Chapter Text
Hazel forced herself to give the fight club a bloody grin, ignoring the dull pain that was coursing all throughout her body. Her brain was still buzzing with adrenaline from the fight, and she was beginning to feel light-headed and shaky, but she shrugged it off. She always tried her best to be as happy as possible so that people would want to be around her more, and if that meant she had to “grin and bear it”, she would. Literally.
“That was fucking awesome!”
“Right?!” PJ shouted, jumping up and down excitedly and making various obscene gestures in the direction of the groaning, bloodied football players lying facedown on the field. “We fucking showed those Huntington asswipes not to mess with us again!”
“Hell yeah we did!” Josie agreed, high-fiving Isabell.
Hazel winced and quickly leaned back against one of the bleachers before her legs could give out, being careful to keep a neutral expression on her face. She had perfected this look over the course of many years, and it had always served her well in times like this. She clenched her hands into fists, not caring that her nails were digging into her palms.
The pain was most severe in her side, as if a sharp knife was wedged between her ribs, driving deeper and deeper with each heartbeat. Each time she breathed, a sharp pain shot through her body. She gritted her teeth, hot tears stinging her eyes. But she blinked them away quickly. Her face remained calm, unbothered. She was used to this sort of pain, and she refused to let it get the best of her.
“I can’t believe I actually did that!” Isabell giggled, looking down at her bruised knuckles with pride. “It was… it was amazing!”
“I know!” Brittany chorused, a wide grin on her bloody face. “And it’s all thanks to PJ and Josie!” she added, turning to look at the two girls, her face shining with admiration. “We could NEVER have done this if it wasn’t for you!”
As the rest of the fight club crowed around PJ and Josie, laughing and thanking them, Hazel looked away, her face slowly contorting into a scowl. “Yeah, let them take all the credit,” she thought bitterly, clenching her hands into fists again. “What else is new?”
“Yo, Hazel!”
Hazel quickly straightened her face and looked at PJ, who was walking up to her. “Hey,” she said with a small smile, standing up straight despite the internal screams of protest from her throbbing side. “What’s up?”
“’What’s up’”? PJ repeated with a smirk. “We did it; that’s ‘what’s up’! God, that was fucking incredible! Good thing I started the club, huh?”
“Fuck you, you fucking liar!” Hazel’s brain screamed. But she forced herself to smile at PJ anyway. “Yeah! It was just in time too.”
“Exactly! See, I told you it was a good idea.”
Hazel’s smile faded slightly. “I never said it wasn’t.”
“Yeah, but you’re always, like, all pissy about it.” PJ rolled her eyes. “Whatever though, it’s all in the past now, right?
As Hazel was about to reply, a fresh wave of hot pain suddenly shot through her body, and before she could stop herself, she let out a sharp hiss of pain, clutching her side.
PJ frowned and stepped forward quickly. “Hey, you good?”
“Yeah… yeah I’m fine. I just… uh… gotta pee.” Hazel gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. “Too much Dr Pepper.”
PJ rolled her eyes and stepped back with an annoyed sigh. “Fucking idiot.” She turned away from Hazel and walked over to Brittany.
Immediately, Hazel fell back against the bleachers. The blood pounded in her ears. Her heart thudded in her chest. Her hands shook. Her feet tingled. Her vision blurred and disfigured, as if she were looking through a fish-eye lens. Her side throbbed with a steady, pounding rhythm. The pain was red-hot, searing through her senses, leaving her breathless.
She had to get away. She couldn’t stay near that damned field any longer. She couldn’t look at it.
She looked around desperately. There. The team locker rooms. She pushed off from the wall, trembling, and stumbled shakily towards the team tunnel, wincing with every step. Breathing was hard. Really hard. As if she’d just run the London Marathon.
She stumbled into the locker rooms and closed the door behind her. Groaning, she dragged herself over to the sink, holding her side. She grabbed the edge of the counter for support and looked into the mirror. “Fuuuck...”
She was in bad shape. Her lip was split and throbbing painfully, and there was an angry red scrape on her right cheek. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen from the dark purple bruises beneath them, and there was yet another bruise on her left cheek. Not to mention her arms and legs, which were also covered in large greenish-yellow bruises.
But Hazel wasn’t concerned about that. She took a deep breath and lifted her shirt slightly, biting her lip hard to keep from crying out. The metallic taste of her own blood washed across her tongue for the umpteenth time that day. “Oh my God…”
On her side, there was a large red and purple bruise, the largest she had ever seen in her life. It began right above her hip bone and ended just below the top of her waist.
She remembered the sickening crack she had heard and felt when one of the Huntington football players had swung a large tree branch into her side and her face paled. Her ribs must be broken. She quickly dropped her shirt, feeling a wave of nausea wash over her. “Wh-whatever,” she said shakily to her reflection. “I mean… I’ve had broken bones tons of times before. I’ll be fine.”
But as the adrenaline rush from the fight slowly began to wear off, she was left trembling and gasping in pain.
She managed to stumble into one of the shower stalls and close the curtain behind her before the white-hot wave shocks of pain overtook her body and she crumpled to the ground. Her face contorted in agony, her eyes squeezed shut as she curled into a ball on the floor. She began to sob, her whole body shaking.
How long she stayed like that she had no idea. But soon enough, a comfortably numbing chill took the place of the hot pain and she found she was unable to move, slipping into darkness...
“AHHHH! What the fuck?!”
Hazel’s eyes flew open. She moved to sit up and hissed as a sharp pain shot through her side yet again. She looked up into Jeff’s shocked face, her eyes full of tears she was trying her best not to let fall.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!”
“I-I… I fell asleep…”
“Well get the fuck out! Jesus Christ, can a guy even take a SHOWER without you fucking lesbians around?” He laughed loudly, apparently finding this very funny. “Nah, I’m just kidding. I sure owe you guys one after tonight! But seriously, get out. You wanna sleep, go to the bleachers or something.”
Hazel gritted her teeth and lay back down very carefully. “I… I’d rather stay here actually.”
Jeff stared at her. “Huh? I’m trying to take a shower, idiot!”
Hazel sniffed, holding her side. “So go to a different stall. I’m not looking.”
“You’re acting weird.”
Hazel scoffed. “I AM weird, remember? I’m the ‘school freak’. You said so yourself.” She looked away, scowling.
“Oh come on, I was just playing around!” Jeff rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. “You look like shit by the way,” he added, bending down to peer into her face with a frown. He straightened up and held out his hand. “Now come on, get out. It’s not funny, Harper.”
“It’s Hazel, asshole,” Hazel spat out, clutching her side and gritting her teeth. “The least you can do is get my name right.”
“Whatever! Just get out!”
“No.”
“Why not?!”
“I don’t want to.”
Jeff rolled his eyes and bent down, grabbing Hazel’s arm and pulling her up.
A scream of pain tore from Hazel’s already raw throat, echoing loudly throughout the room. Hot tears fell down her face and her legs gave way beneath her. She would have collapsed to the ground if Jeff hadn’t caught her quickly and set her gently on the floor.
“Hayley! Oh my God, oh my God!” Jeff cried out as he knelt beside her, close to tears himself. “I-I didn’t mean to hurt you; I’m so sorry!”
“N-not your fault,” Hazel choked out, her body shuddering. “Huntington… assholes…”
“Oh, thank God!” Jeff sniffed, wiping his eyes. “Oh right... I mean uh… oh no!” He looked down at her awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Um… where’re you hurt?”
“Ribs.”
“Oof.” Jeff winced sympathetically. “Broken?”
“Yeah.”
“…Is there anything I can do to help or…”
“No. I’ll be fine. Just… give me a couple minutes and I’ll be out of here.”
“Hell no! I’m not letting you walk out of here with broken ribs! You need to get to the hospital.”
“No!” Hazel cried out quickly, wincing at the pain her sudden outburst had caused. She squeezed her eyes shut, sucking in her breath. Once the pain had subsided somewhat, she let out a deep, shaky breath and opened her eyes again. “No. No hospital. I don’t need it. I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t wanna hear it,” Jeff pouted, crossing his arms. “You’re going, whether you like it or not. I’ll carry you myself if I have to.”
Hazel scoffed softly, grimacing. “Oh please.”
“I mean it.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Well I can’t just leave you here!”
“Why do you care anyway?”
“Because you and your dumb lesbian sadist superhero girl-power fight club thing saved my fucking life!”
Hazel stared at him for a few seconds, blinking. Then, she slowly began to smile. “My what?”
Jeff groaned, smiling a bit himself. “Honestly, fuck you. You know what I mean. And don’t try to change the subject!”
“I just need to lie still for a few minutes. I’ll be fine; really. Now shut up.” Hazel said softly, closing her eyes.
Jeff shut up.
Hazel kept her eyes closed, focusing on taking shorter breaths so as to cause herself as little pain as possible.
After a few minutes, Jeff spoke up. “Haisley?” he ventured softly. “Are you okay?”
“Peachy,” Hazel replied with a grimace, keeping her eyes closed.
“Well… you know what, I’m gonna go get Mrs. Callahan.” Jeff moved to get up and Hazel’s eyes flew open.
“Don’t,” she said desperately, grabbing Jeff’s hand and trying her best to stay still. “I don’t want her here. Not now.”
“What? Why not?”
Hazel let go of his hand and looked away. “Please… just don’t.”
Jeff threw up his hands. “Fine! I’ll just get Penny and Jordan then.”
“Wait!” But Jeff had already run out. Hazel groaned and leaned her head back against the floor. “Great. Just fucking great.”
Slowly, her eyelids drooped shut. At least now it was quiet.
“Hazel! Oh my God!”
Hazel groggily opened her eyes. “Hey, Josie.”
“I came as soon as I heard,” Josie said breathlessly, kneeling beside Hazel. “Did Jeff call 911?”
“No…”
“Fucking idiot…” Josie cursed, taking out her phone.
“What’re you doing?” Hazel asked sluggishly, her tongue numb.
“Calling an ambulance obviously,” Josie replied, punching the screen.
“Jo… don’t, okay? I’m fine…” Hazel said slowly, her eyelids beginning to droop again.
“No you’re not! Now be quiet…” Josie put the phone up to her ear as Hazel closed her eyes.
“911?... Yes, it’s an emergency… My friend broke her ribs… We’re at Rockbridge Falls High School… Okay… Okay, thank you.” She put the phone down. “They’ll be here as soon as possible. Hey, are you okay? Don’t pass out on me.”
“Mmmmm…” Hazel replied softly.
“That better fucking mean ‘I won’t’,” Josie growled. “How bad is the pain?”
“Not that bad…” Hazel replied in a quiet voice, opening her eyes slightly. “It was really bad before, but now I just feel… numb.”
Josie nodded and took Hazel’s hand, gently tracing her fingers along Hazel’s knuckles. “You’ll be okay; I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Hazel smiled softly. “Thanks, Jo. Hey, where’s PJ?” she added, looking around and trying to keep her voice casual.
Josie grinned. “Oh, she and Brittany took off, like, half an hour ago. No one knows where they went.” She laughed and leaned in to whisper playfully, “I’m guessing Brittany had her gay awakening.”
Hazel’s eyes widened slightly. She bit her lip and swallowed hard, her chest tight. “O-oh. That’s… that’s great. I’m glad you and PJ finally got the girls you wanted.”
“I know, right?! Everything’s going perfectly!”
Hazel lay her head back and closed her eyes, trying not to cry. Of course PJ would choose Brittany over her; who wouldn’t? That kiss had meant nothing to PJ. But it had been Hazel’s first… and with a girl she had secretly liked for months now. She should’ve known it was too good to be true.
“Hazel? You okay?”
Hazel just nodded slightly, too drained to reply.
“…Is this about PJ and Brittany?” Josie asked gently. “I mean… PJ… you… you like her, don’t you?”
Hazel nodded again, looking up at Josie, her eyes blurred with unshed tears.
Josie looked down at her with an expression somewhere between sadness and pity. “Maybe they’re not together,” she said quickly. “I mean… maybe they’re just… platonically… talking? I don’t know; that sounds lame…”
A strange shuddering filled Hazel’s chest and a choked wheeze escaped her quivering lips. Hot tears forced their way out of her eyes, followed by her fist meeting the floor. As she cried, her body heaved with each sob, her chest convulsing with the weight of her emotions. She no longer cared about the sharp pains shooting through her body.
Josie stayed silent, just holding Hazel’s hand tightly.
Hazel sobbed loudly until her throat was raw and sore—until her eyes were swollen shut—until she was absolutely and utterly exhausted—until she couldn’t cry anymore. She stopped fighting and slowly slipped into unconsciousness, vaguely aware of Josie’s warm and comforting arms wrapping around her…