"He said what?" The thunderous tone made Sapphire jump.
Whirling around, she looked wide-eyed to see Hayden and Joel standing behind Julie, wearing murderous expressions.
Hayden's eyes crackled like lightning over the unforgiving grey sea as he stared back at her. "Hodgson told you that you can no longer attend your classes in person?" he asked, each word even and slow.
"I..I.." Sapphire opened her mouth, but she could see the boiling anger in Hayden and was honestly afraid of what he might do.
They were ex-gangsters, after all.The conversation with her mother floated ill-timed in her head, and Sapphire looked at the mountain of a man in a different light. Looking at Joel, her stomach twisted further. He wasn't much better. His hands were clenched at his sides, and she could see the veins in his wide forearms bulge under the tension in his lean, powerful frame.
Looking away, she looked to Julie in silent help. But to Sapphire's surprise, she also looked appalled.
"How could they do that?" She fumed, her hands on her hips and her face turning red. "They should be stopping those rumors instead of giving fuel to them. What will it look like to everyone now that you don't go back to class? You know what?" she pulled her phone out of her pocket and began swiping over the screen. "I think I just might call my friend at the school board on this."
Before she could even respond, Hayden was pushing through the front door, sending it flying back with a harsh whap against the other side before it slowly drifted shut again.
Sapphire looked to Joel. "It's fine. I don’t want to cause anymore-"
Joel shook his head and held up a hand. "Just go…" he looked around as if trying to gather his words through his anger. "Just go upstairs."
"But I don't mind working down-"
"Sapphire," he snapped. "Just stop working and go upstairs." He ran an exasperated hand over his neatly slicked back hair and looked out the front door. "I'll be back," he murmured before shoving his way through the door as well.
Stunned, Julie looked at her, and her eyes which were sparkling with indignation moments before, softened when they saw the stricken look on Sapphire's face. "Oh, I don't think he meant it like that. He just-"
Before the emptiness could fester any further in her heart, Sapphire straightened, her face hardening to its usual mask of indifference. "I have to go."
She didn't wait for Julie to argue or question her. Sapphire just turned on her heel and walked through the swinging doors of the kitchen and grabbed her bag. Her heart was hammering with each step she took, threatening to give out at any moment and release the carefully built walls of control she placed around herself.
The ding of the door echoed gently from the front, and Sapphire heard Julie greet a new customer. Good. She didn't want Julie coming after her.
Walking to the back door, she opened it feeling the immediate brisk outside wind on her face and stopped. Just where could she go? It was cold out, and she knew of nowhere else in this town where she could just sit alone, unbothered. She could go to the motel, she mused. But she thought of the girls' nasty words and rejected the idea. She would just be fueling their rumors if anyone saw her, and besides, she couldn't go without visiting Blanche, and she was in no condition to try and hide her emotions right now. Blanche certainly didn't need to hear about any of this.
Closing the door, Sapphire turned and contemplated going back upstairs like Joel demanded. The thought of obeying his angry command felt like needles to her soul. No dammit. She needed to be alone. Just some time to herself to think, that's all. She blinked and looked around until her eyes settled on the door directly to her right. She always forgot about this door.
Opening the door, her eyes widened at the decent size closet. It was the laundry room Hayden had mentioned to her the other day when she asked about doing her laundry. He had said it was downstairs in the kitchen.
Stepping inside, she closed the door and flicked on the dim bulb above. It was practically empty in here save for the brand-new washer and dryer. Built under a slant as if the stairs were just above her head, the strange trapezoidal room gave off a cozy feel that called to her inner child. It reminded her of her closet growing up. The enclosed space that could always give her the comfort she lacked everywhere else in life.
She settled down on the floor on the other side of the dryer. Sapphire closed her eyes and let the unstable walls within her crumble.
Hayden had both hands braced against the cold metal support bars of the pull-up station while his phone, which was on speaker, sat on the crossbar in front of him.
"Isn't this your goddamn job?!" He yelled into the phone just as a cold wind hit his back. Turning his head to look over his shoulder, he watched as Joel came toward him across their empty gym. Hayden turned back to the phone. "Aren't you supposed to protect the kids from bullying and shit?" he seethed.
"That's what I'm trying to do," Craig Hodgson sputtered through the line. "And Sapphire agreed that this would be the best choice for her-"
"Like she had much of a choice," Hayden snarled. "She got put on a bus by her mother who left her to live in a motel in some fucking town in the middle of nowhere, and now when she gets run out of the motel and forced to live with us, she gets thrown out of her school for it?!"
Hodgson's voice was heavy with guilt. "I know, and I understand that. But…well, you have to admit, Mr. Taggert, it doesn’t look good for a girl like her to-"
"What did you say?" Joel practically climbed over his back to get closer to the phone. "A girl like her?" he repeated dangerously, daring the man to say it again.
"And just what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Hayden snarled. The man's words were causing a storm in Hayden's chest. It felt as if his blood was burning through his veins. His hands gripped the metal tighter because he feared if he didn’t forcibly hold on, he could see himself riding down to that fucking school and laying hands on Craig.
"Well…I…I..y-you know someone as beaut…as pretty as Miss Waters is," Craig stuttered to clarify, "She is very distracting and not to mention her age in comparison to the other students a-a-and her umm-"
"Her what? Joel's words were like a growl of an engine, begging for a fight.
