The Life and Times of Zac Claxon

Chapter 9 - Hurt.

"So you're telling me," Christina asked in a low voice in the cafeteria, "that you can drive around Jessica at a hundred and ten miles an hour on a motorbike but you can't ride a bicycle?" I nodded solemnly.

"You were out with Jessica last night?" Hazel this time.

"Yupp." Was it just me or did she lose her smile again? I loved it when she smiled. I mean, she was no Jessica, but Jessica's hot, as in cheerleader hot. Hazel's pretty in her own way, in both personality and looks.

Before Hazel could reply, the bell rang for the start of school and she trudged off without a word.

We had arrived at school about five minutes earlier, and Christina was telling me about how they usually BMX, and how much she loved it. It also turned out that Jessica told Christina about our little outing last night. Today was only a half day at school, and I had double physics followed by lunch followed by gym. No Hazel in my classes today.

Physics went without event, and Jessica didn't even mention last night's trip.

At lunch, Hazel was nowhere to be seen. We joked around as usual, Jake pouring ketchup on his arm and pretending he was bleeding, but it wasn't the same without Hazel.

Even a cheerleader's attempt at flirting with me didn't get my hopes up. Well it wasn't exactly an attempt at flirting, more like cornering me and interrogating me, as well as trying to coax me into kissing her. Didn't work.

Gym was boring. You know, I love sport, but for some reason I just wasn't into it today. Hazel kept popping up into my mind. Why was she upset? Where had she gone at lunchtime? I was determined to find out.

After school, I was grateful to see Hazel hanging out with the rest of the group.

"Hazel!" I exclaimed, marching up to everyone else.

"Zac, we need to talk."

Uh-oh. If you don't know this already, I'm telling you know. When a girl says she needs to talk to you, it's one of two things: a) she confesses her undying love for you or b) she wants to kill you.

I was beginning to suspect it was the latter.

"Uh, sure Hazel. What's the matter?" The rest of the group headed off to leave us some privacy.

"Where'd you go with Jessica last night?" She asked, her tone of voice not giving anything away.

"We, uh...we went for a drive. And she, uh... she took me to Chilli's for some dessert."

"She took you?"

"Yeah. We were talking, and all of a sudden she had dragged me inside."

"So you went for a date?" She was definitely not happy.

"No, it wasn't a date. We just went for some dessert, that's all."

"Jessica told me you guys had a great time." She stated, stressing the great in an almost sarcastic fashion.

"Well, I....I, uh..."

"Would you have like it if it was a date?" She glared at me accusingly.

"What sort of a question is that?"

"Answer it." She demanded, abandonding all pretense of politeness.

"No. Definitely not. Jessie's just my friend, and it would be awkward to date her. No."

"Jessie?"

"Yeah, I, uh...I nicknamed her that."

"Do I get a nickname?" Was she talking to me or interrogating me? I could feel the temperature rising every second.