"How's school today?" her mom asked at dinner time the next day.
She shrugged, "Fine," she answered almost simultaneously with Max.
There was nothing eventful for her except spending the whole day with Jan celebrating her new relationship status with Kyle. He finally confessed to her and asked her if she wanted to be his girlfriend on Valentine's Day. How romantic.
There's not much she could say about her own Valentine's Day. That last note she received was occupying her mind, but no one was sending her signals or trying to approach her about it. It was anonymous, it will probably stay anonymous. She didn't want to think about it too much.
"I have a surprise for you, actually," her dad said as he wiped his mouth with a dinner napkin.
She looked up at him, "What is it?"
"Do you know my friend Bo Wigley? He's a big promotor and he runs his own event organizer in Goldstone?"
She furrowed her brows, "Not really."
Her mom laughed lightly, "Oh you're gonna love this."
Her face beamed, "What is it?"
"Anyway ... he's promoting a big concert in Goldstone on Spring Break and he's got 5 tickets to the show ... I twisted his arm to get them because the show was sold out since last month."
She had a wide smile on her face, "Whose is it? Did you get the tickets?"
"Yeup," her dad was grinning with pride. "Would you like to go to a Harry Styles concert in Goldstone in March?"
She couldn't hear anything past Harry Styles. She was screaming and jumped off her chair to run and hugged her dad, almost choking him in the process and deafened his ears. She couldn't believe it, she almost fainted.
"Oh my God! Thank you ... thank you ... thank you ... dad ... oh I love you ... I love you ... I love you!" she dangled around her dad's neck and rammed him with kisses on his cheek.
"Alright ... alright ... you're welcome, I know how much you like Harry Styles, and this concert is in Goldstone, I had quite a discussion with your mom about letting you go, but Max will go with you ... right, Max?" he said to Max who was still eating his dinner.
"Yeah, you might have to stay the night at a hotel, I'll book some rooms there ... there are 5 tickets, you can ask Jan and Theo," her mom said.
"I actually thought I could get away with it ... Peyton had bought some tickets for that concert too, she's going with Theo and Mia," Max said. Mia is his girlfriend.
"Really? Why didn't you tell me they were getting tickets? You know how much I wanted to go?" Hazel protested.
"Because ... I don't really want to go, it's not like you'd go with Peyton and Mia?"
He had a point, but that did not dismiss the fact he had deprived her of the chance to go and see her favorite One Direction member. She frowned, "You could've said something about it," she muttered.
"Okay, that's not a problem at all because now ... you're all going!"
"So Theo, Peyton, and Mia have their own tickets?" her mom interrupted.
"Yeah," Max nodded.
"That means we have two extra tickets, do you know anyone else who wants to go?"
All the girls at her school would love to get tickets, it would be so cool to show off to them that she was going. "Well, Jan's got a new boyfriend, maybe he'll go."
"A new boyfriend? Who is it?" dad asked.
"It's Kyle Langfield, a sophomore, he's in the basketball team ... oh ... can I bring my friend Lee? He might want to go."
"Who's Lee?" mom looked at her curiously.
"He's Kyle's friend ... well, my friend too, we've been hangin' out at school lately, he's a dancer ... actually I was going to ask if I can go to his dance practice on Saturday? He's going to pick me up at 6."
Her parents looked at each other. "A boy is going to pick you up on Saturday night?"
Max was listening to the conversation. He was equally interested to know what it was all about.
"It's not a date or anything, he's cool ... he's going to be dancing for the tournament opening in March ... so can I? Can I ask him to go to the concert?"
Her mom raised an eyebrow, "Sure ... we don't want to waste a ticket, it was really hard to get."
"Yeaaay!" she did a little run around the dining table with her arms up. "I'm gonna call Jan and tell her the news ... aarggh ... it's gonna be epiiiiccc!!" she ran upstairs without finishing her food.
"Hey, you haven't finished your food!" her mom yelled.
"I'm not hungry." Followed by the door being slammed.
Her mom and dad then turned to look at Max who was still eating. "Lee?" she asked.
He tilted his shoulder, "That's the first time I heard it ... I'll look into it."
"Drive them up to Goldstone, keep an eye on them at the concert, okay? Be a good brother ... you know how much she likes Harry," her mom said his name as if he was already part of the family, or at least, the cardboard cut out in Hazel's room had already been part of the family for years.
"Sure," he said casually.
It was a given since they were little, Hazel was his responsibility when the parents weren't around. He didn't want to go with his girlfriend but he'd take her sister anywhere. It was the kind of brother he is.
Okay ... let me wrap this up for you ... I decided to finish high school at Pinehurst Valley because ... well ... because I wanted to be close to Hazel for another year at least. I've never had a friend like her before and ever since Eli ... she's the one thing that made my life seem livable again. We spent the rest of the summer in Goldstone with my dad's charity program. We worked with under privilege children in the nook and cranny of the city. We volunteered at the nursing home. Hazel loved that one because I had to perform every week for the elderlies, they loved my singing, apparently, they think I was adorable and reminded them of their grandsons. Made me feel less special knowing there are at least 7 kids that looked like me. The whole program went well. She got extra points for her portfolio. So did I. Though it didn't matter to me because I know I'm not going to Uni after this. I'm concentrating on my new channel which Hazel had agreed to help with. She loved that to
She finally came out of her bedroom looking fresh out of the shower. Her mom felt a heavy burden just lifted off her shoulder. Hazel was feeling better. There was still deep sadness on her face but she forced a smile and said 'Hi' and gave her a long hug. The day was getting dark and Claire's relief was short-lived because Hazel was on her way outside to meet the boy in a designer hoodie in his white Lamborghini who looked like he hadn't had a good sleep in days."He's been waiting for an hour," Claire said.She had turned on the light on their porch so the two of them can have a good talk on their new balcony swing. Claire poured a generous amount of red wine into her mug and peeked outside their window and saw the two kids embracing each other warmly."Hey, baby ... how are you doing?" he said and kissed the top of her head.She shook her head and started to cry in his chest."Oh ... I'm so sorry ...""No ... I'm sorry ..." she said and held her tears back. "I'm sorry I missed your
Claire was leaning against the door frame of their entrance with her arms folded in front of her. He waved at Theo as he climbed into his car with all his stuff in the backseat. The boy had been crying, she could clearly see it on his face. She could still remember what it was like to be young and in love and heartbroken. It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. Theo had told her everything. She appreciated his honesty though she was disappointed at the same time. But he was devastated, Claire knew that people sometimes underestimated how deep the emotional scar is for boys. Some men couldn't really recover from the hurt they feel in their younger years. It only goes to show how Theo really felt about Hazel. She wanted to understand the situation though she can see how much it had hurt her daughter too. She let out a sigh as his car drove further away from their house. Theo was going back to Gastonbury after many attempts to apologize to Hazel. She had closed her doo
The party was held at The Silver Tongue, the most exclusive club in Goldstone. As the son of an A-list celebrity, he spared no expense and went all out for the celebration. He booked the whole third floor for the event and invited everyone he knew in the city. Including Mandy and Dennis. As soon as Marlon and his entourage arrived, the party began in full swing. The music was loud and thumping, and the dance floor was packed with guests showing off their best moves. Marlon was the center of attention, surrounded by his friends, who were all dressed in the latest designer clothes and jewelry. The bar was fully stocked with top-shelf liquor, and bartenders were serving up creative cocktails in elaborate glassware. The party-goers were drinking and toasting Marlon's big day, and everyone seemed to be in high spirits. He wasn't in a particularly good mood that day, a big part of it was because he hadn't heard from Hazel since she went back to Chestnut. As if she had disappeared from t
Theo sat on his bed, his head buried in his hands. He couldn't believe the mess he had gotten himself into. He loved Hazel with all his heart, but he had lied to her. He couldn't even remember how it had all started. He left his girlfriend in Gastonbury because he knew he wanted to spend the summer with the girl that got away. The moment he saw her at the dance, he was instantly back to where he left off and his girlfriend just disappeared in the background. Grace ... her name ... his girlfriend. It was never serious with Grace. It was never serious with any of the girls he had been with after Peyton. Subconsciously, he was trying to move on from losing Hazel because he was too much of a coward to fight for her in the first place. He knew it would have to be Hazel. He had taken their relationship for granted for years, but they were just kids. One year apart from her had only made his feelings stronger and he had ruined it for the both of them when he couldn't stop himself from fa
It was a nagging feeling. That's what she had. It was bothering her and she couldn't ignore it any longer. Sure ... she needed to get her stuff to better prepare herself for the summer program. But Theo will only stay for so long and she needed to be with him, at least to explain in person how her summer is going to be.She wanted to stay in Goldstone, it was her initial plan before Theo came along. The nagging feeling told her to go back to Chestnut to see if their new relationship was going to last beyond that summer.She didn't tell him she was coming back, she wanted it to be a surprise. The minute she arrived, she went straight to Theo's house.He was surprised or more like shocked to see her. The look on his face was not what she expected. His eyes bulged wide, his face was drained of colors, and his mouth gaped open."Micky?" his voice was almost inaudible.She laughed, "Yeah ... who do you think it is? I wanted to ask you if you're surprised ... but it's pretty obvious," she r