Tension!
Hazel stares at her homework. She can't focus on anything but what Raph told her. She shakes her head. 'Homework.. I said homework.' She looks at her Biology. 'Okay, mammals; wolf,' she writes, 'pig, bear, turtle.' She stops at the third letter. "Turtles aren't mammals. They are reptiles."
She erases the word. She continues, but then she looks twice. She wrote Raph's name on the edge of her paper. She sighs, putting her pencil down.
'I'm not going to be able to focus.'
Chloe sits, crossing her legs on her floor. Her phone was ringing, so she waited until she got to her room before picking up. "Hello?"
=Hi, Chloe= Hazel says on the other side. Chloe perks up.
"Hey Hazel, what's up?" Hazel freezes up on her end. "Hazel?"
Hazel stares at the phone. "Uhh.. just making sure my phone works. Looks like it does, bye!" Then she quickly hangs up the call. 'What am I doing!' She asks herself, 'I told Raph I can keep a secret, and now I'm calling my best friend under pressure?'
She takes a deep breath. Hazel sets her phone to the side and then starts at her homework again.
"Besides," she tells herself, "Chloe isn't the person to call about this. She doesn't like Raph. She wouldn't approve of any of this." Hazel stops what she's doing and tilts her head to the phone slowly. 'But..' She picks it back up. "His family must be worried, being his team as well."
She dials up the Hamato house and waits. =Konichiwa= Master Yoshi says. Hazel freezes again.
"Mister Hamato! Hi," she says, almost as if he is the one that called.
=Miss Reinberg= he says politely.
"Um, how are you?" She asks.
=Life has its mysteries= he says, answering vaguely. Hazel pauses a moment.
"So is..." she doesn't ask about Raph. She knows where he is.
=Miss?= He asks. Hazel hears concern in his voice.
'He knows something's wrong,' she panics. Quickly, Hazel shuts the phone off. 'Oh great, now he definitely knows something's off!' The door closes downstairs.
"Hazel!" Her grandma calls. Hazel takes another deep breath and walks out of her room.
"Up here," she calls back, walking down the stairs. Her grandma hangs up her coat behind the bench as Hazel finishes walking down. She's just past middle age with grains of gray appearing in her brown hair. Her eyes are chocolate, like her son's; Hazel's dad. She has a few light wrinkles in her skin, but still looks younger than others her age.
"How was school?" She asks her grand daughter. Hazel gives her a hug, needing one herself.
"It's alright.. what about work?"
"Gerald was at it again," Grandma says, chuckling. Hazel chuckles with her, knowing exactly what she means. Gerald was the young jokester where her grandma worked. "Although.. he always finds ways to make me smile."
The elder of the two sighs, chuckling lightly. "I'm glad the weather didn't beat you down," Hazel says.
"Oh, no," Grandma says as they walk to the kitchen. "It tried though. It certainly tried." She stops and takes a different turn. "Excuse me Hazel, but I have to use the restroom." Hazel goes to the kitchen and washes some stray dishes. She hears the toilet on the first floor flush and the sink turn on. Finally, her guardian joins her again.
"So, who's cooking tonight?" Hazel asks.
"I will, dear. I'm sure you have homework."
"Do you need anything else?" Hazel asks, drying off her hands.
"Go on, I'm not that old yet," her grandma says, good-naturedly. Hazel smiles and treks back up the stairs. She looks at her homework splayed on her bed, but she doesn't want to do any of it.
'But I have to,' she sings in her head. She gathers it all up and goes to Raph's room. She closes the door quietly and sits next to the wall a few feet from it.
"What are you doing?" Raph asks, looking at her.
"Homework," Hazel says.
"..Why here?"
"Because Grandma's home and we can't have you yelling if you need something and tell her you are here, can we?" Hazel says, looking up. Raph stares at her, the fake smile there.
But as Hazel is a good actress, he doesn't notice. He leans back on the bed, waiting for all of this to be over. Hazel manages to get a good portion of her homework done. She shifts all the papers to the side and looks at Raph again.
"So.. are you hungry?" She asks. Raph is about to immediately say no, but then he realizes that, yeah, he's hungry.
"Kinda.." he says carefully. Hazel stands up.
"Be right back." She walks down to the kitchen. Her grandma is in the living room. Supper is on the stove, chicken tenders and fries. 'I have the coolest grandma.' She gets two plates and scoops up enough for Raph and herself onto them. Then she gets a bowl and washcloth, since the one she used before isn't warm anymore.
"Hazel," her grandma says, "There was a stack of papers in the printer, are they yours?"
Hazel turns around and sees a stack of fliers on the table, "Yes Grandma. Thank you." She looks at the one on top. It has a drawing she found of a turtle. There are other things, like her name, number, the turtle's name Spike, and the reward if someone found him. She heard of Spike and couldn't wait for them to find him. She wanted to help.
She gathers them in her arms. Balancing the two plates, bowl of water, and the stack of fliers, she walks up the stairs. Hazel stops in her room and slides them into her backpack. Then she goes to Raph.
"Here you go, fresh from the oven." She helps him sit up again and he takes the plate.
"...Thanks.." Raph mutters. He picks one up and takes a bite.
Hazel takes her spot next to the bed, getting the cloth wet. "..Well," she says slowly, "It seems that you still have a fever. I'll check your leg tomorrow and see-"
"Look," Raph interrupts, "I just want to be by myself right now, okay?" Hazel stops what she's doing and looks at him.
She sighs, "..Okay.." she drops the cloth in the water and walks to her stuff. She gathers up her homework and plate. The door closes behind her.
*sigh* Bit of a bitter mood now.
I know I updated late today, but I went to Sections for the One Act Play. We got second place! *cheers!*