The Adventures of A Fat Girl

7. Crashed sleepover

"Leo are you okay?", I finally ask him once we settle down near a big tree and wait for our friends t find us. He is still breathing heavy and his eyes are still blazing with anger. 

"What do you think?!", he literally screams at me and then after a second realises that. His face looses his anger and guilt settles in his eyes. 

"Damn it! I am so sorry Hazel. I didn't mean to scream at you. Stacy just gets me worked up and I let her, every damn time", he runs a hand through his hair. 

"I get it. You don't have to say sorry. You can talk to me if you want, okay?", I tell him. Even though we have met recently, I like to believe that we are really close. 

"Of course. Thank you so much", with that he hugs me and this time it doesn't feel awkward at all. I hug him back knowing that's all he need at this moment. A friend who understand what he is going through. 

"Well, aren't we bunking a lecture, mister head boy", we hear Mark behind us and abruptly back away from each other.

"Your point?", Leo replies sassily. His mood seems to have improved a little. Nina, Linn, Priya and Harriet all our staring at me with smirks and all I could do was freaking blush! Those four bitches laugh loudly and the guys turn to them, questioningly.

"What?", Jason asks and they laugh again. 

"Oh come on, what's so funny?"

"Nothing you need to know about, John", Nina muses. 

"So girls, we are having a sleepover at my house tonight", Nina exclaims and Linn slaps her back pretty hard.

"What the hell?!"

"Oh sorry. I got really excited and couldn't control myself", Linn smiles sheepishly while Nina swears under her breath. 

"We are invited as well right?", Mark asks while snaking his arm around Nina's waist. She slaps away his hands and sits beside me, putting her hand around me neck. 

"Nope. It's a girls night", she smirks at him and he groans while falling on the grass and dramatically puts a hand on his heart. 

"You hurt me babe", he says in a very hoarse voice. Nina rolls her eyes but you can see the small smile and the adoration for Mark in her eyes. 

"Yeah whatever", she turns to me and tells me her address and asks me to bring clothes for the next day as well. She tells Harriet the same thing and we both agree. 

"I can pick up you both from your place Haze. Your house is on the way for me", Priya says we both agree. 

"Can you pick me up too?", Linn asks and Priya agrees. 

"My parents are going out for a party anyway so they will come back tomorrow afternoon, not that they will object anyway", Nina tells me and we start discussing about all we can do tonight. Me and Harriet are not allowed to drink as of now so that's out of question for us. 

"Excuse me", Mark excuses himself to call someone. 

"Hey guys lets go now", Leo says we all get up and go to our classes. 

"Girls, I will pick you up around 7?", Priya asks as we leave the premises to go home. 

"Okay. No problem. Call me before you leave, alright?"    

"Sure thing Hazie".

"Bye guys! See you tomorrow", with that everyone leaves and we get in the car. Mom asks about our day and we tell her about the sleepover and I swear she seems more excited than us. 

"Did you girls take all everything?", mom asks for the millionth time as she does some work on her laptop. We both roll our eyes and let out a sigh which is answered with a glare in our direction. 

"Mom, for the love of what is good out there, yes we have taken everything. If you ask that one more time, I swear I'll go crazy!", I exclaim and all she does is laugh and Harriet silently chuckles which earns her a slap in the back of her head, soft one of course. 

"Okay chill Hazel", mom laughs again and I swear she had gone mad. 

"Hey Ace, where are you going?", mom asks as he brings a out a bag of his own. 

"Sleepover at Tom's", he answers hastily and leaves after kissing my forehead and telling me to take care and to take my pills on time. Sometimes I feel like Ace has aged a few years in last few months and has taken up the responsibility of taking care of me. I don't want him to worry so much about me but he thinks it is job to look after me. I get that but he is going to have grey hair in no time if he keeps on worrying about me. I need to talk to him about it and I plan on doing it as soon as I get home tomorrow. 

Suddenly my phone rings and Priya's name flashes on the screen. 

"Hey, I am outside".

"We are coming", with that I hang up. 

"Mom, we are leaving. If Harriet's mom calls tell her about the sleepover. She couldn't receive the call earlier as she was busy with the packing stuff", I tell her as I take me bag.

"Sure sweetheart. You both have lot of fun and don't forget to take your pills, alright?"

"Yes mom. Love you", I kiss her cheek and get out of the house. As we come down, Priya is waiting right at the entrance of the building. 

"Hey babes. Ready?"

"Born ready. Lets go", with that Priya zooms out and we head to Linn's. 

As we are about to reach Linn's house, I pick up phone and call her. 

"Hey Hazel".

"Hey. Can you come out? We are a minute away".

"Sure thing", with she hangs up. 

"Priya, do we have to take something to eat on the way?", Harriet asks.

"No we don't. We will just order if we want. And anyway Nina's kitchen is always stocked", she laughs at the end. 

"Hey girls. Ready to roll?", Linn, the most active person right now asks in a high pitched voice. We all cover our ears while Priya throws the stuff toy at her. 

"What the hell girl?! Are you drunk already?"

"Of course not. How could you even say that?!", she exclaims and puts her hand on her heart. 

"You hurt me bestie", she fakes the sobbing sounds which earns her a slap from Priya. 

" Oh yeah I forgot. You are obnoxious since birth", we all laugh at that and Linn pouts like a child who was denied candy. 

"So, are we ready to go yet?", Linn asks and we all laugh again at her pouty tone. 

"Yeah lets go. Nina must be waiting", with that Priya drives out of the parking lot and turns on the radio while we all sing along . This, right here, makes me feel safe, belonged and happy. 

"Here we are", Priya announces and look at the freaking mansion in front of me. 

"That's a house?! That's like a freaking mansion Linn", Harriet exclaims snatching the words right out of my mouth. 

Priya parked the car in the lot and Nina, who was waiting on the porch bounces towards us as we step out of the car.

"You guys took your sweet time", Nina says and we all chuckle. 

"Blame it on the pouty baby here", Priya points towards Linn who just sticks her tongue out. 

"Do I even want to know?"

"Lets just go alright", saying so Linn starts walking towards the door and we suddenly hear a roar of a car. 

"What the hell are these idiots doing here?!", Nina exclaims as Leo, Mark, John and Jason step out of the car.

"Hey girls", Jason waves at us while we just stare at them. 

"Who invited you here?!", Linn exclaims while John slaps the back of her head softly. 

"Nina's mom did", Mark answers and enters the house. 

"Mom, why did you invite them? It was supposed to be just girls!", Nina asks her mom. 

"Sweetheart, we both are going out and we didn't want you girls to be all alone so I called Mark and asked them to come and stay with you girl", she says with a sweet smile and kisses Nina's forehead. 

"You must be Hazel and Harriet. Nice to meet you both", Nina's mom, Joanna hugs us both. We hug her back and talk for five minutes.

"We are leaving now so take care of yourselves. We will come back by tomorrow afternoon alright. You'll enjoy and you girls make yourselves at home, okay?", saying so Nina's parents leave.

"So, what are we doing now?", Mark asks and Nina smirks.

  "We are going to watch The Fault in Our Stars as we had planned. We would just need extra popcorn for you guys and I am sure you can do that on your won. You know where the kitchen is so help yourselves. Girls, lets go to the theatre room", with that we follow Nina and the faces of the guys are comical at the least. 

"Come on. That movie, again?", Jason wines and Linn slaps the back of his head. 

"You interrupted our time s that's what you get", Priya smirks and we leave while the boys go the kitchen. 

"You guys okay with the movie right?", Nina asks me and Harriet. 

"Obviously. Who doesn't love to watch Ansel Elgort", Harriet says and the girls squeal. 

"Okay lets start the movie. The guys are not that interested anyway", we start the movie and the sitting arrangement is like, Nina  sits on a love seat, Linn sits next to Harriet, who surprisingly doesn't even make a move to sit next to me. 

"We are here girls. I know you missed us", Jason says but no one pays him heed. 

 Jason sits next to an empty place next to Harriet, Mark sits next to Nina while John sits on the floor ad rests his back on the sofa while Leo comes to sit next to me. Out of corner of my eyes, I see all the girls looking at me and then smiling to themselves. I seriously need to know what is going on in their heads. 

"You like this movie?", Leo asks me in a hushed voice. 

"Yeah obviously. Its one of the best movies ever", I exclaim in a hushed tone. 

"Jay, pass the popcorn man", Leo tells him and he does pass the bowl without taking his eyes off the screen. 

"What about you? You like this movie?", I ask him. 

"I have seen it so many times that I don't even care anymore", he says and shrugs while Mark raises his beer letting us know that he is listening to us talking or either we are not really whispering as we think we are. 

Linn pauses the movie and the guys turn expectantly to her. 

"We are not changing the movie. We need more popcorn. Who is going?"

"I will go", with that I stand up and realise a moment later that I don't know where all things are kept in the kitchen.

"I will come with you", Leo stands up with me. 

"Okay. We will wait for you guys", Linn says.

"Oh no it's okay. Continue watching, we will back in a few minutes anyway", with Leo leads me out of that room and towards the kitchen. 

"You are awfully quiet today. You okay?", I couldn't stop myself from asking. Leo hands me the packets of popcorn. 

"Nothing. What about you? Are you guys pissed that we crashed your plan?", Leo aks while I pour the contents into the glass bowl.

"No its nothing like that. It is okay I guess. We all can get to know each other", I say while pouring the contents into another bowl.

"So, how was your life back in your town? It must have hurt to leave your friends behind after being with them for this long", Leo aks expectantly while all I can think about was the bullying. 

"No not really. I never had friends, you know".

"What? Why?".

"Well, people back there were a little judgemental and way too picky about the people they were around and I have always been the shy one. I could never open up or even start a conversation with anyone".

"Judgemental?"

"Yeah. You know because of my weight and all. They couldn't care less about my medical condition", I let this slip out unintentionally. I didn't want to tell anyone about this. Ever.

"Medical condition? Are you okay? I hope this is nothing too serious?", Leo asks, curiosity clear as a day in his eyes. 

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Hazel. I wouldn't mind", he says a second later after I hesitated. 

"I have hypothyroidism", I tell him in a very calm voice though I was freaking out from the inside. This is the first time someone really cared enough to ask me if I was okay and I couldn't not tell him. In a very weird way I have come to trust Leo in the last few days.  

"Oh I know about it. I am so sorry you have to go through so much. Did you think of getting the transplant like Harriet?"

"I didn't want to. I wasn't scared or anything but I just didn't want it".

"I understand. I am sure you would have thought alot about it and then made you decision", he puts his hand on my shoulder and gently turns me around. He takes the bowl from my hands and places it on the counter. 

"Don't ever think that you are ugly just because you are fluffier than any of us. You are beautiful and this condition of yours enhances your beauty if you ask me. Don't ever think that your are weak or people don't care about you because that's not true. You are really brave to face this head-on and there are many people who care about you, okay?", he says with his eyes boring into mine. I see the sincerity and something else in his eyes which I couldn't decipher. He hugs me to him and I let him. His arms go around back pulling me incredibly close. I close my eyes and inhale him in. Few drops leave my eyes and I didn't want to stop them. For the first time in a while I felt like crying and I knew he wouldn't judge me or even sympathize because he understands. 

"You know you can always talk to me when you want to right? Don't ever think that I'll judge you or something because I won't, I promise", saying so he wipes the tears and kisses my forehead. 

"s**t, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to-", before he could say anything else I hug him again. 

"Thank you so much for understanding Leo. You have no idea how amazing it feels to have someone other than your family to understand what you are going through", with that I step back and take the bowls in my hand and give one to him.

"Let's go, I am sure they are wondering about us", saying so we leave the kitchen and go towards the room and all I feel is calm, collected and understood by someone.