I Miss You, Asshole.

I Miss You Asshole. - Making Friends.

Aiden offered to walk me home, but I immediately declined. Unless he felt like carrying me the seven miles, he'd be better off catching the bus home.

When I walked down the stone steps with the other car riders, I realized I didn't know if someone was even picking me up! Hopefully, Mom will send one of her three kids down here to pick up her youngest.

Hopefully.

"Hazel!"

The familiar voice of Logan froze me in my place. He was running from a bush by the parking lot.

"Logan?" It felt weird saying it but I relax into how my name came out of his mouth.

He jogs over to me with this shit-eating grin. "Hey there, need a ride?" I practically fainted. "Really?"

"Sure." Logan shrugs. Coming from him, it just sounded like it was the gentleman thing to do. But at the moment, I felt he actually wanted to. My stomach crawled with caterpillars.

I follow him to a red, '04 Mustang. "This is my baby, Ashley." He smiles fondly.

Other than Zach and Evan, I've never seen guys admire their car and name them dumb girl names. Not that Ashley's a dumb name; it's just so overused.

I recommend no one naming their child Ashley for awhile. Seriously.

"Nice." I smile and slide into the passenger side.

My door is hardly closed when Logan speeds out of there. I closed the door while clinging onto the arm rest. If I titled any farther, I'd probably be rolling down Main Street.

"Sorry 'bout that," Logan says, his eyes facing forward like he didn't mean it. And he was just trying to be polite. Jerk.

"It's okay," I lied.

To make it less awkward, he turned up the radio. I recognized it as "Glad You Came," by The Wanted. It came on the radio all the time.

The sun goes down

The stars come out

And all that counts, is here and now,

My Universe, will never be the same

I'm glad you came...

The beat started playing, making me shift in my seat in a dance. Logan looked at me sideways in question. I bopped my head to the music and started to mouth the lyrics.

"What're you doing?"

"Singing," I stated bluntly.

He chuckled in amusement, but I kept on. After a while, and when the song went off, I noticed we were driving in circles.

I frowned. "What are you doing?"

Logan answered, "Waiting for you to tell me where you live."

I huff in annoyance and grumbled, "Should've said that hours ago."

I tell him to go straight through all the lights, get to the strip mall, pass that too, and go to New Village neighborhood.

"You live here?" he asked in astonishment when we passed the "New Village Neighborhood" sign.

I crinkled my brows. "What's so great about it? It's just houses put in one area..."

Logan doesn't answer.

"Turn down Knightsworthy Road." I focus on his fingers clenched to the stirring wheel. They were slowly turning white. Should I be concerned?

"What's wrong?"

The car jerks to a stop. I was thankful for the seat belt that kept me from hitting the dash board. He cuts the engine and turns to me.

"Do you know who Addy Goldsworthy is?"

I grimace. "Unfortunately." Her warnings floated back to my head: "...the type of guy you shouldn't hang out around?" And "...he's bad news."

"She's a dramatic one."

Logan sighs and runs his fingers through his black hair. I felt like hugging him and telling him to relax. But this didn't seem like the right time.

"Why?" I ask after a minute.

It's silent for two minutes. The radio has been lowered to almost silent. I'm watching Logan carefully as he keeps rubbing his face in irritation. The car is silent. We are silent.

Finally, he speaks.

"I know Addy, too." I fold my fingers together, not knowing how to feel yet. "Two summers ago, we...did some stuff and soon as I became freshman, I became super cool. I got the girls. I blew Addy off, and ever since then, she's been trying to get girl's to see how...evil I am."

He chuckles nervously.

I stare at him blankly. I open my mouth, and then close it.

"Say something?" he asked quietly.

"She told me you were bad news." I recite without thinking.

He blushes. "Um, that's...not...true?" he said, but it sounded like a question. As if he's asking if that's what he should say.

I smile a little. "Who are you convincing? Me or you?"

He looks me straight in the eye and blushes deeper. He looked away bashfully and wiped his face to rid the red.

It was quite adorable.

After a few minutes of him looking at me, looking away, and blushing in the process, he finally started driving again. My half-gray half-yellow house gave me more comfort.

He stopped by our knocked over mailbox, courtesy of Carly Grey.

"What happened to your mailbox?" Logan asked, watching me worriedly. He caught himself and put on a bored expression.

"My sister purposely knocked it over with her car." I explained. "She has anger issues."

He nods. "My sister is the same way."

"Well," Logan said without missing a beat. "This is your house right?"

"How'd you know?"

"The box marked 'Hazel's stuffed animals' gave it away."

I cheeks flared up instantly, "Well, thanks for the ride. Bye!" I jumped out the car and did an awkward run-walk to my front door. The sooner I could cool my cheeks down from the embarrassment, the better.

I shut the door behind me, and lean my back against it. I sighed slowly, letting my body relax.

"Hazel, is that you?" Mom asked from the kitchen.

"Hi Mom," I follow my mom's humming all the way to the circle kitchen table. She's looking in the newspaper and her hair is tied away from her face.

"Hi Hazel," She said without looking up. "How was school?"

"Good." I sat in the wooden chair across from her and started drumming my fingers on the table. "I made some new friends."

"Good!" she repeated, finally looking up with a smile. I smile back.

"Wait," She frowns. "Where's your backpack?"

My eyes go wide and my mouth drops open. "Crap!"

"What?"

"I left it at school," I said.

"Hope you didn't have homework." She went back to circling jobs, signaling the end of an afternoon conversation.

I skip all the way upstairs, into my room. They moved my purple laptop onto my purple and black polka dotted comforter. My Facebook page was opened and I had a new status two hours ago.

Hazel Grey: Haaaaacked by the awesome Evan Grey! :))) Hi Hazel! :D

I shook my head and smiled. Evan never failed to put a smile on my face.

Unsurprisingly, I had a few friend requests: Aiden Brown, Quinn Tyler, Josh Anderson, and Logan Holster.

My cheeks unexpectedly turn a tinted pink when I see Logan wants to be my friend. I add them, even creepy I watch people eat Josh.

I close my laptop, set it on the floor, and lay on my stomach. I exhaled all the stress I've been having lately. Logan and Addy seemed to be taking up my brain right at the moment.

When he said 'did things' did he mean sex? It could be possible. I mean, they're both mature enough to do that kind of stuff. I was raised to wait until marriage.

Obviously, those rules didn't apply here.

Why did Addy have to live in my neighborhood? Why not Logan? I would've been perfectly happy to have him live close by. That means more hanging out time. Mhm, everything would be perfect.

But there's no such thing as perfect. I learned that just recently. I think I have a crush on Logan. Unlike the all-American boys I've always crushed on, he's this...wild child.

It was weird to describe him. Logan was Logan. And since I've admitted my slight crush on this kid, I'm determined to not let him out of my grasp.

Wednesday

The next day of school, it's raining. I put on blue jeans, my polka dotted rain boots, and a black cardigan. I get dropped off at school by Evan. He messes up my good hair day as I'm stepping out of the car.

I glare at him.

"Have a good day at school." He smiled cheekily and sped off before I could protest.

I walk to my locker, my boots squishing obnoxiously with each step I take. Some girl who's locker's next to mine and in my first period smiles at me.

I smile uneasily. She has dyed red hair, a fringe that covered her right green eye, a nose piercing, and the body of a twenty year old. As in she's very curvy and she was pretty mature too. Her name is Miranda.

"Hi Hazel," She smiles.

"Hi." I smile back, "Miranda, right?"

"Yeah, I just - it looks like you need a friend to call your best friend, yeah?"

I shrug at her straightforwardness. It's not every day a girl will just bluntly state she wants to be your friend. It was actually pretty cool to know. I'd know she spoke her mind and tell you if you have a stain on your butt.

"Rather you do or don't, I want to be your friend," She said.

I laughed. "Okay."

I open my locker, put my coat and bag away, grab the things I need for Mr. Z's class, and follow Miranda down the hall to 1st hour.

"Are you shy?" she asked just outside the door.

"Rarely."

"Hm," Miranda mused.

She took her seat across the room from me. Aiden was already there, scribbling in notes from the board. I smile at him when he looks up, and he returns the smile.

Towards the end of class, Mr. Z told us we could have free time. Aiden immediately turns to me, at the same time, Miranda rushes over for the empty seat behind me.

"Oh hi Miranda," Aiden dead-pans when he notices her.

Miranda sticks her tongue out. "Hush up, Aiden!"

I laugh flakily. "Do you guys know each other?"

"Unfortunately," they said in unison.

Aiden rolls his eyes and goes back to writing in his notebook. Miranda explains to me, "I've known this kid since the third grade. He's been a bully to me, cause he had a crush on me."

"Nuh uh!"

Miranda ignores the outburst. "Now he's into the skinny bitches."

I snorted.

And then, the bell rang. "Make sure to finish your homework for tomorrow!" Mr. Z shouted to our retreating backs.

2nd and 3rd hour go by in a flash. Finally, it's lunch. Not to sound desperate or anything, but I was looking forward to seeing Logan again. I saw him walking around the hallways so I knew he was here today.

Aiden and I walk to the table, where Josh and Quinn were already eating their spaghetti.

Disappointment floods me as we sit. Where's Logan? Was my mind playing tricks on me when I saw him in the hallway? My stomach swirls around with the wanting of his presence. He was contagious.

I am quiet while the guys talk. When I hear them say, "Logan" I tune in.

"...got lunch detention today. But we're still hangin at your house, right?" Quinn was saying with spaghetti hanging from his lips.

I giggled.

Quinn stops mid-chew and darts his gray eyes to me. He sits up straight, the noodles swooshing around. He puts on this strange look. "What?"

I giggle again. "Spa-spaghetti!"

Aiden starts laughing, too. "Du-dude, you look like you got silly str-ing stuck on you."

Quinn slurps it up, his face showing he didn't find it funny we were laughing at him. I instantly stop because Quinn looked scary mad.

While I'm looking like a frightened cat, Aiden is throwing his head back and laughing. Josh just stares across the table as Quinn leans across to Aiden.

Suddenly, Aiden stops and stares at Quinn curiously. "You okay dude?"

Quinn relaxes quickly and settles back down in his chair. "Chill, dude," he replied.

I blinked in bewilderment. At first, it looked like another fight was brewing when Quinn's eyes turned menacing. And then Aiden mellows the both of them.

This is one weird town.