Love Hate

22

The girl's eyes felt like they were starting to dry as they watched her photos pass for the thousandth time tonight. She needed to find something to put in her portfolio but nothing seemed right. There was something always off. 

Needing a break, she wandered into the kitchen to get something to eat. At this time, everyone was asleep. The house was pitch black and it was dead silent. Vibrating on the kitchen table, Haven's phone shocked her.  The number was unknown. This time she knew it wasn't Caleb because she made sure to block it. Wondering who it could be, the girl with the wild curls picked up the phone.

"Hello?" 

"Hi, I didn't expect you to pick up, I was just going to leave a voicemail," A girl's chuckle echoed into Hay's ear. 

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but who is this?"

"Oh, my name is Charlotte. I don't go to your school but my boyfriend does. He saw your add for models and thought I'd be interested. I am and so are four of my friends. We were wondering if you needed any more models?"

The girl on the other end of the line was a complete stranger to Haven but at that moment she didn't care. She was desperate for anybody. And Charlotte seemed nice enough.

"Yeah, absolutely!" A slight squeal ended her words, "the photo shoot is this Saturday so in two days if that works?"

There was a slight murmur that Haven couldn't comprehend then the girl's voice was back in her ear, "Definitely!"

"Great, I'll send you my address and time. We'll go from there." Even though Charlotte couldn't see it, Haven was smiling. She was over the moon. Her portfolio wasn't going to be a complete flop after all. 

To say that Zion wasn't as ecstatic as Haven was about the situation would be a complete understatement. Once Char had gotten done with the phone call and told the boys what happened, he hadn't stopped smiling. Everything seemed to be falling into place in his eyes. The only thing left for him to do now was to figure out what he was going to say to Haven.

If time could fly, then it would take us to Saturday.

Haven was stood on her porch waiting for everyone to arrive. She wore black high waisted skinny jeans and a cropped marigold top with checkered vans on her feet. Her wild curls were contained in space buns. Strands fell all over her face. She packed her backpack with extra lenses and batteries. Her camera hung from her neck. 

Kékéli was the first to arrive along with Elom considering they were next door. Tyler was a bit late with Austin and Venus since he had to pick them up. The six waited for Charlotte and her four friends. A part of Haven felt nervous that they wouldn't show. Her doubting thoughts never left her brain.

That was until she heard the front door of the Kuwonu household shut.

Two of the Kuwonu siblings were already at her house and Haven was not bothered by the other. She didn't look over there like she usually would. Instead, she kept her head held up high. That didn't keep V from whispering to her what was going on. 

"He's walking out of the house with his friends. There's a girl with them," Venus paused. The girl with curls looked at her friend. V wore a confused to look. She couldn't help herself after that. Haven's coffee eyes looked over to the Kuwonu house only to see Zion, his three friends, and a girl walking over to her house.

Everything clicked after that. 

The girl was Charlotte and her four friends were the boys.

This was Zion's plan and Haven couldn't believe she fell for it.