“Halsey, come on!” Nathan hisses at her. “Talk to me!”“I’m working.”They’re at the cafe where Halsey had begun her shift. Nathan followed her there but she didn’t speak to him much other than giving him some instructions. Even though she’s being polite, Nathan can sense a coldness in her tone which is irking him.Halsey takes the orders of table number nine and keeps on ignoring Nathan. He’s exasperated but gets no chance to talk to her either. The cafe is unusually crowded that day because there’s some business conference going on. Many of the customers are from out of town who stopped by for quick bites. Nathan and Halsey have to work hard to cater to them.“This is hard work!” Nathan groans. He has been serving customers for three hours straight and finally managed to complete his shift. Slumping on a chair in the break room, he stretches his limbs. A few minutes later, Halsey also enters the room to rest before heading back home having already changed her clothes. She doesn’t l
Halsey’s mind isn’t on the teacher’s lecture. She’s blankly staring at the board, thinking about Nathan.When she went to the hospital that morning, Mrs. Jacobs was already shifted back to her ward. Nathan had stayed with her all night and had gone home only moments before Halsey arrived. He isn’t in school because he didn’t turn up for the literature class in the morning. Is he alright? She wonders.Her phone vibrates in her pocket, bringing her out of her reverie. When the teacher turns around, she slyly takes it out.“Meet me near the field,” Nathan writes to her. “Now.”Huh? Now?Halsey debates with herself. Should she take the risk and meet up with him? Finally, she makes up her mind and raises her hand.“Yes, Halsey?” The teacher inquires.“I need to use the toilet,” she mutters. “Alright. Go ahead.”Halsey lowers her head and slowly walks out, trying to be casual. Once she’s out of sight, she quickly heads for the field. Nathan is standing near the bleachers, waiting for her
“Does this have any pearl in it?” Nathan frowns as he picks up a seashell. Halsey laughs and shakes head.“Pearls are made by oysters not seashells!” She tells him. Nathan makes a face and drops the pink shell. It’s past noon and they’re still at the beach, randomly roaming around. For once, Halsey feels a lot free and lighthearted. Nathan brought her to the beach because he didn’t want to be alone nor did he want his friends to see him in that state. So he’s making her accompany him for a while.Halsey doesn’t mind though; she’s having fun with him. There’s a nagging feeling in her that Charlotte won’t be too pleased but Halsey is more worried about what Lincoln will say. He’s busy with the game but he’ll call any moment and question her whereabouts.“This one’s an oyster, right?” Nathan asks her when he picks up another shell.“That’s a snail!” Halsey laughs at him. “You won’t find oysters here. They’re far out in the sea! They rarely appear on the beaches.”“But they do appear at t
Charlotte is looking worried. The monthly bills are lying in front of her and she’s calculating them which is stressing her out. Halsey enters the kitchen to find her in that state.“Charlotte, what’s going on?” She asks as she pours herself some cereal. “Nothing honey,” Charlotte lies and quickly hides the bills but Halsey catches a glimpse of her record book.“The business faced a loss?” Halsey asks in shock. “How?”“The music festival wasn’t that great apparently,” Charlotte sighs. “The bills are through the roof! It’s gonna take a while to recover these costs.”Halsey bites her lip. “You don’t have to worry!” Charlotte tells her. “I’ll take care of it. Don’t let this get to you, okay?”“Okay…”Halsey feels sorry for her godmother. Charlotte is working so hard for them and Halsey feels as if she’s adding to her worries. That morning, she had decided to tell Charlotte about her stalker but seeing how stressed her godmother is, Halsey backs off. She can’t add more to the woman’s tro
Halsey’s heart is thumping hard. She keeps on peeking at Nathan who’s sitting three seats away from her. Her mind is barely on the lecture as she tries to catch his eye but he ignores her completely.“Halsey!” She’s startled when the teacher calls her name. Nathan pointedly doesn’t look at her but keeps his gaze on the teacher.“Y-Yes sir!” Halsey squeaks and stands up.“Tell me what do the moors in Wuthering Heights represent?” the teacher asks.“Er…”The teacher tuts in disappointment. “You’re not paying attention to the class at all!” He scolds her. “Pay attention. Now let’s see…”He glances around and points at Nathan.“Jacobs, tell us what the moors represent,” the teacher demands. The rest of the class snicker. Nathan isn’t the brightest student and it’s obvious that he won’t be able to answer.Halsey quietly sits down while Nathan stands up to answer. “The moors represent the wildness of Heathcliff and Catherine’s love,” he states. “Their relationship was passionate and destru
“Do you…do you…” Halsey takes a deep breath again. “Do you like me?” she blurts out.Nathan freezes on the spot, unable to speak. Halsey watches him anxiously, each passing second making her heart sink. He’s silent for a while as several thoughts run around in his head. Nathan isn’t sure how to reply. A voice in his head is urging him to talk to her but it’s as if his body has gone stiff.“I-I guess I was mistaken,” Halsey says. She tries to keep her tone casual but her voice is breaking at his silence. He doesn’t like her back. That’s what his silence means.You will lose everything you love…Another voice in his mind is haunting Nathan. It’s Daniel’s voice. A distant memory is returning to him and he’s completely numb. Daniel is sneering at him, repeating that phrase.“You will lose everything you love!” Daniel tells a twelve year old Nathan. The boy cries in pain because his father is pulling his hair hard.“Just like I lost everything because of you, you will also lose everythin
Halsey enters the empty house, feeling dejected. She slowly walks upstairs, not paying attention to her surroundings. Once in her room, she slumps on the bed.So this is what rejection feels like, she thinks sadly. Tears are rolling down her face, wetting the pillow. Her heart is completely shattered by Nathan’s rejection and the pain is a lot to bear.“I shouldn’t cry,” she sobs to herself. “He was honest with me and I shouldn’t have raised my hopes…”Yes. I shouldn’t have raised my hopes. Then why is it so goddamn hard?CLINK!The sound startles her and Halsey sits up. Is Charlotte back?“C-Charlotte?” She nervously calls out. Silence. That’s odd. Charlotte would’ve answered her.Halsey is suddenly scared. She stays still, trying to recall all the survival tactics she learnt in her life. Unfortunately, there aren’t many but she knows that following the noise without a weapon would be a stupid thing to do.She looks around and zeroes in on a small ceramic vase. It wasn’t much but it’
Halsey winces in pain. The doctors have stitched up her injuries and thankfully, the wounds aren’t serious. She has been unconscious for hours and when she woke up, her head was covered with bandages. Charlotte is sleeping on a couch while Lincoln is at the cafe.She slowly sits up and carefully slides down the bed.“Halsey?” Charlotte mumbles. She has woken up and is surprised to see that Halsey is trying to sneak away.“Get back to bed!” Charlotte coaxes her but Halsey shakes her head.“I wanna walk around,” Halsey mumbles. “To…to get some fresh air.”When Halsey regained consciousness, Charlotte told her what happened while she was knocked out. The stalker has been arrested. It was discovered that the man’s name is Thomas Kepp and he’s a patient at a nearby rehabilitation center. The man had run away from there and was hiding in a friend’s place. He was admitted to the rehab for treatment after he lost his mind when he discovered his wife’s adulterous nature. When he spotted Halse