Page 6 of Love Hazard
I liked the fierceness in her eyes, so I took the bait.Maybe that’s what love and hate, friendship and being enemies, was all about.“I said”—I gripped her by the chin—“that you’ve neverseen a battle a day in your life.”
She smacked my hand away and gave me a shove. “Then I guessyou’re in for a very long summer of war with the girl next door. You see, that girl is sweet. This one? She’s a warrior. And Inever back down from a fight. Have a good night.”
She grabbed her shoes and stomped off like I didn’tunderstand her. I walked back across the yard with a smile on my face, my firstreal, genuine smile in a while. She wanted to play?
I was always a fan of games, and I was suddenly an evenbigger fan of hers than I was before—not that I hadn’t been. She’d rejected mein middle school when I asked to sit by her on the bleachers and offered her myhot Takis while she watched Stranger Things on her phone.
Epic fail. She never even heard me; just handed me the bagand kept watching. Saddest Taki moment ever.
After that, it was this weird give-and-take,laugh-and-kind-of-cry sort of relationship. Then, when we got into high school,I grew into my body. She didn’t grow into hers. In fact, she got made fun of,and I tried to defend her, but not hard enough. I became a dick and blamed myfriends. But I was different now.
Hazel?
She was always just Hazel. The same bright, intelligent,beautiful Hazel. I just wished she saw herself the way everyone else did. Guyswere pissed because her dad threatened them in ajoking way, and then they were pissed because I was the only one who could talkto her, despite her fascination with Jane Austen.
If she only knew… Wow. I couldn’t believe I’d thought thatas I returned to my house. Damn social media. She’d been so many guys’ Roman Empire—mine included.
But if she wanted a war…
The girl would get a war.
“Yo, Hazel,” I called over myshoulder. “Get ready for day one.”
She shook her head and kept walking.
She was ill-prepared.
Good.
When I got back into the house, Mom stuttered awake. “Wasthat Hazel? Are things good now?”
I grinned as I walked into the living room. “Most excitementI’ve had in a while. Might get her a graduation present.”
“Aw, that’s”—she yawned—“so sweet.”She tried to get up but stumbled back into the chair. “Sorry, just tired. Themeds hit a bit harder today.”
With tears in my eyes, I helped her up and wrapped the quiltaround her frail shoulders. “We all have those, just rest.”
For now, my mind was on my mom. At least, until the nextmorning, when a present nearly hit me on the way to grabbing the newspaper fromthe front porch.
I looked down.
It said TNT on it.
Very funny.
I shook it like a dumbass.
And it exploded with pink glitter. I found a tiny noteinside. Don’t mess with women who wear heels on grass. It takes savagesuperpowers to walk in a straight line without sinking into the dirt. You’vebeen warned. Also, I always thought men with dirt on their faces needed a bitof pink…maybe go check your motorcycle.
I flicked the card onto the ground, then picked up some ofthe pink glitter from my shirt and blew it toward her house. “You have no ideawhat’s coming, little girl.”
Chapter Four
“Women are difficult. Their lipstick is their armor, justlike their shoes are weapons, and their clothes are their shield.”—AugustWellington
Hazel
I smiled myself to sleep that nightafter partying way too long and gifting August pink glitter. In fact, it mighthave been the best sleep I’d had my entire life.