The (Ex) Step Brother ➸ 1.d au

Friends

Hazel hated math.

Here she was, up early on a Saturday morning, trying to solve straight line graphs. She rubbed out the answer to a sum for the fourth time, and crunched angrily into an apple. 

Today marked her third week at MKD High, and she was finally at peace because she’d made good friends. Delia wasn’t as bad as Hazel had thought she was, for her ‘favour’ had been to kick Harry in the shins for tipping water on her books. She’d met two new girls – Eleanor Calder and Aria Matthews – who had proved to be highly amusing.

Hazel snapped out of her feverish reverie when she heard her phone ringing. The caller ID told her it was Aria, probably wanting to hang out. Aria Matthews was the kind of girl who barely studied but managed straight As, and had a penchant for partying all weekend.

“Hello?”

“Haz, you won’t believe it.”

Hazel smiled; Aria never beat around the bush. 

“Try me.”

“We’re invited to Harry’s house for a party tonight. Us! We never get invited to his parties!”

“So?”

“So?! We’re going! Have you seen that friend of his, Zayn? Wowwwwwww. Get your sequins out, Miss Winchester, we’re gonna knock the pants off those hotties.”

“Last time I checked, Zayn had a girlfriend. But alright, I’ll get this math homework out the way and I’ll see you at 7?”

“Make it 6, I haven’t decided what to wear.”

“Alright then, 6 it is.”

“Toodles!”

Aria disconnected, and Hazel stared at her phone’s wallpaper for a few seconds, her mind elsewhere. 

She’d need to find something to wear.

***

“Dad, I’m going out.”

Arthur Winchester looked up from his Blackberry and nodded. He’d started to look his age, but he was still a handsome man – probably why so many women wanted to marry him. He had a bad habit of treating his wife and kids like colleagues and not family. 

Vanessa, his latest trophy-wife, shook out her chestnut hair and smiled at Hazel. She was quite nice, unlike some of the women Hazel’s father had married.

“Don’t be home too late, alright?”

Sometimes Hazel wondered if Vanessa cared more about her than her own father did. 

“Won’t. See you, Tim, Jen,”

Vanessa’s children waved goodbye, and Hazel walked out, car keys jangling in her hand, wobbling slightly on her heels. She'd always preferred flats, but she knew her friends would positively kill her if she looked anything short of gorgeous. 

***

The girls had wolf-whistled the second she stepped into Aria's bedroom.

"I bet Harry himself will be fallin' all over you," Abby had joked, earning disgusted groans from everyone

"He's her ex step brother! That's practically incest!"

Oh, little did they know.