Chapter Nine: Compare My Pain to Yours

"I better go take care of this." Hazel nodded disappointed as Sean ran after Ellie. As she sat down hugging her knees, she wondered would it always be like this. Would she always be the one left in the dark as Sean ran after a distraught Ellie?

"Why do you look so sad?" Paige wondered sitting beside me as I turned the other way.

"Nice to see you again. You know you're such a great friend Paige. I love how you started Jimmy on this drug thing and conveniently disappeared when things got tough."

"Haze. I knew you would be mad at me so I was trying to give you time to fix things … and I felt guilty." Paige began as Hazel gave her a look.

"All right. Fine. I felt really, really guilty for being so horrible to you." Paige admitted. "But you haven't been a perfect friend either."

"Paige, I really don't have time for this routine. We do this every time one of us messes up, but I have real problems right now." Hazel explained with a sigh.

"Our friendship isn't important to you?" Paige spat out in disgust.

"I'm not saying that, but as a friend if you could just give me time to fix everything, I promise we'll spend tons of time together later." Hazel promised.

"Whatever." Paige shrugged, surprised at Haze's response. She was never so nonchalant about their relationship before.

"It's just that…" Hazel stopped speaking upon seeing Jimmy wrapped up with Madison. With a quick glance, Madison smiled before moving closer to Jimmy.

"Hazel. I had no idea. What are you going to do?" Paige almost yelled as Hazel picked up her shoulder bag and stood up.

"It's not as bad as it looks. I didn't tell you this, but … Jimmy and I are in an open relationship." Hazel found herself smiling when thinking about Sean.

"Was this his idea or yours? Who is this guy that you're smiling about? I want to know!" Paige probed as Hazel tried to think of a way to explain this to Paige.

She hadn't told anyone yet, except for Jimmy. "Well…" She began still smiling. "You know Sean, right?" Paige's mouth opened in surprised as Hazel and Sean practically ran into each other when turning the corner.

"Hey." Hazel beamed as Sean looked away and Ellie snatched up his hand.

"Ouch." Paige patted Hazel on the back as she just shrugged, but what she was feeling was more than just a shrug. This was awful, a complete mess.

Scene

"So you finally gained some smarts. I knew you weren't just some little innocent bunny rabbit." Joni smiled as Manny stood in the doorway of the apartment. She looked tired.

"I'm only here because … someone took all I had."

"I'm not surprised." Joni ushered Manny into the house, glancing back out into the dark night before shutting the door behind her. "You're okay right? Nothing else happened?"

"No … well … they took Ritchie's bracelet."

"They what!" Joni screamed as Manny jumped in response.

"I'm s-sorry. He had a gun and I couldn't risk it." Manny sighed.

"So you came back here?" Joni wondered. "Smart move kid." She continued so smoothly that Manny couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

"Where are we going?"

"You're getting in the bath. Tomorrow you start working at Ritchie's and don't worry … he'll start you off easy. No stage stuff yet. You do sing, right?" Manny nodded as Joni ripped off her clothes. Instinctively, Manny covered herself.

"Don't worry about it kid. I'm not a lesbian or anything, but … you might want to watch out for Blythe. She's a little … you know." Joni started tossing different bubble baths and scents into the tub as the water steadily rose higher and higher.

"So don't listen to anything she says. Stick with me kid and call me when you need me." Joni tossed Manny some shampoo and went to make that call to Ritchie. The pregnant thing would be a problem. But other than that, this "Manny" was their next star.

Scene

The next Monday morning Liberty came to school. No one knew whether she was really pregnant or not. Right now, they were just so-called rumors. But, the real mission here was the petition she had been carrying around.

"Hey Libs, glad to see you." Kendra hugged her a little too tightly as Liberty tried to make it through the day. So far, she had gotten two hundred and fifty signatures, just under the three hundred needed.

"Will you sign?"

"I don't know Libs … I agree with what you're saying, but if my parents find out that I've signed it they'll kill me. They'll make me take a pregnancy test and I haven't even done anything." Kendra answered apologetically, waiting for the right moment to run off.

"Of course and I won't hold it against you Kendra. You're not the first to give me a bogus excuse." Liberty snapped, getting moodier and more tired by the moment. Unbelievable. Her own—

"I'll sign." Peter came out of nowhere, hugging Liberty from behind and grabbing the clipboard out of her hands. "Wow. You're really serious about this."

"You know what this is for? What if you're mommy gets mad." Liberty pressed as Peter shrugged and signed it anyway. "You've been drinking." She noted looking at his blood-shot eyes.

"So what if I have. Life's a party. Whoo!" He yelled, rushing off down the hallway, stopping only to 'pants' someone.

"So mature."

"Who is?" JT asked, looking in the same direction that Liberty was looking.

"No one. Would you sign?"

"Me? Sign? Hmmm…." JT pretended to be deep in thought. "I will, but at a price."

"What is it?" She rolled her eyes.

"You tell me who this belongs to and we're even." He touched her stomach quickly as Liberty turned to walk away. Not today.

Scene

"Hey Gianni. It's me." Manny snuck the phone up to her ear after taking her bath.

"Manny? I can't even call you. Do you know your number is listed as unavailable?" Gianni wondered as Manny kept looking around paranoid. Joni always seemed to know what everyone was doing all the time.

"Oh." She answered detachedly.

"Is that all you can say? Oh? It's different without you here."

"Don't try to call me. I'll call you whenever I can … everyday." Manny promised with a sigh. She would be calling for her sake so that she could get through this thing … and then what?

"You promise?" Gianni asked as Manny sighed.

"Yeah. You shouldn't be calling here anyway. I work a lot as a waitress… they want me to do a few singing gigs too." Manny continued forcing herself to smile. It was so hard to lie to him when it would be so much easier to run away together or something stupid like that. Now, since losing that bracelet, Manny was obligated to stay here and work … until it was all paid back so she was going to be here for a long, long time.

"I called around … your aunt doesn't live in Canada. Your family's from the Philippines." Gianni jumped in as Manny momentarily covered her face in her hands. How was she going to explain this?

"So, I lied. I'm working right now … I've got this under control. That's all you need to know."

"I doubt some place is going to let a pregnant girl be a waitress and sing. What have you gotten yourself into?" Gianni started getting louder and louder.

"I'm not your child. You can't tell me what to do with my life!" Manny yelled too, trying not to get too loud.

"Like hell I can't. You're ruining it, anyone can see that." Gianni held back the urge to throw something. "I want to meet you at that restaurant."

"What? Why?"

"Meet me there or I'll find you. Do these people even know you're a minor?" He continued.

"I really want to see you but--" Manny choked out a cry as she heard footsteps near the door. Immediately, she hung up the phone. It was Joni.

Scene

"Were you trying to embarrass me today?" Hazel asked, grabbing Jimmy by the arm and pressing him against the wall.

"How is this any different from what you tried to do to me earlier this morning? You wanted an 'open relationship.' Do you know how embarrassing it is for everyone to know that?"

"Please Jimmy. Grow up for a second. This is serious." Hazel let go of him still pissed off.

"I have a feeling you were doing this whole open relationship thing before I even suggested. What's even going on with you anyway? Ever since the accident … I don't even know you." Hazel sighed.

"And you weren't seeing Cameron?" Jimmy asked as Hazel looked at him in surprise. "So the rumors were true. What happened … did he get tired of you?"

"That's not it at all Jimmy. You wouldn't understand." She explained.

"Why not? I've been trying to get myself together and do what you want me to do."

"I want you to do Madison on the side? Come on Jimmy. I want you to come clean. Please just be honest with me." She begged, tears in her eyes.

"Only if you promise that you won't hate me." He hugged Hazel tightly as she began to cry softly. When did things get so confusing.

Scene

"I saw you snuggled up good and close with Jimmy today." Sean complained as he and Hazel met at the playground again.

"And you couldn't even acknowledge me when Ellie was around." Hazel shot back. "When did things get so complicated?"

"When we decided to be honest with everyone."

"How's Ellie taking it?" Hazel crossed her legs under her body, swinging back and forth, on the swing, the wind blowing through her hair.

"She didn't. I told her I would end it." Sean admitted as Hazel forced herself to smile.

"Wow. Amazing … the same thing happened with me and Jimmy today. He promised to stop seeing Madison. I guess it was assumed that I wouldn't see you anymore either." She whispered, searching Sean's eyes for something, anything. He was better at hiding how he was feeling that she was.

"Oh."

"But that doesn't mean we can't still hang out. It may be a little awkward at first, but we should all totally double date." Hazel suggested.

"Yeah, I have to go."

"Don't." Hazel demanded, her eyes beginning to water. "Let's just hang out here for a while." She clung to him tightly, taking in ever scent, every movement … everything. "Kiss me?" Hazel didn't want to forget this moment. She knew it would be the last time they'd be together.

(a/N: I didn't update last week, so I'm trying to get in updates for five stories today … then, I'll update the week after—April 17th. I'm taking a little break and I apologize for not updating every time I'm supposed to. Life is spontaneous and you never know when you won't have the inspiration, the time, or whatever. Thanks for bearing with me and reviewing! And what do YOU want to see happen? –NL)