I've started working out regularly again after taking a three-month break to recover from my injury. Recently, I've been feeling my abs coming back. Looking at myself in the full-length wall mirror of my at-home gym, I lift my shirt. And sure enough, there they are.

I planned to hang out at Leah's house today, knowing that my Saturday is free. But I honestly wish it were already Sunday, so I could go to Hazel's. I want to hang out with her adorable little brother.

Leah lives in my neighborhood, and her parents are like a second family to me. After walking for about five minutes, I stroll up to her front door and ring the doorbell. I hear her dog, Snoopy barking in the background, and a moment later, the door opens. 

"Hey girl," I say, grinning. Leah has her almost-blonde hair gathered up into a lopsided bun atop her head, and it looks like she's still in her pajamas. She grabs the crazy little white dog by the collar before he attempts another one of his nefarious escape plans. 

"Calm down, Snoopy." She says, then smiles when she sees me. "Hi."

Her mom comes down the stairs to see who it is, and relaxes. "Hey, Casey. We haven't seen you around here in a while."

I smile at her. "I know. I had a month and a half of physical therapy, and then I meant to stop by, but things got really busy."

She hugs me, and my nose fills with the familiar perfume that changes every three months to signify the different seasons. This time it's cinnamon and pumpkin.

"Well, it's good to see you again." She says. Then she disappears into the garage, probably to argue with her husband. I seriously do not know why those two are still together.

As we enter the living room, Leah's brother Maxwell is lying on the couch with the remote in his hand, flipping through the channels. We plop down on either side of him and I smile mischievously. 

He turns to Leah, then to me, glaring. "Ugh, why are you here?"

I shake my head, plucking the remote out of his hand and switching to a Netflix murder documentary. 

Maxwell is a few years younger than us, but I always forget his actual age because he's constantly lying to me about it. The last time I saw him, he said he was sixteen, when, if you look at him, he couldn't be a day older than thirteen.

"Hey, you give that back!" He says.

He makes a grab for it, but I throw the remote to Leah. She catches it and pats him on the head. Maxwell folds his arms and glares straight forward, seething. 

"Please, Maxy, just watch this one with us. You'll like it." Leah asks.

He stays pouting through the first episode, but I offer him my bag of chips during the second and he gives in. My phone vibrates under my butt, and I fish it out of my pocket.

One missed call: Hazel

I tap the notification and click 'call'. Putting the phone to my ear, I hand Maxwell the full bag of chips and stand up. "Hey, you called me?"

"Yeah." I hear cursing in the background. 

Leah watches me in confusion as I feel my eyebrows knit together. "Hazel?"

"Sorry. Can Landon and I come over?" She says.

"Of course you can. Why? Did something happen?" I ask.

"It's a long story." I hear her say. "But thank you so much."

Leah gets up from the couch. "Who was that? What happened?"

I'm standing behind the couch, resting my hand on the back.

"It's Hazel," I say, and she looks confused, so I explain. "Hazel from my math? The one tutoring me?"

Leah nods slowly, waiting for me to continue. 

"I think she's in trouble," I say. "I think her mom's drunk again, and her little brother--"

Leah's eyes widen and she pushes me toward the door. "Oh, my God. This is bad, Casey."

The soccer girls were supposed to come over for a mini pre-game party, but now I wonder if I should cancel.

But after telling Leah everything, she convinces me not to. She says that being around the cheerful environment of the girls on the soccer team might make her feel better for the time being. 

~~~

An hour later, we're back at my house and Leah is helping me set up the house for the girls. I tried to help at first, but after being useless and in the way for thirty minutes, Leah banished me to the kitchen, where I sat at the counter, rapidly tapping my fingers on the cool marble in anxiety.

"Maybe you should eat something," Leah says when she comes into the kitchen for the fourth time and sees me doing the same thing.

"I can't," I say truthfully. I'm honestly too anxious to do anything productive.

"You really care about her, huh?" She says, looking at me from the other side of the counter and putting her hand on her hip.

"I just think it's stupid that her parents can do that to her and her brother," I say, glaring at my hands. "They're the most perfect kids anyone could ever ask for, and they're ready to give it up?"

Leah rounds the island and puts a hand on my back. "I know, Case. Life is unfair."

"That phrase is dumb," I say. "It's so dismissive."

"Respectfully shut up and help me clean."

~~~

Something I was not expecting was for one girl to bring a speaker and start blasting songs with clear profanity. I had texted Hazel about the party, and she said it was fine; that Landon had heard worse. As long as there was no alcohol. I assured her that there wasn't, and if somebody somehow snuck some in, it would be confiscated, because we were athletes, and athletes typically shouldn't drink. 

I lean against the wall in the hallway, still feeling too nervous to join anybody in the fun. Leah finds me again, looking concerned.

"She still isn't here," I say. "What if something happened?"

 "She'll be here," Leah assures me.

Then the doorbell rings, and I immediately push myself off the wall and race to the door. Turning the handle and pulling it open, I sigh with relief when I see Hazel and her little brother standing there. Landon looks up at me and smiles, wiping his eyes with his little hands. My heart breaks as I smile back. Holding him by the shoulders is an exhausted-looking Hazel, who smiles gratefully.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Casey. I'm sorry we had to come to you like this," she says.

I shake my head, about to assure her it isn't a problem when Leah suddenly appears beside me. She takes one look at the both of us and then says, "Are you the famous Hazel?"

Hazel looks surprised as she answers, "I don't know about famous, but yeah, I'm Hazel."

Leah opens her arms for a hug, which Hazel hesitantly gives her. Then she crouches down to Landon's height. "And are you the super cool kid I heard lives with her?"

Landon beams and nods. "I'm Hazel's brother."

"Very cool." She answers, then stands up. Turning to Hazel, she asks, "Is it okay if I take him to the kitchen?"

"Uh--" Hazel starts, glancing at me.

"It's okay," I say. "She's my friend. You can trust her."

Hazel looks at Leah again. "Sure."

Hazel and I follow Leah and Landon to my kitchen, and I notice her looking around my house, perhaps in admiration.

Which is good, I guess. I want her to feel comfortable.

Landon climbs onto the barstool at my island, just like he did at Hazel's house. Leah opens the freezer and pulls out a tub of vanilla ice cream. 

"Oh, Leah, he can't eat that. He's lactose intolerant." I tell her.

Hazel's arm touches mine as she enters behind me, shooting sparks across my skin.

"It's okay. I already gave him his pill." She says. 

Leah gives us a curious glance before grabbing the ice cream scoop from the drawer close to her and a bowl from the cabinet behind her.

She puts at least four full scoops of ice cream into the bowl before giving it to Landon, who takes it excitedly.

Looking into the bowl, Landon's already big eyes widen and he grins. "Wow. Hazel never gives me this much ice cream."

We all laugh, and Hazel leans on the counter. "That's kind of a good thing. I really only give him ice cream when something bad happens." She says, her voice soft. Landon's too busy eating and kicking his legs happily to hear. 

"Have you tried calling Child Protective Services?" Leah asks, putting the used ice cream scoop in the sink.

Hazel looks at the floor and sighs. "No. I thought about it, but it wouldn't solve anything. I love my mom, even though I hate her for her negligence. All they would do is take us away from her and put us into foster care."

Leah asks Landon a question I don't hear, and I rest my elbow on the counter, facing Hazel.

"This is so messed up," I say. "I'm sorry you guys have to go through all this."

"It's not your fault." She says. Then she slams her palm on the counter and turns around. "Let's talk about something else, yeah?"

I sigh. "Yeah."

Leah and Landon seem to be having a very enjoyable conversation, and they both turn to us. Leah waves her hand in our direction. "You can go introduce yourselves to the rest of the girls, or something. Landon and I are having a very important conversation." 

I look at them. "About what?"

Landon puts a small finger to his lips. "It's a secret."

Hazel and I both raise our eyebrows, and they both shoo us away.

Hazel runs her hand along the wall as we walk to the living room. "Are you good at soccer?" She asks.

It seems she didn't put as much effort into her outfits as she usually does, and justifiably so. 

"I like to think so," I say. "Coach said I have a good chance of being team captain next year."

She's wearing gray sweat shorts and a black T-shirt but still looks just as great as she always does. 

"That's cool," she says, gathering her hair to one side and splitting it into three parts. "I guess I'll go to as many of your games as possible, then."

My hands feel awkward again, and I push them into my pockets. "I would love that. The whole team would, I mean."

Hazel's hair falls back into its original position as Emilia grabs her hand. Grinning excitedly, she says, "Come join us, we're playing Hot Seat!"

Hot Seat is a new card game that came out, and it's supposedly one of the most popular games teenagers are playing this year. Hazel agrees and follows her to the circle of people on the carpet the girls have already created. I decline, because I'm already exhausted and done for the evening, and decide to just sit on the couch with Maddie. The game starts, and Hazel fits in easily.

"So, how's your tutor?"

My head snaps toward Maddie on the couch next to me. "What?"

"What's her name, Lacey, or something?" Maddie asks.

"Hazel," I correct her, folding my arms. "Why?"

She shrugs. "Dunno. Leah thinks you might have a little crush on her."

I blink from the wave of information crashing at me. "What?" I laugh. "That's insane."

I glance at Hazel as she laughs with my friends, testing the possibility that I might have feelings for her. Nope, it's wrong; there's absolutely no way I like her. They're reaching.

Maddie studies my face. "Leah also said not to believe anything you say, especially if you deny it. Which you did."

I fold my arms. "Well, Leah's wrong. I only spend so much time with her because she's tutoring me in math." 

From what it sounds like, the game has ended, and Maddie gets up to join the next round. Just as I'm about to take out my phone, I notice Hazel walking toward me. 

She's smiling one of her rare, genuine smiles, and sits down next to me. 

"What?" I ask her.

"Your teammates are hilarious," she says.

"You think so?" I say.

She nods. "Yeah, they're really nice, too."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," I say. 

Hazel pulls her hair to one shoulder again, restarting what she tried to do before Emilia had pulled her to the game. "One of them mentioned you got injured badly last year," she says.

"That's true," I say cautiously.

"And that you had to have surgery and do almost three months of rehab."

"Okay, that's a stretch. It was one month of surgery recovery, then a month and a half of physical therapy." I say.

"What even happened?" She asks, and she seems genuinely curious. 

I purse my lips, looking away in thought. She watches me intently, and her fingers weave her hair into a braid absentmindedly. 

"It's really embarrassing," I say.

She grins. "Tell me."

I was going to make up an excuse to not tell her, but the eagerness in her expression made me do it.

"You really wanna know?" I ask.

She nods.

"Come here," I say, and she leans closer. I bring my lips close to her ear, whispering the events that happened the day I broke my leg.