The Crew That Died

Chapter Two

"I'm not wearing that!" I say while laughing, I'm sitting with my best friend Alara Katz, who is the only person on the planet who can be drop dead gorgeous and still make me feel good about myself. She has away with her looks that make me forget about mine.

"You'd look so cute, though!" She says back, showing me a photo of a floral dress. I don't care how I look in it. it's the price.

"Allie, it's four hundred dollars." I say, constantly glancing over her shoulder at James, who is sitting with his friends.

"Seriously? When has money ever been a problem when it came to me? I'll buy it for you." She demands, her family is rich, and she always buys me stuff. No matter how much my mom loves her, she hates it when she buys me stuff.

"My mother would actually kill you." I tell her, just then, Liam walks up to us.

"Hey Hazel." He tells me, Alara looks at me with a stupid face that says,'Oh my gosh.' I roll my eyes at her and look back to Liam.

"Hi, Liam." I smile.

"Thanks for telling James to invite me to that party, it sounds fun." He says, I smile and stand up as he literally towers over me.

"It was no problem." I say.

"Hey, I heard you can bring an escort." Alara says, Liam nods, and alara smiles. "Since she's the reason you're going... maybe, I dunno, take Hazel?" She asks while she stands up with us. I can't believe she just said that to a guy she just met. This girl has zero social anxiety.

Liam looks at me and smiles. "I'd love to. But I thought you had plans on friday?"

"They're with me, and she'll cancel them. Ask her." Alara demands

"Hazel, can I take you to his party?" Liam asks me, my heart falls to my stomach, and I can't get words out, I just stare at him, shocked. Thank God alara was there to step in and save me.

"She would love to. Bye, Liam." She tells him, waving him away. When he walks away, she turns and looks at me. "Girl. He is a smoke show! Much better than you know who." She says, referring to my recent crush on James. She hates him more than I do.

♤

I'm sitting in the fourth hour, contemplating shooting myself because I'm in math class. I know math isn't that hard, but the thought of it makes me want to shove a rusty sword so far up my ass that it gives me sepsis and kills me.

"Hazel?" Mr. Greensburg says, "I look up, and he opens his mouth again, making me want to die." "Did you not hear me?" He asks with an additude.

I sit there silently for a second, deciding if I want to be respectful to my mothers boyfriend.

"Anyone home? I said, Did you hear me?" He asks again.

I gave up on the thought of being respectful after that.

"Well, since you've had to ask me twice, I'm gonna take a wild stab at it and say no." I tell him, the whole class "ooos, " and I snap on them too. "Shut the hell up."

"You're not supposed to talk to your stepfather like that." Greenburg says. I hate him and his haircut.

It looks like a blind guy with no arms cut his hair...it's sad. He's dating my mom, and he thinks he can tell me what to do.

"I would never talk to my stepfather like that, but you and my mom aren't married and besides, you're just a rebound, at least her last boyfriend didn't have the iq and personality of a deformed whale, you wrinkled q-tip."

Usually, I don't talk to him like that, but I just found out that he still lives with his mom at forty years old, so like...ew.

"I don't....girl..."

Greensburg stutters, trying to form words after my random  rant. "Just get out." He tells me, I stand up and walk outside.

He didn't deserve that. He's a nice guy, minus living with his mom, I just can't imagine my mom with anyone other than my dad, who died trying to go skydiving.

Dumbass.

I've actually been having a really hard time with it. He only died six months ago, and my mom already moved on.

On the verge of tears, I run my hand through my hair and sit down against the lockers, from where I'm sitting I can see into another class room, I see James sitting there, when Alara's not around I usually have to remind myself that I hate him.

I kind of just stare at him, creepy, I know. I see him look into the hall and see me, then he raises his hand and asks the teacher something. She nods, and he stands up and walks out.

Instead of walking in the direction of the bathrooms, he turns the other way. Walking toward me...

"Hey, Dimond." The fact that he calls me that makes me want to set Kira on fire.

"You know my names not Dimond, right?" I ask, praying he says yes. He lightly laughs.

"Yeah, I know, it's Hazel," He sits next to me before continuing, "like Liam's eyes."

I look at him confused but also kind of flattered. "You heard that whole conversation?"

"Everyone did. You're known by everyone." He told me I was shocked that people knew who I was. Alara is the kind of girl people know, not me. And that's not a "Oh I'm so invisible" mentality, it's just the truth.

"Well, it won't last long."

"Why?" He asked me, I just now realized how cute his eyes are. Holy shit, do I like him again?

"People notice Alara, not me."

"Well, I noticed you, and I have no idea who Alara is."

That's the first time anyone has ever said that to me. I'm flattered. Honestly, I don't think Alara could make me smile the way he just did.

Speak of the devil, just then Alara comes out of her classroom.

"Why do all of our classrooms have to be next to each other?" I whisper to myself, I hear James quietly laugh at my joke as Alara struts over.

"Hazel!" She said to me, she then glanced over to James

"Other guy, anyway, are you gonna go to that party with Liam?" She asks, James scrunches his face and starts to get up. "That's my que. If you do go...I'll see you there." He says, then he walks away.

"What was that?" Alara asks. I stand up and walk back into class without awnsering her. She just stands there dumbfounded.

I'm in hell.