chapter seven:
stress eating is real

nine hours till dawn

The second Hazel opened the gate to finally walk towards the lodge, a giant wolverine ran straight at her making her jump. Josh laughed in front of her as he finally approached the door that was open thanks to Chris. The boy held his chest "crap that thing freaked me out" Hazel could see the inside of the lodge.

It looked insanely creepy with no lights or fire, Ashley giggled "what was it? Are you okay?" Chris chuckled as he finally felt his heart relax. "It was like a bear, or a tiger or something". Hazel smiled "well whatever it was, nearly gave me a heart attack. I doubt it was a bear or tiger, both of those would've ripped us apart and eaten our insides or something".

She shivered at the thought as Josh hummed "very dark and twisted, that just made you ten times hotter in my eyes Haze". She rolled her eyes as she pushed her way inside the lodge "it was just a cute little baby wolverine!" She could hear Chris complaining as she sat down beside the nonexistent fire.

"Home, sweet home" Josh smirked and Hazel huffed "not very sweet when it's freezing in here, seriously I thought you would've made the fire before we got here Joshua". Josh sat down beside her "you out there all alone in this freezing weather. You wouldn't last.Besides,if I started the fire before you guys got here, then it would've made the entire place go into flames, and we don't want that happening".

"This place barely looks any different" Matt's unease made Hazel feel uneasy. Josh stood up "nobody's been up here" she watched as the boy tugged open the fireplace doors. "Even with all the police coming in and out?" Chris shrugged "not a lot of action up here lately". Josh, who was kneeling in front of the fireplace looked almost sad "nope, none of the good action either if you know what I mean".

Hazel threw a pillow at his face but he caught it "gross Joshua, mind your tongue" the boy chuckled "you used to go cr..." she threw another pillow. This time he caught it and threw it back at her.

"What's up, party people!" Mike walked inside with a cocky ass grin and Hazel rolled her eyes. Jessica walked in behind him "heeey" she threw her hands into the air like a drunken cheerleader.

Things for the most part weren't awkward until Matt stood up, his chest almost puffing outward. "What the hell were you doing with Em out on the trial, huh?" The room grew silent as Mike frowned "what?".

"I saw you and Em. Through the telescope" Ashley sunk into herself and it was clear she knew about this. "Before? We just ran into each other. It'd been a while so we hugged and I said hello. Is that against the law?". Hazel held back her laugh as she pushed the blanket that was draped over the couch onto her.

"Right... yeah... Duh. Sorry, it's been kind of a long day. I overreacted. Just forget about it" Mike smiled "nah, man ,don't worry about it". Matt nodded "so we cool?" Mike nodded as he sat down on the couch across from Hazel. "Yeah totally, my bad man".

Emily walked inside with a proud smile on her face but then she scoffed in disgust at the sight of Mike and Emily making out. "Oh my god. This is so gross. Are you trying to swallow his face whole?" Matt sighed as he looked at the girl.

"Seriously, can she be any more obvious? No one wants in on your territory, honey. Everyone here has way better class than that". Hazel chuckled softly Jessica stood up "excuse me, did you say something?". Emily rolled her eyes "oh did you not hear me? Was your sluttiness too loud?".

"Sounds like someone's bitter she didn't make the cut" Emily laughed "yeah, It's all a big cattle call with that dreamboat. Congrats, you're top cow".

"Cuts real deep calling Miss Homecoming a cow" Matt looked at Jessica "hey, you're making everyone uncomfortable Jessica". The girl scoffed almost as if his words burned her ego "jealous much? Emily, too frigid for you too?". Matt looked offended "that's uncalled for" Jessica laughed "whatever, I don't give a crap what you think".

Emily rolled her eyes "at least I can think. 4.0, bitch, honor roll. Suck on that when you're trying to sleep your way into a job, and you clearly need one".

"Who needs grades when you've got all the natural advantages you can handle? I mean it's clear Mike didn't want you anymore so he went for the next best thing". Emily scoffed "oh please, if anyone's upgrades it's me, Matt actually treats me like a lady".

"You couldn't buy a moldy loaf of bread with your skanky ass" Hazel burst into laughter and her face reddened as Jessica looked right at her. "What, you wanna say something? We all know you have no say in this when you could barely even keep your relationship together without screwing him".

Hazel felt small, everyone was staring at her and she felt like she was gonna suffocate as she pushed her fingers together nervously. "Clearly wasn't good enough if he dumped your ass, it must've gotten to you given you've gained a few pounds".

Her jacket felt tighter and part of her even forgot she was pregnant. She felt like she was on autopilot as she stood up and tried to smack Jessica across the face. She was tugged back by Josh. "Stop it! This is not why we came up here. This is not helping, it's not what I wanted. If we can't get along for ten minutes then maybe we need a little bit of a break right?".

Hazel smacked Jessica straight across the face and the girl screamed out as she lunged forward towards Hazel. Josh tugged Hazel back so fast she nearly got whiplash as Jessica's fingernails dug weakly into her cheek. "Mike, why don't you check out the guest cabin. The one I told you about" Mike nodded "yeah alright, want to go do that Jessica?".

Jessica sneered angrily as Hazel smirked at her "yeah run away bitch, that's all you're good for". Jessica rolled her eyes "any place is better than here with these whores". Jessica turns to leave "it's right up the trail" Mike and Jessica leave and Hazel sits back down. She was slightly winded and out of breath.

Matt dramatically pretended his head blew up "phew! ... Glad that's over! Another second of that and it would've ended badly". Josh went outside to likely tell Mike where to go and Emily sat down beside Hazel. "You know not to sound like a bitch or anything but you do seem a tad bit more...".

Hazel huffed "fat, we all know you're thinking it" Emily ran her hand through her hair. "Yeah I was gonna say that but in a less bitchy way, maybe it's just the extra large jacket you're wearing".

"It's called stress eating" Emily was almost always picking up on things majorly fast "yeah but you never stress eat, it gives you all those rashes... wait..". Emily glared at Hazel making the girl nervous "you're totally hiding something". Before she could say anything Josh walked back inside "that's handled".

He moves towards the fireplace and Matt grabs some logs "so Josh, should we get this fire going so these lovely ladies don't freeze to death". Josh chuckled "yeah we don't want them having cold buns" Josh grabbed the fire wood from Matt placing it into the fireplace. Emily groaned in annoyance "where's my bag?" Matt frowned "what?".

"My bag! The little bag with the pink pattern! The one I got on Rodeo! Matt, are you listening? Oh my god, don't you remember? Next to the Italian shoe place where I got the stilettos and you knocked over the rack while you were drooling all over that girl at the counter? I had to drag you out of there".

"Well, I mean, she was asking about my letter jacket" Emily rolled her eyes "right. Because she gave a shit about your "designer" letter jacket". Hazel stood up off the couch approaching the stairs where Sam was sitting down. She sat beside the girl pretending to shoot herself before fake falling down.

Sam giggled and after a minute Emily and Matt left, Sam stood up "okay, I am gonna go take a bath". Hazel hummed "that's very smart of you Sammy, you'll be extra warm and at least not bothered by these idiots". She gave her a quick high five before she watched Sam disappear upstairs.

"Well if you're not gonna have the fire going then I'm going to raid your room for blankets" she stood up "you could help, you used to set fires here all the time Haze. Unless you're feeling fire shy".

She raised her eyebrow "fire shy? That's not even a thing Joshua, well regardless I'm stealing a blanket from your room and then I'll come back". She walked off making way for the boys room, she hated the stairs with a passion as she pulled open the boys door.

It for once wasn't locked making her let out a breath of relief as she tugged her jacket off. She was getting extra warm and was slightly out of breath, she sat down on the bed as she let her jacket lay beside her.

She could hear the muffled noise of Sam in the bathroom as she complained about the water not being cold. She heard Ashely and Chris cheering Josh on as he tried to get the fire started. She didn't hear the door open but she heard the gasp and she sat up.

"Holy.. you're.. oh my god.." Sam covered her mouth as she pushed the door shut and walked inside "you're pregnant?" She whispered and Hazel let out a nervous breath. "You can't tell anyone" Hazel stood up as Sam approached her nervously. "Is.. is Josh?" Hazel nodded "I didn't tell him yet, I haven't even told my parents yet either. I was just so scared and it was all so last minute and just with Hannah and Beth I didn't want to get rid of it. Especially not without telling Josh, but it was after our break up and he wouldn't answer my calls so I waited".

"I won't tell, it's not my thing to tell anyways" Sam approached the door again "I'm gonna be down the hallway taking a bath if you need anything". Hazel smiled "only you'd take a bath after showing up here, I'd join you and all but I'm gonna stay right here".

She laid down pushing the blanket over herself "if you fall asleep, I'll tell them to shut up down there" she teased before closing the door. Sam walked down the stairs towards the others "hey Josh. No hot water's kinda major oversight dontcha think?". The boy looked away from Chris and Ashley "yeah, just gotta fire up the boiler. It's in the basement".

He looked at Chris and Ashley "you guys see if you can find the spirit board" Ashley tugged Chris towards the basement doorway and Josh looked at Sam. "You up for a ride along? Hazel up there gloating? That whole Jessica thing was pretty wild".

Sam walked beside the boy as he grabbed a flashlight. "She's actually not feeling the whole social thing tonight, probably sleeping at this rate. I mean when I heard what happened with her sister it just made sense she was a tad bit worried about showing up here".

Josh opened the basement door and frowned "Hazel has a sister? Since when". "Since forever, she talks about her all the time but she was also pretty secretive about the entire thing. Apparently a few months ago she just killed herself out of nowhere. Leaves behind a note saying it's all Hazel's fault. No other explanation, it was just so sudden and then with.. Hannah and Beth..".

She paused when she sensed his discomfort "well you know what I mean, she's in your room bundling up under all your blankets". He smiled "she still does that, probably won't change despite everything". He walked down the stairs "watch your step".

"I think I can handle a little old set of stairs, this place is ancient anyways a little scrap won't hurt". He pulled open the boiler cabinet and Sam sighed "so why exactly did you break up with Hazel? I mean she's pretty amazing, and I don't mean to ask but it was really surprising".

"Rather not talk about it, sorry to drag you down into the bowels. Let's focus on this first before we even go down the road of my tragic love life". Sam smiled sadly "just get me some hot water and I'll be super fine. That's all I need right now".

"I mean I wouldn't want you coming down here on your own, you know? It's no wonder Hazel stayed away from here. She hates it down here, claims it's haunted or something". Sam looked around "she's not wrong, it's creepy down here. Maybe it is haunted".

Josh laughed "it's not haunted. Just like really old. Besides it's not a place to be on your own, Hazel got lost down here once. Took me and my dad hours to find her, she's like banned from down here".

"I didn't know that, she must've been scared" he shrugged "she's pretty badass so it didn't even phase her, she did look pretty rough when we found her". Sam grabbed a baseball bat from beside the cabinet "what's this doing here? Did Hazel make you play with her for once". He smirked "you bet, she got it for me for Christmas. We used to play ball with my dad all the time. Then he went and got all busy and stopped hanging out, Hazel didn't really care though"

"You'd play in the snow? Did Hazel try making you recreate twilight or something" he smiled "it was summer, it was the whole family and Hazel. Although she was far too good, they made her sit on the bench. She always won the competition and I'd let her win. Can't go back though, it's one big new reality".

He looked at the boiler "enough talk about the past, we gotta fix this old guy". Sam takes the flashlight from his hand and when she hears a noise above them she turns "what was that?". "What was what? Just shine it here so I can see what I'm doing. I don't wanna lose a finger or anything".

Sam stays still but then turns around at another noise "it's not Hazel is it?" Josh sighed "the light, keep it this way so I can see". She turned back "right sorry, I guess I'm being paranoid, it's creepy down here".

After the water turned on successfully Sam smiled "alright! Five, girl!" They high five and Sam hands the boy the flashlight. Another loud bang "what the hell is that?" he smirked as he ran his fingers up her arm. "Could be a lot of things... and none of them nice. Or maybe it's just Hazel messing with you".

"Hey, quit it, we both know she's probably passed out in your room at this rate". He chuckled "I'm just Joshing ya". Sam rolled her eyes "har har. Did Hazel make that one up for you because it's very cheesy".

"I happen to enjoy cheese, you were really freaked out" Sam poked his side "I wasn't scared". "No, you just jumped because you wanted to squeeze in some aerobics? Or what is it you and Hazel used to do".

"Yoga, which isn't even remotely close to that. we'd go on Sundays and then ditch school on Mondays because we'd be out way too late". Josh hummed "bet she wore that extra tight suit for it too".

Sam hit his shoulder "gross, I don't want that inside my head, besides we wore normal clothes. You know Hazel doesn't do the whole tight clothes. She's more into baggy clothes and things that never fit properly".

The noise came back and Sam looked concerned "okay what is that? The rhythm's like, weirdly regular". They walked towards the doorway "nothing regular about it, this place is old". Sam looked up "maybe we should check it out" Josh shrugged "why? I'm sure it's just something settling".

"I dunno, what if it's like, a pipe that's about to burst or some problem with the furnace? Hazels up there all alone, what if someone broke in". He huffed "unlikely, no one's up here except all of us".

Hazel pushed her face into the pillows as she laid on Josh's bed, the sudden sound of screaming made her jump out of bed. "Guys! You better not be messing around down there!" She put her jacket on quickly before sprinting down the stairs.

Josh laughed as he walked towards the fireplace but he paused at the sight of Hazel. "Thought you were sleeping" she sighed "of course, you guys were just messing around down here. I heard screaming".

"Just Chris pulling a really good prank on Sam, you should've seen her face" he started the fire and Hazel walked towards it. "You that cold you gotta wear your jacket still? That thing is thick" she shrugged as she sat down in front of the fire. "It's like freezing in here Joshua, I'm not gonna turn into a popsicle. Besides I'm just gonna warm my hands up and likely go back into your room".

He noticed the bags under her eyes as she closed the fire door "you not sleep or something". She shrugged as she let her hands hover near the fire "I did a bit on the bus, but not exactly the most comfortable place to sleep, broke my phone from it and my parents are literally gonna be so pissed when I tell them".

"Like we need phones out here anyways, no cell reception so you gotta live in the moment. You know we're gonna do a seance if you wanna join and not that kid shit, it's the real deal". Hazel stood back up "as much as I'd love that, I'm good with the whole ghost thing, one bad move and we're possessed or worse, Chris steals my favorite spot at the table again. If you need me I'll be raiding your room".

She climbed the steps "well if you need any help with that, just shout or something. Could help keep you extra warm". She waved him off before she walked back up the stairs disappearing into his room.

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authors notes:
another chapter that I totally could've posted last night but my ass decided let's completely forget about it till morning. Welp here we are now, the intense shit is likely gonna start next chapter or so forth, but regardless I literally can't wait!!!!