Se connecterJaxon’s POVI see it by accident, Johnson sends it without a message attached, just a link and I almost don’t open it because I’ve been ignoring everything lately… calls, messages, the group chat that has been flooding with messages since my suspension notice went out. But something about it being captionless makes me click on it and then I’m watching Hazel sitting on the edge of her bed in a hoodie, staring at the camera.I turn up the volume.“My name is Hazel and I run this blog….”I go still and watch her say it, from the pact, the scheduled post she couldn’t take down, I notice when her voice cracks slightly calling my name, I watch her press her hand against her knees to keep them from shaking, and keep watching anyway with the viewers count increasing.I feel my chest warm up, perhaps it was a relief that she didn’t actually betray me.“The steroid accusation is false…” she speaks plainly, quite easy to tell that she isn’t lying. I shut my eyes for a second.She knew what she
Hazel’s POVToday, I felt sick and my body was all messed up like I caught a flu so I didn't go to class despite Sasha's unending attempt to persuade me to get up earlier. Sitting on my bed now and staring at my phone, then I see it.A sports account I don’t follow, reposted by someone I barely know with a caption that says. ‘This is bad’ I click on it and it takes me to an article. Not a school blog or forum, it’s an actual sports media with a verified check mark and forty thousand followers, the headline uses Jaxon’s full name.I read it once. Then put my face down on the mattress and sit with my hands in my lap and look at the wall.It is no longer a campus thingy and has now gone more viral. I know it was bound to happen but knowing and happening were totally different. There are people literally reading this about Jaxon and already decide what they know of him.My chest aches. I pick up my phone again and open the blog. I don’t know what I’m expecting, I have tried taking down th
Hazel's POV I am sitting at the far end of the small cafeteria the next day trying to get platform support to respond when I hear his voice.“You look terrible.”I look up, Trey is standing on the other side of the table with his bag over his shoulder and his face completely blank, almost calm which is worrisome to look at. I had been waiting for him to reveal an outburst the way he normally does, but why was he quiet?“What do you want Trey?” I ask flatly, turning down my phone screen with a sigh, my back arched slightly “To check on you.” He replies. “You’re having rough days.” He smiled.“I’m fine.” I roll my swollen eyes from lack of sleep from trying to take down this post.“It’s obvious you’re not.” He leans back in the chair, relaxed. “But you could be.”I stop typing and look at him properly. “What does that mean?”He holds my gaze for a moment before he answers. “It means this whole thing wouldn’t be chaotic if you weren’t being crazy to hold on to what isn’t real.” He shru
Hazel’s POVRumors spread across campus faster than I could even breathe through it.When I walked into my faulty, two girls near the lockers went quiet the second they saw me. One of them looks down at her phone immediately, the other one smiles but it wasn’t in any way genuine.“Hi.” She waves.“Hello.” I reply and keep walking .Six steps away before I hear her talk again. “Look, that WildLife post already has twenty thousand shares.”I didn’t turn around, I kept my pace and my eyes even, pressing my thumbnail into my palm hard enough to feel it almost pierce my skin.By the time I reach the main corridor, it gets louder but nothing is being directed to me. All I hear is Jaxon’s name, from countless numbers of people.“I hear the scouts already pulled out on him.”“He’s been hiding his shoulder injury since high school, not even recently? Outrageous.”I stop at my locker and unlock it, I stare inside for a moment at my collection of books and folders sitting there like every other
Trey’s POVI keep thinking about homecoming night, and no, it has nothing to do with the party itself, but about Hazel's confession. I didn't imagine she would go to that length.She does not make impulsive decisions, not ever, and she definitely doesn’t wake up one morning and decide to fake date Jaxon Carter of all people, which means there is more to what she was hiding.Everyone else is acting like this new version of Hazel came out of nowhere, like she suddenly changed overnight and became someone else entirely, but I wasn't buying into it. I promised myself I would figure out what else she was hiding.That thought stayed with me long enough that I started monitoring all her movements, then I took the courage one day to break into her locker. I waited until there was no one around, no footsteps nearby, no reason to worry about interruptions, before walking to her locker and reaching for the lock. It is almost insulting how easy it is. I have watched her use the same combinati
Jaxon’s POV I already knew something was coming.Hazel had called before everything went live, I didn’t have answers for her then. Not while I was already walking into practice and trying to make sense of what she was saying.After practice, Marcus walked over and slid his phone onto the bench beside me.It was the post on Hazels blog.Steroid use, aggression, violent behavior written carefully enough that it almost sounds reasonable until you realize what it’s actually saying. My grip on the phone tightened as I read through then my eyes jumped to the third paragraph, it is a detailed description of the injury that I have been hiding and playing through each game.I set the phone down on the bench.“Jaxon.” Marcus starts.“I’m fine“ I say, even though my voice comes out flat which makes him stop talking.I’m not fine, I can feel the locker room shift around me, conversations dropping the moment I look up, my teammates turning away when I catch their eyes.Three years in this room h
Hazel's POV “Where are we going?” I asked as Jaxon took a turn down the road. He glanced at me with his eyes glinting under the streetlights. “You’ll see, try not to overthink it.” he winked. Oh, that wink! My stomach did a weird somersault, and I immediately looked out the window before he could
Jaxon's POV "Oh Jaxon, why should I delete the picture? Where’s the fun in that?” She tilted her head, her eyes gleaming in mischief “You should be thanking me. The little edit I made makes you look… irresistible. Half of the girls on campus would kill to be Hazel right now.”“Hazel doesn’t deserv
Jaxon’s POV I should’ve stayed pissed at her after the way she acted cold to me in the library; most girls wouldn’t have gotten a second glance from me, but when I heard, there I was seated beside her. Minutes into the movie but she wasn’t watching. I could tell by the way her shoulders stayed st
Hazel’s POV Sasha leaned closer, her voice barely a whisper. “Oh my God! He’s coming here.” “I know,” I hissed, my fingers digging into the knit of my cardigan. My heart thudded so loud I was sure half the lawn could hear it. Jaxon stopped right over the edge of our blanket and lowered himsel







