Like Catching Lightning

Chapter 7

"and she stepped on the ball!"

i threw my head back in amusement, laughing loudly at ricky's story. i had officially survived the first two periods of my life in high school as 'hazel'. and if you are wondering, before first period started, i made sure to run up to the front office and told them change my name to hazel. i'm guessing they thought i was going through some sort of identity crisis, but iT's FiNe because my name was still hazel on the attendance sheet and i don't care what office people think of me. 

ricky had stuck by my side the entire day, but he was oblivious. O B L I V I O U S. part of me really wanted to tell him i was nini, i don't know why. there were so many hints i dropped throughout the day about stuff i, nini, had done (dyed my hair blonde, favorite artiste is lorde, my favorite clothing store is hollister (i'm a model for it, hehe) i have performed before) but all ricky would say is 'i knew someone who loved that too' or 'there was someone i knew who did that same thing'. this boy BLIND, but mama d is right. nini has hurt ricky enough. hazel won't. 

i'm basically hannah montana with the worst of both worlds. 

"so, haze, what do you think of east high so far?" ricky asked as he walked me towards my locker. 

"i wouldn't like it as much as i do if you weren't by my side." i gave him a smile, making him blush. "you've literally made the process of coming in the middle of the year so much easier for me, ricky. thank you." 

ricky's blush grew at the sincerity of my words as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "it's no biggie. i'm always down to help if you need anything." he bit the inside of his cheek, looking down at his shoes. "you were the first person to actually treat me like a human. not just another barista here to serve you coffee. you treated me real. i haven't thanked you for that." 

i closed my locker, walking up closer to him with a smile. "of course. barista or not, you are still a great person who deserves to be treated as such. you just happen to be able to make an AMAZING iced coffee." 

he chuckled, looking up from his shoes at me. "thanks hazel. that means a lot." 

not knowing what else to say, i simply grinned at him taking in everything about him. after seven years of waiting to see him, i know for a fact that i'm never going to take being able to look at every little detail about ricky for granted. i want to remember it all, every little bit of it, because in three months i might never see it again. i might never see him again. i need to treasure this as much as i can.

to my surprise, ricky didn't seem awkward with just staring at me, because that was exactly what he did. he watched me just as intently as i watched him, looking at every detail of my face. eyes, nose, lips, eyebrows, forehead, chin, back to lips..... staying at lips..... is there something on my mouth? 

"yo rickAAAAYYYYY!"  

ricky jumped backwards, his head shooting up in whatever direction the voice came from. i cleared my throat awkwardly as a short red headed kid approached us. 

"oh, hey! i know you!" i exclaimed without thinking about it. "you're big red. you work at starbucks with ricky, right?" 

big red eyed me for a second then smiled. "you must be hazel! i've surprisingly heard a lot about you, considering that you've only lived here a solid two days." he laughed, earning a glare from ricky. 

i held out my hand to shake, but instead big red pulled me into a tight hug. this dude is BONY bony.

"sorry, i'm more of a huger." big red chuckled with a big smile. he has a very nice smile. "anyways, ricky," he turned to face ricky before continuing. "i'm heading over to grab ash and then we are going to lunch. you coming with?"