HAZEL FINE SINGS ALONG (WATTYS 2022 Winner!)

Chapter 16: Fresh Start

Sunlight flooded into Hazel's eyes, waking her way too early. She pulled the thick blanket she was using over her head, but it was no use. Once she woke up, that was it. There was no going back to sleep.

She sat up and moved her head back and forth slowly. She was in her car, parked on a side street in Venice Beach, a few blocks away from the Motel California. Somehow, it always surprised Hazel to find herself sleeping in her car. Despite everything that had happened to her, this felt like the lowest that she'd sunk.

And it was ridiculous, given that today was the start of the second part of the Sing Along. She was a contestant on the biggest singing competition in the world and she didn't have a roof over her head. But there'd been a two week break between when they'd found out they were in the live rounds and when taping began, and they weren't allowed to stay in the hotel until filming resumed. Zoey had gone back to Nashville and the Motel California was out. No one was going to hire her for a two-week stint. Hazel had enough money to eat, but not enough for housing.

If the producers knew about this, they'd make a field day out of it, following her around as she tried to find a place to sleep, digging into her past to try to figure out how she'd ended up there. But that was the last thing Hazel wanted. It might help her get the sympathy vote, but that wasn't how she wanted to win.

So, when she was called in to tape background segments about her "journey" on the show, she'd blurted out to the segment producers she was living with Benji at his former TikTok house. She knew it was a mistake the moment she said it, but she'd also watched their eyes light up with the knowledge that the Sing Along was finally going to have a showmance they could exploit.

All except Nick. He'd scowled at her answer and shook his head like a sad parent, disappointed that she'd done exactly what he'd warned her against. Hazel had wanted to take it back, then, but the moment had passed. Besides, he didn't know what it was like, what Hazel had gone through. Maybe he'd lost his record deal, but he had a cushy job on the Sing Along, and there was no way he was sleeping in his car with a pooping rabbit.

Speaking of which...

Hazel peeked over the bucket seat into the front of the car where she'd put Checker's cage. He was sleeping peacefully in a bed of straw, his little paws tucked under his chin. He was adorable when he was sleeping, and she felt a burst of love for him.

"What am I going to do with you, Checkers?"

He opened his eyes slowly, giving her a sad-eyed stare. He didn't have any answers, and Hazel didn't either.

She'd never felt so far away from her dreams.

***

Hours later, Hazel pulled up to a modest bungalow in Loz Feliz. It was a quiet street with palm trees and kids playing ball hockey in the road. The houses were small, but well-kept, each stuccoed building a light pastel shade that made the street feel happy and light.

She got out of the car and put Checkers on his leash, an innovation borne out of necessity in the last two weeks. He was surprisingly okay with it, and Hazel mostly didn't mind the looks she got when she walked around with him. It was even the tenth weirdest thing she'd seen in Venice, particularly among the Vanlord community. Some enterprising guy had parked a bunch of vans between Pacific and Abbot Kinney and was charging rent to the unhoused to get them off the beach. The guy in the van a block down from where Hazel parked was a snake charmer, and Hazel was worried Checkers would end up a python's lunch. Hence the leash.

Now he was straining against it to get to the neatly manicured lawn. Hazel wished she could let him run around at will, but the neighbor's barking dog stopped her. She walked to the palm in the center of the yard and looped the leash around it. Checkers would have a ten-foot circle to hop around in. That would have to do.