2. High School

Hazel's p.o.v

Lakewood High was not what I was expecting. I thought it would be like my old high school. A normal-looking high school.

But nope. Lakewood High was the kind of school where all the rich and high-class people send their kids to school.

The school had its own underground parking lot and a football field. It also had an indoor tennis court, swimming pools, and a gymnasium. The school was fully updated with all the latest technology. It also had lifts and slides instead of staircases.

There was a beautiful garden at the back of the school which was filled with all kinds of gorgeous flowers and trees that were filled with delicious fruit. There was also a tiny hut that was built for some animals like bunnies, kittens, and puppies to live in.

I was really amazed by all this luxury. I had never gone to a school that gave you so much comfort.

"Yo close your mouth before a fly goes in" Aria said as she laughed at my amused-looking face.

"This place is amazing! I've never seen anything like it. Aria how come you never told me how fancy this place is!"

"Eh, didn't think it was that important" she said with a bored expression.

"We'd better go get your schedule and locker combination from the secretarial office" Evelyn said in a soft voice. She hadn't spoken much during the car ride to school. I didn't really mind though. I guess she just wanted to let me and Aria catch up on each other. Although she did seem to enjoy listening to our conversation.

"Oh, yea we better do that first before we do anything else" saying that Aria took a turn to the left and headed to what I assumed to be the secretarial office.

When we reached her office, the secretary handed over my schedule along with my locker combination and she warmly welcomed me to Lakewood High and she wished me the best of luck for my future.

Aria and Evelyn showed me to my locker and checked my schedule.

"Well, you have algebra and physics with me while you have french and literature with Evelyn. And all three of us have English and geometry together. You also have the same lunch period and the same free period as us" said Aria.

"Oh great! I get to be with at least one of ya'll throughout the whole day!" I said excitedly.

"Yeah, sorry kiddo but you are on your own for chemistry and art" Aria said, making me feel a bit disappointed.

"Oh that's okay Hazel, it's just two periods. I'm sure you can handle it by yourself right?" Evelyn said, noticing my change of mood. "And since it's your first day here, we'll walk you to your class" she said, trying to make me feel better.

"Yeah I can handle it" I said, giving her a small smile.

As we were about to leave we heard someone call out to Evelyn.

"Hey Evelyn"

Three girls walked up to us, the clicking of their heels echoing through the hallways. I assumed that they were the popular girls that Aria told me about.

The girl who had called out to Evelyn was Scarlet Jones. She was your typical blonde hair, blue-eyed, pretty, and popular mean girl.

On either side of her stood her two minions, Jessica Walker, and Vanessa Adams.

Jessica was a brunette and Vanessa was a redhead and both of them occupied the same shade of blue eyes that Scarlet had.

I did feel a bit jealous of the trio because I've always wanted blue eyes.

All three of them were dressed from head to toe in designer items.

Scarlet wore a white crop top with white and grey striped shorts and a cute pink jacket on top. She wore black ankle boots and carried around a black Chanel purse to finish off her look.

Jessica on the other hand wore a baby pink dress and white sparkly sandals. She also carried around a Chanel purse that looked like Scarlet's purse, but her's was white.

Vanessa sported a more comfy look with her pink crop top and baggy ripped jeans along with her white sneakers. She also carried a zebra skin purse to go with her outfit.

"So Evelyn, I heard that-" Scarlet started to say, but Aria cut her off.

"Save it bitch! Whatever your gonna say, she does not want to hear it"

Scarlet gave Aria a nasty look and she was going to say something but she noticed me standing there.

"Oh! And who's the new girl?" she said as she looked at me from top to bottom, as if though she was a robot that was scanning me to see if I was in any way a potential threat to the school.

"The name's Hazel" Aria replied to her for me.

"Oh, and doesn't Hazel have a mouth?" Scarlet said. "Or does she pay you to be her mouthpiece, Zaria?"

Now that made me mad. "Actually I do have a mouth, it's just that I don't like to waste my energy talking to bitches like you" I snapped at Scarlet. "Also her name is Aria. Not Zaria"

"Oof! A bit harsh honey" Scarlet said as she dramatically put one of her perfectly manicured hands on her chest as if to indicate that she was hurt, although I knew that my words hadn't hurt her one bit.

"Also, I prefer the name Zaria for your lil tomboy friend over here since Evelyn loves that name so much! Don't you Evelyn?" Scarlet said as she looked over at Evelyn with a smirk on her face but her eyes had a look of pure hatred in them. If looks could kill, I'm pretty sure Evelyn would drop dead right now.

I looked over to Evelyn to see if she was okay but she had tears in her eyes and she kept her gaze down as though she was afraid to meet Scarlet's eyes.

I didn't know what Scarlet had against Evelyn but I knew that Scarlet's words were hurting her a lot. I didn't know what came over me but the next thing I did surprised not only the five girls who stood around me, but also myself; I slapped Scarlet right across the face.

I was stunned for a moment at what I had just done and I noticed that we were grabbing people's attention in the hallway.

Before Scarlet could say anything I grabbed Evelyn's arm and we walked out of there as fast as we could.

Once we were at Evelyn's locker, Evelyn turned towards me and said "Thank you so much for defending me Hazel but you didn't have to do that"

"I don't know what she has against you, but from the way she spoke to you she definitely deserved that slap" I said.

A few seconds later we saw Aria run up to us. "Holy crap Hazel that was AMAZING!!!" she screamed, putting more emphasis on the word 'amazing'. "Gosh bro what came over you man? You were never the violent type" she said with a laugh.

"Honestly, even I dunno what made me do it but I just felt like she needed a good slap across the face" I grinned. I turned my attention back to Evelyn. "Are you alright girl?" I asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks for asking" she said and smiled sweetly.

"Okay, then I guess I have my first class with Aria right?" I asked the girls.

"Yep. Come on let's go. Bye Evelyn, see ya!" Aria said and she grabbed my hand and literally dragged me away to class. I turned around to say bye to Evelyn but she had already turned around and was heading toward her class in the opposite direction.

Once we got to our class I decide to ask Aria the question that had been running through my mind after the incident with Scarlet happened.

"Hey Aria, what's Scarlet's problem anyway? What does she have against Evelyn?"

"Well, I don't know the whole story because Evelyn has a hard time trusting people. And boy, it took her quite a while to trust me. And she didn't tell me exactly what happened. But all I know is that Scarlet and Evelyn used to be best friends in middle school. But some problems happened between their parents and after that, they just stopped being friends. And that had a really big impact on Scarlet, and that's why she tries to hurt Evelyn every chance she gets."

"Ohh...but why does Scarlet call you Zaria?" I asked.

"That's because Evelyn's mom's name was Zaria" she replied.

"Was?" I asked worriedly.

"Yeah...Her mom is dead"

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