"Her attitude is not very welcoming to the students," The man rushed out. "Many have said they have tried to approach her, and she comes off a little high and mighty."
Hayden pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm his roaring thoughts.
"Now I know that's not how she is," the principal hurried to explain. "I can see she's just guarded. The poor girl probably has to be being as pretty as she is." Hayden wasn't sure if he could stand to hear the man say how pretty he found Sapphire one more time, he realized. But the man continued on, unaware of Hayden's growing anger. "But sadly, it doesn't make her very popular with the kids here. Let's be frank, she doesn't belong as much as I want her to, she just doesn't. At least not at the school, but academically she is wonderful, so that's why I feel that-"
Hayden was tired of the man's excuses. "Yeah, yeah, I know what you feel. She's good enough to submit her work online but toopretty," he sneered the word, "to actually come to the school and have a normal senior year. Yeah, ok thanks, Hodgson. You're a real stand-up teacher."
He hung up on the man just as he began to sputter out a protest.
With both of the heels of his palms pressed into his eyes, Joel let his head hang back and let out a deep groan. "Fucking hell, what a mess."
"I should've never grabbed Sanders," Hayden groaned, looking to the uneven ceiling panels above him. "Him and his friends went and ran their mouths at home, and now she is paying the price."
"No," Joel shook his head. He was walking back and forth down the narrow aisle that separated the machines. "This was bound to happen regardless of that."
They were both silent for a moment letting the gravity of the situation sink in.
Eventually, Hayden spoke. "She still in the café?"
He watched Joel wince. Hayden raised a brow at this and watched Joel looked across the street as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Fuck man, I was so angry, and I just wanted her to go sit down, and I…" Hayden waited with borrowed patience for Joel to finish. "I ended up kind of yelling at her," he rushed out.
Seeing Hayden's darkening expression, Joel blew out an exasperated breath. "Dammit, I was just trying to get her to sit down. I could see she was hurting and trying to hide it, but all she wanted to do was clean and work. I told her—ok, maybe demanded—she should just go upstairs to her room." As if hearing his own words and fully understanding their meaning, he cursed under his breath. "Fucking hell, I think she thinks I'm mad at her."
It only took them a few seconds to lock up the gym and jog back across the street. The bell above the café door was still ringing their arrival when Hayden gave Julie a questioning look while Joel began unlocking the upstairs door.
"She upstairs?" he asked. Hayden was not expecting Julie to shake her head.
Joel paused with one boot on the stairs and whipped his head toward her, causing some of his blond hair to come loose from its pomade hold and fall in front of his face.
"She didn't go upstairs after you yelled at her," Julie informed him matter-of-factly.
Hayden enjoyed the clench of Joel's jaw at that.
Julie continued speaking as she began closing down the cash register. "I heard the back door open and assumed she left that way. She was really upset. Silent in her usual way, of course, but I could tell she was sad."
Joel let out another string of volatile curses under his breath. Hayden turned and flipped the closed sign on the door. Pulling out his phone, Joel began checking the security cameras while Hayden began calling Sapphire's cell.
Julie gave him a wordless goodbye and Joel a condemning look as she grabbed her things and left for the day.
The automated tone of the voicemail message sounded in Hayden's ear. Of course, Sapphire wouldn't record her own away message. Getting angrier by the second, he angrily typed in a text to her.
Joel looked up from his phone, his brow furrowed even further than before. "The cameras don’t show her leaving."
"Then…" Hayden looked around in thought, "then maybe she did go upstairs."
Without even waiting, Joel took the steps two at a time, the loud thumps of his heavy boots echoing throughout the lifeless building.
Pushing through the swing doors, Hayden glanced around the long kitchen and called out. "Sapphire!"
His eyes narrowed at the silence. Above him, he could hear Joel's footsteps and imagined him calling out as well. Stopping at the end of the room, Hayden reached for the backdoor's knob and paused. Slowly he turned his head and looked at the laundry door before dropping his gaze to the floor. A soft yellow light beamed from the seam of the door.
Relief washed over him at once, cooling the heated worry that had been warping into the beginnings of red-hot anger. He opened the door.
Two sneaker-clad feet stuck out from beside the dryer. Stepping a little further in the slanting room, Hayden stopped when he saw the top of Sapphire's head. White earbuds hung out of her ears, and her brown and gold curls were piled high on her head in a puffy ponytail of sorts. For a few seconds, he just watched her in silence as she stared down at her phone, her thumb continuously swiping upward.
Hayden waited and watched as her sense of awareness slowly kicked in, and she jerked her head upwards. Shock crossed her features before those fathomless russet eyes of hers shuttered the wayward emotion and returned back to their ever-cautious stare.
