Page 104 of The Hallows Queen

“Good morning,” she says, writing some words on the board that don’t register in my busy mind. “Today, we’ll talk about different governments around the world, and compare them to our own. We’ll open a discussion, then Miss Leyton has a test for you.”

She keeps talking, but the blood rushes in my ears so loud that I can’t hear her words – it’s all just noises. I blink, and more people are talking, students asking her questions and discussing whatever it is she’s talking about.

When I hear his name, I snap to and look across the room at him.

“Mr. Monroe, care to comment? You’ve been rather quiet,” Barbara says, and I swallow over my dry throat.

“Nah,” Hayden says, grinning from ear to ear as his body sways from side to side.

“Nahis not an appropriate response, Mr. Monroe. Tell me something about a foreign government that you know,” Barbara presses, capping the marker in her hand.

Oh, God, please – get him through this, make this moment end.

Hayden puts his hands together on top of his desk, and when he speaks, his voice slurs. “How the fuck would I know anything about some other country’s government?”

“Watch your language in my classroom,” Barbara snaps. “If you aren’t going to participate in class, maybe you should spend the period in the headmistress’s office?”

Hayden laughs, his head rolling back.

“Maybe I’ll just leave.” His words mush together, becoming one long word that’s hard to understand. He swings his legs to the side and tries to stand up, but he stumbles from his own weight and can’t get out of the desk. “I don’t need this fucking place. I don’t need any of you.”

Barbara crosses her arms over her chest. “Mr. Monroe, are you intoxicated in my classroom?”

He laughs, trying to lift himself up again, and when he gets a good footing, he rises.

Putting a finger over his lips, heshushesbetween his teeth. “Don’t say that. Penelope will get mad at me if she finds out.”

My stomach turns to steel and falls to my ass, but I don’t dare look over my shoulder at Barbara. Maybe if I don’t react, she’ll think he’s talking about someone else named Penelope.

“I think it’s best if you see the headmistress now,” Barbara says, stepping toward Hayden.

He waves a hand in the air. “Yeah, yeah, calm down, you oldcunt. I’m going.”

I flinch, and Barbara slams her hand down on the table in front of her. “Mr. Monroe!”

“What?!” he snaps back, looking across the room at her. “What do you fuckingwantfrom me?!”

Levi stands up and puts a hand on Hayden’s shoulder. “Man, c’mon, let’s go.”

Hayden spins around the best he can while he wobbles on his feet, pushing Levi’s chest with both hands. “Don’t fucking touch me, Levi.”

I stand from pure instinct alone, every part of me wanting to stretch across the room and help him. “Hayden.”

He turns slowly, looking up at me from under his heavy eyelids. “What?”

I swallow, twisting my hands together in a panic. “Let me walk you to the office.”

He laughs, and the sound of it sends a chill down my spine. “Fuck you, P.Fuck you.” Swallowing roughly, he runs a hand down his face before he looks at me again.

“You know, you’ve been trying to fix me since the moment we met, butguess what?”He waves a hand over himself. “You can’t fuckingfixme, I’ll always be the fuck up. No matter how many pretty pictures you want to paint, it’ll never be anything different. This is who I am, and you can’t make it better. You should have walked away a long time ago. How many times do I need to treat you like shit before you realize I don’t actually love you?”

Time stands still and the blood rushes in my head. It isn’t until Barbara puts a hand on my shoulder, making me jump, that I finally take a breath. “Penelope, leave.”

I shake my head, my eyes filling with moisture.

“Go,” Barbara whispers. “We have a classroom full of students, you need to go.”

“Hayden,” I say, finding his eyes across the room, desperate to see regret in them, but he just laughs.

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