Love Hate

6

The girl sat on her porch as she waited for Venus and Tyler to get to her house. She was now 16. A junior in high school. Haven had grown and matured. She was headstrong. She was independent. The girl was brave, bold. She knew right from wrong. Haven had her own personality and didn't take anything. She was like nobody else. One thing that hadn't changed was her feelings. The feelings she had when she first came to this crummy town. Her feelings towards Zion never changed. She still loved him.

The boy opened the door to his car. He was now 17. A junior in high school. Zion hadn't really grown up. He was still a little immature. He had grown a love for music. The boy was passionate, productive. Zion spent all of his time doing what he loved. Practicing what he loved. Being with who he loved. That excluded one person. The same person he has hated since she came to this crummy town. His feelings towards Haven hadn't changed. He still hated her.

Haven looked over to the Kuwonu's driveway. Her coffee eyes landed on the tall boy she loved dearly. His hair covered with a different baseball cap from the day before. A gray champion shirt covered his torso. The two had a few classes together. She tried to talk to him on occasion. She would watch him in the halls. Venus and Tyler called her pathetic. They knew that she had no chance. They tried to help their best friend get over him. But nothing could change the girl's heart. The two were total opposites, but she still had hope. Hope that one day Zion would like her back

Zion slammed the driver side door of his car. His eyes caught sight of the girl on the porch from the view through the windshield. Her wild curls thrown about. The same old army jacket covered her body. She wore it every day. Every single day. He still found her strange. Odd. Weird.  She carried her camera around everywhere. It was a new camera from when she was a child. A much better camera. A bigger camera. It didn't help that the girl had strange friends. Tyler carried around his ukelele everywhere while Venus was constantly humming. But it made sense that her friends were strange. She was strange.

"HAVEn!" The honk of the car drew away her attention from the neighbor's house. The girl gripped onto her camera. The wind brushed her bare legs as the end of summer sun bore down on them. She ran down the stone pathway to the side of the street where Venus's car sat. The girl's body flung into the back seat. "You seriously need to get a grip." Venus looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes made quick contact with Haven's. A slight chuckle escaped Tyler's lips at his best friend. The Zion teasing began. Haven only rolled her eyes as the car pulled out onto the road.

Zion pulled into the student parking lot of the high school. His eyes glanced at the many cars trying to find his best friend's car. Brandon, Edwin, and Nick were next to Ed's car with a few of their other friends. "Z," Brandon called the boy over as he saw the tall giant get out of his automobile. Zion Kuwonu wandered over to the huddle. To say that Zion was popular would be an understatement. Almost everyone in the school knew who he was, but then again he was part of the 'it' crowd. They were the people who ruled the school. You know the stereotypes. The jocks, the cheerleaders, the trendsetters, etc. They were the people who peaked in high school and would possibly never amount to much more.

The sound of the car door rung in Haven's ears. She looked up to the sky. The sun had disappeared from behind the heavy gray clouds. The weather truly reflected Haven's mood when it came to school. She followed her friends into the open campus. Her school wasn't a building, rather a bunch of buildings. The English building, math building, science building, etc. Her locker was in between Ty's and V's. The plum lockers filled the south math hall. This was one of the less crowded halls. The 'it' crowd never chose this hall.  They chose the English hall instead. It was the locker hall that everyone wanted. Haven was well known by the kids in her school, but not for a good reason.

She was apart of the odd ones. Anyone who didn't fit in their social standards was an odd one. But Haven was happy with it. She had no problem with being an odd one. She was able to hang out with some really cool people. They were her friends. 

It was now first period. More specifically SSR, or more commonly known as silent sustained reading. Instead of having a homeroom like other schools, Haven and Zion's just made it a 15 minute study period. Haven sat in her US history class. Her head sat in her right hand as her eyes roamed the pages of Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. The door slammed. Her coffee brown eyes lifted. Someone was being called out.

That someone was her.

Her sound was filled with the sound of her feet hitting the pavement. She was called to the office. She had no idea why. 

The scent of cherry medicine filled the girl's nostrils. The office looked so bland. A few people sat around. A woman from behind the desk came up to Haven, "Are you Haven?" The girl just nodded and handed her the slip. The lady's lips turned into a bright smile. "Great, we would like you to show around our new student during SSR." She pointed behind Haven. The girl looked behind her to see a boy. He rose from his seat on the office chair. "Austin this will be your tour guide Haven. Haven this is our new student Austin."

Haven's heart skipped a beat.