back in its position on her bag. She saw Annie lean forward toward Josie. "Josie, so, how'd you do it?"

            She furrowed her eyebrows. Josie was too far away for her to hear her answer and now she was only more confused. Estelle found out what the rumours were about mere seconds later, when Jeff almost fell through the door. He was puffing and sending glares in Josie's way. His crutches bumped into nearly every table, yet he insisted on bringing them with him.

            "Hey, you good, man?" Mr. G asked him. He eyed him a little suspiciously.

            The whole class viewed that as a free pass to continue talking. Estelle took her phone out, scrolling past any new music on Spotify. Because how can anyone focus on one person talking when everyone was talking? One voice stood out to her, and no surprise that it was Hazel's.

            "Oh, my God. Annie, they went to juvie. That's how, okay?" She exclaimed loud enough to be louder than the rest of the class. Estelle looked up from her phone, to look at Hazel. She was only staring at her back, but even from the back, Estelle still thought she looked pretty. Hazel was the only one in school with her hair cut so short, it made her unique. Estelle forced herself to look away after getting a strange tingling sensation in her stomach.

            "Hey. Hey. Hey. You. Overall bitch," Jeff's hushed voice came from behind. Estelle knew it wasn't meant for her but still turned around. He was holding some glassware that was in the classroom for during science. "This is you." He smashed the glass against the table, making an imaginary cut passed his throat.

           "God, damn it, Jeff. What the fuck?" Mr. G threw his hands up. "Hey, you couldn't make that analogy with your fists?"

            Estelle chuckled at her teacher's comment. As she did so, the PA chimed. Principal Meyers' voice echoed through the speakers. "Hello, this is Principal Meyers with an important Huntington update. So, listen to this girl."

            A voice Estelle recognised to be Shelley's ( a girl in her Maths class ) spoke on the PA. "Last night, outside the fair, a Huntington player followed me home, pinned me against my car and punched me in the face. And now my face is totally fucked."

            The redhead leaning on her bag glanced to her left, where Sylvie had her mouth wide open. She looked as though she was about to cry. Principal Meyers continued. "We haven't faced the violence of Huntington for 20 years. They think they can get in our heads by picking on our weak and defenceless. Well, we can't let them break our spirit, folks. Keep your heads in the game."

            At this point in the speech, Sylvie was utterly spooked. She frantically stood up from her seat. "They're gonna pork us!" She yelled. Hazel turned her head back, only to give Estelle a weak and feeble, yet genuine smile.

           Mr. G did an attempt to contain his class, but was unsuccessful. The bell rang before he could say anything else. The students ran out of their seats to their next classes. Estelle saw Hazel standing up but being pushed back down by Jeff. He was also walking perfectly normal.

            As Estelle already happened to be standing behind her brother, she grabbed her bag and hit him with it. Twice. Though that wasn't enough yet, when she passed him, she smacked her hand on the back of his head. God, would she have given anything not to be born into this family.

            Hazel followed Estelle out of the classroom. Jeff still stood in the same spot when Estelle turned back to glare at him one more time. If there was one thing she'd learned about friendship, and more importantly, her own behaviour in a friendship, it was that she looked out for the people she cared about. And if anyone hurt her, Estelle would be there to hurt them back.

Author's Note
am i posting twice a day? who am i? i dont recognise myself. anyway as you've just read, this doesn't have as much hazel content as it just goes deeper into estelle's life at home. but i think its mostly just a filler, im gonna be totally honest. this was pretty boring. howevaa its out.