Chapter 6

She woke with a thin layer of sweat encasing her body and the alarm blaring. She quickly shut it off and wiped the sleep out of her eyes. Very groggily, she slips out from out of her covers and walks to her closet. Grabbing a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she heads to her dresser. She begins combing her long hair. After, she hops into her bathroom for her toothbrush. She quickly brushes her teeth, washes her face and puts on the faintest of concealer and mascara.

"Are you ready yet?" she hears.

"Well, if you put it that way, no I am not ready." She smiles evilly when she sees Merlin standing in the middle of her room.

"If I had known that then I would not have come at all!"

"Oh really?" she says sarcastically.

"Yes."

"Can you do me a favor?"

"And that would be?"

"To meet me at school in 15-20 minutes?"

"And why would I do that?"

"Because my mother will freak out if she finds you here."

"Right. So I will see you there?"

"Yes now goodbye!"

He vanishes as quickly as he appeared. She grabs the items need for school that are discarded randomly around the room and stuffs them in her bag. She closes it and walks out of her bedroom. Turning right, she walks down the stairs. She walks into the kitchen and sees her mom hunched over her coffee, face as white as the snow outside.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"Fine why?"

"You have the face of a ghost and are gripping the coffee cup like your life depends on it."

"Oh, well, I am fine. No need to worry."

"Okay. I'm just going to have cereal for breakfast today okay?"

"Sure. I'll make toast for Josh."

"Okay."

They set off doing their jobs until both lunches were made and Josh's toast with Nutella was ready. She poured herself a bowl of Mini Wheat's with milk and begins scarfing it down. Once she was finished, she dumped the remaining milk in the sink.

"Bye Mom!"

"Bye sweetie! Have a good day!"

She leaves the house, gets in her car and drives. The thermometer reads that it is 32˚F (0˚C) outside. So, she turns up the heater in her car and turns up the volume because her favorite album was playing from her iPod. The album was Disney's Frozen and her favorite song is Let It Go by Idina Menzel. In no time, she arrives at school. She pulls into her spot and gets out. She makes the brisk walk to the doors and enters. She quickly walks to her locker and she opens it to find a little note taped to the inside of the door. It reads,

Hi! I got bored waiting so I wrote you this note! And I know what you are going to say, 'Don't go in my personal space Merlin."

"Damn right." She mutters.

But, I wanted to tell you this one thing a very smart and brave man once said, "Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction." I do know Hayden and I knew Kathrine and this suits both of you. Now, people are arriving so I will see you in English! –M.

She is in shock. Merlin said that about her in this small note. Man, he has got powerful way with words! She on the other hand struggles on her own essays.

She stuffs the note in one of the smaller pockets and shuts her locker. Seeing the time, she practically runs to the classroom. She steps in a few minutes before the bell rings. Everyone has already taken their seats and her usual, secluded spot is open. She spies for Merlin but he seems to be in the front of the classroom, next to all the cheerleaders. She huffs. Of course he would go up there to them. They have all the make-up and curves when she is only lean in muscles. She slides her backpack next to her seat, grabs a pen, and opens her notebook. Mr. Owens calls the class to order. She stares straight ahead and tunes him out. Unbeknownst to her, Merlin turns his head and looks at her.

The bell rings 40 minutes later and she rushes out, hoping she won't run into him. Unfortunately, he catches her in the hallway.

"Hey wait!"

"No! You go and hang out with your new friends! I am sure that they would love to see you use your magic sometime! You know what! I totally knew this was coming! Every boy that has ever gotten close to me ran away! That's why in Camelot I was on my own! You can have your note back and have fun finding Arthur! I hope you wait another thousand years for him! Goodbye Merlin." She turns and walks away from him.

One around the corner, she goes to the bathroom. She opens one of the stalls and closes it. She sits there crying silently for some time. Once gathering enough wits to actually make out a sentence, she unlocks her phone, and calls her mom.

"Baby, what's wrong? Why are you calling in the middle of the day?"

"Something has happened. And I need you to come and take me out of school."

"I will be there just tell me what is wrong."

"A person that I thought I knew did something terrible and I can't face him in my other periods."

"Okay. I will be there in 5 minutes. Be in the office for me okay?"

"Sure. Thank you." She squeaks.

"No problem darling. I will see you soon okay?"

"Yeah, bye." And she hangs up.

She opens the stall door and walks to the bathroom mirror. She sees that her mascara is ruined, so she wipes it off. Once she seems cleaned up enough, she walks to the office. Opening the door, she inhales. The main office always smells of something sweet. Today it smells like apple pie. The walls are painted a deep purple and decorated with swirling designs of silver. The secretary, Mrs. Château, looks up from her work.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes. My mother will be here in a few minutes to pick me up."

"Did you bring in a note?"

"No. I want to go home."

"Why?"

"Well, some boy I know turned out to be a different person than I thought he would be and he is in a couple of my classes throughout the day and I can't face him. He will ask me what is wrong and will get me to not be mad at him anymore. I need a day off."

"Aw. I can surely arrange something. I will put in the attendance that you are sick and try to get this boy out of your schedule. What is his name? I promise to not tell anyone. And what classes do you have with him?"

"His name is Merlin and he is in my English, Social Studies, Lunch, Science and my 8th period Lab and Gym."

"And your name?"

"Hayden Raeman."

She types on her computer for what seems like forever.

"All done. This Merlin will not be giving you any trouble anymore."

"Thank you Mrs. Château for everything."

"No problem dearie. I know how it feels. I was there once and I think your mom is here."

True to her word, her mom's car was pulled up to the curb. She gets out of the car, walks to and opens the main doors. She enters the office saying,

"I am here to pick up my-"

"Yes I know Mrs. Raeman. You are here to pick up your daughter. I understand and everything has been taken care of."

"Thank you for everything Mrs. Château."

"No problem. Hope you feel better!"

They left her car in the parking lot since she was feeling unfit to drive. Once they were home, Hayden headed up to her bedroom. She flung herself onto the bed and sunk into her pillow. A knock came at the door and it opened to her mother.

"Honey? Are you okay?"

She shakes her head no.

"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

Another shake of the head.

"Not even hot chocolate and Doctor Who?"

She sits straight up and nods vigorously.

"Alright, you can get your pajamas on and meet me downstairs okay?"

"Okay."

Her mom leaves her room to go make the hot cocoa. She grabs the discarded clothing, changes, and pulls her hair into a bun on the top of her head. She runs downstairs to the living room and jumps onto the plush couch. She grabs the remote and changes the input to the gaming console. She fired up the Wii and enters Netflix. She clicks on Doctor Who and begins searching through her episode choices when her mom comes in carrying 2 mugs with huge marshmallows and a peppermint stick.

"Just the way you like it. Chris? David? Or Matt?"

"Have not decided yet. Actually, David season 4 The Stolen Earth."

"That's a good one."

"Yeah, a lot of action and not much softness in my opinion. Well, all except when Rose comes back. That was beautiful except for when at the end of the second, she kisses the 'human' Doctor at Bad Wolf Bay. Other than that, all good."

"Honey, I do have to work tonight."

"That's fine with me."

"No it's just the state you are in now and I don't want to leave you like this."

"Mom, what gets me out of my bad state?"

"I know, I know. I just worry about you."

"No need to. I am happy I have the day off and spending it with you. Well, we better stop talking and start watching!"

They watched Doctor Who all day and had fun with the whipped cream in the fridge. Let's just say it took a long time to clean it all up. White covered both of them when Josh came home from school.

"What happened?" he said as his bag slid off his shoulder and onto the ground.

"Nothing! Just this!" and they squirted him with cream.

He screamed happily and managed to find silly string and started spraying us with it. This fun lasted until the contains were empty. The cleaning was done when their dad arrived home at 5 o'clock.

"Why are you all white?"

"We had a cream and string war!" Josh cried.

"And I missed it?!"

"Yes!"

"Darn! Next time. How was school?"

And everything spiraled downhill. Her face turned from happiness to very guarded. She was not going to talk about school and him. She turned away and hears,

"Not now dear. It was a rough day for her."

"How rough?"

"She came home after first period."

"Who did this?"

"She didn't tell me his name. All I know is he was not the boy she thought he was."

"When I find him-"

"No dad." She interrupts. "He is not worth it."

"Can you at least give me his name?"

"No. He is better off anonymous."

"Okay. I see that something simple will probably for dinner? Yes?"

"Actually, we were in the kitchen for some time today. Like Shepard's Pie for dinner and chocolate mousse pie for dessert."

"You need more days off!"

Their meal an hour later was one of the best she has ever had. The beef was tender and the vegetables cooked to perfection. The mashed potatoes hardened enough to give a little crunch. It was just wonderful. Then, dessert was divine. She scooped out some peanut butter and set it on the side of the plate. The chocolate and peanut butter tasted heavenly together. At the end, everyone was stuffed.

"May I be excused?" she asks.

"Yes go ahead." Her father answers.

"Thank you." She walks over to her mom and gives her a kiss goodbye.

She returns her plate to the dishwasher and runs upstairs to her room. Once in her room, she shuts the door. She walks over to her bag to find her phone. Finding it, she checks her text messages. Merlin left her 12 texts and 3 voicemails. So, she deletes his contact and calls her voicemail. Before hearing a single word, she deletes them too. She throws her phone onto the bed and walks to her laptop. She turns it on and waits for it to boot up. Once doing so, she checks her Pinterest and email. Sure enough, about 10 emails from Merlin. All the subjects say; I'm sorry, here me out. Ugh this is annoying!

"Go away Merlin!" she murmurs to herself.

"Aw that's too bad! I am already here." A voice behind her says.

She turns in the chair around to see a disheveled Merlin. His hair was spiked in weird places and his clothes were askew. His eyes were of a madman's and his face pale and shattered like broken glass.

"Go away! I don't want to talk to you!"

"Just tell me what I did! Then I promise I will go away!"

"You abandoned me! That's what you did! And I have it fixed so you will never hurt me again!"

"How did I abandon you?"

"Well, you wrote that note and you don't sit with me! Why? Why did you leave me there?"

"Because I had to!"

"No you didn't."

"I didn't have to what?"

"You didn't have to leave me there!"

"I had no choice."

"Merlin, you always have a choice. You should have learned that by now!"

"Sure I have!"

"Then why didn't you use your own free will?"

He was speechless.

"Go." She says. "Leave now. I don't want to see you here again."

"But, I asked you something. Did the vial travel over?"

"Yes but it smashed."

"Then I ask you. Please. Let me see him once." He pleaded.

"One problem. You and I were captured by Morgana. You are not going to see Arthur. Not now and not ever!"

Merlin yelled and his eyes glowed gold. All she remembers is being thrown against the wall and darkness.

A/N: I know I am sorry for not uploading so quickly. There is something out there called life and high school. And like always, thank you! I will try to put something from all the countries in this story because you all mean something to this story. Also I know that you hate hearing this but, I love reviews. Inspiration is beautiful thing and the reviews give me that…

I do not own Merlin or any products mentioned.

larasmith- No, Can't say, No, Wait and find out! (Btw, I love your questions! Make me think of stuff I never thought of!)

Who said the quote Merlin used in Hayden's note? If you figure it out, kudos to you!