*Hazel's pov*

I walked home and finally arrived at home after a long day at school. You know what? Forget Ms. Schrödinger! Giving us all that work over Christmas break.

I stepped onto my driveway and stopped for a second when I saw Asher's car parked at the curb. Oh yeah... I was no longer getting rides from him as of today. I just felt like it'd be pretty odd considering I had a boyfriend now. Not that me getting rides from him meant anything, though!! I didn't like him. But some people might not see it that way.

I let out a sigh and continued walking to my front door. I was a bit nervous to go inside. Things weren't as tense in my house as it was yesterday, but there was still a very uneasy and uncomfortable energy. I had to use so much foundation this morning just to cover up all the bruises. They didn't comment on the sudden disappearance of my injuries, but they definitely noticed and stared. I thought I even saw Asher do a double take.

I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I guess nobody was home. Well at least I wouldn't have to deal with the tension after all.

I took out my good for nothing keys to unlock the door. They were good for nothing because they struggled so much and usually never opened the door. This was one of those times.

I let out a frustrated groan and trudged back to the middle of the driveway. I couldn't climb up to my window cause I decided to lock my window before leaving school. It seemed like the smart thing to do but now I regretted it.

I sat at the curb, pondering what I should do. I could just wait there until someone got home but I had the feeling that would take forever.

I started doodling on a sticky note when a voice came from behind me.

"That's a cute... reindeer?" The voice sounded like an elderly woman.

"It's actually supposed to be a pineapple." I said as I looked up and I couldn't mask my surprise.

"Mrs. Barton?" I hadn't seen her since she kicked my family out of her house for being crazy when we first moved there.

"Hello, Hazel dear." She slowly sat down next to me on the curb. "Cookie?" I noticed the basket of goodies next to her as she handed me one.

"Yeah, thanks. Uh, what brings you out here?" I chuckled nervously.

She took a bite out of a cookie. "I was cleaning the living room window when I noticed your struggle from afar. You got locked out of your house and now here you are." She hummed the tune of some old Frank Sinatra song that I couldn't remember the name of as she smiled at her cookie.

"You came to keep me company?" I couldn't hide the surprise on my face and a few crumbs puffed out of my mouth nearly making me choke.

"Yes. I believe you and I didn't have the best first impressions. See, I was part of a crazy big family in my youth and gave birth to seven crazy kiddos. They're out now, but your family gave me flashbacks." She looked off into the distance and shuddered. "Anyways, I wanted to have second first impressions. I don't want to be that cranky old neighbor that you're wishing would just bite the dust already."

I gasped and widened my eyes. "I would never-"

She laughed. "It's quite alright, dear. That's why I'm here. Would you like to come in for a cup of tea and the rest of these cookies?"

I smiled and stood up. "Sure! Thank you, tea and cookies sounds amazing right now!" I helped her up slowly and we walked up to her house.

~~~~~~~

She poured the warm tea into my cup and sat down after doing so to hers. "So, how has life been treating you, dear?" She took a long sip of tea as my body froze and I puffed a long breath out of my cheeks.

"Let's see. So I moved here about four and a half months ago and on the first day I met this cute boy. I mean he's not that cute but you know, he wasn't totally ugly. Pfftttt. Anyways, he's just been the reason for all of my confusion, fun, sadness, and happiness. We became friends and started getting closer and even kissed at one point but then he said he regretted it so I said I did, too. We stayed just friends but it was a bit hard. We both started seeing other people and that ended very quickly when they both left off with each other. After that, the boy and I were still just as close as ever and then my dad came out of nowhere to come live with us and the boy said something stupid and we got into a big fight and it sucked but then he apologized and made up for it in this awesome big gesture. And then we got this cool new friend and she helped us expose my dad for cheating on my mom-but don't tell my family that-and then he left in this crazy way and the boy comforted me and told me this whole speech on how I shouldn't let it get to me and make me have bad views on having a relationship cause there are good guys out there. I realized he was right and I followed his advice and got a boyfriend." I breathed in a long breath after losing it with that monologue.

She finally finished her long sip of tea and had to pour herself some more. She looked really amused. "So you and that boy are dating now then, huh?"

I choked on my tea. "Huh, w-what?! Haha no! I'm dating the boy that had left off with the other girl. But he's back with me now so it's okay."

She made no show of trying to hide the big frown on her face. "Hazel, I'm certain that Asher was referring to himself in his advice to you to find love. I don't think any boy would say that to a girl if they weren't talking about themselves."

"No, he didn't mean himself. He doesn't like me like that. And he would give me that advice even if it wasn't about himself. He cares about people like that, he just wants their happiness overall." I smiled to myself as I took a bite of a cookie. My smile quickly faltered. "Wait, how do you know I'm talking about Asher?"

"I'm an old lady. I notice things. Mostly when I'm washing windows or taking a midday stroll to the supermarket. He's one of my neighbors, too you know. What other cute neighbor boy your age would you be speaking about? But trust me, he was most certainly speaking about himself." She waved me off as I tried to deny it.

I heard a car coming up in in the driveway next to the Bartons', my driveway. Mrs. Barton noticed too.

"Well dear, it looks like someone's home now. Anyway, come over anytime for a cup of tea and some pastries. It'd be nice to have a young person around again now that all my kiddos are all grown up and parents." She patted my hand and sent me home with a basket of pastries.

"Of course! It was nice talking to you Mrs. Barton. I'll definitely be back!" I skipped out of her door to my driveway.

I noticed that Ian's car was there, dropping Jason off. Except, the car just stayed in the driveway and nobody was coming out of it. The windows were tinted so I couldn't see what was going on inside. So I walked up to the passenger door and swung it open.

I screamed, mortified. How lewd! How could they do something so disgusting in the front seat of a car??

They whipped their heads around and looked at me with fear in their eyes. "Hazel, it's not what it looks like!" Jason and Ian said in unison.

"You guys know how much I hate tomatoes! How dare you try and eat them in secret like that in front of the house that I live in?!" I yelled in exasperation as Jason finished sucking on his tomato skin and tossed it out the window.

Okay, that was probably confusing, but I really hated tomatoes. It was to the point where my family had to hide if they ever ate them from me. I just couldn't handle the sight of it.

"We're sorry. We knew you'd never let us eat tomatoes but it's both of our favorites so we had to go sneaking around just to eat them." Jason sighed. Ian nodded vigorously as he took a bite out of his tomato.

I glared at him until he slowly put it down. "Ugh, I just don't understand why? Whatever. It's fine, it's fine. It doesn't bother me it really doesn't. Go eat your tomatoes wherever you want just don't involve me and don't do it in front of me!" I stormed off to the front door and quickly remembered the door was still locked.

I walked back to the car where they still sat, dumbfounded and held my hand out. "Give me your house key."

Jason fumbled with his keys and handed them to me. I was genuinely surprised that it wasn't weird between us after yesterday. We were all trying to go back to our normal lives and adjust again.

I stormed back to the front door and opened it. I put my jacket on the coat rack and rushed upstairs.

When I walked into my room and shut the door, I looked out my window across at Asher's. It was really such a coincidental moment.

He barged into his own room and stood in the middle, running his hands through his hair and sighing. I told myself to look away but I couldn't. He ran his hands over his face and I could feel the stress waves coming off of him.

He looked up and caught me staring. I quickly adverted my gaze to my shoes and started whistling except I couldn't whistle so I was really just blowing high pitched air out.

I glanced up quickly and noticed him still looking at me. Well, it was awkward as it was, might as well talk to him.

I walked up to my window and opened it. The freezing air made me shiver a bit because I had taken off my jacket and was only wearing a t-shirt. I sucked it up and smiled. "Open your window!" I yelled loudly so he'd hear me through the glass.

He hesitantly walked up and opened his window. He wasn't smiling like I was, and I knew he was trying not to look upset.

"What's up , Buttercup? Get into any criminal acts lately? Drag racing? Street fights? Smuggling pugs?" I shot finger guns and tried to cock my eyebrow which didn't really work.

Asher stared at me for ten seconds and then burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. You just looked and sounded so funny."

"No worries, I mean it made you laugh didn't it?" I flashed a wicked grin.

He quickly stopped smiling and cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah. So uh, how are you guys doing?" He asked carefully, referring to my family and me.

My smile faltered as well. "It's a little weird around the house, but we're all just trying to go back to how it was before he came back."

He nodded slowly and gave me a sympathetic look.

I coughed. "So, uh, how's it going with you?"

He shrugged. "Okay, I guess. How's it going with you and your...boyfriend?"

The way he said 'boyfriend' made me shudder. "It's all good. We have a date on Friday,actually." I laughed nervously to try and cover the awkwardness.

Asher just smiled all toothy. "Hey, maybe we can have a double date on Friday!"

My eyes widened and I shook my head with my eyes shut in confusion. "W-what?! With-with who?"

"You, Caleb, Me, and Sheyla." His smile stayed on his face, almost in a weird unnatural way.

"O-oh." I said softly. "So you two are together again, huh?"

"Is there a problem?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Nope! Not a problem at all. Let's do that double date!" I forced a smile onto my face. "Well anyways, I gotta go. You know, gotta stop my brother from eating tomatoes." I said.

"Wha-"

"Bye!!!" I shut my window and closed the curtains. I stayed there for a few minutes heavily breathing as I processed this information. He was with Sheyla again. But hey, I didn't care! I mean, why would I? I had a boyfriend after all.

Ugh, now I had to go on the worst horrible double date ever with Caleb, Asher, and Sheyla.

Why was my life like this?

A/N: Heyyyyyyy guys! This is kinda a long chapter oh boy. It doesn't contain too much story but we get introduced to a new character (she was in a previous chapter but never actually said or did anything) and now we can look forward to the mess that's about to come on that double date. Do you think this is gonna go well? Do you ship Hazel with Caleb and Asher with Sheyla? Do you like Mrs. Barton? Also heyyyy they're finally on winter break and it's great that it's happening while we're actually in December irl cause then it motivates me to get festive in the story. Also hopefully a Christmas chapter???😳 Also ugh how could Jason and Ian be so disgusting??? Eating tomatoes like that! If you couldn't tell I really hate tomatoes so I thought that little bit would be funny. Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter!! Make sure to follow for notifications and announcements! Please keep reading and vote! Thank you!! By my lovelies!!!❤❤❤

---Your Smøl Bean, Gen