Basically I'd given Marley and Micha the silent treatment since whatever had happened this morning, and now I was wondering why the hell I was actually listening to Hazel, sitting in the passenger seat of Megan's car, on my way to their house.
"So, what exactly happened this morning?" Megan started as we waited for a red light to change.
"Micha and Marley are making me and Hazel spend more time together. I don't know why they think it's a good idea, but there it is" I sighed. She nodded slowly, looking forward with a scowl. "From that look, I don't know if asking how bad Hazel is reacting to this would be such a good idea"
"Well, she called about three hours ago-" I quickly did the math and assumed she'd called right after school had let out "-to tell me she was going to be at the N.S. for a few hours, so I'd say she's venting at the gym. Seconds do that a lot sort of stuff a lot" she shrugged. "How about you? You're clearly not too happy about this"
"Not really a fan of it"
"Figured" she chuckled. "I totally wish I could say something to improve the situation, but I doubt anything would help" she added.
"You'd be right" looking out the window, I saw we were moving again.
"She told you about our sister, yeah?" I nodded "how much?"
"Winter" came my short response.
"Winter" the triplet girl slowed down the car slightly. "She told you that Winter liked her, but chose Alexa because she was more approachable?" I nodded again "and you never wondered why?"
"I figured Hazel was different before"
"She is different now. She used to be... Cold, heartless, violent... I could keep going but you get the point. Alexa..." she let out a long, thick sigh. "Alexa is smart. She knows how to appear pleasant. Winter was already in the N.S. because she had some supernatural blood, not enough to make a difference, but she still knew about our world. She joined the N.S. later than Hazel and Alexa, who, by then, were already in the Academy, and they met when my sisters returned for some business Alexa had with me. Alexa saw that Winter liked Hazel, so she used that to her advantage" she whispered. "Hazel never understood any of it"
"No offence, but why is that relevant?" I turned back to her, realizing we'd come to a stop outside a beige colored house.
"It's relevant because Hazel learned from that. I just thought I should warn you that Hazel is a very good actress" she didn't look at me while she said that, instead, she was playing with the keys to her car. "And if you do need me, for whatever reason, and I mean, Hazel's triplet sister or not, I am both" she smiled at me before getting out. "Come on, she's probably home by now" I got out of the car behind her. The doors clicked and locked.
Outside, it was cool, but not cold, definitely a spring evening. The kind that should have been very uplifting and fresh.
Megan lead me up a short stone tile walk to the front door of the house, playing with her keys again before unlocking the door and pushing it open. Inside, the foyer was small and strangely welcoming, a staircase visible, and a hallway beside it. There were some glass doors in place of the wall closest to the stairs, some white curtains on the inside kept its interior hidden.
"Hazel, are you home?!" Megan called up the staircase.
"Yeah" came the reply. The second triplet took her time coming down the stairs, her eyes met mine for a moment, and if she had a reaction to me, she kept it well masked. I, in return, did the same. I also tried to ignore her outfit. It wouldn't help if I thought on it enough to describe it, but she was wearing black pajama shorts and a sleeveless white turtle neck top, hair soaked and smelt strongly of something pleasant, light, and floral, maybe cherry blossom, jasmine or honeysuckle. The fragile scent hit me as a pleasant surprise; I'd expected her to smell more like mint or maybe citrus.
"And there goes Hazel..." Megan sighed as her sister walked past me, down the hallway. "Do you have any allergies or anything that I should know about before making dinner? I was thinking tacos would be good, or maybe meatballs and spaghetti" she led me through the hall into the kitchen.
"I'm good eating whatever, so I guess either of those is fine" my attention was drawn to the TV in the living room, which was connected to the kitchen.
"Hazel! Shut the TV off and stop ignoring your guest!" Megan chided. "I'm going to start on the food, so try not to kill each other" she sighed.
"Grace" Hazel groaned, beckoning me into the living room.
"Yeah?" I replied with equal lack of friendliness. I found the younger girl on one of the sofas, legs pulled in beside her, clean shaven. But it's not like I noticed. More or less. She eyed me boredly before turning the TV back on and staring at it.
"I don't hear bonding!" Megan called unhelpfully. Hazel growled and irately shut off the TV again.
"Alright, what would you like to do while she cooks?" She hissed at me.
"I don't know"
"Do you play chess?"
"Yeah"
"Would you like to play chess?"
"I guess"
"I asked if you wanted to play chess, not if you would play it" she rolled her eyes. "Do you have homework?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you want me to help you do it?"
"It's English work"
"Never mind"
"Do you want to play two truths and a lie or something?" I suggested. She just snorted.
"No" she clarified. "Darts?"
"Sure" I shrugged. The ebonette got to her feet and gestured for me to follow. She took me to a small door in the kitchen, then down a flight of stairs inside it. Her basement was, again, surprisingly comfortable. The walls were a beautiful baby blue, white carpet, a matching bed in the back, a small gaming area with neatly kept shelves of video games I'd never even heard of. There was a huge space in the back that had that fake grass stuff and white spray painted goal and field lines or whatever there called, and a dartboard on the back wall.
"How can you two afford all this? No offense" I breathed once Hazel had started collecting some darts from a rack of other things. She gave me a shrug.
"Megan knows people and Alexa makes a lot of money being in the Academy" I scowled at the name "she doesn't live here anymore, but we're paid anyway"
"Oh" I nodded as she handed me five silver and white darts. She kept the other five silver and black darts she'd taken out of storage.
We played silently for a few minutes before I couldn't take it anymore.
"How'd you come by all those games?" I gestured to the hoard of video game cases and consoles by the large curved flat screen TV and three really tempting giant bean bag couches.
"I made most of them. The rest are from the Night School" she replied as we went to collect our darts.
"You design and create video games? Isn't that like really hard to do?" God I sounded so dumb right there. Hazel caught it and lifted an eyebrow.
"I'm good with technology and Megan is creative. It's one of the things we actually do well together" she didn't put as much emotion as you'd expect into that. "Most of them are strategy games, anyway"
"You do a lot for the N.S. don't you?"
"I've done a lot. I don't do as much now" she reestablished any of the guard she'd let down.
"Why do you always do that?" I blurted out "you always start opening up a little, but then you'll shut back out after something completely random" she stopped what she was doing and stared at me, studying my expression for a good minute before saying anything.
"It's not random, but I can't tell you what it is either" she finally said.
"Whatever" I sighed, suddenly very bored with darts. "Do you know this game?" I put my darts down and held up my hands. I kept my right thumb and left pointer finger out, pointing it at my thumb. I switched the two so now my right pointer finger was pointing at my left thumb and I kept switching them a few more times to prove my point.
"No, but I don't think it will be as much of a challenge for me as you think" she mirrored my actions perfectly and even when I made a mistake she hadn't and continued with ease. "Try it on Megan, she'll mess up" she shrugged "I'll show you where to put your darts" I picked up the little things and followed her to the shelves, putting them back where she told me to.
"Now what?" I asked. Hazel shrugged.
"There is a TV down here that Megan can't see" she walked over to the television and took the remote before curling up on one of the cushions. "Sit wherever you want" she added. I restrained myself from diving face first or even belly flopping onto an unoccupied bean bag, instead I just lay on top of it belly down. It was literally the comfiest thing I have ever watched TV from.
Hazel put on The Maze Runner and watched intently.
"Have you ever read the book?" I prodded.
"No" she replied absentmindedly.
"Me neither" I finished. The movie got boring surprisingly quickly, probably because of the demon girl sitting next to me, who, by the way, happened to be a lot hotter than any guy on the show. Or the one girl that reminded me of Kristen Stewart for some reason. But I guess that's a matter of opinion.
"I'm impressed" she started when a commercial I loved, advertising some sort of dirt, came on. She shifted to face me. "I almost expected you to talk all through the movie and ask me which guy I thought was most attractive"
"Yeah well you know what they say about books and covers. Not to mention the fact that I am a lesbian and don't find guys attractive" I rolled my eyes "but now that you mention it, I don't remember you saying that you leaned any specific way so... Who did you find most attractive?" I smirked when she was silent. Five dollars says its the girl.
"Kristen" she stated. "The girl" she bit her lip. I almost broke out laughing.
"So I'm not crazy! She does look like Kristen Stewart!" I giggled. Oh shut up, yes I giggled... I'm in a mood.
"No, you're crazy, that's definitely Kristen Stewar- fuck..." she cursed as she checked the cast.
"My God, Hazel, I didn't think you had it in you to be cute" I purred, almost ignoring the fact that I definitely did not mean to say that.
"Well, we're both wrong, aren't we?" She leaned in really close to me, up until I could taste her breath. I had to fight to keep my eyes open. God she was close. I really don't know which I wanted more; for her to kiss me silly or to back off. I could see her smirking and eying my lips, and I was probably doing the same, but I probably looked not so in control.
The movie returned and she slithered away like nothing happened, just a strangely comforting evil smirk on her face as a souvenir.
**Two updates in a week?! I'm on a role! Who else wants to give me a hug? ;)