The Other Sister (Hawke Brothers Series- Book 1)

02: Hide the blushes from crazy mums.

Queensland, Australia.

February  2nd 1992.

Age 12.

Lachlan

     "Do you think they are going to make us dissect frogs and all that?" 

     Hazel sits next to me, smelling exactly like honey and roses as she leans on her high top chair at the back of the science room. "Because I get faintish from the sight of blood." She scrunches her nose and shakes her head, letting her feather light fringe brush away from her eyes.

     It was the second week of school- a Wednesday to be exact- and I could officially say that I was crushing hard on the black hair girl beside me. Since the moment she walked into science with an air of innocence and rays of shine, I knew I was going to be hellish around this girl.

     Since the second the assembly finished, I hadn't seen her for the rest of the day, I hadn't been able to spot her in a crowd. Too many tall students blocking my vision of the small petite girl as she ran straight away from me. But in the last period of the day when my new friend smithy and I were sitting in the back of the dingy old science room, she walked in. Her eyes training around the room, looking for something, till they landed on me, and I cannot describe the way my heart felt when our eyes connected. Unless the word mind blowing helped.

     And every day since the first, I had been excited to go to science class, just to catch a glimpse of her wide sweet smile and freckled cheeks.

     Giving her a slight chuckle, I let my eyes wander over her uniform. Like every other girl in this school, Hazel wore the same white button up polo and blue checkered skirt, but she looked different than any other girl in my grade. When hazel was in my eyesight, she stood out. Maybe it was because she wore a light navy blue cardigan with it at all times, or because she was the only girl in the entire school, who actually wore the charcoal grey tie.

     Whatever it was, Hazel Brye stood out to me. "I hope not." I say, looking down at the worksheet Mr. Perry handed out a week ago. "Because I barely understand how to compare physical and chemical changes, let alone how to murder a frog."

     Hazel tries to stifle a giggle next to me. "You can't murder a frog when it's already dead, Lachlan." I loved hearing her say my name, it was like whenever I hear a coach give me high praises on the field, it's like no other.

     "Agree to disagree Brye." I challenged her, even though I knew one hundred percent that she was right, I just liked hearing her speak.

     She rolls her dark chocolate brown eyes, letting the giggle she was holding back breakout. "If you want, I can try and explain to you how to compare chemical and physical changes." She says, rolling out the worksheet she finished last week, on the same day it was given.

     Ignoring Mr. Perry's lecture on the same subject at the front of the class, I shift in my seat to face her, causing my knees to knock hers. The trembling feeling spiking through my body from the short touch, makes my heart sky rocket with it. "Give it to me teach." I say, trying to play off the way my heart is beating out of my chest.

     I watch Hazel's cheeks burn like the sun as she smiles down at her paper. "Okay well a physical change can only affect certain properties, like shape and size." She looks over to me, chocolate eyes searching mine. "While chemical change is the formation of new substances, like boiling and freezing water, or melting ice."

     I give her a quick nod for her to continue, though I'm barely listening to anything she's saying, instead trying to count how many freckles are dotting her cheeks- I'm only up to four, I keep getting distracted by her eyes. Her big chocolate doe brown eyes.