The Twisted Tale of Alex and Hazel

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hazel POV

"Stop thinking about him, Hazel. It isn't worth it." Marina tells me for the millionth time. We're lying on our bed (we connected the single beds to make a queen-sized bed), the lights switched off, as I ranted about Alex.

His actions today left me stunned, humiliated and angry. I was trying to get into the basketball squad, yet he barged in and ruined it for me. There's no way I can qualify for the team, not after how he beat me so bad and how the coach singled me out to scold me. Needless to say, I didn't receive word from the coach, and I know that I didn't get in.

And it's all his fault.

"He ruined my basketball potential!" I say, staring up at the ceiling. "Showing off was one thing, humiliating me for no damn reason is another! What did he do that for? What does he have against me?" I shout at the ceiling.

"He's an asshole. Just ignore him." Marina pleads futilely. She hates arguments and knows how I get when I feel a strong emotion.

"Playing me off like that! And that kiss," I say, feeling heat rise up to my cheeks for some reason. "What the hell did he do that for?" That question has been in my mind ever since he left the basketball court, with the other girls gaping at me. Afterwards, they swarmed around me, asking how a kiss from the hottest guy around was. Like please. As if he's hot, and it was a kiss on the cheek just to humiliate me, why can't they see that? The way the coach looked at me made me feel so embarrassed and inferior.

"He's a player, and he's trouble. Guys like him go around kissing girls to win them over, though it didn't work on you I hope?" Marina says, rolling to the side to face me.

My ears burn. "I DO NOT like him! I hate him so much. Just the thought of him makes me sick!" I punch my pillow so hard that feathers fly out.

"Do you want to have a pillowfight?" Marina asks me hopefully, wanting to calm me down. I don't answer.

"I'll get a new pillow tomorrow." Marina says quietly. She stays silent for a while as I finally let the tears come. The first day of school, and already I've been embarrassed like that! I can already imagining being the laughingstock for the rest of the year.

I wanted to just get on with college, having some fun and just finishing it uneventfully. The fact that it's not makes me disappointed and upset. Only Marina knows how emotional I actually am, despite my stony face and the hard walls I put up around me, such that people think I'm cold and indifferent.

Marina pats my arm gently. "The past is in the past. There's so many activities you can join! You're so talented and sporty, I'm sure you can get into anything. This incident will definitely blow over in a few days, which I'm sure most don't even remember! And I'll tell Joseph to keep Alex away from you."

I snort in spite of myself. After the whole incident, Joseph asked for Marina's number, and now the two text all the time. It's a bit silly, but I feel a bit sad that now Marina has someone else and may become distant from me, though I know that will never happen. Hopefully it's just a small romance.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks anyway, I'm lucky to have a best friend like you." I lie back, satisfied.

Marina smiles. "That's the spirit! Now let's go to sleep. There's class tomorrow and we need our energy."

Alex POV

"You're joking, right?" I ask, praying that he's wrong. I'm going through my subject combinations with my coach, and now he says I have to take one 'contrasting subject', a humanities course for my first semester.