The Crew That Died

Chapter Three

"For gods sake! We were just talking!" I tell Alara as she follows me into my house. She really didn't like the fact that I was talking to James. When she kept cussing me out, I finally stopped her.

"Alara! Listen to me!" I put my hands on the side of her head."We were just talking. I'm going to the party with Liam so you don't even have to worry." She really, really does not like James, but to be fair, he did dump pop on her head when we were younger.

"I'd never tell you who to date, am I fond of James? No. But I don't have a problem with you dating him, if you like him... go for it, but don't do that to Liam, he's a sweet guy who deserves better." Alara is probably the sweetest girl on the planet.

"I promise, I won't do that to Liam. Now, will you help me get ready?" I asked. She smiled and nodded.

"Hell yeah."

♤

As I'm looking through my closet for something to wear, I hear Alara giggling, I know exactly what that means. I turned around to see her holding the four hundred dollar dress I told her not to buy.

"Alara for the love of god." My moms gonna kill us both. She smiles and hands it to me. At this point, I shouldn't even try giving it back. She won't let me.

The dress was light blue spaghetti strap, with small flowers all over it, and it went right above my knees. I put it on and showed Alara.

"Ugh! These boys are going to be fighting over you." She tells me.

"That would be bad, we have a math test tomorrow." I joke.

"Okay, I'm trying to give you confidence. Don't hate on me." Alara demands, I laugh and roll my eyes. She's so awesome.

"Honey!" My mom yells from downstairs, I didn't even notice that she was home. Alara and I look at each other, our faces full of panic.

"She's gonna kill me, isn't she?" Alara asks me, referring to her buying me the dress.

"She might... yeah, she might." My mom walks in and asks me where I'm going.

"A party." Alara brags.

She looks at me confused. "That's impossible. You have no life." I roll my eyes and look turn around to look at myself in the mirror. She then asks the question. "Hey, where'd you even get that?" I turn around slowly as she turns her head and glares at Alara.

"Oh, look at that! Liams here!" Thank God he actually was, Alara and I went out to the car and told him to drop Alara off at home.

When we dropped Alara off, the car was silent, not like silent when you're driving with your friend, and it doesn't matter. It was an awkward silence. Like I was driving with a stranger, now that I think about it, I kind of am, I met this guy like two days ago. I decide to not let it bother me and just stay quiet.

♤

"Hazel!" Sarah yells. She runs up and hugs me. I didn't even know she got invited to the party. She's the only person on the planet who thinks I should date James. She talks about it all the time and is always saying how he stares at me in class. I genuinely believe that it was always a death stare.

"Whos this Arm Candy?" She asked me as she looked at Liam.

"This is Liam. He's - "

"The new kid at school. Alara told me about him, it's nice to meet you." I've never seen her be nice to any guy I was with.

Before I knew it, she was dragging me away to play beer pong. While we were playing, she looked at me with a suspicious face.

"Don't even start, sarah."

"He's not James."

"James hates me!" I argue. Honestly, I don't even know if that's true anymore.

"...is he nice?" I know she's referring to Liam, so I respond.

"Yes. And I like him."

"I guess I'll allow it." She says as she winks at me. I laugh and roll my eyes. She's a bit of a handful, but she's a good friend.

♤

Honestly, sitting alone with a wine in my hand is not what I thought I'd be doing at seventeen when I was a kid. Liam didn't necessarily ditch me but...he's having a lot of fun, so I'll leave him alone.

"Hey." A voice says, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turn around to see James, not what I needed tonight.

"Hey." I say softly, trying to ignore him. Sadly, he sat next to me. If Alara was here, she would kill me.

"Alara doesn't like me, does she?" Damn. This guy basically read my mind. Hot. Wait, no, never mind, forget I said that.

"No. No, she doesn't." I tell him, laughing to myself.

"...is she single-"

"Shut the fuck up." I respond, it was clear that he was joking so I laughed. He laughed with me as I looked up to the sky. I can see from my side view that he's staring at me and smiling. I don't know what to do so I just stay still, admiring the stars.

Its a calm silence before he speaks again. "Liam just left..." he says as he watches my date walk out the door. I turn and see Liam leaving.

"Thats okay, he's pretty drunk." I say.

"I can give you a ride."

"...okay."