HAZEL

1// Yellow

PART ONE: EUDAIMONIA

[Eudaimonia: Eudaimonia is a Greek word translating to the state or condition of 'good spirit', and which is commonly translated as 'happiness' or 'welfare']

Although earlier that day I had to describe my emotions using color in class and I had said 'blue', I truly didn't understand how people can feel colors as emotions. As I sat there inside of a Korean restaurant with a few of my friends on a beautiful August afternoon, I tried to think of a color that would describe my current state but unfortunately, couldn't think of any. 

"So how was everyone's first day of junior year?" my friend, Brianna asked aloud from my right as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. 

Our school (JFK Memorial school) was a five-minute walk from the restaurant we currently sat at and although my friends have come here countless times, it was my first time at this place. After finishing up middle school at JFK memorial school, my parents enrolled me in an all-girls high school due to their paranoia of possible boy trouble in high school. My experience at that school was not great which led me to move back to JFK Memorial.  

"I am already stressed about AP [advanced placement] classes," said Tiffany across from me.

"Me too but today was a slow start at least," Zoe said from my left. 

"It was strange to see boys everywhere," I chimed in. 

"Oh yeah, you went to an all-girls school for the last two years. Did any cute guy catch your attention today?" Vanessa asked with an eyebrow raised.

I laughed a little and shook my head. I was too busy making sure I went to the right classes and learning more about all the teachers to notice any guys. 

"I still have a hopeless crush on Jonathan," Vanessa said. Vanessa came to JFK Memorial school in 9th grade so today was my first time meeting her. So far, I have only learned three things about her: her name is Vanessa, she loves KPOP and she has had a huge crush on Jonathan for 2 years now, "Do you find Jonathan cute?" she continued. 

I shook my head once again. He was good-looking, I admit but I didn't want to bring it up at that moment.  

"I think for the next two years, I am not going to get serious about any boy," I said.

"Two years is a long time and we are supposed to be living the teenage dream," Brianna said. Although she had a point, getting serious with a boy during the last two years of high school would only end with heartbreak and precious time lost. 

"I know, that's why I plan to have a few crushes but nothing serious. The minute it gets serious, I'm gonna pull away."

"That's harsh," Vanessa said.

"I just don't want to waste the time that I should focus on friends and education. I'm taking two AP classes, we gotta start prepping for college admissions and lastly, I want to make fun memories with all of you."

"She is right. School is gonna get hectic and who knows where we all would end up for college," Zoe nodded her head. 

"I guess you guys are right. What period do you guys have English?" Brianna asked, taking out her schedule and just like that, we all dove into the conversation about classes. We all discussed changing some of our class periods around to have more classes together. 

"Mr. Brown is back, I heard he used to teach before taking a break," Tiffany suddenly said.

"Yeah, he was on a vacation for a year or two I think. He seems so much fun," Zoe said. 

"He is kind of cute."

"Ewwww," Brianna, Zoe, and Vanessa all said it together and we all burst out laughing. 

"He is okay at most," I added and we all laughed even more. 

"But he is tall and he slightly flexed in the middle of class and I kid you not, he has huge biceps. And when he turned around his ass-"

"Your tteok-bokki is ready," the server interrupted Tiffany's Mr. Brown- appreciation- speech. We all politely said thank you before bursting out laughing as the server left. Tiffany was blushing bright red as we started teasing her. 

"Okay, that's enough embarrassment for me. Let's dig in."

We all laughed a little more before devouring the spicy tteok-bokki. We didn't speak much while eating because the food was unbelievably amazing. I understood why my friends came here every week. 

"We should make a bucket list, things we should do this year together," Brianna said as we were taking the last few bites of our food. 

"Sure, I'll write them down on my notes," Zoe pulled out her phone from the right pocket of her black hoodie. 

"Let's go to a concert together."

"Let's stay out until midnight."

"Let's go to a fancy restaurant."

"How about having a sleepover?"

"Let's go shopping together. Especially during Black Friday."

We all were throwing our ideas out as Zoe wrote them down. 

"What if we get matching tattoos and then go take shots," we all stopped and stared at Tiffany, "What?"

"We are not of age to do either of those things," I said as we all laughed. 

"Oh, whatever."

As we all continued talking more about the upcoming academic year, I realized how much happier I already was compared to the last two years. We soon wrapped up our conversation and paid for the food. 

Everyone's home except for mine was about 5-10 minutes of walking distance. My home was about 25 minutes away. I decided to walk Zoe home and catch up with her. We have been friends for almost 5 years and I was the closest to her in our friend group. 

We all bid our goodbyes and I started walking towards Zoe's home with her. 

"I've missed you so much," Zoe gave me a side hug and I hugged her back.

"I've missed you too. I am so happy to be back."

"I'm so glad we will get to spend the two most important years of our high school lives together," she squealed.

"Me too. Out of everything, I honestly missed you the most."

We talked about some old memories we were fond of, the new memories we want to create together and cracked some inside jokes. Talking to her felt like a warm blanket on a snowy day. 

We stood in front of her home for a while, just talking  and laughing. We never ran out of topics to talk about. 

"You should probably go in now and I gotta get home before my mom gets paranoid," I finally said, glacing at my watch to see it's going to be evening soon. 

"You're right. It's so nice to catch up with you. See you tomorrow," she hugged me one more time before going inside and waving from the other side of the glass made entrance door. I waved back and started walking back with a huge smile on my face.  

I looked up at the sky and even though, it was supposed to be a pale blue, everything seemed brighter. I finally understood how people associated colors with emotions. 

I smiled as I realized there is a particular color I suddenly associated with and it was not blue. Yellow. I was definitely feeling yellow and it just made sense.                     

Author's note: Thank you so much for reading chapter one of 'Hazel!' I hope you enjoyed this chapter. There is going to be roughly 24 more chapters. You can expect the next update on Friday/ saturday! 

:: Question- Thoughts about the protagonist?

:: Question- Who is your favorite among the friends so far?

:: Question- At what episode do you think we will meet Nick?