A Girl From the Fair

11. 𝘾𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙥

"Ok, everybody settle down!" The teacher called from the front of the room. They had just announced the yearly class trip, everyone was riled up because we were going to New York this year (some parent paid a ton of hush money because their kid tried to sleep with like... most of our teachers).
I turned to Hazel while the teacher went down a list of rules for the upcoming trip. "This is insane! I mean, normally we just go to some arcade and they make us pay, I wonder who paid all that money..." I trailed off.
Hazel rubbed her eyes, "I think I know." She started. "The meathead was up all night with my mom." She groaned, "He's probably been up with every teacher too."
"The meathead..?" I looked behind us, Jeff was sitting with his team. "You mean Jeff? Or Tim?"
"The blonde one. He catches the balls?" She responded.
"Jeff." I sighed. "Wait, so Jeff's cheating on Isabel with your mom, and probably all the teachers?" I asked. I mean, he wasn't bad looking but all of our teachers...? Hazel nodded back.
"They've been keeping me up all night." She said, yawning a bit.
"Sorry, Haze." I said, putting my hand on top of hers to comfort her. She smiled but looked at the desk.
"Alright, everyone get into groups of four! These groups will be who you room with." The teacher called, pulling out a clipboard. I looked right at Hazel, she looked at me.
        "Do you wanna room together?" I asked.
        "Yes!" She nodded eagerly. "Who will our other two people be?" She asked, looking around the classroom.
        I looked over to Isabel and Brittany, they had already found a group of four though. Hazel looked over to Pj and Josie, who hadn't found anyone yet.
        "How about Pj and Josie?" Hazel asked, turning back to me.
        I hesitated, looking at Pj annoying Josie. God I did not want to room with her. But they were probably the only two without a group of four. "Uhm, yeah. I just... need to make sure Pj leaves me alone." I mumbled.
         Hazel smiled at me, trying to console me. "She's not... that bad when you get to know her? I mean, she's rude, and apathetic, and kind of condescending. But not that bad!" She seemed like she was trying to figure out one nice thing about her.
         "Sure. Just... nevermind. Let's go." I stood up and motioned for Hazel to follow me, walking over to Pj and Josie.
        "Anyway, you and Isa- Y/n! And uh, Hazel, hey. Do- do you guys have a group of four yet?" Pj said, like she was trying to act 'cool'.
       "Actually, me and Y/n are already rooming together, so do you want to room with us?" Hazel asked, she was way too nice to Pj for her own good.
         Pj looked at Josie. Pj made a face at Josie that made her roll her eyes. "Yeah! For sureee, cool!" Pj responded.
         I nodded uncomfortably. Hazel nodded as if Pj wasn't acting wildly weird.

        At the end of the day I met back up with Hazel at the bus stop, we hadn't had any more classes together that day.
       "Haze! How were your classes?" I asked, catching up to her.
       "Long. And boring." Hazel groaned, sitting down. "Pj was being so weird all day. She kept asking questions about you it was so annoying." Hazel said sort of angrily.
        "Sorry. She keeps acting weird around me, Isabel, and Brittany." I turned to Hazel. "But don't you love talking about me?" I joked.
       "Not to Pj." Hazel mumbled.
       I raised my brow, trying to get her to look at me. I hesitated before speaking. "Why? Are you jelous?" I nudged her, joking.
        She was quiet for a second. "No, of course not." She responded, laughing a bit.
       The bus pulled in front of us, I was going to continue the conversation but there was no point in it. She was acting weird but... whatever.

        We both sat next to each other on the bus, Hazel sitting on the window seat.
       "I'm not letting you fall asleep this time." I said, making her sit up.
        "I won't!" she groaned. "Plus my mom isn't home so there's no asking her to go home this time." She tried to sound normal about it, but I could tell she wasn't ok with it.
        "Hey, are you ok? With all the stuff with your mom?" I asked, turning towards her. She wouldn't look at me though.
        "Yeah. I just haven't got a good night of sleep recently." She started, "I get to sleep when she's not home, but then it's just like... lonely." She said, finally turning towards me.
       "So is that why you invited me over?" I asked, looking at her sympathetically.
       "I mean that's not just it!" She acted like I was mad at her. "I also wanted to hang out with you. As per usual."
"Why're you so sappy, god it's Thursday after school calm down" I said, rolling my eyes.
"Ok, but you totally agree." She shrugged, trying to get me to laugh.
"Whatever. Maybe." I responded, holding back a smile. Hanging out with her just felt more and more natural as we hung out more, it was like some weird... friendship domesticity?
"We're about a stop away!" Hazel said, looking out the window. She pulled the string to signal for a stop, I sighed in relief.
"Wow, you actually remembered, I have to say, i'm impressed." I said sarcastically. Hazel turned to glare at me, I put up my hands defensively in response.

We both arrived outside of Hazel's house after a short walk. It was massive. Her house was modern and beautiful but just huge, like, way bigger than I could have expected. She never talked about anything like this...
"Haze... this is insane!" I said while she held the door open for me.
"It's really nice, I just don't like to talk about it a lot." She waked in and took her shoes off, grabbing some supplies out of her backpack. "It's kind of lonely in here mostly." She said, walking towards the upstairs. "My room's upstairs, follow me!"
I nodded and followed her up, slinging my backpack over one shoulder. The staircase was glamorous, and the upstairs was even better than the downstairs! Her room had a massive bed and lots of room to sit, plus massive windows.
"This is... even more insane. It's so beautiful Haze!" I said, throwing my backpack next to a comfy-looking chair.
"Thanks, I decorated myself!" She sat on her bed, "What do you want to study?" She asked, before a loud sound came from downstairs.
We both turned to look at the bedroom door and then at each other. Hazel got up to check what it was and I followed, looking over the railing to the downstairs entrance. At the door was a middle aged woman and a guy in a football uniform. It was Jeff, and I assume Hazel's mom. I looked over to see Hazel groaning, burying her head in her hands.
"Mom!" Hazel yelled down, startling the two of them.
"Oh, hey sweetie! Don't mind us!" She said, flirting with Jeff. I wanted to gag.
"Aren't you that one gay bitch that wouldn't get with Tim?" Jeff asked, pointing at me.
I stayed quiet for a second, rolling my eyes. I could either feed a stupid rumor or deny it — basically denying that I liked girls — in front of the girl I liked. Neither were good options.
"Maybe. Why do you care?" I groaned down at him.
"Because... I fucked your mom? I don't know just tell me!" He called up, letting go of Mrs. Callahan.
"Whatever, yes." I said, motioning for me and Hazel to move back to her room.
Jeff laughed very loudly. "Wow, and now you've moved onto gay nerds! What a good match!" He teased. I just kept walking back to Hazels room, she followed me quietly.

"Sorry about him." Hazel said, "I thought she was going to be away for all of tonight but... yeah." She sighed, laying back down on the bed.
"It's fine. It's not your fault." I sat down across from her on a chair. "I just wasn't planning on coming out to some guy who's — and not to be, like, vulgar — having sex with your mom."
I never thought that was a sentence i'd have to say.

hope you enjoyed! This chapter was somewhat just setup for later chapters sorry! <3