I walked around the party, weaving through people as I tried to find my friends. I didn't really want to be here in the first place, but of course Caitlyn and Grace had begged me to come. I was thinking I wonder what my boyfriend, Jackson, was doing right now when I felt my arm being tugged at.
Grace glared at me as she tugged me through the crowd. "I thought you left. I was gonna beat your ass if you did."
I glared back at her. "I really don't want to be here."
She stopped right outside the entryway to the living room and I peeked inside, scanning the room for the one person I didn't want to see. Grace moved so that I couldn't look.
"Cmon Hazel. Please come hang out. For me." She stuck out her bottom lip, but with the way she was fidgeting with the zipper on her sweatshirt I knew he was in there.
"Fine." I glared at her again and nervousness filled my stomach. I just needed to pretend like he wasn't here and avoid making eye contact.
Grace smiled and spun on her heel, grabbing my hand to bring me with. People's heads snapped up to look at us as we walked in and I made the mistake of locking eyes with him.
Marco Delano. My middle school crush.
I started liking Marco in 6th grade. You could say he was the class clown of our grade and with his friendly personality, people seemed to gravitate towards him. For me, well, I was the quietest one in our grade. It was easy for me to go unnoticed and be able to crush on him without having to worry.
Until I got his number.
I got it from one of my fellow volleyball players after seeing that she had it. When she asked why I needed it I told her my friend had been wanting to prank call him.
Right after putting it in my phone I started texting him anonymously. I used this advantage to find out more about him and what he was like. He was always trying to find out who I was. I admitted to liking him over these texts, and soon enough he found out who I was.
I wasn't sure how, but after that you'd think I would stop texting him. Nope, I had a full on obsession. I ignored him at school but texted him at night. I gave him gifts on the holidays, wrote notes to put in his locker, and sat by him in my classes. At the end of 8th grade, I asked if he liked me. He said no.
I was hurt by the relationship that was never there. I stopped texting him, but even after rejection, never stopped liking him.
I had multiple little flings until now.
Jackson. I started dating him three months ago. I liked him, he was athletic and had a sweet personality. It was my senior year of high school and I wanted to date someone seriously.
Although I was dating Jackson I still had a sliver of feelings for Marco stuffed into the back of my head. The embarrassment of what I did in middle school is what drove me to stay away from him and avoid him. In a way I was glad for it.
There had been times where he had tried to involve me in a conversation or include me in an event but I did everything and anything to avoid it.
Grace pulled me back into reality by pulling me down to sit in the crowded circle of people. The carpet was rough and scratchy. I realized I was zoning out and tore my eyes away from Marco.
I noticed he looked nice and put together, and I mentally patted myself on the back for dressing up and doing my makeup and hair.
"We're playing truth or dare, except it's for the football game tomorrow night." Grace whispers into my ear excitedly. Caitlyn is sitting in the middle of the circle and is pulling slips out of a baseball cap. When I look around, everyone seems to have a slip except me. Even Grace has one.
"Hazel." Caitlyn calls to me as she pulls a slip out. "You're the last person."
I scoot towards her and she grabs the slip, reading it.
"Go onto the field before the game and mark Marco's face with blue stars."
"No way." I say. People are staring at me and I feel Marco's eyes on me. I feel my face turning red and I turn my back to where he is sitting. "Cait, please. I don't even know if I'm going tomorrow."
"You're such a liar" She laughs and I'm glad when people start having conversations. "You just don't wanna be near Marco. I know you're going for Jackson." She hands me a blue face paint oil pastel.
"Please just trade with me then." I beg and she shakes her head.
"You need to be comfortable being around him. He's part of our friend group, Hazel."
"I hate you." I grit my teeth and she laughs. I fight a smile and roll my eyes.
I move back to where Grace is sitting and she gives me a sympathetic smile.
"I can't believe this is happening." I say to her.
"It will be okay, Hazel. You know how he is. He's super nice."
I look at him again to find he is looking at me. His expression is emotionless and I can't tell what he is thinking.
"I literally hate this bro." I say to Grace. "Can we go?"
She sighs. "I guess."
On the way home I take the blue face paint out of my pocket and look at it. It is star shaped so that you can just press it on and not have to draw it. I have to admit, it is perfect for our school. Our colors are blue, white and black and our teams are called the "Stars".
I roll my eyes knowing that Caitlyn most likely set this up. It didn't help that her boyfriend, Carlos was best friends with Marco.
Getting to sleep that night was hard. I couldn't stop thinking and worrying about the next day. The only thing I was excited about was getting to hangout with Jackson during the day.
I texted him to say goodnight and fell asleep thinking of the next days events.
