HAZEL FINE SINGS ALONG (WATTYS 2022 Winner!)

Chapter 35: Time to Face the Music

Hazel stripped off her dress, washed off her makeup and took a long hot shower.

When she got back into bed, she texted Nick the only words she could think of.

I'm sorry.

It wasn't enough, and he didn't answer, but she didn't expect him to.

As she was putting her phone down, her mother called, but she declined it and sent it to voicemail. God knows what her mother must be thinking right now. Hazel could only imagine.

The greatest shame of our life, that's the last thing her mother had said to her before she went to prison.

Mother of the year right there.

But now Hazel couldn't help herself. Instead of turning off her phone, Hazel checked Twitter. #TeamHazel was trending, but so was #TeamBella. She dipped into the comments on Kate's post, but quickly turned her phone off when she realized it was a mix of death threats and bizarre memes that she didn't understand and was afraid to Google.

Honestly, one of the best things about prison was how it disconnected you from social media. There was no Twitter, no Insta, no Facebook, nothing but the TV in the common room that only got a few channels.

Hazel put her phone down, then played her life on a slow tape in her mind, rewinding and replaying the worst parts over and over until she finally fell into a fitful sleep.

She woke to the sounds of scratching. She assumed it was Checkers, but after a minute, she realized it was someone rapping on her door quietly. She glanced at the clock. It was just after seven in the morning. Her call time wasn't until ten. She wanted to tell whoever it was to go away, but it was time to stop hiding.

She opened the door. Benji was standing there, his hair still wet from his morning surf.

"Hey, Benji."

"Hazel." His jaw was set in a firm line. "I guess I was right."

"About?"

"You."

Hazel hadn't expected Benji to be happy with her, but this hurt. "What does that mean?"

"More lies. You know how I feel about that."

Hazel stiffened her back. "Yeah, I do. But I'm not your girlfriend, so I don't know what it is to you."

"I thought we were friends."

"We are."

"Friends don't lie to one another."

"Come on, Benji."

He stepped back. "You're saying I lied to you?"

"Didn't you?"

"How?"

"Playing me and Bella? You knew she was into you, and you didn't care. You didn't tell her she didn't have a chance with you. You let her think she might, even when you knew her jealousy was a problem. And what were you doing with me, anyway? Just another conquest. Someone you tried to do because you thought you could."

He shook his head slowly. "That isn't what happened."

"Isn't it? Could have fooled me."

"I liked you."

"Okay."

"I was honest with you."

"Sure." Hazel crossed her arms over her chest. "What did you come here to say? How disappointed you are in me? Was that it? Get in line."

Benji rested his hand against the doorframe. "I wanted to explain why I wasn't supporting you staying on the Sing Along because I thought you deserved to hear that from me directly given that we were friends."