AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why?” I asked. I never had a problem with it before.
“Just anxiety,” she responded simply.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Lillian said, suddenly sounding hesitant.
I urged her on. “What is it?”
“Why did they do that?”
“What?”
“Not now,” Hazel warned, leaning forward so she could see her sister better.
Lillian scowled at her sister. “I think now is a good time.”
“What’s going on?” Micah asked.
“We’ve been wondering why Paxon and Toby did that to Benji. Showed that video.”
“Oh.” I gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Benji hasn’t been the best to me. Not the meanest, but definitely not the nicest. And he’s been pushing Paxon more and more. After what happened to me at the last game, I think Paxon became fed up. He didn’t want to take chances.”
“Well, it worked,” Lillian said.
“Are you mad at Paxon?” I asked.
“Not at all. Good fucking job.” Pure hatred dripped from Hazel’s response.
I glanced at her through the mirror and then focused back on the road. “Are you finally going to tell me what happened?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Lillian asked, but her voice was too bland, too fake.
“I’m not dumb. You’ve hinted long enough that something happened over the summer. I understand privacy though, so I haven’t pushed. But now I’m beginning to wonder what I missed.”
“Benji happened,” Lillian whispered. “And I didn’t think we’d have to deal with it like this.”
“What?”
“There’s a reason why we don’t hang out with Benji and his friends anymore. That girl he was talking about like that. That was my cousin. And she’s still in middle school.”
I nearly drove us off the road. “What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.
“Only if you pull over. We can either keep driving and make it in time for Paxon’s game, or you can pull over and we talk this out. Either way, I have no interest in getting into an accident today.”
Without having to think about it, I pulled over, using a half-empty parking lot. “What is going on?”
Lillian stared out the window, frowning hard. “Benji didn’t just suddenly become a douchebag. He has always been like that.” She bit her lip and blinked hard, the skin across her cheeks becoming blotchy.
“Abby is our cousin,” Hazel said. “We’re pretty close with her. Grew up playing with her often, and as we got older, babysat her. She practically grew up with us. We’ve always been there for her.”
“Not last year we weren’t,” Lillian said.
“We had no way of knowing.”
“We should have,” Lillian snapped.
Hazel sighed and leaned back into her seat. Micah was holding her hand, squeezing it, giving her support. She was the one to keep talking.
“I’m not even sure how he met her. He just did and he liked her.”
