Hazel Hill Is Gonna Win This One by Maggie Horne

Author:Maggie Horne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

18

Moping takes up a lot of time.

I’ve been feeling particularly mopey since lunch. I guess it has something to do with the fact that the only person my age who I’ve spoken to regularly for the entirety of seventh grade so far is actually a horrible monster terrorizing a bunch of girls in my grade. And I’ve been encouraging him! I could have told him to shut up or to leave me alone. I could have asked Miss A for a different desk assignment. I could have done something, but I didn’t, because deep down it felt good to have someone like Tyler Harris tell me all about his life.

Moping also makes you sluggish, I realize. My last class is gym (thankfully not with Mr. Pitts today) and I can barely run a lap. Now, don’t think I’m usually some kind of super-impressive athlete, because I am not. But I can usually run one measly lap!

By the time everyone’s changing out of their gym clothes, I get distracted by my own thoughts and realize that I’m the last one in the changing room. I check my phone—the bell rang five minutes ago, which means my bus is leaving in three minutes. I race to finish getting changed and then race even faster down the hall to grab everything I need from my locker. I basically dump its contents into my backpack and then run to the bus zone. Where was this springiness an hour ago?

I make it right up to Krystal’s window just as she’s starting to close the door. She makes a face at me to remind me that she doesn’t like stragglers, but otherwise lets me on without complaint.

“Hazel!” Riley’s voice calls. It’s the strangest feeling. I can’t remember the last time someone saved a seat for me on the bus.

“We thought you’d skipped town,” Ella Quinn says from the seat across from Riley and me. I realize that they’re sitting on the wheel, the way I used to. Away from everyone else.

Well, everyone except for Bella Blake. She’s sitting with her body facing us, one arm over the empty seat in front of her and the other over the back of her and Ella Quinn’s seat.

I don’t usually talk to most people, but I definitely don’t talk to Bella Blake. She’s a different kind of beast altogether.

No, really. That’s what they call her. Bella the Beast. She has it embroidered on her gym bag, which she’s always carrying, because nothing’s more important to Bella than volleyball. And nothing’s more important to the volleyball team than keeping Bella in top form. At the team’s last game, apparently an actual college scout came to watch her play. And she’s eleven.

“So, turns out Maya’s not as quiet as we thought she was,” Ella Quinn says once the bus rolls out of the parking lot. I try to turn to hear her better, but Krystal has this thing about us putting our feet in the aisle.

At first I’m not sure what Ella Quinn is talking about, but when I figure it out I’m positive I must have gotten it wrong.

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