After fleeing the dock, Sloane had managed to stem the tears long enough to run up to her dorm and grab her broom. Nobody would question her if she was gone to the quidditch pitch for a couple hours and didn't turn up for dinner. It wasn't the first time it had happened and she was a scatterbrain normally. Nothing out of the ordinary. The perfect cover.

As soon as her feet hit the grass of the pitch she was in the air, the familiar weightlessness of flight at least gave her something to focus on. It felt like everything around her was crumbling. Things she thought she would have been able to count on for her entire life were slipping away and she didn't know what to do about it. She'd tried to fix it, tried to be rational and give people space, tried talking to them. When one thing seemed to be resolved, something else fell apart. Sisse; then Alice; Calla had picked up on the tension too. Ned and Lester weren't stupid, they knew something was up. Now she and Cam were in limbo too and that pained her the most. Everything boiled down to her and she hated it.

She flew for hours, around and around the pitch until her hands and cheeks were numb. It wasn't quite the escape she was looking for. When she finally came down, she landed hard, legs tired and shaky, so she collapsed right where she was. The tears started again almost immediately. This was stupid, she was not this person. She didn't cry over drama. Sloane had spent most of her life being one of the boys so she could avoid shit like this.

The sun was sinking over the stands, she had certainly missed dinner, but she had no intention of going inside anytime soon. Curling up in her cloak, she drew he knees up to her chest and bawled into the fabric of her (Cam's) scarf.

Shit.

She'd thought she'd have more time to cry out all out before trudging back to the castle and making some excuse to head straight to bed. Leave it to Hatch to know exactly where she was hiding. Quickly she mopped up the tears with her sleeve, though he would know in an instant she'd been crying. "Yeah?" Sloane answered as nonchalantly as she could.

Merlin what was she going to tell him this time? January was long over, unfortunately she had much bigger problems than the memory of her twin brother. Certainly he didn't want her to unload anything what in him either. Hopefully she could get rid of him quickly and finish her pity party in solitude.

If he had any ounce of self-preservation, Hatch would have turned around and walked away. He knew where she was, he knew she was miserable and upset and he should have just turned on his heel and avoided her altogether. Sloane had already returned to her curled up position, trying to control the sobs and failing.

But he was Hatch and that wasn't how he operated.

"No," She said miserably, knowing he was still there, despite the few minutes that had passed since he'd asked. She wasn't okay, but telling him why meant unloading everything that had happened since September and she wasn't sure she was ready for that, nor did she think he really wanted to hear all of it. Not to mention she and Cam had promised not to say anything, and pissed at him though she may be, she hated to break a promise.

What happened? Well wasn't that a loaded question? So much had happened, too much, and it was starting to overwhelm her. Sloane desperately wanted to go back to the simplicity of the summer, friends who still liked one another, fun adventures and that was that.

"I ruined everything." Sloane sobbed into her cloak. She squeezed her arms tighter around her legs as a fresh wave of tears spilled out. That was the crutch of it anyway. She had failed to be a good friend, she obviously wasn't doing well at the whole romance thing, she just couldn't figure out which way was up anymore and it was crushing her.

Sloane leaned into Lester automatically, burrowing in, thankful for the contact. He had no idea what he'd done to himself but it was too late now.

"It's all such a mess," She managed, taking a deep breath. Surely he'd noticed that things were tense, Hatch was no idiot. However if Sloane was going to explain, she would have to start at the beginning and it would mean breaking a promise that she never intended to. Ugh, why did this have to be so complicated?!

The tears had slowed a little but indecision filled every bit of her. She needed to get this off her chest, to tell a neutral third party before she exploded, but she wasn't sure she could bring herself to break the promise she'd made to Cam, no matter how angry she was with him at the moment. "I just— I don't know what to do anymore."

Curling into herself, she felt the loose ends coming unraveled. Lester was too good of a human being, but she just had to or she was going to combust

"It's a lot." She warned him, but it really was too late. It all came pouring out, her fight with Cam about the bracelet: the palm reading mishap and the mutual feelings; getting caught by Sisse; the fight between Cam and Alice; Christmas and finally the fight from today. Everything. She probably missed some minor things, but that was the underlying reasons for all is the tension and drama.

She took a deep shuddering breath, tears flowing, but more quietly. Sloane had expected to feel guilty, but for the first time in a while she finally felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and the overwhelming sense of relief.

Sloane nearly crumbled again when Hatch let go; he'd been the only thing keeping her together for a moment, but she knew better than to expect him to let her continue to blubber all over him. That was supposed to be Cam's job.

Still, she felt lighter, and marginally better, though her whole body ached from the meltdown. She swiped at the last remaining tears and sighed heavily.

"Of course I did,—" her voice was miserable and hoarse. Bitter even. There were so many things she could have done differently, been smarter about, more careful, but she hadn't. Now, it was slowly becoming more apparent that things might be irreparable and she wasn't sure she could handle that. "I should have just kept my mouth shut, not said anything to Cam, then none of this would have happened." That was the crutch of it really. If she hadn't admitted to having feelings for him, everything would be fine.

Sloane heard him, she did, and she felt fractionally better, but it didn't absolve any of the guilt she was feeling or make any of this any easier. Whether it was her fault or not (she was unlikely to be convinced otherwise), Cam and Alice were fighting and they were likely never to be friends again. Sloane wasn't sure where she stood with either one of them at the moment either. She'd promised Alice she would give her space, but Cameron, well, he was why she was bawling her eyes out in the middle of the pitch in the first place. He was right about Cam though, she gave him that. She wasn't responsible for his feelings or the fact that he was ahead of her in that aspect of their relationship. Sloane had owned up to her mistakes and her feelings, that was all she could do, everything else, well, that remained to be seen.

"Yeah well, everything is still falling apart and I have no idea how to handle it." She sniffled, mopping up her cheeks with her sleeve once more.  "I'm sorry I just threw all of that on you." She sighed again, heavy and exhausted. "But thanks for listening." Thankfully Hatch was as steady as Ned in that respect. At least neither one of them was throwing her for a loop these days. Everyone else had a go at her recently for one thing or another (except Maddy) and she definitely couldn't handle anyone else being mad at her.