ᴛʜᴇʏ Sᴀʏ Sʜᴇ'ꜱ Fʀᴏᴍ ᴄᴏʀᴏɴᴀ ! 【Ryan Atwood】

4

"IF IT SUCKS WE CAN ALWAYS BAIL," Seth kept saying, each statement followed by a fidgety motion. The apprehension he displayed resonated a lot with the Michaels girl.

The car ride had given Hazel some time to chat with the boys who were able to clarify the conditions of their situation. The two seemed pretty well acquainted for having just met earlier that day, their banter caused Hazel to crack up on more than one occasion.

Upon hearing the full context of the blond boy's arrest, she concluded that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Seth on the other hand, being the sheltered kid he was, though it was all pretty badass, glorifying the event as if he himself had been there. The dark-haired boy looked to the other as if he were a god. Ryan laughed it off, throwing back some sarcastic remark, but by the way his gaze wandered off the side and his foot began to anxiously tap, Hazel could tell he was over the subject. She wouldn't want to remember jail either, considering being locked up was one of her biggest fears.

The girl had been to jail before. With a visitor's pass stuck to her shirt and both hands held by her parents, eight-year-old Hazel met her father's brother for the first time. She remembered him being funny and nice and not understanding why she couldn't reach across the table to touch him. The memories she had of her uncle were limited to that encounter as well as a couple of pictures in a photo album.

The screaming from Holly and the rest of her friends never died down. In fact, their shouts only intensified as the crew approached her house, drunk teens hollering from the driveway as if something impressive had happened. Before Hazel or either of the boys could make a move, the car's back door was flung open by the gaggle of girls who quickly ran towards the action.

Summer casually hopped down from the high passenger seat of the Jeep, heels hitting the concrete with a click. Her attention swiftly circled back to Hazel, who was being helped out of the vehicle by the boy from out of town. A smirk formed upon the lips of the Roberts girl who noticed how close the two stood to each other; their hands which dangled by their sides were almost pinky to pinky. She really didn't want to interrupt.

The petite girl waved her friend over, gesturing to the duffle in hand as a means of silently communicating her message. Hazel quickly got the picture, slowly moving away from the boys and towards Summer.

"Try not to get into too much trouble without me," she teased, slipping past Ryan, her shoulder lightly brushing against his bicep.

"Best behavior. Got it," he confirmed, cracking a smile when the Michaels girl made a face. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her as she took off with her friend.

Summer could hardly contain her excitement. "That seems to be going pretty well," she squealed once they were out of earshot.

"So far, so good."

They made their way inside, now fully immersed in the boisterous party scene where almost every one of the five senses was bombarded. The smell of weed and booze tickled Hazel's nose. Her eyes flickered from the rowdy couple feeling each other up by the door to the cocaine casually spread on the living room table and split into several lines. Her ears picked up the hoots and hollers emitted by some dudes in drug rugs as a chaotic flock of bikini-clad girls danced for them.

The small– but ever efficient– Roberts girl impatiently shoved her and Hazel's way through the drunk partygoers, paying no mind to how aggressive she was being. The taller of the two suppressed a chuckle when her friend's sharp elbow rammed into a beefy football player, causing the boy to yelp in pain.