Hazel Barkley and the Football Players

Chapter 1

I shifted in my chair as Mrs. Garson desperately tried to explain the math problem to us. As I looked around, I could tell that nobody was getting it. I already knew the answer, but I wasn't going to give it away. There was a time when I'd answer every time, but after a while the teachers stopped calling on me. They wanted other students to speak up more. So now I just kept quiet and did my work.

"Matthew?" Mrs. Garson pointed at him, sounding relieved. I looked at the quiet brunette next to me. He seemed confident in his answer as he said,

"The denominators cancel each other out. Then, divide and you get 6,582."

"Right," Mrs. Garson said approvingly. I smiled a bit. Matthew was pretty smart; he was just too shy to stand out.

"Good job," I told him quietly. He glanced at me.

"Thanks." He picked up his pencil again and kept working on the assignment. I decided not to be offended by his blunt tone and got back to work. A couple minutes later, the bell rang. First period, check! I shoved my things into my backpack and walked out into the hallway, where my friends were waiting.

"HAZEL! YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED!" Ava screeched. Chelsea and Simone were laughing their heads off. I cracked a smile.

"What happened?" I asked.

"KADEN JUST FAILED THE HISTORY EXAM," she exclaimed, "AND MR. AXEL CALLED HIM OUT IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!" Chelsea and Simone were laughing so hard that I was afraid they might fall over. I giggled. Kaden was Ava's twin, and we loved to tease him about his less-than-ideal history abilities. I had already taken the exam yesterday and found it pretty easy. History was my worst subject, just because I didn't really care about it. Who cares about dead people from forever ago?

"I'll ask him about it in biology," I tell them. Biology was my next class. Today we were supposed to be learning about Punnett Squares.

"Okay well we better hurry. Class starts in 3 minutes," Chelsea warned. We sped down the hallway, going as fast as we could without running. I just barely made it into the biology classroom on time. Our teacher, Ms. Parks, eyed me as I slid into my seat, but she didn't comment.

"Okay guys, as you know we're learning about Punnett Squares today. But before we start on that-" She paused and poked her head out the doorway for a moment before coming back in.

"We have a new student. I'm not sure where he is, he should be here by now..." Our principal, Principal Jones, poked his head through the doorway.

"Ms. Parks? The new student I told you about is here," he informed her, then flashed a smile and waved at the class.

A few people waved back, but most didn't bother. Principal Jones was one of those adults who acted like he liked us, but in reality, he was just another adult working at a high school.

"Ah, perfect!" Ms. Parks clasped her hands together as Principal Jones waved the new kid forward like an Indy 500 race car flagger. Kaden, who was sitting next to me, rolled his eyes. He had some specific thoughts about our somewhat new principal, and they weren't good ones.

I fiddled with a pencil I had found on the empty desk in front of me. There were 5 seats at our table, but only 3 of them were filled. It was me, Kaden, and girl named Naomi. Naomi was... interesting, that was for sure. She was one of those girls who was mean to other girls but turned sickeningly sweet when talking to the athletic guys. I found her entirely annoying and avoided talking to her as much as possible.

Kaden thought she was cute, but that was just because he'd never seen her viper side. Chelsea, Ava, Simone, and I called her The Viper because of her snippy attitude towards anyone she wasn't crushing on.

"Hey Aion! I'm your biology teacher, Ms. Parks!" our teacher said, bringing my attention back to her. It was as soft a tone as I'd ever heard her use. She was usually very high-energy, not at all calm.

Poor Aion would see her true crazy side come out when she started teaching. She was nice though. I liked her, as long as she wasn't directing all of her attention on me. She was very overwhelming.

Aion already looked terrified of her, even though all she had done was introduce herself.

"I'm Aion," he said in a small voice. I observed his fluffy blond hair and brown eyes. He was tall, about 6'1. He looked buff, but I couldn't tell, and didn't really care anyways. He seemed popular, and no doubt played football too. Not someone who would care about my existence. I didn't really make a huge effort to make myself known in school. I had lots of friends, and that was good enough for me.

"-sit over there, across from Hazel." I looked up at the sound of my name. Ms. Parks was pointing straight at me. Aion's kaleidoscope hazel eyes followed her arm and met mine.

"Uh, okay," he said, and headed over as Ms. Parks continued talking like nothing had happened. He set down his backpack and sat down at the desk opposite from me. Right next to Naomi. Naomi's eyes lit up as she gazed at him. Ughh. This was going to be a loooong day...

  thank you so much for reading chapter one!! chapter two will be out soon. feel free to comment and vote if you liked it! 🩷